Appearing right beside Sebastian, Willard turned to look at the faces of the warriors behind him. Unconsciously, he couldn't help but sigh in disappointment as he noticed nothing but fright in their eyes. “There is no use is waiting right here.” Willard slowly said to Sebastian. “The walls and gates were superficially built, they cannot withstand an enemy attack.”

Sebastian stared at Willard with disappointed written all over his face. Sebastian  knew Willard was telling the truth as he remembered his father saying the same exact words to him when he was younger. “What do you suggest we do? They outnumber us about a hundred to one.”

“Well, they don't have me,” Willard responded with a little smile. Over and over, Sebastian had been surprised with the level of confidence Willard had always shown. He looked at the young man before him with curious and gratified eyes.

“I will follow whatever decision you make,” Willard said moving his gaze forward.

Sebastian thought hard and well about his options. Right now he was the defacto leader of his house, so he knew there was no one but himself to shoulder this burden. “Kaban, you along with a fifty of our top archers and twenty of our top warriors and mages will head out with Willard to intercept our enemies. Remember this is not a war that must be won at the moment. All you need to do is slow them down until the forces of the Marquis comes to our rescue.” Kaban was a tall well-built warrior with gray hair. Although his hair was gray, one could tell that he was still young and in his late thirties. Kaban was one of the highest ranking warriors that served the Gerret house. He was a level 7 elemental energy warrior and one that had spent a long time serving the Gerret house.

“Willard remember this is not a fight to the death. Better to return alive than to die while fighting.”

Willard nodded in response to Sebastian's comments. Willard thought of the many memories of fighting in wars throughout the nine heavens. Then he thought back to Sebastian's words ‘Better to return alive than to die fighting’; these were words no one had to remind him of. There was nothing more important than surviving each battle. He accessed the difference in power and knew when to withdraw or struggle to the end. That was the only way he could learn and grow.

Kaban quickly led the group of archers and warriors and proceeded to ride to a favorable position for an ambush. Willard stood watching them as they rode out, all the hopes and faith of the remaining warriors were on them. Without making a single sound, Willard took a single step that mysteriously seemed like he had teleported to a couple tens of feet forward. With each step he took the distance seemed to increase exponentially. Everyone watching this couldn't help but sigh in praises.

Willard's movement technique had drastically improved from what it had originally been in the past. With each increase in elemental energy so were his improvements more noticeably pronounced. If Willard were capable of sensing and using the fire element like he did in his past life, the caliber of techniques he would have had at his disposal would have greatly surpassed what he was capable of doing at the moment.

It did not take long for Willard to catch up to Kaban and the rest, who had stopped riding at the moment. Kaban instructed the archers to take positions on top the various buildings surrounding the city square. After instructing them on their positions, Kaban began riding again with the warriors and mages. Riding a couple of minutes away from the city square Willard, Kaban and the rest could hear the heavy footsteps of the incoming Minya force.

“Quickly get ready. Start casting your spells.”  Kaban said to the four mages on their side. Immediately, the four mages clasped their hands. A faint variety of colors could be seen emanating from the mages, who were mumbling some words. “Sir Willard, it would be up to us to slow them down now,” Kaban said turning to look at Willard. At first, when Kaban had heard of the young genius Sebastian was trying to recruit, he had thought nothing of it. After all, not all genius end up fulfilling their potentials. After witnessing the martial prowess of Willard during the encounter with the Minya convoy, Kaban had a newfound respect for Willard. He was certain this time around, that the young genius beside him was the real deal.

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“It's time,” Willard said as his gaze was fixed on the army appearing before them. Kaban had chosen to wait just at the south entrance to the city square because of its smaller space. That way, they won't be immediately overwhelmed by the share number of their foes. They could at the least buy some time with the aid of the hidden archers.

Noticing the presence of the small Gerret team in front of them, the Minya forces came to a halt. “Interesting. They already detected our movements.” Ducart Minya said talking to Allada by his side. “Inconsequential. The last bark from a dying dog. They are probably trying to buy time to escape or wait for the Marquis.” Allada responded.

Ducart laughing responded with a nod. “Send out a small team to wipe them out.”

Allada rode to the front of the army with several warriors behind. “He is here,” Allada said to himself surprisingly as he noticed Willard among the warriors. “Wipe them out. Be careful of that one.” Allada said pointing to Willard.

The warriors all dashed towards Willard and the rest of the Gerret warriors. Standing at the back of Kaban, a mage finished his incantations with the word “Gather.” Suddenly, a bright white illuminated light seemed to surreptitiously gather around him. Almost instantaneously, the white light expanded and spread from his body as the origin point. The spell from the peak level 3 elemental energy mage had taken the incoming warriors by surprise, as it quickly robbed them of their vision. The warriors from the Gerret household took the opportunity to attack as their foes were temporarily blinded.

Kaban who was about to join the fray was stopped by Willard who grabbed his shoulder. Willard gestured for him to just watch what was happening. With the advantage their foes being temporarily blind, the Gerret warriors had gone all out on a wild assault. Of the twenty-something warriors from the Minya forces that had gone to attack, about six of them had survived.

This was the reason why mages were revered. Although most mages were seriously lacking on close combat prowess, their supportive ability was of the highest order. Just from this one spell, the mage had virtually rendered those warriors immobile. Although, this wouldn't have been the case if the warriors were prepared for the spell.

Those six that had survived were prime elemental energy users who had found some way to compensate for their lack of vision. As the white light died down and the Minya forces regained their vision, a strange smile erupted on Allada’s face. Calling for other warriors to join the six, Allada slowly walked forward. Without a second to waste, Allada released his gravity domain of the Gerret warriors.

Allada, who was currently a level 8 elemental energy warrior, had immediately constrained the Gerret warriors with his gravity domain. Another Gerret mage who was proficient with the earth element started mumbling some words. As someone who was familiar with the earth element, he knew how effective a gravitational domain could be on the battlefield. Within a couple of seconds, earth essence from the ground started flowing to all the Gerret warriors. This supportive spell did not directly counteract the domain, but instead it increased the strength of the warriors to a degree the earth domain was ineffective on them.

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Author's Note:

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Thanks,

~Devine_Exodus