Chapter 113: Spell Countermeasure

"The humans of Delin Town are more cunning than we anticipated. Elder, please proceed with caution."

After delivering this warning, Kothar waved his hand. Two guards riding hadrosaurs stepped forward as ordered, escorting Elder Basong as they pressed ahead, using their shields to deflect the constant barrage of arrows flying from the human defensive line.

Elder Basong urged his swamp hadrosaur toward the watchtower where Joann and Roger were stationed. While riding, he executed a rapid series of somatic gestures and chanted divine incantations. His initially gray-blue eyes surged with a golden-red luster that was painful to behold, as if two raging infernos were about to erupt from the depths of his long, slender slit pupils.

Standing atop the tower, Joann observed the approaching threat. The abnormal magical fluctuations radiating from Basong alerted him. The sensation of scorching fire elemental energy fused with pure divine power felt unnervingly familiar, triggering an intense sense of crisis. Without a word, he grabbed Roger and turned to flee.

The two scrambled down the ladder just as Elder Basong completed his spellcasting and waved his hand, unleashing a "Flame Strike."

With a thunderous roar, a golden pillar of fire imbued with divine energy erupted from the base of the watchtower. A wave of scorching heat engulfed the structure, surging toward the sky. The terrifying shockwave shattered the entire tower in an instant. Joann and Roger were caught in the magical blast; as the suffocating heat wave swept over them, the ladder beneath their feet disintegrated, sending both of them tumbling from a height of over ten feet.

When the column of fire ignited, Tom and Dick had been waiting below the tower, watching the figures of Joann and Roger flickering within the flames with faces full of anxiety. Witnessing the two being blown away by the blast, they rushed forward simultaneously to intercept. Tom caught the falling Joann just in time, while Dick caught his younger brother, Roger, ensuring both landed safely on the ground.

The watchtower stood like a roaring torch, with shards of burning timber trailing black smoke as they fell like a meteor shower. Remaining here had become far too dangerous; Joann quickly signaled his companions to retreat to a safer distance.

Across from the burning tower, Elder Basong was satisfied with the destruction he had wrought. A faint smile touched his lips as he turned his gaze toward the watchtower on the other side of the town gate and began to weave another spell.

Recognizing that he was casting "Flame Strike" again, Joann ran toward the tower, shouting a warning to urge the sentries above to climb down and flee for their lives.

At that moment, the familiar sound of barking echoed from behind. Joann glanced back hurriedly to see Jamie, the half-breed winter wolf, and Gray, the pouch-beast, sprinting toward them.

"Gray, why hasn't Viss arrived yet?" Joann’s question was tinged with anger; he could not help but suspect that Viss had retreated in the face of battle, betraying everyone's trust.

"Mort!" Gray pointed toward the opposite watchtower, seemingly defending Viss.

Joann followed the pouch-beast's gesture. On the high platform at the top of the tower, a cloaked figure was faintly visible. Standing at the peak, the person fixed their gaze on Elder Basong, then suddenly raised a hand in a pressing motion, smoothing out the ripples in the Weave around the Elder and dissipating the "Flame Strike" before it could fully manifest. The turbulent magical fluctuations around the watchtower subsided instantly.

Elder Basong looked up, glaring at the top of the tower with unconcealed shock and rage.

"To think you could counter my Flame Strike! Who exactly are you?"

A "counterspell" involves both parties using the same spell to cancel each other out, resulting in no effect. Since the person on the tower could counter a Flame Strike, it was obvious that they were also adept at casting it. Basong had never heard of such a powerful figure in Delin Town.

The figure atop the tower did not respond. With calm deliberation, they pulled back their hood, revealing the face of a lizardfolk.

"Viss! It really is you, traitor!" Basong’s face grew so dark it seemed to freeze.

Seeing Viss reveal himself, Joann breathed a secret sigh of relief, feeling ashamed for having doubted the integrity of the lizardfolk prince just moments before.

Standing on the towering structure, Viss cast an amplification cantrip on himself and then began to shout to the lizardfolk army outside the town in the Draconic tongue.

Most of the townspeople below could not understand his words and wore confused expressions. Joann, however, knew a little Draconic; piecing it together, he realized Viss was publicly exposing the conspiracy of Basong and Kothar to launch a coup and seize power. He accused Basong of colluding with the goblin tribes to ignite a war of aggression, violating the neutrality the lizardfolk had long upheld and staining the honor of their kin. Even more intolerable, he charged that once the demon-worshipper Kothar seized power, he would suppress the vast majority of the tribe who followed Semyanya, forcing demon worship upon them and dragging the entire clan into an abyss of corruption.

After denouncing the crimes of Basong and Kothar, Viss called out with even greater fervor, urging all descendants of Semyanya to stand bravely, gather by his side, defend the honor and faith of the Cold-Blooded Tribe, and overthrow the brutal reign of the "Kingslayer" Basong and the "Son of Demons," Kothar.

Joann could not help but admire the lizardfolk prince's eloquence. After the speech, the opposing lizardfolk ranks began to stir, with subtle signs of a mutiny brewing.

"The son of Myrik has defected to our enemies! Only foolish humans would believe his lies!" Kothar roared at his restless tribesmen, struggling to stabilize their morale. "Warriors of the Cold-Blooded Tribe, follow me and tear that wretched traitor to pieces!"

Kothar’s herald blew his horn, and the lizardfolk army began to move forward. However, Joann soon noticed that only half of the lizardfolk responded to Kothar’s command to charge. The troops led by other Cold-Blooded nobles appeared sluggish, intentionally or not lagging behind the core forces of Kothar and Basong. It seemed they had been affected by Viss’s impassioned plea and were reluctant to shed blood for the newly installed chieftain.

The fifteen-foot-wide trench could stop infantry, but for the swamp hadrosaurs, it was not an insurmountable obstacle. These dinosaurs, resembling giant water birds, possessed incredibly powerful hind legs; they sprinted to the edge of the trench, leapt, and landed steadily on the solid ground on the other side.

The people of Delin Town watched helplessly as the enemy cavalry crossed the trench they had labored so hard to dig, which inevitably damaged their morale. Fortunately, the trench was not entirely useless; at the very least, it temporarily stalled the lizardfolk infantry. As for the cavalry that had breached the first line of defense, their situation was far from easy. They first had to charge through a dense rain of arrows, then were forced to stall before the second line of defense—a double row of anti-cavalry stakes. The noble riders on the dragons' backs had to shield themselves from arrows while simultaneously struggling to command their mounts to use their wide, flat beaks as shovels to clear the obstacles, appearing utterly flustered.

Flint seized this moment to sound the horn of counterattack. The Delin Town militia, organized into small squads led by sergeants, moved forward. The front-line militia held up tower shields to block the javelins thrown by the lizardfolk knights, forming rows of impenetrable shield walls.