Formations

Chapter 43 – Formations

Swish!

The moment the light touched him, Jhin suddenly felt his vision blurring. The air whistled on his ears as he realized that he was moving at a fast speed.

"Hmph!"

Jhin felt a warm cushion hitting his back as he stopped flying. Raising his head sideways, he saw Lucy's delicate face. Her slender hand wrapping around his waist causing him to momentarily daze.

"What do you mean by this?" Lucy questioned with narrowed eyes. "Why did you use your soul strength on him instead of letting him retreat?"

Once an individual reach Tier 1, they would slowly develop their soul strength. Soul strength has three popular uses.

First was to connect and control the surrounding mana. Thus, enabling an individual to cast spells and cultivate. The higher one's Tier, the stronger their soul strength would be. Thus, their spells and control over mana would also become stronger.

Second was to use it as another sense, like eyes and nose. However instead of just seeing or hearing, soul strength enables an individual to peer through the inner structure of an object. For example, Serg's soul sense which he awakened upon reaching Tier 3. Upon sending his soul sense inside the orb, he was able to quickly view the memories stored inside.

Lastly, soul strength could be used for telekinesis. If one controls higher soul strength, they could immobilize and even throw someone of lower Tier. The invisible wave which Serg throw to Jhin was an example. Yet relying on his soul strength, he was able to throw Jhin.

"Hmm?" Serg was surprised to see Lucy's reaction. "I already said that we'll have a meeting. Do you want a stranger to hear our conversation?"

"But didn't I already said that he'll be my experimental subject until the training ends. I am responsible for his well-being. Don't you know that what you did just disturbed my experiment?" Lucy coldly berated.

However, instead of explaining himself, Serg shook his head. "Okay! Come here now! We'll start the meeting in a while."

"Humph!" Lucy snorted before walking forward.

The moment Lucy neared, Serg waved his hand and casted a barrier spell, isolating the area around him from the outside world.

Watching all these, Jhin could not help but let out a deep sigh. "I'm still so weak! The commander doesn't even need to use spell to kill me. And… I'm hiding under a woman's skirt now, eh? This is the first time!"

…

Inside the barrier.

The atmosphere was heavy as the captain looked at each other. At this moment, they had already viewed the memory crystal at least three times. They analyzed its content.

"The situation is quite severe… Its threat almost rivaled that of the beast stampede." Serg said while rubbing his temples.

The frown on the captains' faces deepened.

"It is indeed severe!" Captain Mon replied while clicking his tongue. "Formations covered the tunnels, while the design of the pathway made it so that those invading forces would find it hard to infiltrate the place."

As an archer, Captain Mon was an expert in battlefield analysis and scouting. In fact, it was thanks to him that Crystal's army managed to last longer when the moonlight golems besieged them in the shrine.

After he view the memory crystal, the first thing that he noticed were the engravings of the tunnels. Even without a deep understanding about formation, one can still deduce that those engravings were components of a formation.

"Those are indeed formations. And it was thanks to those formations that the underground base escaped our surveillance." The silver-haired captain said in agreement. "It is possible that our enemy this time is an entire race. A race that lives underground… Quite possibly, a rat lineage."

The moment he finished his words, the rest of the captains turned their gazes over Silva.

"Are you sure about that Silva?" Rafael who was listening on the side asked in a worried tone.

There are two main types of formations present in the Ardens Continent. They were the Battle Array Types, and Installed Types.

The Battle Array Type was a type of formation where a group of combatants could use to upgrade their strength by a small stage. For example, if a group of ten Early-stage Tier 1 combatants uses such formation, their individual strength would reach Middle-stage of Tier 1.

Just like the formations Crystal commanded her army during the battle in the shrine. The strength of the soldiers and coordination upgraded to a new level.

However, despite that, Installed Type Formations were still more powerful.

Why? It was because Installed Formations are stationary. They rely on the materials, not the people. In a Battle Array Type, as long as a member of the formation died, its might would rapidly decrease.

But such problem wasn't present in the Installed Type. Provided that you have strong materials and mana crystals, the formation could go on however you like! Unless an overwhelming power attacked it or had its weak points discovered, it was hard to break an installed formation.

And the might of an Installed formation was comparable to at least two combatants of the same Tier. That's right, formations were also divided into Tiers. A Tier 1 formation has might and defensive capabilities rivaling that of two or more Tier 1 combatant. Same case with Tier 2, and above formations.

"Ask the commander," the silver-haired Silva looked at Rafael and spoke. "Commander is the best formation master in the shelter."

In response to Silva, Serg gave them a grim look. "His analysis has some points. Only a race could afford to erect dozens of formations. And not just ordinary race! While scanning the little girl's memories, I discovered that there were Tier 3 formations inside. The creation and expenditure of a Tier 3 formation was immense! Only those stronger races could afford them."

The captains were silent after hearing his words. The discovery of the underground base made them apprehensive.

Not only were they threatened by the beast stampede outside, but there was also a hidden threat inside. A threat they do not know when will erupt. Moreover, the food reserve of the shelter would only last in two to three weeks.

The captains felt their heads aching. Each of those three could lead to the possible collapse of the shelter.

"What now?" Lucy asked. "Should we attack at full force or… should we probe?"