The elders atop the city walls started to tremble in fear after feeling the great momentum the enemy had while charging at them.
The First Elder turned towards the multiple groups of soldiers behind and shouted: "Start operating the formations! They are coming at us! Go! Go!"
The soldiers and disciples were still a bit lost on how things were developing, but they obeyed the First Elder orders, infusing their energy in the formation they were responsible for. In less than thirty seconds the whole environment got at least thirty degrees hotter.
Their energies started to get sucked by many circuits drawn on the ground, flowing towards huge pillars that were stationed in front of each group. Those pillars were made of blue Skystones and were able to hold up a huge amount of Qi inside of them. If they were made of red Skystones, they would be able to store Mana instead, but the huge quantity of resources to build something like that was astronomical.
Purple Skystones? That's impossible. Not even a Higher Ground could build something like that.
Even though these pillars were made of blue Skystones, they shouldn't be underestimated. As a huge amount of energy started to flow towards them, the disciples from the Blazing Phoenix Sect responsible to operate those pillars, started to channel their flame arts in the mix.
Those pillars were built in order to resonate with flame arts, so when they started to be stimulated, they acted just like a battery, charging up to a certain point. When that point was reached, a huge quantity of flames was quickly being produced on top of them, converging in lots of huge fireballs.
Since they were designed to act as canons, fireballs were the perfect skill to be shot by a canon. This was an offensive formation prepared to be used on this war; however, a single look at the whole picture, would be enough for a normal person to notice that the formations were not in coordination.
Bang!
The first fireball was shot, followed by seven more of them. But while those eight big fireballs were flying towards the enemy forces outside, there were twelve more still being produced by some groups that acted a bit slower.
At the other side, the soldiers suddenly heard the loud noise the pillars were making, but they kept madly charging forwards, covering the distance of a kilometer really quick.
Eight huge fireballs flew past the city walls, making a beautiful arch up in the skies and raining down on the soldiers below. Those soldiers looked up and saw the whole sky being painted by a bright orange color that was almost blinding. Everything happened so fast that no one had time to prepare a counter measure for those attacks.
Boom!
Boom! Boom!
Those eight huge balls of fire dropped in the midst of the enemy forces, killing twenty or so soldiers each one of them and setting fire on everything around that area. Everyone tried to leave their area of effect the fastest they could, but there were so many people crowding the place, that that task had turned out to be a bit difficult, making more and more lives be lost while burning inside that sea of fire.
At least three hundred soldiers lost their lives on that first attack, but since it wasn't coordinated, the Blazing Phoenix City lost the chance to make it be a greater number, giving them a greater advantage.
The commander leading the Wu Martial Kingdom Army infused his Mana into his words, making his voice be heard by everyone.
"Use the Tower Shield!"
Every single person needed to learn the skill called Tower Shield in order to be allowed to enter the army of the Wu Martial Kingdom. It was one of their most famous skills and even though it was simple it was really solid. Even individuals like Wu Shuhui, the Imperial Teacher or the First Prince knew how to use that skill.
However, when the First Prince used it while fighting with Seth, his Tower Shield formed a perfect cube, able to protect him from attacks from everywhere. But as the soldiers started to release their version of the Tower Shield, almost a hundred percent of them, were only able to manifest a horizontal wall of protection in front of their bodies.
That skill was really strong when using in a one-on-one fight, but it was only able to really shine in group battles. The main factor for that, was because the wall created was able to connect with another wall if they were put side by side, and that was their army commander idea.
Although they were able to connect, it wasn't easy to form a perfect wall in the middle of the battlefield. That's why the support they received from the Lion's Pride Golden Palace, would turn out to be a decisive factor for their survivability.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Everyone heard the same sound those huge pillars had made before shooting out fire balls again, but now they were prepared to act.
That maneuver of creating Tower Shields alone, wouldn't be able to completely protect them from the incoming attacks, but since this war was being supported by the Lion's Pride Golden Palace, every single soldier was carrying some blue Skystones with them. That massive wealth was going to be a great differential in the next events.
"NOW!!!"
The commander screamed again and everyone took a handful of blue Skystones that were already fully charged, releasing the energy stored inside them to power up their Tower Shields, making them grow into wider and taller walls.
Those walls connected themselves, forming a huge barrier that served as a protective measure to stop the other twelve fireballs coming their way. The barrier took the format of a huge dome, extending all the way from the frontal area, passing through everyone and covering their heads with that layer of protection.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
As the fireballs were dropping down, they hit the Tower Shield, spreading the fire on its surface. None of them were able to destroy that barrier and kill any more practitioners.
Not sending a simultaneous attack was a very grave error committed by the people inside the Blazing Phoenix City. The elders were clearly unprepared for this, taking hasty actions and not coordinating things accordingly.
After resisting the attack, the soldiers resumed advancing towards the city walls. However, they didn't undo that layer of protection but kept advancing in a slower pace instead. That skill would last for some minutes after being powered by that huge number of Skystones, and it would be more than enough to cover the remaining distance they were apart from the objective.
Since the conflict had started, attracting everyone's attention and making it turn to what was happening at the city walls, the group of experts of the Lion's Pride Golden Palace was actually able to move freely.
A group of thirty practitioners, following the leadership of Qiao Chen a Mana Control late-stage cultivator, approached the city through a relatively less protected area, where there were only a hundred soldiers guarding. They were there just in case a raid like this threatened to do a surprise attack. However, with the difference in power between them, any attempt of stopping those people would be useless.
Qiao Chen suddenly said to the practitioners following him: "You just need to cause a ruckus. Make sure to not expose yourselves. Go!"
The practitioners started to run towards the city walls entering the field of vision of the soldiers guarding the area.
"We are suffering an attack! Get ready!"
Some soldiers were about to run and activate some formations when suddenly they felt many Mana Perception Realm auras suppressing them.
The attacking group of practitioners were elite fighters and the disparity of strength between them was enormous. They used their Mana to execute their special techniques, climbing the walls quickly.
After that, they started to kill many soldiers and destroy everything around, making sure to attract some attention towards them. Instead of killing everyone, they let some people leave so they could call for reinforcements.
"That's enough! Let's leave, the Wu Martial Kingdom can take care of the rest."
The group quickly retreated after destroying a certain section of the city. Their objective was only to weaken the enemy forces, letting the Wu Martial Kingdom suffer less pressure while invading.
"First Elder! First Elder! We got some problems!" The Third Elder, responsible for the information came running towards the First Elder after receiving the information that they were being attacked in another area.
"What is it?" The First Elder was trying to command the whole battlefield, but nothing he thought of, could actually slow down the enemy army or dispel that protective dome around them.
"The Eastern City Gate had just suffered an attack. The remaining soldiers said they were attacked by a group of experts and if I'm not wrong, thy must be the same group of people that took control of the Red Mountain city."
"Damn! Take five hundred men with you and go defend that area! Actually, bring the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Elders along with you."
"Alright."
The Third Elder left to investigate what was going on there. When he was recruiting the other elders, he was able to witness how disordered and confuse was the situation they were in.
'How did it end up like this? Where are you Sect Master?' He could only wonder how things turned out to be such a mess.
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