บท 115: Book 4: Chapter 27 – Celebrating An Enormous Win
In the skies, Ace watched with a cold glint in his eyes as the O'Brien army retreated with their tails tucked between their legs.
"If I wasn't at the third rank, there was no way my attack would've done such little damage," Ace muttered unwillingly, causing Amira, Killian, and Leonel to glare at him.
"Hmm?" Ace said when he saw the way his friends were staring at him. "What did I do?"
"You're only at the third rank as a mage, yet you were able to perform an attack stronger than any of us!" Killian snorted.
"Are you trying to make us feel bad on purpose?" Amira asked threateningly.
Ace immediately raised his hand as if to surrender. He truly hadn't meant anything by it; he just wanted to inflict as much damage as physically possible.
Still, he had to admit that they weren't wrong.
Since the moment he started training to be a warrior, he knew that with his bloodline, he was a more than talented in the ways of a warrior, but it looked like his talent as a warrior paled in comparison to his talent as a mage.
Lyrin wasn't completely wrong in his assessment when he guessed that the mage in question was at the sixth or seventh rank, as the spike in power when infusing the laws into a spell would only go so far, but what he could never have known was just how powerful Ace's soul was.
It had to be remembered that to cast a spell, the body must be able to provide a sufficient amount of mageforce and then use spiritual energy to control that mageforce and summon enough elemental essence from nature to truly form the spell.
It was impossible for a mage to simply rely on the elemental mageforce in the body.
Take a forbidden spell, for example. The mageforce in the body of the average saint-level mage could only provide 1% of the amount of essence needed. The other 99% can only be provided by nature's elemental essence. It was the reason why saint-level mages had such high amounts of spiritual essence compared to warriors of the same level.
So even without the aid of his insights into the laws of fire, purely with his incredibly powerful soul, Ace was effectively no weaker than a mage at the peak of the sixth rank, despite only being at the peak of the third.
.
.
.
Whilst Ace and his group made their way back to the Rohault camp, the O'Brien Army were retreating back to their own camp, and unlike the Rohault Army, their morale was anything but high.
"General," One of the ordinairy ninth rank warriors of the O'Brien Army called out from Lyrin's side. "Those attacks… Was that a saint?"
"I don't know," Lyrin said, a grave and pensive expression hanging on his face as he replayed the attacks over and over in his mind.
Truth be told, part of him wished it was. If it were, he couldn't be blamed for their failure tonight. As strong as they were, they were simply incomparable to even the weakest of saints.
If the Rohault Empire really had broken the unspoken rule of mortal wars and invited a saint to support them, then not only would he be in the clear, but it would allow the O'Brien Empire to send out their own saints, and it wasn't a secret that not only did the O'Brien Empire have more saints, but their strongest saints were also more powerful.
If this war truly became a battle between saints, the O'Brien Empire would definitely make quick work of their long-time enemies, but therein lay the problem – If he could think of this, then so too could Murciel!
Even though saint-level experts could easily hide their power to make it seem weaker than it actually was, why would they show their insights into the laws of nature at all? It would make far more sense just to perform an ordinairy spell and suppress the power to the eighth rank without infusing their attacks with profound mysteries.
When he thought to there, as much as he hated to admit it, he knew that Murciel was more than likely telling the truth. Those attacks really came from another mortal.
"Ruchim," Lyrin suddenly called out to the Colonel who had originally posed the question. "I need you to return to the Capital and inform the Emperor about everything that happened here today.
Make sure you don't add anything unnecessary or leave anything out. Just give the cold hard facts."
"I understand," Colonel Ruchim replied seriously.
Considering all the facts they currently had at their disposal, it would be simple to say that the Rohault Empire invited a saint to ruin their plans and deal severe damage to their forces, but if the expert in question weren't a saint, like he suspected, the punishment he'd face would be far worse.
As such, the best option was to simply lay out all the facts for the emperor and let him decide how to proceed.
Till then, he needed to focus on restraining the Rohault's inevitable advancement as much as possible.
That in and of itself was going to be a tall order. Granted, they hadn't lost any of their more powerful soldiers, but with the number of lower-level warriors they'd lost, the clashes moving forward would be anything but even.
Whilst the morale of the O'Brien Army was at an all-time low, the mood in the Rohault camp was at an all-time high.
"Everyone," General Murciel called out when they returned back to their camp, infusing his voice with his battle-qi so everyone could hear him clearly. "Tonight, like with every large-scale battle we face here, many of the lives of our brothers and sisters in arms were lost, but tonight each and every one of them gave their lives to help us secure a very important win -the likes of which we haven't seen in a very long time.
The win you all helped to secure today is one that will be recorded and talked about for many years to come, so on behalf of the royal family and the whole of our great nation, I'd like to say thank you.
To celebrate our incredible victory, I am granting two days of R&R from tomorrow. I know it's not enough time for you to go back to your families, but it is enough time for you to recover from your hangovers from tonight's festivities!"
The General's announcement was met with the cheerful shouts of all his subordinates, who were all still riding the high of their Empire's first major win on this battlefield.
"In two days, we will begin a new campaign where we, for the first time, take the fight to them, but until then, I want all of you to enjoy yourselves!" The General Exclaimed before dismissing everyone, bar Ebeze, Chukaya, and his right-hand man – Colonel Regis – whom he led to his personal tent where the main heroes of the night were waiting for him.
Upon seeing the three hooded figures standing calmly beside the horse-sized, black-furred lion, whether it was Regis, Ebeze, or even the general himself, they stared at the trio in awe, especially at Ace.
"Thankfully, we were successful," Amira voiced, calmly breaking the silence.
"Successful?" Regis laughed excitedly. "Princess, that's an understatement!"
"I'm just glad we could help," Ace smiled calmly.
"What you did tonight went beyond 'help'," Murciel replied sincerely. "Because of you, we were able to have our first major victory since the war began. And after witnessing that last attack…
Although deep down, Lyrin will know you're no saint, but because he can't confirm it, he'll have to be a lot more defensive with his tactics. At least until reinforcements arrive."
"Will the fact that he can't confirm Ace's strength be a problem moving forward?" Amira asked, understanding the unspoken rules of mortal wars.
"If Ace were to suddenly disappear, then Lyrin might be able to argue that Ace was an undercover saint and that since we were using saints, then it would be acceptable for them to as well," Murciel explained slowly. "But even if they can't confirm his exact strength because of his robes when he returns to the battlefield, they'll be able to confirm that he's definitely not a saint, and that's the most important thing."
As he said that, both Murciel and Regis looked at Ace, unable to completely suppress their envy. The dark-haired youth had actually accomplished the one thing they both desperately desired, the only thing stopping them from reaching the saint realm – comprehension of a profound mystery.
Still, as jealous as they were, they were even more impressed and in awe because although he may not be a native, as Amira's classmate and Aiden's only disciple, he was still very much on their side.
The conversation remained positive and harmonious, but the only person who didn't seem excited was Chukaya. He sported a complicated expression as he looked at them, or more specifically, at Ace.
If he was able to remain sceptical before, now there was no denying it, Ace wasn't only more talented, he was also far more powerful. It felt as though his dream of capturing the heart of his crush had all but disappeared.
At the same time, just outside the Rohault Army's camp Elder Ejiro who had been tasked with protecting Amira and the others from any saint-level experts that could potentially enter the fray had just ordered Duke Kaymin to go back and tell the Emperor everything that had transpired that night as he knew things weren't likely to end so simply.
After the Duke left, Ejiro couldn't help but turn back towards the direction of Ace and the others. What was going through his mind at that moment, only he knew!
-----------------------------------------
P.S. Support me on the Patreon listed below to read ahead - Release rate is at least 2x as many chapters every week! XD
Currently 75 chapters ahead
P.atreon.com/AceInCoilingDragon
Book 6: Chapter 14 – Ace's Brutal Honesty
ความคิดของผู้สร้าง 
DreamTales
DreamTales Creation is hard, cheer me up!
สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง