Meeting the Enemy

After arriving at the 49th unit, Deon confirmed his speculation; there was indeed a 2-Star shaman leading the assault against the 49th unit camp.

This shaman was a female general, again sent by the Fan Kingdom. Like in the other battlefields, Deon could see that the enemy Restari rebels were also shocked by the sheer might of the Fan Kingdom forces that were fighting alongside them.

Even though this general was only at the initial stage, she was still a 2-Star shaman after all, Deon arrived just in time to prevent the 49th unit from suffering from a complete collapse.

The other units he had assisted until now all had some sort of measure to help them hold off against a 2-Star shaman for a period of time. Some units were defended by 2-Star shamans such as Deon, Shi and General Senlin. Others were protected by the golden suppression formation, whilst one unit was led by Lieutenant Reana herself.

But the 49th unit did not have such protection. Even Deon did not originally expect that the Fan Kingdom would send so many 2-Star shamans in this assault!

In their original estimations which were built on the intel extracted from the interrogated spies, only the 44th, 46th and 48th units should have been assaulted by 2-Star shamans. Deon set up extra precautions in the 45th and 47th units just in case, which was good, because those units were also attacked by 2-Star enemies!

However, the 49th unit was only being defended by ordinary soldiers and captains! Even if they were elites, how could they contend against the joint Fan Kingdom and Restari rebel forces led by a 2-Star shaman?

By the time Deon reached the 49th unit, the enemy troops were already pushing back the Restari defences. Some camp walls had fallen, whilst the corpses were stacked up in piles throughout the area. Enemy soldiers rushed into the camp and were attacking rampantly, the Restari men struggled to hold them back.

But because of this, Deon was easily able to find the enemy general, she was at the forefront of the bloodshed, boosting the morale of her men with her overwhelming might.

In the midst of the chaos, he snuck into the camp, pretending to be another frantic Restari soldier. He quickly reached the female general, executing her swiftly and with a brutal attack, cutting her in half at the waist and shocking the enemy soldiers in the surrounding area.

Deon then proceeded to assist the 49th unit men in pushing back the enemy. The number of Fan Kingdom and rebel soldiers killed by his hands numbered in the dozens, and by this point, Deon felt assured that the 49th unit could handle things from here.

The larger battle was not yet over, he didn't want to linger in this camp for any longer than necessary.

He cleared this battle up, then proceeded to check up on the 50th and 51st units, but there were no 2-Star enemies present in those battles.

After reaching the far Western camp and confirming that the situation was under control, Deon made his way back towards the 46th unit, where he reconvened with Shi, who was once again hiding her appearance with a mask and robe. Before the two could even greet one another though, their expressions changed and they quickly turned Southwards.

"More 2-Star enemies?" Deon frowned.

"This aura, it's Terros and Admiral Adbar!" Shi quickly informed him, narrowing her eyes and preparing herself for what was to come.

Deon's expression became serious. Terros, the new king, was a mid stage 2-Star shaman, and someone who had access to the kingdom's resources and countless rare spirits. As for Admiral Adbar, he was of noble birth and a late stage 2-Star shaman. He was also the Admiral that publicly announced his support for the false king…or the 'true king' as their faction put it.

Deon was tense, but when the source of these auras appeared, both he and Shi relaxed slightly.

"Just the two of them? Haha, maybe we should kill them both right here." Deon joked.

"Impossible." Shi rolled her eyes. "Though, with this formation to suppress everyone, they can't kill us either."

Deon was now glad that earlier, he had ordered the 50 shamans with the golden suppression spirits to move to the 46th battlefield after their own battles were stabilised.

He was previously worried that the new king might send someone to kill him, or that he might show up with a full army and many 2-Star shamans alongside him. With just these two though, they wouldn't be able to defeat Deon, Shi, and the entire reinforced 46th unit.

Higher ranking shamans weren't necessarily all-powerful, it was possible to make use of numbers to overwhelm a stronger opponent.

For example, using the golden suppression formation, tens of 1-Star shamans could come together to partially suppress a 2-Star shaman. This was an excellent method for tackling powerful opponents.

Deon and Shi stood atop the walls, staring down silently as the new king and Admiral Adbar finally arrived.

Whoosh!

The new king actually didn't stop at the wall, but suddenly jumped upwards, flying 20 plus feet into the air, directing a terrifying killing intent towards Deon. Shi frowned and stepped forwards to act, but Deon pulled her back.

"Wait, let me."

She understood his intention and nodded, standing still and showing no sign of helping out.

The new king wouldn't take Deon seriously unless he proved his might. Whilst they had sent the new king a message stating that Deon was a 2-Star shaman, the burly bearded man simply didn't believe that such a young child could reach such a level!

Well, they were lying when they sent that message, but now, it really was true. This was very convenient, both for Deon and for Shi.

However, the suggestion that Shi, an assassin in the legendary shaman assassins alliance, was unable to kidnap this one kid, was simply ridiculous in the new king's eyes!

The new king's mind was abruptly changed by Deon, who fully intended to prove his prowess here and now.

WAM!

Deon deliberately showed off his might to make his opponent feel a sense of caution towards him. He released his full demonic aura after summoning the ancient demon spirit into his hand.

As the burly man shot up towards Deon, his thick black beard fluttering in the wind as he moved at a speed that was shocking for his size, he stretched out his hand, materialising a lance within his palm. This lance was made from orange fire, it was obviously a 2-Star core spirit!

Deon's eyes lit up. This was the first time he had met anyone besides himself that used their core spirit as a weapon!

The scene that both the false king and the admiral expected to see did not occur. Deon was not killed pitifully under this strike, instead, the two of them were almost evenly matched!

Bang!

A fiery explosion erupted outwards around the large man, whilst a dark aura enveloped the region surrounding Deon. The new king was stopped from reaching the wall, and after Deon was pushed back with five heavy steps, he finally managed to stop the man's momentum, pushing him back over the edge.

"Hah…" Deon exhaled, catching his breath relatively quickly. He watched plainly as the stunned middle aged man fell back down towards the ground.

Deon briefly glanced at Shi. The two nodded before jumping down.

All of the soldiers in the vicinity were prepared for an all out battle, they felt extremely nervous. They felt terrified by that shocking exchange between Deon and the rebel king. So, they felt relieved when Deon and the masked individual besides him leapt down from the wall, clearly intending to deal with the 2-Star shamans by themselves.

Deon was prepared for this encounter. Before this battle began, he had strictly ordered the troops in the 46th unit to not interfere in this matter unless he explicitly commanded them to do so.

Deon and Shi stood side by side silently, staring at the other, stronger pair, ten feet away from them.

The tension between them was palpable…that wasn't what Deon wanted though.

Now that he had proven himself as someone capable and not easily bullied, there was no need to continue with this pointless battle.

"I'm glad you could make it here, Restari King. Did you receive my letter? No worries about you not pulling back your men, you can just compensate me with a generous amount of resources for my battle merit, hahaha!"

Deon smiled brightly, speaking to the rebel king as if he was an old friend. He immediately tried to extort this person, whilst maintaining a pleasant expression, leaving the other three feeling completely speechless.