Chapter 353: Battle of Liguang: Clash (6)
An ominous melodic ringing sounded across the battlefield, and it instantly tensed everyone up. It was the sound of battle! Elizabeth cursed inwardly because their preparations were still lacking. Was it too much to ask for a few more minutes? Unfortunately, time waited for no one. On the horizon, she could see her enemies charging over on horseback with an earth-shaking momentum! Their murderous killing intent spilled forth like a wave, augmented by the numerous Perception Realms with Martial Energy, and washed over Liguang! The skies illuminated in a tinge of red! To make matters worse, energy began amassing over the skies of Liguang, signalling another attack from the Featherwind Sect. This was the worst-case scenario!
There was no time to think as the Featherwind Sect's attack initiated. Compared to the 'wing' that sliced the heavens in half and bisected the town, it was an entirely different scene. The night sky was suddenly lit up by millions of flashing dots like the sparkling stars of the boundless heavens. If not for the tense situation, everyone would look up and admire this once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon! It was indescribably beautiful and mesmerizing! Elizabeth lost herself in the temporary allure too and stood dazed before snapping back to attention, her danger senses were screaming out. From toying with their twenty thousand strong fleet to splitting the town in half… Every time, the Featherwind Sect exceeded expectations and smashed the norms of the human world. This attack could not be underestimated!
"Defend!" she shouted hastily. Despite the apparent 'slow' speed of the flashing dots, she predicted that they were probably moving extremely fast. They would collide with their forces soon enough! And there was the problem of the Phoenix Division just within reach. Judging from the circumstances, their enemies had no intention to negotiate or demand a surrender. They were intent on producing a massacre! As they say, when it rains, it pours. There was no good news in sight!
Her words splashed a bucket of cold water on everyone, dragging them back to reality. The Arcanists hurriedly worked together and deployed their barriers. Seconds later, a massive directional barrier manifested overhead the allied forces with Ten Dawn Krogan personally taking charge. Previously, they had to create a large spherical barrier to protect against the all-encompassing Demon Wind Requiem from Elder Argo. There was no helping it after all. It was an attack that could destroy the entire town in one strike! However, they had currently switched to a directional barrier, which greatly amplified the defensive power. Even with the mounting interference strength, their barrier was many times stronger than before!
Furthermore, Ten Dawn Iris stepped up with a large Magic Circle manifesting in front of her. Tiny rainbow-colored droplets of World Energy swirled around her as her Magic Aura exploded. She fully revealed the might of one of the strongest Arcanists in the human world! Focusing her attention forward, a small vortex of wind erupted from her Magic Circle towards the sky. As it travelled, it rapidly grew into a genuine tornado! And with its size, the wind increased in magnitude too. It was so powerful that the storm blasted Liguang and sent debris everywhere! Elizabeth and everyone else had to brace themselves as the tornado met the millions of flashing dots high up in the sky. Then, everyone had to widen their eyes in surprise. Instead of colliding head-on like they expected, the tornado winds redirected the dots away! Ten Dawn Iris actually shifted the attack away from their forces!
The whole chain of events passed in less than ten seconds. Before they knew it, the Featherwind Sect's attack arrived! The millions of dots rained down from the heavens in an unrelenting rainstorm! Upon seeing what those 'harmless' dots could do, everyone flinched. They moved shockingly fast! Almost like a blur, no one would see it until it passed already. There was no chance to react! Elizabeth wagered that even a Perception Realm would struggle here. And then there was the attack's destructive capability. Be it rocks, bricks, metal, or flesh, everything was pierced through! This was a true large-scale indiscriminate mass murdering martial technique! Boom! It sounded like the world was ending with how loud it was. It was ridiculously earth-shattering! Everything was destroyed!
Although Ten Dawn Iris's attack shifted the bulk of the projectiles away, thousands still found their mark. Like a heavy rain, they showered the Arcanists' barriers in a ravenous storm. Every impact created a shockwave, hinting at the incredible power behind the projectiles. With every ripple, an Arcanist would stumble backwards and cough up blood. Some of the projectiles even pierced right through and killed the soldiers behind it. It looked like the barrier was falling apart at the seams! Yet, the Arcanists doubled down to sustain the barriers at all costs. Ten Dawn Krogan howled a guttural roar, ignored his backlashes, and burned his World Energy too, just to increase their meager odds. They knew this was their only chance at survival! Time crawled to a halt as everyone clenched their fists in agitation. Just when it seemed like their barriers would fail, the attacks ended. They survived!
Elizabeth immediately shifted her attention to the Imperial Council's forces. With several hundred Perception Realms grasping Martial Energy, if they all worked together, they should be able to defend against the Featherwind Sect's attack like the Alzar Kingdom did. That meant that they would be attacking right after! But what she saw surprised her. Instead of braving the storm intact, the Phoenix Division… had suffered greatly! Their Perception Realms were standing in a defensive formation and using their Martial Energy to defend but… there was an obvious discoordination. Some struggled to project their Martial Energy outwards, meaning their skill and experience were still lacking. When the Featherwind Sect's attack came, they were brutally slaughtered, including the ones they tried to protect! The attack unbelievably killed more of their allies than their enemies!
For one of the Xingyuu Empire's strongest trump card divisions to falter here, anyone would be surprised. However, Elizabeth quickly realized the crux of the problem. Since the Phoenix Division was recently introduced to Martial Energy, they must have lacked the practical experience of real combat. Theory was one thing, but the real world was different. There was a limit to how much one could learn without putting it into practice. And not just that, but there was also the problem of interference.
Interference was known as the world's restorative force, its natural resilience towards change. Whenever someone imposed their will on the world, whether through a spell or a technique, the world would attempt to correct the anomaly, restoring it to its original form. This was why spells could not last forever. Depending on the intensity of the energy involved, this interference would gradually grow to hinder everyone inside. For example, when Ten Dawn Nassandra and Tengon used Torrential Blizzard in the battle with the emperor, the lingering Magic Energy made casting spells nearly impossible thereafter. It was an important consideration for any large conflicts involving Martial or Magic Energy.
After the Featherwind Sect's earth-shattering attacks and the Arcanists' subsequent responses, the World Energy in Liguang was already growing chaotic. Elizabeth estimated that her spells lost three-tenths of their normal effectiveness already and that this number would continue to grow until Liguang turns into a true 'dead zone'. By that point, no matter what she did, she would be unable to use any form of magic here. That was probably what caused the Phoenix Division's Perception Realms to underperform. Their mastery of Martial Energy was lacking, and when interference was tacked onto that, they had no way to react appropriately. Elizabeth smiled. This meant…
"All ranged units, attack!" Imperian Qiang shouted with glowing eyes. He figured it out faster than Elizabeth did, as expected of the Li Family patriarch!
"But…" the Alzar Kingdom soldiers hesitated as they looked to Elizabeth.
"Do as Imperian Qiang says. Do not hold anything back! Throw everything you have at them!" she confirmed with a roar. This was the best opportunity to cull their numbers!
She raised her bow and immediately resorted to her strongest spell. Her Magic Aura suddenly exploded to monstrous heights as she fully exercised the might of a Peak Gaseous Fog Arcanist! Furthermore, Dual Core Rending Technique! Using it, she could accumulate all that power into a single strike. Any spell strengthened could be elevated to the pseudo-Condensed Drop level. This was why the Featherwind Sect labelled her a Rank Transcendent Lord. It was her trump card! As she pulled back on the bowstring, her bow began glowing in an otherworldly white and sprouting translucent angelic wings. An arrow forged of light materialized between her fingertips containing most of her Magic Energy. Exhaling calmly, she released the arrow, and it took flight at meteoric speeds. When it passed her Magic Circle, it transformed into a gigantic crescent moon. This was the Peak Gaseous Fog wind-type spell, Eclipsing Theatre!
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