Crendell feels sick, he doesn''t even know how much time passed, but he can''t even check or puke now. It didn''t take long for the plan to start, and the Malencian army to invade Melthazar''s front yard. A bomb through the portal to destroy it on their side, causing the portal to appear somewhere at random within the world. Now they have taken a nearby defensive position around an easily defendable church. A mountainous valley with the portal appearing on the inner mountain part, with a river on one side that has a dam over it on the east side. The push for the church was difficult considering how little paladin presence there is, and it is perhaps the best place they could hope for to defend. Sure enough, paladin response to their invasion was a span of hours, and the main route they would be using was across the dam.
Crendell parries a paladin with his bayonet desperately, being far outmatched on his own in melee. Good thing as a liquidator you are never either of those, a volley from a nearby squad pushes the paladin back, but considering the paladin was only barely pushed back shows how elite they are compared to even the powerful paladins of Brynya. Killing his fellow man has gotten easier for Crendell, he''s already the worst human war criminal out there anyway.
This dam is a vital access point for the enemy, a bridge that allows the easiest access to the Malencian forces, Crendell''s troops had tried destroying it, but even thermite did minimal damage. Considering everything, being able to push a paladin back with only five liquidators is a miracle, one Crendell did not ask for. He did not place himself in the heat of battle for nothing, the only moment he stops feeling sick is exactly one second before killing a man, when he''s most focused. He hasn''t had many of those seconds, the liquidators act more as screens in this battle for the big hitters.
One of those big hitters drives past the intake tower he''s in, and he gets a clear view of the landstrider ripping into the paladins, before meeting a quick demise as a sword destroys the tank in one slash. The life expectancy of tank crew isn''t high, by virtue of actually being a threat. Demons fall out of the sky like flies to priest AA, and more than on Zveno has crashed already. More and more paladins come into the battle every hour, reinforced from the entire world, as they seek to expel this threat. They have already gotten word of the Malencian cross-planet invasion. Their will to fight is about as high as the Malencians, who have stopped caring much about anything.
The one advantage Malencia has is currently in the back lines at the church, Esstrey said she knew how to reach Melthazar himself, and took most of the elites with her, while tasking Crendell with the buying of time. Crendell looks to the advancing enemy, and predicts they will have to pull back again. He shoots a signal flare to the sky, signaling another withdrawal from this piece of the dam. Paladins attempt to push their advantage, but are blocked by the undead instead. Black snow and liches are released to unleash havoc while the rest retreats, undead are normally weak to holy magic, but the Black snow appears to be an exception, and liches have adapted their necromancy to work based off that. Crendell runs out of his intake tower to retreat as well, he doesn''t want to live longer, but if he dies more of his people will die in the resulting panic.
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From one of the intake towers behind enemy lines, a priest aims her staff at Crendell. Every tower taken makes it more difficult to hold the nearby area, but the dam is big enough to retreat frequently. Right now, multiple priests are firing on retreating Malencians and the air units from their fortified position.
"Retribution!" A bruised and bloodied Krenkov appears behind the priests, he had somehow snuck past the paladins, playing dead on more than one occasion. Crendell looks in depressed apathy as one of his most trusted subordinates buys him a little more time. Krenkov stabs at the priests like a madman, and takes down a few of them with precise stabs to their brains. Nothing else could kill the servants of Melthazar.
Crendell runs to the next defensive line, the last intake tower of the dam, but not the last line of defense. Making the enemy bleed for every step is easy, slowing them down, not so much.
Fiends are slashed like fodder, the best surveillance can do is ambush the occasional squad of priests, air forces are fighting tooth and nail to stay afloat, the undead are mere distractions. The only ones who show any promise in this battle are the liquidators and the landstriders, they are far more suited to taking a beating. Mazurians did well in Brynya due to their numbers, but they have the unenviable job of handling the war and being decoys in the war against everyone else.
It takes a few hours for the enemy to push further again, to the point where the current intake tower stands at risk of falling as well. Crendell thinks of staying a little longer, who knows? Maybe someone will try taking another shot at the retreating liquidator. Then he thinks of Krenkov, a man who time and time again had shown unwavering faith in Crendell. He paid the ultimate price, all to rescue a man who lost the will to live.
Crendell grips his gun and calls a retreat, he should live, if not for his own sake, he should live so that the others who have faith in him don''t need to jump in front of a shot meant for him. How will he minimize casualties on his side? How will the logistics be distributed, and which places need ambushes? These thoughts run through Crendell''s mind as his men climb on a retreating landstrider.
Time, he just needs to buy time. To defeat the enemy here is an insane concept, to kill their god even more, but not his job, not his problem. His duty is the survival of his people, and he will not besmirch the legacy of the people who sacrificed themselves.