Siege on Yongtein: Turning the Tides (13)
"Your Highness, Sir Winstin, I'm sorry to interrupt, but there's something you should know," a Royal Guard respectfully said. Since Sir Winstin lost his arm in the Battle of Liguang, he delegated Elizabeth's protection to a few other Royal Guards and Grand Knights.
"What is it?" Elizabeth felt something was wrong.
"Towards the southeast, we've spotted multiple enemy parties approaching."
"Sir Winstin, can you spot them?" she asked. As the only Perception Realm Master here, and one arguably closest to Half-Instinct Realm, his senses were far superior to anyone else present. That did not change with the loss of his arm. He could still see further and clearer, so he might be able to spot details that the other Royal Guards might have missed.
After focusing his senses for a moment, the man's expression darkened. Indeed, they were very far away, to the point that they resembled dots on the horizon, and when they melded in with the forest, they were practically indistinguishable. It was like a haze. One second, they were there, and the next second, they were gone. It was impossible for anyone to notice ordinarily, but thankfully, Sir Winstin was truly exceptional. He clearly saw the enemies approaching from the southeast; however, it would be an understatement to call them mere 'parties'. From a cursory count, he saw… more than several thousand! This was bad news for the Alzar Kingdom. They barely managed to thwart the enemy's first advance by exhausting all their means, so a second advance could be fatal! He immediately relayed his discoveries to Elizabeth and everyone else, who reeled in shock. This was doubly-so for the Royal Guards who failed to sense this many enemies. They were ashamed as well as amazed.
"You're certain about this?"
"I am, Your Highness. I estimate there to be between three and six thousand enemy reinforcements. We haven't received orders from General Christina yet. How should we proceed?"
Elizabeth calmed her beating heart and looked around. There was about a thousand people present of which seven hundred were Arcanists and three hundred were normal soldiers. And since the Arcanists exhausted their Cores in the earlier engagement, then that effectively meant there was only three hundred combat-capable. This was a pitiful amount and there were too many people to protect, including herself. Retreating here should be the obvious choice except if they retreated here and allowed their enemies to advance, it could collapse their entire defensive line. Forget thousands dying. It might lead to their entire army failing! Furthermore, if she contradicted her aunt's orders, it would only create unnecessary confusion. She could not carelessly act. That said, things were bad. She wondered what kept her aunt busy.
As she pondered, Sir Winstin stepped out in front and drew his glaive. The other Royal Guards and Grand Knights quietly followed suit, assuming their positions and brandishing their weapons, as their auras flourished! The sudden combined eruption of these Perception Realms' auras alerted everyone. It was the quickest way to spread a message to a thousand people. The soldiers took up arms, while the Arcanists consolidated in the center. It soon became so eerily quiet that one could almost hear the wind whistling through the trees. No one knew what to expect as they nervously scanned their surroundings. Everything became suspicious. Even Elizabeth and Freon felt too anxious to move, much less ask why they were doing this. Time passed and as nothing happened, many started to relax their guard. They began to think that the Royal Guards were mistaken. Unfortunately, that was their mistake since arrows flew in from beyond the treeline and killed them! This attack was perfectly timed to their relaxed guard. Such an act could not be performed by anyone simple.
Despite the well-timed attack, the impact was minor. The soldiers were trained to remain vigilant, so when the attack came, they could block most of the damage with their shields. It was thanks to Sir Winstin and the Royal Guards who kept them on their toes. Perhaps their enemies figured that continuing would be pointless because they stepped out from the forest and revealed themselves. At first, a handful of people came out, but as time went on, more and more people emerged. In the end, a stunning number of enemies stood! Sir Winstin counted around five hundred soldiers, almost double what they had, and that was not the worst part either. Through his senses, he could keenly tell that most of these soldiers were Fundamental Realm Experts or Masters, the equivalent of High or Great Knights of the Realm in the Alzar Kingdom. A smaller portion of them had strength greater than that, standing at the Perception Realm standard, the equivalent of Grand Knights. They must be the newly trained soldiers with Martial Energy. However, Sir Winstin was more concerned not of them, but an even smaller subset of people standing at the center.
Three people. It was just three people, but they had vast and towering auras, far above those around them! Gauged purely off the impressions they gave, they were most likely Perception Realm Experts. Sir Winstin had to admit he was impressed. Like in the Battle of Liguang, the Xingyuu Empire kept unveiling expert after expert. It was incredible to think they still had more to showcase. That was how deep a civilization with more than five centuries of history, how deep the Xingyuu Empire's foundations went! The Alzar Kingdom seemed awfully lacking in comparison, except Sir Winstin knew of many hidden experts in the kingdom too. The only difference was that the Royal Assembly prioritized quantity over quality in their military recruitment. After all, as the saying goes, four hands beat two. A few powerful Perception Realms could never be the difference in victory or defeat. That was the stance that the Royal Assembly took. Their logic would have remained correct had the Featherwind Sect never entered the picture. They had singlehandedly rewritten every theory of war!
Meanwhile, Elizabeth was more preoccupied about them coming from the direction of her aunt's camp. She instantly felt her knees grow weak as a sense of dread crept up. Had her aunt…? The words froze in her throat, too afraid to come out. Logically speaking, they would eliminate the enemy general first. It was the quickest and easiest way to destroy an army's cohesion. However, despite being common sense, her heart could not take it. She instinctively rejected the idea! Her aunt could not be dead! Her mind and heart clashed in a titanic, gut-wrenching battle. How she wished she could stop thinking. Although her aunt's fate remained uncertain, one thing was certain. The enemy's appearance did not bode well for her aunt. She needed to find out what happened as soon as possible and to do that, she needed to deal with these enemies first. Her fighting spirit soared!
Looking forward, she recognized the three 'exceptional' enemies. The first was a slim older woman wearing a simple set of plate armor, accompanied by the uniform of an Imperial Sentinel. She wielded a long two-handed sabre, which was an unusual weapon on the battlefield, and she kept a steady, hateful gaze on Elizabeth. This woman was Sentinel Mao Diu, the older sister of Cardinal Shaolong, whom Elizabeth killed along with Emperor Lianghu more than a year ago. The next person was a burly man with a wild air around him, wielding a tall glaive. He was another Imperial Sentinel by the name of Kong Bo, nicknamed the Hero of Songhui for his feats in the First Great Kingdom War. He was probably one of the most famous of the Imperial Sentinels under the Four Cardinals. The third was an unassuming young man with twin swords at his waist. He kept a gentle smile and a noble-like disposition which contrasted his vigorous aura. They called him, Feng Loufa, the Little Tiger of the West because he had the potential to succeed Cardinal Yongyu as the Imperial Sentinel's strongest swordsman!
Although the era of Rank 3 Kings and Martial Energy had come, Sentinel Mao, Kong, and Feng were still incredibly powerful and famous Perception Realm Experts who left their marks on history. None of them were pushovers. Granted, they might not be as great as the Four Cardinals, who were publicly acknowledged to be the Xingyuu Empire's strongest sentinels; however, they were not far from it either. A few years might be all they need to make that final push into Perception Realm Master. This was why Elizabeth grimaced. Freon, the Ten Dawns, and herself were currently empty on Magic Energy, leaving their strongest fighting powers to be Sir Winstin, the Royal Guards, and the Grand Knights. Unfortunately, Sir Winstin, without his arm, had his ability halved, if not more. He would struggle against opponents of their level and the Royal Guards and Grand Knights would probably fare the same. Things looked bad.