Advent of the Archmage Chapter 404: Mid-air Battle!

Chapter 404: Mid-air Battle!
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Whoosh!
Three small airships about six feet long flew close behind Link. The airships were elliptic in shape, relatively flat. On every possible surface, it was covered in Wind spell formations.
When the three ships positioned themselves behind Link, Lannie ran up to the front-most one and shouted at the pilot, "Get out, I'm taking over this ship!"
Immediately, the ship decreased its altitude until it was about three feet above the ground. It stopped, and the bottom of the ship opened up, whereupon a Yabba jumped out. He immediately saluted Lannie and greeted her.
"Major!"
Lannie gave Link a smile and said, "Link, I'm going to start!"
Then, Lannie started to increase her altitude and got ready to leave.
Link, however, leaped up onto the craft and knocked on the crystal screen. He shouted to the stunned Lannie. "Bring me along, I'll deal with the Winged Howlers!"
"Okay, hold on tight!" Lannie called back. Then, the airship sped off like a wild horse.
Link held tightly to the frame of the ship. His body was shrouded in the crystal red Dragon Power. The wind buffeted him as the airship continued to climb and increase in speed.
This was the first time Link was experiencing something like this, and he was not accustomed to it. He could only grab on tightly and hope not to fall off.
After about ten seconds, they reached a height of over 300 feet. By this point, Link had gotten used to the feeling, and the discomfort he felt had more or less disappeared. He pointed the Dragon King's Wrath sword in his hand to a Winged Howler that was preparing to charge a large airship.
"Go for that one!"
Lannie's piloting skills were great. The moment she heard Link, she immediately angled her airship towards the demon.
The airship drew a small arc in the air, avoiding a few Gargoyles as well as friendly fire from the other airships, cutting a path towards the Winged Howler.
…
Elin was riding on the big airship. Because of the approaching Winged Howler, the atmosphere in the airship became extremely tense.
"Quick, stop him!"
"Continuous fire, block off his approach!"
"No, damn, he's getting faster; we can't block him. Brace for impact!"
Although the airship was 240 feet long, against a Level-8 demon, this meant little. Once the demon got onboard, it spelled a disaster for everyone.
This happened many times in previous skirmishes. The Yabbas had deployed 15 airships. Twelve of them were destroyed in this manner, while the other three were safe only because they had escaped fast enough.
Amidst the chaos, one officer aboard the airship suddenly pointed in the distance. "Hey look! Who's that? A human Warrior?"
Link's body was shrouded in brilliant, fiery-red light. It was simply eye-catching.
The Yabbas looked over and shook their heads. Elin also looked over. Upon seeing who it was, she was stunned, then excited. "It's Link! He's coming over to help!"
"Lord Link?" Isn't he a Magician?"
The human Warrior on the ship was obviously holding a sword and wearing a Warrior's robe. His body was extremely built and had none of the gentleness and wisdom a Magician was supposed to possess.
Elin was about to say something when Link leaped from the aircraft towards the demon. The airship that Link was on was originally speeding towards the demon. When he leapt off it, it was shockingly pushed down by the counterforce.
Link's speed was incredible. He shot across the sky like a burst of lightning. The lightning seemed to strike past the Winged Howler's body. Instantly, the Winged Howler's body was cleaved into two.
The commanders on the ship were stunned.
"What!"
"So fast!"
"Unbelievable. What kind of power is this?"
In mid-air, black demon blood sprayed down. Link was long gone. The arc of his jump took him towards another ship. As he landed, he immediately jumped off again, heading for a Gargoyle.
The Gargoyle had no time to react—Link was simply too fast. Link didn't bother cutting the Gargoyle; he simply stamped down hard on the Gargoyle and leaped off. His target was the Winged Howler far in the distance.
Be that as it may, the Gargoyle still could not take the force. After being stepped on, his body shot towards the ground. SMASH! A huge hole appeared in the ground, from which a dust cloud was spreading out off. Inside the hole, the Gargoyle's body had already been smashed to pieces.
Link leaped a horizontal distance of about 300 feet before stepping on another Gargoyle and jumping off it. This brought him up to a Winged Howler.
Scree! The Winged Howler screeched. It was a Level-8 expert, and it was confident that it would be able to deal with Link.
Link exploded out with Dragon Power, slashing towards the Winged Howler.
Clang. The sound of a collision rang out. When the Legendary and Level-8 power clashed, the air vibrated strongly.
The next instant, the demon was cleanly cut into two by Link's Dragon King's Wrath sword, sword and all.
The Yabbas was stunned speechless. What was this situation?
Wasn't a Magician supposed to reinforce them? Why did a Warrior appear instead? Furthermore, how strong was this Warrior? He just clashed head-on with a Level-8 demon and won. It was unbelievable!
After killing the demon, Link was beginning to lose speed and altitude.
Whoosh!
Nearby, an airship curved and headed for Link, catching him. Link didn't care who it was that had caught him, he simply pointed to another airship and instructed, "Take me there."
Only the airships had sufficient mass for him to launch off properly without being knocked back by the resultant force. If he jumped off from a small craft, he would smash it to pieces. The frame of a small craft just couldn't take the force. Medium-sized airships had enough mass. However, they weren't durable enough either.
The airship immediately brought Link towards the large airships.
Once it neared a bigger airship, the small airship suddenly decreased its speed. Link used the inertia from its original velocity to jump over to the big ship. Once he landed, he located another Winged Howler 240 feet away and ran towards it, gathering his momentum to jump.
Bang! Link leaped off from the 240-foot-long airship. Even though the airship was huge, the airship still shook from the impact of Link's jump, so much so that it even deviated slightly from its original flight path.
"Adjust the angle! Follow him and support him!" The commander of the airship ordered.
He understood Link's plan. Link was going to clear out the Level-8 demons in the sky. What he needed them to do was provide him with footholds that he could jump from.
The battle was reaching its climax. Lannie piloted her airship, weaving through enemies and allies like a fish. As she flew, she shot down numerous Gargoyles, sending them down to the ground.
Meanwhile, the Level-7 Magician Green was on the deck of a medium-sized airship. He used spells to summon lightning in the sky, sending them hurtling towards the flying demons. Even the Level-8 demons could not simply ignore such attacks.
The flying airships also fired their magic cannons, unleashing havoc on the demons in the sky and on the ground.
The Dark Army was being beaten so badly they had no chance to retaliate.
There were just over ten Winged Howlers and about 1,000 lower level demons in the air. On the ground, there were slightly more demons. Against the bombardment from the airships, they had no way to retaliate and could only receive the attacks head-on.
Boom! Boom! The Dark Elves had obtained some magic cannons from the Yabbas they defeated. These cannons created some trouble for the airships.
Nonetheless, the Yabbas were the true experts at using the magic cannons. Wherever they heard the sound of magic cannons firing, they would accurately return fire and suppress the enemies.
Ten minutes later, the remaining four Winged Howlers shrieked and turned to retreat towards the Black Forest. The rest of the low-level demons followed suit.
The flying demons still had a hope of escaping. The demons on the ground on the other hand, however, had no such hope. They were bombarded by the attacks from the air and had no way of fighting back. In the end, nobody knew how many demons escaped on the ground, but whatever the number was, it was pitifully low.
In this battle, the Dark Army was undoubtedly weaker than the Yabbas. With Link's addition, victory was assured.
Half an hour later, the battle reached its end. The battlefield quieted down. There was only the occasional sound of musket fire as the Yabbas killed any survivors they found.
Link was not needed for this simple task. With the help of a small airship, Link boarded the airship that Elin was on.
Elin was already waiting for Link on the deck with several other commanders. The instant Link landed on the deck, without even waiting for him to stabilize his footing, Elin ran up to him and jumped into his arms. Link hurriedly stretched out his arms to catch hold of her.
"Link! I knew you would come! I saw you in a dream!" Elin laughed. However, her eyes were red with tears. A moment later, the smile on her face also vanished, and she started crying in Link's arms. The demeanor of a high-level Magician was completely gone in the midst of her crying.
Link gently patted her back, consoling, "Elin, things will get better. They surely will."
Elin sniffed. "When I came back, the sky city Pollol was already destroyed. Everyone was dead, my mother, brothers, sisters. There are less than two million people left."
In the beginning, the Yabbas had a population of twenty million. They had lost about ninety percent of their population in this war. It was a tragedy that could easily spell the end of the Yabba race.
Of course, this was already better than the situation in the game. In the game, the Yabbas were completely eradicated. Nonetheless, this was not something Link could say. Link held Elin in his arms as he walked towards the commander.
Link was familiar with this commander. It was Merlin, the one who had led Link to the Necropolis in the South. Link remembered him as a very optimistic person. Now, his face was ashen and gray. No traces of the optimism remained.
Merlin greeted Link and saluted. "Lord Link, thank you for your assistance. This way please, Lord Franklin is waiting for you. He is injured and can't move easily, I hope you won't mind."
Franklin was the chairman of the Artisan Council and also one of the Yabba leaders. He was already 90 years old. When he was younger, he injured his leg in some incident and was confined to a wheelchair ever since. He was thus also known as the "Wheelchair Noble."
This was something that never happened in the game. After all, in the game, by the time the humans received news of the Dark Elves' attack on the Yabbas, the Yabbas were already obliterated. He learned of Franklin through Elin and could tell from her attitude that this was someone she respected greatly.
Link bowed slightly. "It is an honor to be able to meet him."
As they were walking into the interior of the airship, there were many Yabba Warriors. Elin felt embarrassed being carried by Link and struggled. Link, therefore, put her down. Seeing her teary face, he couldn't resist pinching her nose and teasing her. "Wipe your face, little kitty."
Elin laughed bashfully and took out a handkerchief to clean her face.
Once they entered the bridge of the ship, Link saw a Yabba man with a full, white beard. He was sitting on a levitating wheelchair. This was obviously Lord Franklin.
When he saw Link, he respectfully greeted Link before resuming his original position. "Lord Link, as you can see, we are also in a difficult situation. Nonetheless, we will spare no effort to send reinforcements to support Orida Fortress. Shall we discuss the attack strategy?"
Link became serious. Although he had close personal relations with Elin, that was ultimately still a personal matter. Personal matters had to be put aside when talking about issues concerning their two races.
Under such circumstances, it was already a great sign that the Yabbas did not hesitate to agree to reinforce Orida Fortress. However, it was still important to work out the details of the command structure. Not only did they have to work out the chain of command, but they also had to negotiate how they would split the spoils of war and other issues.
Link was essentially representing the whole of the Norton Kingdom. He grabbed a chair and was prepared to begin negotiations when suddenly, an officer pointed to Lariel City and shouted, "Look out! Something's wrong with the magic net!"