Soldiers retreated quickly like an ebbing wave bringing the fight towards an underground building. The Snowdrifts and the Frontline troopers led by Esley fought tooth and nail to stop them in attempt to weaken the enemy as much as possible.
Their bunker is made of thick slabs of metal and covered with a glutinous gel that prevents elemental damages. There are expensive self-repairing talismans that covered every inch of the construction, making it a nightmare to destroy, and there are reserves of ores to keep them activated for years, enough time to starve off any intruders.
It’s no secret that in this structure, food is grown at the basements, mainly mushrooms but there are also worms and other unsavoury food sources that did not need the light of day to grow. The grub might be nothing to write home about, but at least keeping a million soldiers alive wouldn’t be a problem. Not only that, but cultivators can also draw water from the ambient Heavenly Energies. With so many powerful practitioners in one place, even farming will not be an issue.
Once they successfully retreated, the million strong Ku Kang soldiers will regain their advantage as though the infiltration never happened before. As long as they keep huddled up, the Saint Empire forces will quickly face a logistic nightmare. Pinned down by snow for miles on end and reinforcements from the Frosthral Feudal State disrupting their supply chain, whatever ration the Saint Empire army brought with them in their Time-space rings wouldn’t last them till victory.
Furthermore, the enemy outnumber them two to one. Once the Saint Empire soldiers lose momentum on the defences and fighting spirit dampened by the weather, the tides of battle will turn once more.
Yet, trying to stop so many from retreating is like trying to hold back a river using cups.
Everyone knows that the only path to victory will be to kill the White Emperor.
At this moment, Reynold Lambert Siegmund, supreme commander of the Ku Kang Camp and the absolute authority in this place is running.
Surrounded by his trusted men, they had been pushing towards the safety of their bunker. The White Emperor’s fury had reached its peak. This entire battle had been a flop and they had been forced into this corner in mere days. It is a disgrace on his records, and history will no doubt laugh at his failure.
However, if he gets to the bunker, then victory will still be theirs. It is laughable that the enemy sent a group of teens to try and stop his way, thinking that he would stop to fight for his honour.
Even if it is insulting to be fleeing from children, it will only be worse if he let himself tarry and lose the whole camp.
They were naïve to think he could be goaded. Reynold smirked and then did what he believe is the opposite of the enemy wants, “Sound the alarm, Code Yellow! Let the soldiers buy us some time.”
With their camp overran with enemies, it will be bad if it wasn’t just teens that are chasing him, but the likes of Great Generals Diao Ling, or the enemy Supreme Commander, Esley Restrio himself.
Granted, he had the confidence to face all of them together without being defeated, but getting to the bunker afterwards will become impossible.
A bright yellow flare shot up into the skies and exploded into a resounding blast, the Frosthral’s warning signal. Depending on the situation, when activated patrols are to search for intruders while prioritising safety or in a war soldiers are to engage with caution and restrain enemy movements.
Reynold and his guards were at the commander tent near the destroyed sleeping quarters when they found the intruders. After failing to kill Sihala, the White Emperor were attacked almost immediately by assassins.
Just taking a look at their youthful eyes, he could tell that they are teenagers. Although cultivators could retain their youth despite being aged, the eyes are easy tell-tale signs of a person’s true age.
While he immediately headed north to their armoured bunker, these foolish kids continued to hound him despite he was benevolent enough to let them off the first time.
It will take him a good half an hour journey to transverse through the camp to reach his destination. As a Peak Triple S Ranker, he can also take to the air, but such an amateurish idea never passed his mind. The moment he flies up, he will lose his cover and every assassin will converge on his location.
A hundred warriors protected him as they ran past the destroyed quarters in an orderly fashion.
When they turn into the infirmary, a terrifying calm grasped at their hearts and these soldiers that were in full alert fell into a tranquil bliss and let down their guard.
The daggers came then.
Special Unit Commander Alucard, General Lan lei, Assassin Master Lee Hei, Weapon Master Gigas Sermont, Formation Master Lucas Flare, Combat Master Watts Yournae, along with a few others suddenly came out from the shadows and struck.
More daggers rained from above, as Saboteur Leader Jim sprung his ambush together with Archer Leader Edward providing arrow support.
A dozen fell and half of them were wounded before the White Emperor could react.
There are few things more dangerous on a battlefield than relaxing in a fight. It is implausible for experienced soldiers to make such mistakes or so easily become ensnared by illusion stratagems. Then, the only logical cause must be poison.
What intoxicated these soldiers are a concentrated dose of narcotics, often used for recreation by rich nobles. When Kairos and his brothers joined the ranks of nobility, they were also approached by merchants selling these goods. At that time, the five of them purchased substantial amounts.
As apprentices to the herbalist Helena, they know that such herbs and mushrooms are restricted, but more importantly, they are items with incredible efficiency. Unlike invasive toxins, few would detect that they had been hit with the narcotics.
“Despicable! You dare show your impudence before me?”
*YAH!*
The White Emperor roared furiously. An earthshaking sound blast knocked over his soldiers.
The hallucinatory fumes were dispersed by a single breath and his men were aroused from their trance by the frightening force. They quickly circulated their Ki through their body to expel the drugs but by now, there are already no assassins in the empty halls of the infirmary. No matter did they hit anything, the attackers immediately retreated after striking. Reynold’s temper instantly shot through the roof and kept going into space. The veins on his forehead popped out violently. Then…
*YAAAAH!*
Blood spurted out from his head and an incredible pain caused even him to cry out. The vitality of a peak practitioner is incredible, making a bloody haze from a fit of anger. Fortunately, a cultivator wouldn’t die so easily.
They haven’t yet crossed blades but already almost killed him with a busted blood vessel.
Ignoring the blood on his face and the throbbing pain on his forehead, the White Emperor gathered his remaining men and head towards the smithy that is in the direction of the bunker. They stepped over the bodies of their fallen soldiers as if they were mere pebbles on the gravel floor.
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Reynold has ten thousand well-trained personal guards, each picked from the best in the army. Of them all, he personally picked out the top hundred that will accompany him and sent the rest to secure his escape route.
“Useless fools! This is how they protect their supreme commander?”
The rest of his personal guards are supposed to clear the way and stop the pursuers.
Losing even one of the hundred is a tremendous loss, but of course this pain is limited to having one’s toy destroyed.
When they arrive at the forge, a snarky voice welcomed them, “What a hot temper the White Emperor has. You should go for some anger management courses. It will help you, you know?”
Reynold turned towards the sound of the voice and immediately saw Jim Hope, the person who killed the most of his hundred best guards with flying daggers.
“Insolent little rat!” he hissed.
“The only ones I see here are you street rats hiding and fleeing towards your little hole in the ground,” Tommy remarked.
“Incidentally, your soldiers are quite untrained aren’t they? They had been fleeing faster than you, leaving their dear commander behind,” Edward went for the kill.
Reynold could feel his blood pressure shoot through the roof and barked, “LIES!”
Kairos smiled, knowing fully that a good commander can fully trust his subordinates and it’s no wonder that the White Emperor did not believe them. The other party still wanted to say something when he suddenly waved his hand and an image of Reynold appeared facing the real person. This is the Shadow Clone technique from the thieves’ guild that Kairos remodelled. With something like that, it’s not difficult to guess why the personal guards abandoned their supreme commander.
“Insolent little rat!” the hologram said in the exact same voice and manner.
“L… lord commander?” a guard asked weakly, as if to seek confirmation. The image is so perfectly realistic, for a moment no one could tell the real from the fake.
“YAH?!” another image appeared summoned by Tommy and answered the guard.
This time everyone flinched including Reynold, and a pace later his images looked at him carefully then copied. It was fake as hell and immediately Reynold flushed red.
“How dare you!” the real thing roared.
His copies flushed red like him as well. All three of them had a bloodied forehead and new veins popping out and they shouted in mimic, “How dare you!”
The exactness made the guards suppress an urge to clap.
Another fake appeared, this time summoned by Edward asking in the tone of an inner angel, “Are you sure you want to be so angry right now? You’re going to be falling over from blood loss anytime, lord commander.”
“YAH!!” Tommy’s conjured image insisted with another scream. Each ‘Yah’ was a deadly accurate depiction as how the White Emperor screams.
A fourth fake summoned by Jim asked, “Are you wearing very tight underwear?”
“YAH!”
“I see, I see. No wonder you keep screaming. It happened to me before too,” said Jim’s controlled imitation Reynold, who then started grabbing and tugging something in the image’s pants, “If you shift it this way it should feel better.”
“YAHH!!” a scream of pain.
“Wrong way perhaps, try shifting it the other side.”
“YAAAHH!”
“Maybe this way?”
“Yaaaah!”
“Who suggested to you to wear such small undies… did you think it will make it look bigger if you wore something tight fitting?”
“YAH!”
“YOU LIE!” the real Reynold roared.
“Don’t fool around,” Kairos’ shadow image chided, “the White Emperor only screams that way because of his haemorrhoids.”
“How dare you! I am not small, and I don’t have haemorrhoids!” this is the first time the White Emperor had been so thoroughly insulted.
Edward immediately rebuked, “We can copy your image, so you can’t hide your haemorrhoids from us.”
“Shut up!”
“Haemorrhoids,” Tommy nodded acknowledging it.
“I will kill all of you!”
Jim laughed, “Many had said that before dying themselves. Is it your turn now?”
“YAAAAH!!”
This time, it is the supreme commander who screamed. It’s hard to hold down one’s anger before these four and harder to kick one’s habit.
“I see, I see. It’s good being honest!” Tommy nodded.
The White Emperor suddenly cooled down. He looked at them coldly and said in a deathly whisper, “Do not think I am oblivious that you are buying time. But, so am I!”
The forges are linked with an armoury to store armour, weapons, and parts. To protect these two high-value structures, there are a couple of defences. Some are activated when an unauthorised person tries to enter or sabotage their equipment, which unfortunately did not stop the well-disguised Snowdrifts saboteurs this time.
Other defences are activated according to the master control seal, a runic key that only certain army officers would know.
Reynold had taken command of both the forge and armoury while the boys were busy goading him. With all the barriers and stratagems under his control, his way is cleared and whatever the enemy prepared will only become a joke.
Without the rest of his personal guards, the White Emperor had to look for the fastest alternative before more enemies could surround him.
The four boys discarded their playful mood and dismissed the shadow clones at once.
“I had hoped we could gain a little more time... but I guess this is it.”
“Boss shall we spring our traps?”
“Might as well.”
Jim: “I’ll go first. Wind Art: Wind Chains!”
The air stilled so completely that everyone felt that they were trapped in a mud pool. Moving their hands and feet became a difficult task.
Edward: “Frost Art: Broken World!”
The atmosphere turned cool so rapidly that it started snowing. The forge fires that never ceased in times of war were instantly frozen. Even the flames themselves were turned into ice crystals.
Tommy: “Metal Art: Blade Storm!”
A bunch of metal scraps flew out of Tommy’s Time-space ring at high speed as if shot by a cannon. Those sharp metal parts shredded flesh but bounced off armour. As they reached the other end of the room, instead of embedding into the floor and walls, the metal rebounded again and shot towards Reynold and his guards again.
Kairos: “Lightning Art: Heavenly Judgement!”
Dark clouds gather with whipping winds and a frightening oppressiveness in the room. Flashes of lightning and booming thunder turned even the veteran commander pale.
All the different attacks previously are nothing compared to what the White Emperor felt right now.
“This presence… No doubt about it, this is Heavenly Lightning!”
Heavenly Lightning Tribulation is a process where a mortal sheds its former shell and takes on an immortal body. For Peak Triple S rankers that are just a step away, this feeling is something almost intrinsic to their being, and they both crave and is frightened by it.
It is supposed to be impossible to harness such powers!
However, now isn’t the time for thoughts to derail. The moment the boys attacked, Reynold commanded the different layers of protection in this place to kick in.
Countless weapons flew towards Kairos and the boys. Armours, gauntlets, arm guards, plated greaves, tried to assemble and surround the White Emperor protectively.
However, the moment these items exited the armoury and entered the forge, they slow down to a halt. The Frost Art: Broken World sapped away all objects in motion within its boundary.
While the White Emperor was busy manipulating the defensive layers, the guards realised that despite their movements are inhibited they can still attack, but the moment their techniques came near to the four boys, the projectiles froze in mid-air.
To use a freezing boundary skill like the Broken World on the White Emperor who received his title because of his mastery over the frost elements, Edward isn’t foolish enough to waste his energy like this. He had set a boundary around the room instead to protect the four of them and prevent anything from entering the room. Jim’s Wind Art: Wind Chains is enough to slow down their targets.
The armoury’s barriers began to form around Reynold and his soldiers, protecting them from the metal scraps that are somehow accelerating.
While this is happening, the thundering above them are becoming louder by the second.
The White Emperor is visibly panicking. The traditional Heavenly Lightning Tribulation forbids the use of any stratagems or protective items of power. One can only face their tribulation with their own body to fully receive the transformation needed to transcend their mortality.
Because of that, no one really dared to jeopardise the process with external help, and those that accidentally did or just wanted to stay in the mortal realm were either dead or maimed.
The Heavenly Lightning ignores the rules of physics and appears or disappears as it pleases. Not only does external help does nothing, the properties of the lightning itself seemed to be provoked into a purely destructive force. At least, those who survived a blotched tribulation never displayed any form of metamorphosis as they should.
This means that the Heavenly Lightning that could aid a person can also destroy the person.
With a loud rumbling roar and a blinding flash, the gathered lightning blasted downwards in a gigantic bolt.
“HNGHHH!”
With both arms pushing up in the air, he fought the heavenly power with all his might. His long silvery hair blackened and charred, his shiny meteorite armour singed and soot covered his face.
The guards were dropping like flies, but Reynold realised to his delight that the power of the Heavenly Lightning is merely at one Paramount Unit, the starting level of a Peak SSS ranker.
While the energy is extremely pure and compressed, it is still something he could deal with. Just like steel and feathers, while the former is denser, if both are a kilogram then they are still equal in weight.
After most of his guards are wiping the floor, the Heavenly Lightning is already weakened to half a Paramount Unit. Even if this energy is fundamentally beyond his understanding, he managed to diffuse it using brute force.
The lightning fizzled out. Soldiers laid about the room unmoving.
A single warrior in scorched armour knelt in the middle.
The four boys are already gone, no doubt waiting for him in the next room, the training hall.
“This much elemental energy… to be able to call even the Heavenly Lightning. All of these boys are spirit contractors?”