The Forbloffende Traes Sect's Solid Foothold

Months passed after the territories were repelled, and the Sect bases became peaceful. They had ample time to prepare and rethink their current strategies. Especially the array formations. Their placement and surprise element was meaningless after the enemy managed to break down a few outer protective array formations outside the bases' walls. For a while, after repairs and adjustments to the bases' defenses, peace remained as there were fewer and fewer who ignorantly walked near the blockades.

Yet another situation arose for the territories, coming from the forest people, towards an even more hostile attitude and disagreement between them. The forest people didn’t take long to spread word that not even lonely, knowns from the Forbloffende Traes Sect, even family members of a Core Disciple, could cross through the blockade.

Although this made many feel like it made sense, especially because few were Core Disciples’ family, it also made them feel more anxious. How many of them wanted to go directly to the Sect and grace it with their presence? Merely by joining the Sect?

With those pieces of news flying and spreading like wildfire, the forest people might have not been affected, but they didn’t wish to be cornered and basically shackled like this. Thus, with this notion, and the victory the Forbloffende Traes Sect had over the territories, the forest people demanded the latter to amend the situation.

It wasn’t problematic at first. The territories still believed in their influence over the forest people. They wanted to let it be, let them vent like animals, and then continued with their plans of obtaining the Sect’s Art amidst the incoming battles.

However, the situation became more and more tense as the forest people received more and more delayed news from their family members in the Forbloffende Traes Sect and shared it between each other. The forest people were fewer and fewer in the Sect compared to the southerners, who enthusiastically trained so they could complete the year and go to battle with their senior comrades.

It didn’t mean much, but for a prideful people which might not be warriors yet never surrendered to an enemy, it was a blow to their previous lifestyle. Before, they always had the Forbloffende Traes Sect for nearly all of their people. The tradition of going there for years until being accepted became pride that was celebrated with warmth and — or elation.

But now, they would have to travel for nearly 6 months if they wanted to get to the testing grounds without meeting the blockade. The southern entrance wasn’t off limits, but the north had a difficult position to travel to the inner territory’s southern entrance.

As time continued flowing, and the acceptance letters of some of the forest people reached the forests, half a year would have already passed. This wasn’t a Region with complicated travel from one extreme to another. They were even just a few weeks away at most from the Forbloffende Traes Sect.

Their dissatisfaction began to grow. It was the forest people’s civilians who raised their voice first, wanting the territories to do good. As it became more and more powerful, unstoppable; the forest people’s leading figures finally spoke for them, really bringing attention from the territories.

It was a terrible situation for the 5 territories. They hadn’t even begun a proper method to bring those forest people to their side when the drift between them only widened as time went. Now, it was specifically because of the Forbloffende Traes Sect’s doings.

They were no saints. After seeing the situation the forest people were creating, they turned their heads to the Sect bases and its inner territory, where the Sect was protected by 2 Second Step Fauna. A decision was made.

. . .

8 months and 2 weeks after the Forbloffende Traes Sect’s victory. 645th year and 2nd month’s 2nd week of the Change.

More than 200,000 soldier units were spread throughout the western bases. In between and below the bases, tunnels were dug towards the Sect inner territory, which had to be prepared beforehand to add decorations like grass, branches, and even leaves. As the soldier units atop the walls went sightseeing the west as the sun was setting, eating a few snacks and passing their break time chatting, happenings took place.

“Did you hear? Once this is over, we’ll start making our babies.” A Human with short hair said, eating some fruit similar to a papaya. A tall Demon embarrassingly smiled and threw his soles at the human’s shins. “Wohoho! Don’t say it like that. It’s vehicles— or war instruments otherwise.”

“That thing,” the Human said, eating more of his fruit. The Demon nodded, eating raw flesh from his left hand and feral nails, “Yeah, I heard about that. I’m itching to know how to build them. But did you see that? We got many Outer and inner Disciples as soldier units. It’s like we’re getting old and surpassed by the younger generation, no? Huh. So this is how it feels like. I never imagined I’d say that before becoming an Acting Elder, at least.”

“You’re a forger. How does it feel knowing you’re getting promoted and even exempted from taxes soon?” The Human asked, looking at his comrade with a casual expression. The Demon proudly grinned and was about to answer when their medallions heated up.

“Ah, shit!” They hurriedly stood up and rushed down the wall, floating to the ground before joining a few hundred others to form before their respective Majors. Once they were aligned and briefed by their officials, they stood in attention before their Lieutenant Colonel.

“Attention,” the Lieutenant Colonel was an orange-haired Human. He gained their attention with just that word before beginning, “The enemy is returning here again. Our engineers caught this information just a few days ago. They were careful to move amidst the forests and the people, but they don’t plan to attack us like before, not again.”

“This time, they’ve brought some second-hand vehicles made during this recess to protect their troops from array formations, especially those with trapping array formations with killing array formations hidden within. This is only regarding their new toys. We also have news about them having firearms. They will also most likely use their elite troops overall.”

“They haven’t seen the full extent of our soldier units, only a bit of it. Now is not the time to wait and see. We’ll do as always before retreating to our bases. None of these Companies in my base will go back to the Sect without feeling proud!” The Lieutenant Colonel finished with a few morale-boosting words.

“Hua, hua, huaaa!!” The thousands of soldier units raised their arms, Mortal weapons, and clamored to their highest official before moving to their positions. They put their resplendent black armor on above their magnificent black clothing before a small Company headed outside.

They left the base as the other soldier units watched their backs with slight envy before focusing their focus outside the base. There, they could already see figures moving amidst the trees several tens of kilometers away. Their hearts eased while their blood slightly boiled.

… The Sect troops became alarmed again. Their bases got to heavy work, with the engineers and cultivators were working together as they caught messages between the enemy lines. Confirming if they were fake or authentic, the troops outside the western bases got ready, while the eastern bases prepared for the upcoming battles.

The enemy appeared various hours later, when the night was as dark as it could get, and the morning wouldn’t take longer than a couple of hours to make its presence become noticed. As both sides looked at each other, they didn’t talk and merely exchanged glances with the other side.

This time, seeing soldier units atop the bases’ walls made the enemy fall slightly apprehensive. What they thought would be a simpler fight than in the east became a much more complicated pre-battle, which the enemy commanders did their best to soothe.

Once the enemy side was calmed, with an order from their side, their troops clamored a little before marching towards the bases. This time, there were slightly more enemy troops overall, from the east to the west, with the 2 bases at the extremities of each blockade focused with a million soldier units moving into a pincer tactic from the north and south.

The rest of the bases were like trapped in a hot room with their sides and corners brushing them with fresh, comforting air while the rest was melting. Although they had a much lesser load moving against them, they were still better off than the bases on each extreme.

When the battle started, it began at the center, where both blockade lines had the strongest defense. A few minutes later, the rest of the blockades’ lines suffered heavy barraging from outside the bases.

The eastern bases didn’t suffer much, as their still hidden but not so much array formations were spread and well protected. Their cores remained intact and weren’t erroneously triggered by any enemy energy bouts. The western bases, on the other hand, watched their protective barriers outside the first line of defense getting damaged one after the other.

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However, it didn’t matter which side it was, the damage they received was nearly null. Even Second Step organizations struggled to break apart light green barriers, which were the low protective array formations, with second-hand equipment and just energy bouts. Let alone First Step cultivators who didn’t have improvised artillery and explosives.

After a couple of hours with the first lights of the early morning welcoming the battles of the Vrida Region and the rest of the Authoritarian Summit Divine Kingdom. The enemy ceased barraging the array formations and charged with their troops.

They were well organized and prepared to fight the Sect members. The Forbloffende Traes Sect was studied as much as possible. Their methods were studied, too, along with their defenses. Now that several months passed, and the enemy became ready, nothing stopped them from employing their new strategies from what they’ve learned.

Hundreds of thousands of enemy troops charged from the north, with more of the same from the south. The enemy had stationed half their coalition armies’ troops on the southern territory, leaving the Sect helpless to do anything to stop it. Now, the bases were under heavy attack as they were besieged by the territories’ forces.

However, the soldier units hadn’t changed since the enemy last saw them. Even though they weren’t hidden, and the enemy charged at their vanguard with their second-hand vehicles rushing into the gaps. A few soldier units punching, kicking, and slamming against them was all what’s needed to stop them and disastrously kill the people inside them.

The mere inertia response ended their lives, even though some were Spirit Gathering realm and Conflagrate realm cultivators. Fortunately, the enemy didn’t have enough time to respond to this surprise, seemingly helpless and weak attack. As their vehicles’ strategy was thwarted, they couldn’t see well from the distance, so more second-hand vehicles poured in.

It was only after the whole armies neared the bases that they noticed those vehicles were being simply punched, kicked, and slammed to a stop. They became horrendously surprised. The Sect’s soldier units were indeed stronger in bodily strength, but have their capabilities always been this perverse?

Even if it required half a dozen of them to stop a vehicle going at 150 km/h, it shouldn’t be that easy with just a few thousand kilograms of bodily strength. They didn’t have the Second Step crystallized armor, how could they endure such a blow?

Nevertheless, as most of the second-hand vehicles were destroyed, they were moved by the same soldier units, keeping them from the other enemy incoming troops’ sight so they wouldn’t sense something amiss. Of course, now that they were spotted, it was meaningless.

The engineers in charge communicated through the medallion after notifying the highest official. Then, the soldier units took a defensive position as the well-prepared enemy marched into the gapes with furious and resenting gazes.

The majority understood what happened to their comrades, as they used medallions, too. Why wouldn’t they? They were furious at the Forbloffende Traes Sect for such acts. But what could they do? They were also the ones forming a 14 organization coalition to deal with a full-fledged organization. Nothing made fucking sense.

However, a not so small but still smaller portion of the enemy troops were resenting as they looked at the soldier units. The latter couldn’t know why exactly the former was like this, but they could guess, and they weren’t wrong. Those who resented the Sect members were those who failed to enter it after numerous years, that was doubtless.

Nevertheless, the battles to take the bases in the west had commenced, welcoming the core of their intensity. Thousands entered the still standing, solid light green barriers. But they were massacred by the soldier units. Meanwhile, in the east, the situation was similar, but not as domineering from the Sect’s part.

The enemy second-hand vehicles made it into the few hundred meters before reaching the walls of the base. They then began falling into trapping gravity array formations. They couldn’t react and became flattened minced meat after they were furiously thinned out when passing through them. Some stopped when impacted, but chains hidden around those array formations with hooks at their end pulled them away to welcome the new victims.

Like this, more passively and with less momentum and pace, the eastern bases initiated their battles against the 14 territories. Their tools and devices were resupplied. Their array formations became more intricate, although they were more or less exposed to the naked eye. They were more numerous and had an enhanced potency that the enemy couldn’t discover.

If they could inspect these peak First Step array formations, they could easily disarrange them in a few quarters of an hour. But during battle, anyone trying to study their inscriptions to do so were heavily targeted. The enemy learned the hard way.

Furthermore, whenever the enemy tried forcibly breaking them apart, they would receive backlash equal to their attacks. Even those who witnessed this beforehand and thought they were prepared still went out of combat for 10 minutes or so. The situation was only becoming more confusing and disadvantageous in the enemy’s eyes.

Naturally, they weren’t aware that the eastern bases had also formed tunnels, but not for the same sake as in the western bases. Under the array formations, and about 50 kilometers around each base, a group of enhancing array formations constantly empowered the array formations surrounding each base’s immediate surroundings.

They were 500 meters deep, more than enough to even fool a Broken Crystallization realm cultivator unless they had peak First Step array formations’ achievement. Thus, while the enemy fought, and some array formations disappeared, they didn’t know they were being re-energized by those enhancing array formations.

Like this, both sides had their battles, facing a battle that extended to the next day and the next.

… Although the enemy was several millions strong this time, and they had many things to play with the Forbloffende Traes Sect, they were still not a top-notch arsenal. They couldn’t compare. The enemy’s offensive power was minimal, while the Sect bases had months to prepare and resupply themselves from the Sect.

It was a conflict involving the Sect, why wouldn’t it spare no effort to arm its members? The Sect didn’t even hire mercenaries, using only its Servants and Disciples. Besides, they had no armament, and everything they were using came from their collected resources.

The Forbloffende Traes Sect could have never felt so familiar and bonded to the things they’ve been collecting than during these months. They were like long-lost siblings, parted since birth.

Thus, the battles extended for 6 days straight before the enemy retreated. Once again, although they managed to come close enough and penetrated nearly all outer light green barriers, they only injured a few Outer Disciples atop the walls. On the other hand, the 14 organization coalition lost half a million troops overall during the battles.

When the enemy retreated, feeling like they had done their best and could now return and lie on bed or the ground until new notice, the bases opened all their gates and rushed towards the enemy's rear. While the enemy commanders were amidst deciding if to turn back or not, every soldier unit in the west rushed out, even those who recently fought and were exhausted. They weren’t slower or stepped heavier than the rest.

This time, though, even the auxiliary units came out. Their bodies were encompassed by their imposing black armor as they quickly caught up with the enemy, albeit slightly later than in the west. When the enemy finally wanted to turn back and kill the Sect members, they realized their numbers were falling far too fast.

The coalition armies went into disarray. Promptly, as the Sect members massacred them, the commanders gritted their teeth and admonished their very own orders just now to turn around, although not everyone had given such orders. Then, they led the massive retreat to the north or south as they fled far from the forests and their territories until the Sect members no longer chased them.

When they realized how tired the Forbloffende Traes Sect must be after chasing them for half a day and turned around, they saw the troops leaving on flying tools towards the bases. Helpless, dispirited, and with such low morale that they could drop dead any second, the coalition armies moved their feet. Their energy had been wasted too much. Any more and they might lose consciousness. But they still had to return to their organizations. They weren’t safe in other territories, or in their own.

Like this, the second victory spread throughout the Vrida Region. The civilians were astounded, finally recognizing the Forbloffende Traes Sect as a powerful, mighty First Step hegemon that could contend in the future for a seat in the Region, or the seat above all others.

Anything was possible now that they’ve shown the Forbloffende Traes Sect’s worth. Of course, the main theme which the defeated territories’ troops spread throughout the Region in a matter of weeks was the Sect’s true soldier units. Were they that powerful? Secret Art? How…?

In a jiffy, a few months after the Forbloffende Traes Sect increased their fame throughout the Vrida Region, while the south became practically under the Sect’s rule. It had gained such mysterious popularity that the number of people coming in sometimes increased, bringing from double to 10 times larger the amount of daily recruits into the Sect.

However, the enemy wouldn’t just surrender. Although they wanted to have another go at the bases, especially after their troops revealed too much information about them, they couldn’t. The heaviness their troops returned with to their organizations was too much. Those who survived didn’t really trust their leading figures that much anymore.

Although not many died from just one or a few organizations, hearing how the war went made the other fellow members feel like this was a big boss and not just another organization forming bad connections and going against them. They also started distrusting their leading figures a little…

Thus, with such results, and the forest people still dissatisfied towards them, the 14 organizations had no choice but to wait and wait. They needed time to calm things and for their members to recuperate their spirit.

As such, 3 years passed. During those years, the Sect’s old and newest, but trained, members joined the bases and created a wider area where encampments formed the second stage of their venation tactic.

Before, the bases formed a 2-way line, with the eastern blockade twisting and curving between the southern territory and the eastern forest. Now, it had become a reticulate venation, which extended by the encampments built outside because of the newcomers. They patrolled a wider area, making the frustration the forest people felt even higher, but only directed towards the 5 territories.

During those 3 years, although it seemed like the territories would give up, they tried it one more time, with 2 waves of troops for a full-on battle lasting 21 days. That day, some Sect members fell, but the rest fought as if their whole home Kingdom had been destroyed right in front of their eyes. No enemy was spared, and Todoro, Pretieta, Liliam, and Hexitia had to step out to stop them from further entering into enemy territory.

After the battles, the 5 territories recognized how futile they were against the bases. They didn’t even want to try the Forbloffende Traes Sect inner territory. As for the encampments, they became explosive areas where even a thousand of the enemy troops would be affected. Then, they were built again after the enemy’s 4th assault failed.

The enemy recognized how tiring it was to fight them, not just siege them, and fell into a deeper depression. Before long, talks about apologizing and exposing the truth, that it was their fault, commenced among the 14 organizations.

…