The city of Stregate was quite reasonably sized for being in a lower realm, and given the signatures of lower energy coming from the cultivators inside it should have plentiful resources. The defensive formations were annoyingly sturdy given that they merely had use of lowly energy. None of that should have mattered, however, as they should have already been taken down from the inside. The local members of the Twin Soul Sect should have infiltrated every major sect, and if there were settlements of this size they would be expected to do the same.

Elder Shyam could remember when he had done the same himself, back during the previous cycle. He had been successful, though he’d given his life for it. The rewards had been worthwhile, of course. After he was reborn he was raised through the path of cultivation with many rewards, and had reached the Integration stage. He was fully suffused with upper energy and could use its devastating power as he pleased.

He had admit that he was a bit restricted by the lack of decent natural energy in the lower realms, but he was still above all of the residents. He merely had duties to fulfill propping up the younger generations. Though he couldn’t make use of most of the resources they would secure from this mission, he would be rewarded separately.

But the thin stores of natural energy irked him. Lowly energy was so inefficient, he could feel himself drying up. Slowly, but he had no time to sit around waiting. If the defensive formations did not run out of energy soon he would tear them apart himself.

The slightest bit of caution was merited given that another group of lower cultivators had shown up the previous night. They seemed indecisive in their determination to attack, or perhaps they were intending to sneak around for some sort of tactical advantage. Elder Shyam had not lost track of them, however. At their distance tens of kilometers away they wouldn’t be able to do anything, but they could begin closing the distance at any moment.

Elder Shyam only had a moment to sense a fluctuation of energy before a disciple of the Phoenix sect was struck by a beam of light. It was an arrow, and it directly struck a woman’s eye. Jagoda, if he remembered correctly. From the Phoenix sect.

Centuries of training didn’t fail him, and he formed a barrier to block subsequent attacks. Yet instead of impacting against his aura, arrows simply swerved to target other cultivators outside of his reach, striking down those who stood on the fringes. It didn’t make any sense. Sure, they had been standing rather carelessly with only the basic levels of defensive energy… but Jagoda had been at the peak of Essence Collection. It would have been one thing for her to be struck down by those at the peak of this world in a single blow, but the archer was only in early Life Transformation.

Several more disciples died or were injured before everyone strengthened their defenses. Elder Shyam sighed. He would hear about this later, regardless of it being the individual disciples’ carelessness. But that was later. Now was time for revenge. “After me!” Elder Shyam called out. He looked towards Elder Mazhar, of the Boundless Skies Sect. He and those with him would remain in position sieging the city.

Shyam began to charge towards the archer. He was aware that the rest of the army was there as well, so he kept his pace moderate. Enough for the Life Transformation members to keep up at least. They would be able to break apart the enemy ranks before the rest arrived.

A more powerful but practically leisurely arrow flew towards Shyam himself. That was a bit arrogant. He batted it away with his hand. Then he winced. It wasn’t painful, exactly… but tingly? Furthermore, he’d felt a wrenching of his energy. How was he so off balance? He, at least, had kept the opponents within his senses- there was no way he should have any difficulty blocking an attack from a mere early Life Transformation cultivator. Unless there was some trick to it.

Before he could finish that thought, his leg thorns pierced into his leg. The thin spikes penetrated through the textile armor he was wearing between the weave. Only a few of them, but it should have merely been an annoyance. Instead, he was bleeding. The plant was torn asunder a moment later as its grip on his leg tore it apart, but somehow it had pierced through his skin. Ridiculous. For the sake of efficiency he made note of the thorny vine. As for the arrows flying at him, he dodged them with grace and efficiency. It was better to not deal with them at all if blocking them produced unexpected effects.

Yet the arrows he dodged began to hit those behind him. Life Transformation cultivators who should have been able to withstand the attacks with ease were staggered, their defensive energy penetrated in a single blow. That was the limit of the attacks, and wounds were minimal- but Elder Shyam knew it shouldn’t have been so easy.

Then he ran face first into a dangling strand of ants. He had thought it was one of the other hanging vines in the area, and it hadn’t stood out as noteworthy. It should have been decimated upon contact, but instead… he had little bugs all down his front.

-----

Anton was glad that western creeper was just as effective on ascension energy as normal natural energy. He would have been happier if the thorns had pierced deep into the man’s muscles instead of being nearly superficial, but with only the man’s own momentum to sink them in it was impressive enough for a simple plant.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“How are things going over there?” Hoyt asked.

“Practical experience does wonders,” Anton commented. “My anti-ascension techniques are several times better than the beginning of the first battle. I knew we had all improved, but this magnitude…” Anton nodded. “This is what it’s really meant to be like, I imagine.”

“Good to know,” Hoyt nodded. “What about our allies?”

“Largely being ignored,” Anton said in reference to the ants. “At the very least, the enemies are still on the approach. They likely don’t understand the magnitude of our small friends.” Despite the ants being, well, ants, they were intelligent enough that their loss of life was best avoided. They were willing to fight and die on the orders of their queens, and for the sake of their homelands… but they weren’t willing to do it alone. Still, they were brave enough to position themselves along the way. It was practical, since they couldn’t move fast… but it still meant they were the first line of defense.

Soon enough the enemy’s front lines were within range for those not possessing Horizon Shot. The same was true in reverse, with arrows and conglomerations of energy being launched towards them as well. Anton switched tactics, maximizing his number of bows to shoot down the attacks so his allies could fight freely. A simple hit would unravel an attack on the way before it got to them. Those who weren’t ascension cultivators seemed to still have that type of energy inextricably tied to their effectiveness, and more so the higher their cultivation. In short, it narrowed the effects of increasing cultivation for their enemies.

The thorny vines and ants did little to slow the approaching forces, but it was better that they did not. When the enemy cultivators arrived, they were matched two or three to one. There were equivalent forces behind them, but they would not arrive for at least a few critical moments. Formations sprang into place as well, their components hidden among the natural trees and boulders in the surroundings. Nothing was as grand as what Catarina was capable of, but the previous best formation user among the Order- Elder Rana- was still present with them. Catarina, meanwhile, was bringing the soldiers to join with Stregate’s.

-----

Atop the walls of Stregate, Grant stood next to one of the contraptions he was most proud of. Sure, ballistae had existed for ages and were basically just big crossbows… but the scale of these particular specimens was greater. More importantly, the ammunition was relatively cheap but highly effective. It would take several cultivators to draw back the string and empower the bundles of smaller bolts with energy, but it allowed those who were not particularly skilled in ranged battle to participate.

In the distance Grant could feel a familiar presence. It was a bit vague and indistinct at that distance, but practically every resident of Windrip would recognize Anton’s energy. Much of Stregate, too. At least among the highest ranking cultivators. Grant had made it to mid Life Transformation since he ended up in Windrip, but despite his cultivation lacking slightly compared to… well, Anton, he felt he had grown as much as could be expected. His abilities as a smith had grown beyond what he could have ever expected was possible, pulling strength out of lesser materials and raising better materials to great heights.

The enemy forces had half split towards Anton, but when the second group seemed to be considering joining them Commander Alfons ordered the first volley. They had to fight eventually, and now seemed to be the optimum time.

Though they were positioned over a kilometer away, metal spikes tore through the lesser cultivators among the enemy. They weren’t precise, given how many were launched together, but they were accurate to the point that the siege engineers could target a specific region of the battlefield. They had ranged every position on the battlefield years before, and had kept up the condition of the instruments. Cultivators in Spirit Building and Essence Collection took out cultivators a step higher than themselves in the first volley. There were only around twenty ballistae on the correct side of the city, but a visible portion of the enemy forces went down. Cultivators hurriedly began to reload.

Then something strange happened. It wasn’t the enemy forced beginning to charge. That was absolutely expected and according to plan. No, it was a lone arrow streaking into the side of one of them. It was absolutely overkill for the early Essence Collection target. Then there was another, exactly the same- piercing into the side of a man already dead.

Regardless of the improbability of two stray arrows hitting the same point, Grant knew that with Anton there was no such thing to begin with. If an arrow went of course, it was either redirected- or dissolved. Yet clearly there was no tactical value to killing a single person. Grant’s arms worked hard as he helped arm his ballista. Was he being told something? What was it? It was Anton’s normal Spirit Arrow technique, combined with anti-ascension methods of course. Ah. That was it. Anton was always better than anyone else at those, but it was different now.

Grant focused on what he felt. Anton had mostly taught him the basics of using energy, though the man had always returned to Windrip as the core of his efforts to teach everyone to cultivate. With word of the invasion, everyone had devoted effort to learning the anti-ascension techniques. Grant now wished he had a few more years devoted solely to that task, but it was difficult to practice something without any real method of observing effectiveness. Cultivators who practiced that one technique… Fleeing Youth, he thought, were few and far between.

With a change in how he empowered his portion of the ammunition, Grant thought he saw some of them pierce straight through a Life Transformation cultivators. His eyes could have been fooling him, but the man was at least injured. It was a shame they probably wouldn’t be able to fire the ballistae at the approaching enemies more than a couple more times, but such was life. Every enemy they killed at a distance was one more the city didn’t have to face. Some had thought them excessive, but now Grant had wished he had the time and resources to make twice as many.