Retreat

Libli, who liked to calculate everything before she even took a single step, realized that she had been played. She couldn't quite grasp what ability had been used to string her along like this, but it didn't particularly matter right now. All she knew was that there was trouble.

Scanning the current state of the battlefield, all of her elite troops had been spread apart, as were Radlis'. On top of this, they were being pinned down by the elite troops that the twins had led forward earlier, making it difficult for them to regroup.

Libli had thought they all had the tacit understanding that this would be a battle of elites and had gotten complacent. After all, as much of a powerhouse as Crars was in this galaxy, their main ability came in their foundation and their numbers. But, if they were willingly tossing such an advantage away, she had been willing to gladly take such a benefit for herself.

However, Libli had forgotten one important piece of information.

Ousen had informed her of where the Rain, Umbra and Florer families had set up their bases. But, he had never said anything about where the Crars family had set up theirs. It was only now she understood that they had never set one up to begin with, from the very beginning, their only target had always been this second Lake Crossing. Belongs to (N)ôvel/Drama.Org.

"Regroup!"

Libli raised her enormous mechanical arm, pointing its massive fingers forward. Mechanisms on their tips opened up and shot out a rapid hail of bullets as she tried to cover for her people's retreat.

But, how could Dee and Dre allow such a thing? They had revealed their true cards at the perfect time and they would most definitely take advantage.

Right at that moment, the birds dove down from the skies. One would have thought that they would slow as they approached the water, but it was the exact opposite. They accelerated like speeding bullets, their feathers ripping from their bodies one after another.

However… If one looked closely, those very feathers turned into an odd inky energy as they fluttered away, sinking back into Dre's body.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

The birds, without a care for their lives, crashed full speed into the waters below. At that moment, an inky blackness was cast over all of their visions, making it impossible to see what was happening. Before Libli could even regain her bearings as the water beneath her rose and fell like tides, her bronze armor jumped into action on its own, blocking a strike to her left.

Libli's gaze narrowed. Her armor only acted without her expressed command under very few situations. She realized then that her life was truly in danger.

The inky blackness dispersed, revealing the state of the battlefield once more. But now, Libli found herself surrounded from all sides. With the Crars having claimed the very center of the battlefield, it had suddenly become impossible for any regrouping to take place.

Under normal circumstances, this would have been a terrible move to make as it essentially forced the Crars to be pincered from all sides. However, with so few people being on the battlefield to begin with an many birds still hanging in the skies with hundreds more attackers, it felt like the perfect action for this given situation.

Libli immediately found herself embroiled in battle. For the first time in her life, she actually regretted not bringing that massive meat head somewhere. However, she had had no choice but to leave her husband-to-be back at their base so that there would be someone there to defend should Earth send a pre-emptive attack.

'We need to retreat… It seems we'll really have to give up this location. If they build an entire base of that spider silk, it'll be difficult to take this back without at least a few thousand troops. But even then..'

Libli's mind spun as she thought. The bare minimum requirement for attacking this second Lake Crossing once the Crars had established themselves would be an antidote for this nerve numbing poison that was slowly accumulating in the air. Not everyone of the Radix family had good enough crafting skill to block this poison like she did. And, the Umbra family was known for their immunity to such things and Libli truly didn't want to let them have the upper hand.

'Dammit.'

"RETREAT! NO SEQUENCE!"

Libli's mask projected her voice over the battlefield. Her words told her men to use whatever means to escape they had. Without a sequence allowed them to scatter.

Dre and Dee, who were still in the skies, smirked when they saw the attempted retreat. They acted in unison fitting themselves into all sort of twinning stereotypes.

"Fire at will." Dre said lightly.

Those who remained on the backs of the birds weren't just anyone, they were the best marksmen the Crars Empire had to offer. They weren't fearful of being pincered because they simply had the best cover imaginable. They had essentially started an air fight on a group of people who were clearly not ready for one.

Radlis' gaze narrowed. When it came to escape, his people were probably the best. But, it was difficult when they were forced to engage in battle like this. They needed both time and space to vanish like they usually did. And, unfortunately, the sun was still too high in the sky to lower the requirements.

The marksmen above began to target the escaping Radix family members together. If one wasn't enough, three or four volleys were often sent. The casualties began to slowly increase.

It was right then that the situation on the battlefield changed once again.

"Dre."

Dre subconsciously looked in a certain direction, his gaze narrowing when he saw an array of Speed Boats racing down the river. In fact, much like the clergymen, he almost hadn't noticed them at all.

"Shoot them do—"

Dre hadn't even finished his commands when a beam of golden light tore through the skies, ripping through the throat of his bird.

In the distance, still just over two kilometers away, Leonel frowned, holding his sniper rifle in his hand.

'The birds aren't real…? In that case, let's do this.'

Dre and Dee fell from the skies, an inky blackness hanging around them. Unfortunately for them, Leonel had already locked on.