Pivot of the Sky – Chapter 124, A Long and Arduous Battle

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Translator: adomman

Editor: Snorri

 

Various magical powers and energies collided in the air. It was difficult to clearly see what had happened. Several items dropped out of the red mist, including pieces of Urhiya’s broken staff, two unactivated scrolls and a spatial ring. Waving his hand, Amon retrieved the scrolls and the spatial ring from afar while raising his iron stick and preparing to face the mighty foe.

 

Being a pure warrior, Enkidu did not know how to fly. His huge figure finally fell from the sky like a meteor, dropping into the enemy forces right behind Amon. Although Urhiya was killed, he managed to hinder Enkidu with his magic before he died, making sure that he would not fall into the rear of the formation where all their mages were gathered.

 

Before Enkidu could land, countless arrows flew towards him. With a great shout, Enkidu activated the scalemail on his body, causing it to emit bright light. The roar of Humbaba could be heard once more as all the arrows were deflected and dropped to the ground harmlessly. When he was ten feet away from the ground, Enkidu suddenly punched at the air once again.

 

Producing another golden light that resembled a comet from his glove, a tremendous force blasted the surface of the ground, creating a shallow but large crater. Several chariots were destroyed by the force as blood and flesh scattered among the dust clouds created by the blast. A dozen soldiers were killed instantly and not even their bodies remained. Making use of the recoil from his second strike, the supreme warrior was able to land safely and easily on the ground.

 

The other soldiers nearby were affected by the impact of his punch, causing them to fall off their horses. Amon ordered in a loud voice: “Spread out!”

 

If ordinary soldiers were to engage in close combat with the greatest warrior in the continent, it would be no different from suicide. Besides, if they fought him in the midst of the charging army, it would allow Enkidu to disrupt the order of the entire formation easily. It was no wonder Gilgamesh was so confident in letting him land in the middle of the enemy’s army.

 

Two arrows were shot by Gilgamesh. One of them was merely a feint while the other one served his true purpose. Although the first arrow seemed incredibly powerful, it was only meant to scare and distract the enemy. The second arrow that was shot silently had suddenly launched Enkidu into the airspace above the enemy, resulting in the death of an eighth level supreme mage. At the same time, they were declaring that if they really had been the assassins at the Hapisidis. they would have succeeded with ease.

 

Following Amon’s orders, the surrounding chariots spread out swiftly, creating a large empty space where Enkidu stood. Before the dust clouds settled, a blinding flash of silver light sped towards the empty space. Leaping from his chariot, Amon had swung his iron stick and struck at Enkidu from midair.

 

He did not use any flashy kind of magic since not only did it take time and consumed magic power, it was also useless on a supreme warrior who had reached the peak of ninth level. Amon simply focused the entirety of his raw strength and magical energy into the iron stick and launched the strongest attack he had ever made in his life.

 

Enkidu’s reaction was incredibly fast. Turning sharply and leaping forward suddenly, he struck out his third punch. Originally, Amon was about to strike Enkidu with the tip of the stick. However, Enkidu had moved towards him with unimaginable speed and landed a punch on the stick which Amon was holding.

 

Thanks to Crazy ‘Ole, this amazing stick made out of Damasc iron was extraordinarily tough and resilient. As the glove tinted with golden light hit the surface of the stick, the stick vibrated strongly with a buzzing sound but remained intact. Amon’s ten fingers were numb from the impact, but he held tightly onto the stick, preventing it from falling out of his hands. The physical strength of the supreme warrior was very similar to power magic and the impact of the punch created shockwaves throughout Amon’s body. If it had been somebody else, his body would probably have broken into pieces.

 

The scorpion-shell armor on Amon produced a loud grinding sound as a stream of dark light erupted from it. Having come from the air, Amon once again returned to the air from Enkidu’s punch. This time, he flew towards the point where the two armies were going to meet, right in the middle of the battlefield.

 

With the first punch, Enkidu had killed the supreme mage Urhiya and disabled the magical formation that boosted the army’s morale. With the second punch, he created an area of empty space and nearly succeeded at disrupting the formation. And now, with his third punch, he managed to blast away the enemy commander-in-chief to the middle of the battlefield.

 

At this moment, Idu flew towards the sky with an incredible speed as he continued drumming, reaching a great height within a short amount of time. He had done so in order to replace Urhiya’s role of maintaining the magical formation. Even though an eighth level supreme mage had just died instantly to a single punch from Enkidu, Idu did not hesitate at all as maintaining the order of an army was of utmost importance. Furthermore, he did not believe that Enkidu could fly up in the sky once again. At the same time, he wanted to make use of the magical formation to hinder Enkidu, even if just a little.

 

Enkidu was fearless and extremely arrogant, but he was definitely not stupid. The moment Idu flew to the sky, he immediately started running out of the Ejyptian army’s formation. Being much faster than the chariots in front, he swung his fists as he passed by, knocking away all the chariots blocking him into the air. Using this method, he managed to create a crack in the middle of the enemy forces. Once he exited from this crack, he ran straight for Amon who had just landed on the ground.

 

In an ordinary battle, Ejypt would probably have lost before the main battle even began. If the soldiers were to witness their commander-in-chief getting tossed out from the army formation like a little chick, their morale would surely plummet.

 

However, it was at this moment that a squad led by Metatro rushed forward swiftly and filled the crack within the formation before proceeding to chase after Enkidu like crazy. This squad which was comprised of horsemen wearing shining armor was the team of personal guards trained by Amon when they were in An-Ra legion. Their armor and weapons had also been equipped out of Amon’s pocket, thus they had excellent equipment which were light but possessed greater defense and attacking power than even the heavy equipment while allowing them greater speed.

 

This team of personal guards were not afraid of Enkidu’s prowess and they fearlessly rushed forward to save their commander-in-chief. Seizing the opportunity, Idu shouted from the sky: “Everyone, it is time to fight! Commander-in-chief Amon will be taking down Enkidu personally!”

 

The soldiers in the front line raised their weapons and cried out in excitement, accelerating their charging speed to the maximum. The exchange between Enkidu and Amon was only seen by the experts in the army and the soldiers nearby while the rest of the soldiers had only seen Gilgamesh shooting his first arrow as well as Amon catching that arrow before replying with a similar arrow of his own. When they heard Idu’s words from the sky, many of them thought that Amon was about to engage in a duel with Enkidu! None of them had the time to consider why it had been Idu instead of Urhiya in the sky.

 

Making use of spatial magic and air elemental magic, Amon flattened the ground below him with an invisible giant hand before landing safely. Both armies were charging towards his location with a deafening rumble as a burly figure moving faster than the chariots could be seen on the side of the Ejyptian army. Leaping high into the air once again, Enkidu jumped towards Amon and threw a punch at him.

 

Although the power of this punch was lacking in comparison to his first three punches, it still could not be taken lightly. Holding the iron stick with both hands, Amon struck towards Enkidu. The punch did not connect, but strong winds were created as a result.

 

Amon’s figure blurred for a moment and due to the distortion of light it seemed as though he had moved to a different position even though he was still standing in the same place. Using spatial magic, Amon managed to nullify the force of Enkidu’s punch, but doing so caused his whole body to ache with soreness. As Enkidu landed on the ground, he punched at Amon again. Such brute force attacks were nearly impossible to block or parry safely. At the same time, his explosive physical power was able to dissipate the effects of spatial magic which Amon employed.

 

With a loud roar, Amon struck forward with his stick. When the distance between Enkidu’s fist and the stick dropped to several feet, a blinding white light erupted in midair with a boom, knocking back Amon several steps. Instead of pursuing Amon, Enkidu suddenly turned to his back and punched out, producing a great force which collided with an incoming blade.

 

The blade belonged to Metatro, and he had finally arrived. Being the fastest person on the squad, he had left the others far behind. Using magic to conceal the sound of his horse galloping, he had arrived quietly and stealthily amid the loud rumbling of the chariots. Making use of his great speed, Metatro thrusted his blade at the back of Enkidu, aiming to pierce his heart.

 

The longsword Metatro used was in fact his staff, with a sheathed blade on top of it. The blade shimmered with bits of silvery light and there was a spinning vortex of air at the tip. Metatro had produced a cutting effect using spatial magic and combined it with the blade into one powerful sneak attack.

 

However, the sneak attack had failed as the force of Enkidu’s golden fist broke Metatro’s blade into pieces, leaving a bare staff in his hands. The impact from the punch flung Metatro into the air and shattered the silver armor on his body, revealing the dark scorpion-shell armor underneath. With a spin of his body, Metatro landed on the ground a short distance away. Unfortunately for his horse, it was pulverized into pieces before it could even utter a cry.

 

After beating back Metatro with his right fist, Enkidu once again turned around and punched out with his left fist. This time, it was Gabriel slashing downwards with a battle axe. As the punch and the axe collided, the silver light was dissipated and a huge crack appeared on the axe. Somersaulting in the air, Gabriel landed on the other side of Enkidu. Her helmet fell to the ground and her long golden hair fluttered in the wind.

 

Conjuring another battle axe as well as a shield out of thin air, Amon tossed them to Gabriel and shouted an order: “Let’s wear him out!”

 

And so, Amon charged towards Enkidu with his iron stick, Metatro pulled out a serpent-fang dagger and rushed forward while Gabriel joined the fight with the new weapon and shield. Amon’s order had been to “wear him out” instead of “defeat him”. He was well aware that it would be impossible to defeat Enkidu, so they could only try to trap him here and whittle down his stamina.

 

At this moment, Enkidu was no longer in his peak form. Amon knew better than anyone else how powerful Enkidu’s first three punches had been. Similarly, the stamina consumed must have been enormous. If one walked slowly, it was possible to walk for an entire day, but if one was sprinting, it could only last a short while. Enkidu had just done something similar to a full sprint, so Amon did not want to give him the opportunity to recover his energy.

 

As the four supreme warriors fought, dust clouds and strong winds were created around them, making it impossible for anyone else to go near. Both armies finally clashed on the battlefield, signaling the start of a great battle. Arrows rained onto both armies from the archers on each side while chariots collided into each other. Nothing else could be heard except for the sounds of shouting, weapons exchanging blows and the cries of pain and death.

 

……

 

The great battle proceeded on until sunset. In a war where soldiers swung their weapons at each other, it was not possible to continuously fight for an entire day. A normal person would not last longer than half an hour swinging a heavy weapon around. Formal soldiers were at least warriors who had practised body arts and possessed far greater stamina than an ordinary person, but even then, they could not fight intense battles continuously for too long.

 

The army formed from various legions were not a disorganized bunch and they fought in an orderly fashion. The soldiers fighting at the front lines were replaced by fresh troops from time to time, providing cover for the tired and injured soldiers on their retreat. Under such circumstances, the chain of command was vital to smooth operations. However, both commanders-in-chiefs were absent from commanding their army.

 

Gilgamesh sat on his chariot with his eyes closed, seeming in a state of isolation. All his commanders were well aware of the battle plan and they simply acted according to plan. On the other hand, the Ejyptian commander-in-chief was blasted into the middle of the battlefield before being occupied in melee with Enkidu. In the end, Idu became the overall commander instead, where he issued orders from high up in the sky.

 

The first round of charging chariots did not manage to unsettle either side’s formations. After they collided, the infantry joined in the battle as well. The Uruk legion’s fighting forces were indeed extremely tough and strong. Alternating between advancement and retreat, Idu had nearly sent the entire backup troops from the rear before they managed to stabilize a foothold on the battlefield. They also launched several counter attacks on the enemy while their chariots were in the midst of retreating.

 

Chariots were required to charge at high speed in order to fully utilize their strategic advantage so it was impossible for all of them to be deployed on the battlefield at the same time. They also needed infantry to provide cover before they could start charging at the enemy. As waves of chariots crashed into each other successively, high damage and casualties were incurred on both sides.

 

The task of the mages consisted of maintaining a huge magical formation. The sound of chanting could always be heard in the air as a soft and gentle light fell upon allied forces in the midst of fighting. The magical formation served two main purposes: one was to comfort the souls of the soldiers and wash away their fears; the second was to relieve the pain of injuries sustained during battle. In the majority of battles, approximately half of the injured die of shock which is triggered by pain and not because of fatal injuries.

 

Mages suffer from fatigue as well, so there was a need to replace them from time to time. Idu was the only one who could not afford the luxury of replacement and had to remain in position the entire time. Unable to gain the upper hand, the Ejyptian army was embroiled in a long and arduous battle. Their position on the battlefield was slowly being pushed back, but their formation did not crumble. This was out of Gilgamesh’s expectations, for they had reached this point without meeting much resistance.

 

The mages in the Uruk legion were not relaxing either, they were also doing the same thing as their counterparts. A long time after the battle started, Gilgamesh still remained seated in the same place, unmoving. However, above the Uruk legion, up in the sky, a figure slowly appeared. Cloaked in a rainbow-like aura, the figure looked like a deity. It has Gilgamesh’s face.

 

One Gilgamesh was seated on his chariot while another Gilgamesh was up in the air. The Gilgamesh in the air became the pillar supporting the magical formation for the Uruk legion. At the same time, he issued orders to the army to coordinate its movements. Even though he wasn’t a deity, Gilgamesh was capable of creating such a “miracle”. Idu looked at the image of Gilgamesh in the sky and sighed. This was not something that he was capable of doing.

 

Was it message magic, spatial magic, power magic or elemental magic? Idu was unable to tell. Gilgamesh could focus his will and materialize it in the form of an image. However, this image was not just a simple illusion. As he sighed, Idu also performed some simple message magic to cloak himself in an aura of light so that he looked as majestic as Gilgamesh. But both knew that there was a fundamental difference.

 

The armies fought from morning till afternoon. Soldiers from both sides were exhausted. The Ejyptian army had suffered higher casualties, but as long as they held onto their formation, the difference would not be too great. Right in the middle of the battlefield existed a space which nothing could enter. This was where the four supreme warriors had been fighting until now.

 

The soldiers at the front lines had already been replaced several times, whereas all four of them had fought without a moment to rest. At this point, Amon was obviously exhausted.

 

He was only a seventh level supreme warrior, nevertheless, he was a seventh level supreme mage at the same time. He had put in countless hard work and persevered with incredible patience and endurance. There was nearly nobody who could come close to what he had gone through and achieved. It was not simply due to his talent, it also had to do with his harsh experiences which forged his will and body.

 

Today, Amon had finally met his match. Enkidu seemed like a god of battle who was inexhaustible and knew not of fatigue. His first three punches had indeed used up a great amount of energy to perform and Amon had not let up his attacks since then, employing every trick and tactic at his disposal. Powerful energies erupted from their fight, making it impossible for outsiders to see what was happening or to use detection magic successfully.

 

The magic used by Amon and Metatro was very simple. They coupled spatial magic with power magic to bolster their physical strength, and this was the most effective way to deal with Enkidu. Gabriel had not detected anything amiss since she also used supportive magic when she fought.

 

Amon’s iron stick possessed an immense amount of power and various kinds of energies which carried with them different effects. Every time he was pushed back, he would grit his teeth and counterattack immediately, taking on the greatest amount of pressure among the three of them. Whenever Enkidu tried to attack Amon continuously, the other two supreme warriors would provide cover on time and hinder Enkidu, making it difficult for either side to gain an upper hand throughout the long fight.

 

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