RAWRGH!
Before anyone from both sides could react to the sudden pressure, a guttural roar came from the enemies' rear.
"AAAAARGH!"
"M-Move! Defend the rear!"
"Guah!"
"Who the hell lured them?"
Panic-stricken shouts from the rear echoed and reached the frontline.
The Lumley Patriarch and the rest who heard the roar and the following shouts did not know whether they should be relieved or not.
With the forest beasts attacking the enemies from the rear, they would be forced to split their attention. While some focused on defending the rear, the Lumley Patriarch and the other leaders could focus fire from the front.
However, those forest beasts did not come to help. If some of them broke through the enemy lines, they would attack indiscriminately.
Or would they?
The Lumley Patriarch was suddenly reminded that Kyran could control a few legendary beasts.
No. That was not exactly right. It was not only Kyran. If he remembered correctly, the Regis Family had the ability to tame beasts!
Could it be that the pressure just now that stopped the enemies' bombardment was someone from the Regis and those beasts at the rear as well?
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The Lumley Patriarch's question was answered instantly when explosions erupted from the enemy's rear. After that, the pressure that stopped the enemies' bombardment lifted as a shadow appeared before him.
A man in his mid or late twenties, wearing an all-black attire, turned to look at the Lumley Patriarch. The man's face was half covered, but he could still see his eyes.
Dark hair and dark gray eyes! This man was a Regis member!
In that instant, the Lumley Patriarch felt a huge weight had been taken off his chest. Now he was sure the beasts that appeared at the enemy's rear were tamed by the Regis Family!
They were saved!
By this time, the rest of the Courtenay and Lumley family members had arrived behind the Lumley Patriarch and also saw the man.
Before they could fully comprehend the man's identity, the man had already spoken.
"The medic team will arrive shortly," he started. "Those injured, please remain inside while those can move follow me."
"Where to?" The Lumley Patriarch asked the man.
"Ask later. Let's go."
Without waiting for him or the others to reply, the man already dashed to the left side.
If the man had shown this attitude before the Lumley Family surrendered to the Regis Clan, the Lumley Patriarch would have already criticized him. He was a patriarch and would never tolerate others talking to him disrespectfully. But given the situation and how the man's timely arrival had saved him, the Lumley Patriarch swallowed any criticism he would have spouted and followed the man at once.
The rest of the leaders followed close by.
Eoin also went after them. But before that, he ordered a few members to wait for the Regis medic team and assist them with the injured members.
"We have teams waiting at three other locations," the man told the Lumley Patriarch and the rest as they moved toward the left side. "Our task is to keep their focus on us."
"Are you planning to continue sneaking an attack from the rear? Don't you think those enemy mages back there already alerted the rest of their people?" One of the Lumley leaders asked the man.
"I've destroyed their communication devices so it is impossible for them to relay the news to their side."
"You..." The Lumley Patriach's expression turned solemn.
If his guess was correct, this man possessed the same Gravity magic as Tobias. However, as far as he knew, the latter could not destroy communication devices using his magic. This... how did he do it? More importantly, how come the Regis Family also had a mage with Gravity magic? Did this mean they were not only hiding one forbidden magic user- which was Kyran- but also a few other members?
The others did not seem to find anything wrong with what the man had said because none of them had recognized the man's magic earlier. They probably thought the latter possessed shockwave-type magic, which was how he destroyed the enemies' communication devices.
"However," the man continued. "If their side does not hear from them, they will get suspicious, which is why we need to move quickly."
None of the others tried to refute the man's words because they understood his meaning. They had to continue with their initiative while the enemies had no idea that the Regis Family had arrived.
"So we'll target the north side next?" Eoin, who managed to catch up with them, asked.
The man glanced sideways at Eoin briefly before returning his attention up ahead.
"Yes and no," he replied. "We'll target the north side, but its not the 'next' target."
"You mean...?" The Lumley Patriarch seemed to realize something as he looked at the man with wide eyes.
The man nodded, "Once we arrive, the enemies will already realize something has happened on the west side. When that happens, they will focus fire on the north. But before that happens, our side will also commence with their attack."
"Doing so will prevent their people on the east and south sides to rendezvous to the north."
The man gave a short nod to confirm Eoin's statement.
"We're here," the man suddenly announced, forcing the rest to stop abruptly.
Eoin, the Lumley Patriarch, and the others with them were surprised the moment they surveyed the scene before them.
When they were following the man, they all thought they would be the ones to initiate the attack. However, they were surprised to see a few Regis members dressed in black waiting at the location.
How did they bypass the defensive array of the Ancestral Hall and come to this place?
One Regis member standing on a tree branch nearby looked at the man whom the Lumley Patriarch and the rest had met.
"Lead," he said as he jumped down. "We're done planting the items."
The man nodded before looking at the Lumley Patriarch and the rest.
"Just a quick reminder," he said. "Later, once the array we've set up activates, the hall's defensive array will collapse completely. Don't panic because it's part of the plan."
"W-What? Why would you do that? Won't we be exposed if the array collapse?"
"It is fine," the Lumley Patriarch said, looking at the Lumley leader who had spoken just now. "We'll follow their lead."
"But—."
"Don't worry," the man from the Regis said. "The new array that we've set up has more defensive capabilities. I can't go into details, but you can be assured that the array will not lose out to your array."
Without waiting for anyone from the Lumley to say anything more, the man turned his back and continued forward.
"Let's go."
*
"We're in position, Patriarch."
As soon as Aron heard Myst's confirmation in his communication device, he nodded and ordered the rest of the team, "Commence with the attack."
*
RAWRGH!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
From three separate locations, roars of beasts and explosions sounded almost simultaneously.
Then in a few seconds, a vast array appeared above, covering the premise of the Lumley Ancestral Hall. Following the appearance of this array, the ancestral hall's defensive array shattered.
Another round of explosions from colliding magic attacks and beasts on a rampage filled the whole place for the next hour.
*
At that exact moment, Layla and White Lily were still in a deadlock back in Ravenpass.
However, White Lily noticed how Layla's complexion seemed to have changed. She looked paler— even ghostly white— as if she had lost too much blood. Strangely, none of White Lily's attacks landed on Layla, so she did not lose any blood. If this was the case, the only other reason was she suffered from loss of magic energy.
White Lily guessed that Layla could only evade her attack while trying to sneak in a soul attack or two because she had to maintain the Macabre Glacier. If this was true, as long as White Lily exhausted Layla's magic energy, she could gain the upper hand.
Then again, the question was who would be the first to exhaust their magic energy.
The truth, White Lily was already reaching her limit. It was not because her magic energy was about to be depleted like Layla, but because White Lily could sense Rin was already at her limits. If White Lily insisted on staying in the Human plane and continued using 80% of her real strength, Rin's body would break.
On the other hand, Layla was also suffering. But contrary to White Lily's guess, her suffering was not because she could barely control the Macabre Glacier but because she sensed her dummies getting destroyed.
It was okay if the dummies were the only ones destroyed, but the souls attached to them were also destroyed.
Obviously, it was the handy work of Kyran.
That annoyed Layla; at the same time, she felt somewhat nostalgic recalling how Caelan did the same a thousand years ago.
This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶