Abis POV Part 1

A grand army was on the march. Columns upon columns of armoured soldiers were marching in a disciplined manner.

The entire army was moving through a forest. It was walking on a single large dirt road so the entire army extended for miles. If someone was having an eagle's view of the army, it would seem like a miles-long snake slowly slithering through the forest.

The front half of the army was extremely disciplined while the back half was not that disciplined. The soldiers at the back half were barely maintaining near rows and their steps were disorganized.

As the army made their way through the uncanny paths in the forest in the hopes of reaching their destination in time

The strenuous journey was starting to take its toll on the people in the rear.

The existence of various creatures in the forest, from small to large, from harmless to hostile only added to the fear and uneasiness of the travellers.

But despite all this, there was a mysterious almost bewitching beauty to this area. Its awe-inspiring scenery, its calm gentle wind, and its serene soothing ambience seemed to have put its guests in a hex pulling them deeper and deeper into its dangerous beauty.

The entire army was led by three men. The three men were exuding intimidating pressure and had three different symbols on the front of their armours.

Abis was near the front of the snake-shaped army. He could barely see the backs of those three tall men. He was the eldest son of the second elder of the Aumrin clan. His father was the head of the coliseum.

In addition to that, he was also a second-level cultivator. So, he was a figure of some importance in the army.

But that did not make him arrogant. He was not the only important person in the whole army after the generals. He was surrounded by people of similar lineage and cultivation.

Almost all of the second-level cultivators were at the front of the army. They were like the head of a snake.

Although they were all cultivators belonging to the foundation establishment level, they did not dare release any pressure, unlike those three men at the front.

The three men leading them were third-level cultivators. They had already formed their core. The pressure that they were exuding was a residual pressure due to the rotation of their cores.

They were not emitting it consciously. They could rein it in but it was a bit bothersome. So they let it be.

One of them was an uncle of Abis. He was the fourth elder of the Aumrin clan. He was representing Agoross in the army. The other two men near him were representing two other great cities.

One of them had an arrogant expression on his face while the other one had a dull expression. Together, they were leading the third Ursus army towards the border with the Red Horn Kingdom.

Abis had a great dream. He wanted to become a core formation cultivator, just like his uncle in the front. This was his greatest dream. He wanted to live for hundreds of years and enjoy a great life.

He was hopeful that his dream would be realized. He was forty-five years old this year. So, he was still young according to a foundation establishment cultivator's lifespan.

Moreover, he had already stepped into the intermediate stage. He was hopeful that he would be able to become a core formation cultivator in the next thirty-five years.

But he still kept in mind the facts and figures. The peak of the foundation establishment was the end of the road for most of the cultivators in the world. Most of the cultivators stopped at the peak of the second level and could not break through into the third level.

There were many reasons for that. One of that was talent. Talent was inherent mostly but it could be increased slightly by hard work and exercise before adulthood. Talent affected the speed at which one cultivated. Higher the talent, higher the cultivation speed and vice versa.

The second reason was potential. Every person had hidden potential. It needed to be brought out through life and death battles to advance to the next level. Most people could not breakthrough because they lacked life and death experience.

The third reason was resources. Even if one had inferior talent, he could still push himself to the third level if he had enough resources and enough battle experience. People also lacked the resources.

Abis was aware of his situation. That's why he was hopeful. He was slightly talented and had enough battle experience. Moreover, he was the eldest son of the local tycoon. He did not lack resources at all.

Still, he was participating in this war to increase the chances of realising his dream. Even with resources only, becoming a core formation cultivator was nearly impossible. The real battle experience was needed, the more the better.

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"HALT!!" Suddenly, the core formation cultivator with an arrogant expression shouted for the army to stop. His shout was so loud that it could be heard for a mile or two.

More than half of the soldiers responsible for conveying the general's commands to the columns in the back remained idle and were at a loss.

Abis's eardrums were ringing a bit and he cursed the shouter a bit in his heart. He was feeling slightly uncomfortable and that was it.

Abis was slightly dissatisfied with that arrogant fellow in front of him. He wanted to punch his smug face badly. And he was not the only one with such feelings. The entire army was dissatisfied with him.

The reason for their dissatisfaction was the general's arrogance and disregard for the soldiers. It was a well-known fact that his clan was a bit cruel to its public.

Only the fear of the Ursus clan was keeping them in check, otherwise, they would have already crossed the line.

After hearing the shout, the entire army came to a stop. They still had to obey his commands even if they were dissatisfied with his behaviour.

The tactical command was given to him by the other two generals. Although he was a bit arrogant, he had the qualities to back it up. He was also a good tactician in addition to being a core formation cultivator.

Soon, a scouting party came to him and reported their findings. After listening to their report, he told them something and then turned to the second-level cultivators behind them.

"Half of you, accompany them to the other scouting parties. After that, help them in eliminating the enemy scouts. Don't even let them have an inkling about our movements. And try to eliminate them as quickly as possible. After you are done, report back."

Just as the general ended his last sentence, half of the second-level cultivator at the front separated and accompanied the scouting party into the depths of the forest.

Abis was not among them. He remained with the army. It was not that he did not want to go. He wanted to get away from that arrogant person but was beaten to it by others.

"As for the rest of you, take a rest and eat your meals. Don't set camps yet. We will move out in two hours. We will catch those bastards off guard."

The commander ordered them to take a rest right there and then. He had a cruel smile on his face. He was thinking about the battle a few days later.

Abis was dissatisfied again but could not voice his dissatisfaction. They had been walking for the past twenty-four hours without any sleep.

They were not allowed to sleep at all and took a couple of rests only. Although he was a second-level cultivator, he still needed enough sleep to function properly.

But he bore with it. The commander knew what he was doing. Abis understood slightly that the commander wanted to catch the enemy army off guard.

That's why he was in a hurry. It seemed that the other two generals also understood it and let him do whatever he wanted.

They set out almost two weeks ago and had been marching since then. They were near the border and were expecting to reach it in two or three days. They would also confront the enemy there at once or would wait for it to approach them.

Three days later, Abis was sitting near his uncle with their backs supported by a tree.

"Uncle, I can not understand why you gave the command to that arrogant person. You should have led the army."

"Abis. You have learnt greatly from the old masters back home. But your patience is a bit lacking."

"But he has been treating us like tireless animals. I am not the only one in the army who is dissatisfied with him."

"Son, I understand what you are trying to say. But it is he who made the entire plan. He knows what he is doing. Now think for a second, now that we know about his plan, will not it look rude if we take the command back from him now? He deserves it."

Abis grumbled a bit in dissatisfaction but did not reply. He knew that his uncle was right.

"Ok. Get ready. The battle will start shortly. After it starts, don't go too deep and remain near me. You can shout for help whenever you are in a pinch."

"Thank you, uncle." Abis thanked his uncle with a grateful expression.

After that, he shifted his body a bit and looked behind the tree he was sitting against. He could see the forest ending at some distance. He could barely see the beginning of a plain through the trees.

The army arrived at its destination one day ago. They were near the end of the forest. After the forest ended, there was a small plain present that acted as the north-western border between the Ursus and the Red Horn kingdoms.

After the plains ended, another forest started but it belonged to the Red Horn Kingdom.

Abis knew that the enemy army was currently transversing the plains. The commander had already moved all the ranged units to the front.

The scouts with the help of the foundation establishment cultivators had succeeded in blocking the information about their army's movements. They even took out many enemy scouting parties. There were no casualties due to the disparity in strength.

According to the plan, they would wait for the enemy army to get in their range before launching fierce ranged attacks. After that, they would engage the enemy in a melee. Currently, they were hiding behind the trees and waiting for the enemy to get in range.

The enemy army was unaware of the ambush. The most they knew was that their enemy had sent high-level cultivators ahead in advance and taken out most of their scouts. They were not expecting a hostile force hiding right behind the trees in front of them.

"Alright fellas. Keep hiding. If any of you dare expose yourself and our plan fails, I will have your heads. Ranged units. Get ready. At my signal, throw at them everything you got." The arrogant commander threatened the soldiers to not expose themselves and ordered the soldiers responsible for the ranged attack to get ready.

Abis was getting a bit nervous. He had taken part in bloody fights before but they were all small scale This was the first time he was taking part in such a large engagement.

He was also a bit excited. He knew that the enemy was getting near and the battle could start at any movement.

He then started looking toward the commander. He could barely see him at a distance. In fact, all of the soldiers at the front were looking at him. He had one of his hands raised. They were waiting for that raised hand to fall.

Everyone who had a bow was holding it in their hands. They had already nocked the arrows. On his signal, they would immediately pull and loose.

Similarly, there were many cannons hidden behind the trees. The soldiers responsible for them were sitting near them and were ready to push them out and aim toward the enemy at the commander's signal.

After a few minutes, the hand fell and the archers immediately exposed themselves. They pulled with all their strength and let loose at an angle of forty-five degrees.

Most of the arrows got out but some were stopped by tree branches. There was no time to get embarrassed, the archers nocked a second arrow, pulled and then let loose.

There were also some cultivators among the archers and they were carrying bows specially made according to their strength.

A few among them were carrying special cultivator weapons and fired special arrows such as fiery arrows or frost arrows. Those special arrows packed a lot of power.

At the same time, the cannons were pushed out from behind the trees and pointed toward the enemy. Cannon formations were activated immediately and whitish spheres of energy were fired with a small boom at regular intervals.

After the formations ceased responding, several whitish thumb-sized stones were quickly inserted into the side compartments and the formations resumed functioning.

The enemy army was caught off guard by the sudden onslaught. They were unprepared for a ranged attack so the casualties immediately mounted. Cultivators were able to save themselves but that was not the case for normal soldiers.

After a few minutes of being battered, the red horn army started their counterattack. But it had suffered a significant loss by now.

Seeing this, the Ursus commander commanded the army behind him to launch a melee attack. His army was almost out of ranged ammunition by now and he did not want the forest to catch fire.

At the general's command, the soldiers that were protecting themselves from the enemy attack with tower shields put them down and took out their weapons. Similarly, the archers also put down their bows and took out their melee weapons.

Under the leadership of the three generals, the entire army got out of the forest and ran toward the enemy without caring for any stray arrows. The enemy commander seeing this scene also ordered its army to prepare for a melee.

It was the core formation cultivators that collided with each other first. The enemy army was also being led by three third-level cultivators.

As they collided their weapons with each other, the soil below them was uprooted for many meters and an ear-piercing metallic sound was heard.

Similarly, a small gust of wind was felt by the soldiers behind them. It seemed that they had completely released their cultivati

on and were fighting with each other without holding anything back.

Soon after that, the second-level cultivators collided, followed by the first-level ones.