Battle for air supremacy (2)

After thinking for a while, Orkan finally concluded that it was impossible to defeat General Arkmenom without conquering a large number of Falcon Bloodwings.

With limited flying abilities, mages were constrained, weakening their attacks and making them more predictable.

The air supremacy employed by the Falcon Bloodwings unit in suppressing the combined forces of Otheni truly made both ordinary humans and mages realize the significance of air dominance, despite the era of flying aircraft still being far in the future.

The aircraft used by the Vollen Academy to transport their students were merely empty shells controlled by mage power. Because each mage had different abilities, standardizing the creation of mage-controlled aircraft was incredibly challenging.

Despite their ability to fly, the combat effectiveness of mage-controlled aircraft was very poor. Essentially, it was better for a mage who could fly to engage in direct combat alone rather than handle the complex task of piloting an aircraft to carry other mages.

To counter the air supremacy of the Falcon Bloodwings unit, Orkan and the other Adam troops needed to capture and use enchanted gems to implant as many permanent suggestions as possible into the Falcon Bloodwings.

Orkan then informed Jeanne about his plan to gather as many Falcon Bloodwings as possible before attacking General Arkmenom. Jeanne promptly agreed to the plan.

Subsequently, Orkan led his Falcon Bloodwings to search for separate Arkmenom units of Falcon Bloodwings.

"Look, over there," Jeanne said, pointing in the direction of one of the Arkmenom attacking the Otheni warriors.

Orkan then approached that particular Arkmenom.

Meanwhile, Jeanne took some clay from her cloth pouch, shaping it into a marble-sized ball. After holding the ball for a moment, it transformed into a deep black color.

Jeanne then forcefully hurled the black ball towards the Arkmenom riding the Falcon Bloodwings.

The black ball struck the Arkmenom's head and exploded powerfully, destroying its head. The body, now headless, slowly fell from the back of the large bird.

Orkan then approached the Falcon Bloodwings that had lost its rider and proceeded to tame it using an enchanted gem.

"Now, you can ride that bird."

"Are you sure? Don't you want me to keep sitting behind you, hugging you?" Jeanne asked jokingly.

"Hurry up," Orkan urged Jeanne.

"You're too serious," Jeanne teased Orkan, who didn't take her joke. She then dismounted from the Falcon ridden by Orkan and climbed onto the newly tamed Falcon Bloodwings.

"Let's go. We need to join my other troops; they should have also captured some Falcons. We'll continue to attack and capture more of Arkmenom's Falcon Bloodwings before launching an assault on General Arkmenom," explained Orkan.

Shortly after, Orkan and Jeanne controlled their respective Falcon Bloodwings, roaming to attack Arkmenom's aerial forces while rendezvousing with their comrades.

Within the Adam troop itself, they now had over 20 Falcon Bloodwings that had been captured, with the number continuously increasing. Halford, the chief mage in the Adam troop, also made a significant contribution in capturing a substantial number of Falcon Bloodwings.

Halford's mage talent was blood strings, a Class B ability. He could create threads using blood. The strength of his mage talent lay in his ability to restrict the movements of opponents.

Halford set numerous blood string traps among the trees, ensnaring Falcon Bloodwings units that weren't attentive to their surroundings.

After Orkan, Jeanne, Halford, and the others joined forces, they hunted down more units of Falcon Bloodwings. Not all Falcon Bloodwings they acquired were used as mounts.

Some Falcon Bloodwings that harbored deep hatred toward humans were unaffected by the enchanted gems empowered by Adam's forces. Additionally, the durability of the enchanted gems varied. Some enchanted gems lasted only after 10 uses, while high-quality ones endured up to 100 uses.

The quality of the enchanted gem was determined by the rank of the Arkmenom killed, as the enchanted gems were derived from their bodies.

Humans themselves also developed their enchanted gems, within the mages' brains. If someone were to find a mage's corpse and dissect it, they would discover marble-sized balls similar to enchanted gems. However, this was a taboo act, and anyone using them would instantly be labeled as an enemy of humanity.

Ultimately, the shortage of enchanted gems limited the expansion of Falcon Bloodwings that could be stolen from Arkmenom.

Fortunately, on this battlefield, many enchanted gems lay unused. With a significant number of participating mages, there were undoubtedly some who possessed hypnotic effects within their abilities.

These mages infused their power into the enchanted gems and used them to conquer Falcon Bloodwings.

After a few hours, human actions finally drew the attention of the Arkmenom. They regrouped, abandoning their previous tactic of scattering.

By gathering the remaining units of Falcon Bloodwings, Arkmenom could finally halt the humans' actions of seizing the mounts. They still had a considerable number of remaining air units, allowing them to counter the new air units formed by Orkan, Jeanne, and their allies.

On the positive side, Arkmenom's focus on the Otheni forces under Aylox Rextozos's leadership diminished. Casualties among ordinary humans also decreased. The chaotic battlefield slowly returned to calmness.

Aylox swiftly used this opportunity to reorganize his troops.

The fierce battle continued between both sides. When night fell, neither side was satisfied with the day's battle results. However, both sides ceased the fighting.

On the human side, Orkan and the others managed to seize around 400 Falcon Bloodwings.

Initially, they had gathered about 600, but due to the organized gathering and attack by Arkmenom's air units, 200 Falcons were killed in the skirmish. Nonetheless, Arkmenom was more proficient in riding these large birds.

Meanwhile, Arkmenom's Falcon Bloodwings unit lost nearly 5000 birds. Ordinary humans killed about 800, a significant number but understandable given the human forces numbering in the hundreds of thousands, leading to some Falcon Bloodwings becoming victims of the human troops.

The Adam troops themselves captured around 400 Falcons and killed about 2500 Falcon Bloodwings. Limited enchanted gems led people to choose killing these Falcon Bloodwings.

The remainder fell victim to attacks by the Association's mage forces.

Though human casualties were still high, at least the second day of confrontation between Falcon Bloodwings units and the combined Otheni forces ended somewhat satisfactorily for humans. They saw an opportunity to counter Falcon Bloodwings units.

Unfortunately, as the third day of the confrontation against the Falcon Bloodwings units arrived, the combined Otheni forces discovered that they were no longer facing just a single unit.