Despite appearing leisurely, John paid close attention to Ezekiel in the distance. He had caught the change in how the relic marshall moved. Not long after, he couldn't see the female vampire that was always by Ezekiel's side.
He called Arther and said, "Have everyone ready to move at a moment's notice."
Arther relayed the command.
He then asked Meryl who had a communication device to contact Salem and asked how was the progress of the crossing. Meryl made contact and told John that there was still around one legion of troops that needed crossing.
"Tell him to hurry his ass up," John said.
"Why the rush?" Meryl asked.
When John was about to reply, he caught sight of the female vampire who had gone out of sight. The woman was running back to the Sangrod army while shouting something at Ezekiel. She was pointing at John at the same time.
"We have been found out!" John exclaimed. He hurriedly stood up and yelled at everyone. "Move! Mount up! We are leaving!"
Everyone had received Arther's instruction prior, so they were swift in carrying out the command. Everyone summoned their steeds. The illusion copies did the same. Meryl mounted up as she shouted into the communication device, telling Salem that they would be coming in fast.
Everyone rushed back to the cliff. The illusionists and the regular troops behind the cliff had also mounted up. They all rode back to where they came from while the illusionists controlled the copies to spread out in different directions in an attempt to confuse the Sangrod army.
*
"Copies?" Ezekiel was still confused after listening to Sierra's report.
"Yes! A large portion of the army they brought are fakes!" Sierra said. "We have to chase them!" She saw John and the others ride towards the cliff.
Ezekiel was uncertain. "Why? They can't cross through Sangrod without going through here. If we leave this place, they might sneak back and cross when we are not looking."
"I don't know, but they must have done this for a reason!" Sierra exclaimed. Half of the Themisphere army had disappeared behind the cliff. "If we don't do anything, we might fall into their traps!"
Ezekiel finally decided to act. He summoned his steed. "I'll take half the army and chase them. You stay here with the other half. If they try to charge through here. Send a flare signal. I will come back as fast as possible."
"Got it," Sierra said. She then added, "Be careful, brother."
Ezekiel nodded. He looked at the army behind him that had mounted up. They then charged forward chasing after the Themisphere army.
After Ezekiel left, Sierra called two of her lieutenants.
"Take this," She gave each lieutenant one of her flare signals. "Go along this chasm. If you find anything suspicious, fire this signal."
The two lieutenants then rode off in two opposite directions.
*
The chase went on for some time. Ezekiel again called his pet to scout the escaping army from the sky. This time, he had the blood vulture to focus on the head of the army, where John and the two lord marshals were. There had been several instances where the Themisphere army split and went in different directions. He just followed the one John led and ignored the others. He bet those split troops were just copies from the illusionist's spells.
"It seems that relic marshall has wisened up. He is no longer fooled by the copies," John said.
But this also worked to John's advantage. Because Ezekiel didn't bother with the troops that were not led by John, John sent some of the real troops away among the copies. These troops went to the secret crossing while John continued to lead Ezekiel around in a merry chase.
At this time, only around 10,000 real troops were with him. These were the ones with the fastest steeds. Another 30,000 riding around them were copies.
John turned to Meryl. "How is the crossing going? What the hell took Salem so long?"
Before Meryl could answer, they saw something shooting up into the sky while producing a shrill sound. This something exploded into a bright flare.
"That is in the direction of our secret crossing," Arther said.
"That is not our flare," Meryl added.
"F*ck! That place had been found," John said. "No more distraction. We go to the crossing now!"
*
Ezekiel saw the flare. That was their signal flare, but why was it shot from an unknown place? Only Sierra and he carried these flares.
From his blood vulture's eyes, he saw John's army change direction.
He made a decision then. "Everyone, head to where that flare was shot!"
It now became a race to reach the place with the secret crossing.
John sent the 30,000 copies that were still riding with him to Ezekiel. Ezekiel saw the incoming army and his blood vulture swoop down at one of them. His blood vulture just went through the copies. He told everyone to ignore these copies and just march forward.
However, as they marched, the copies turned around and marched with them. They didn't march properly but did multiple zig-zag and confusing movements. This disrupted Ezekiel's army march. They had trouble riding straight with such a visual disturbance.
Some even stumbled into their comrades and fell. The whole march was a mess.
Ezekiel told everyone to not stop. The ones who fell were not in danger. They had to keep on marching forward.
Then another thing came. A volley of arrows. These arrows struck the area right in front of Ezekiel's army. If they forced themselves to march forward, they would be hit by the arrows.
Ezekiel did so. He called everyone to use their defensive skills and marched forward under the rain of arrows.
Once they were hit, they realized these were no normal arrows. They contained ice enchantment. They were not in danger because the arrows spread out in a very large area, so one arrow only hit one target. However, those who were hit had their movement speed reduced.
Another batch of arrows came. These arrows landed in front of the army. These were very long arrows. Rather than arrows, they were more like javelins. These arrows formed a line. They then emitted electricity, forming a lightning fence.
Those who tried to ride past the fence were electrocuted and paralyzed.
Ezekiel jumped from his steed. The dual curved twinblades on his back were now in his hands. His body zoomed forward at high speed. He landed right before one of the javelins and struck it. An HP bar appeared from the hit. His dual twinblades created a tornado of slashes. The javelin was destroyed then. The lightning fence disappeared.
His steed arrived at this moment and he jumped back up. As he rode forward, he saw the one who had been sending these arrows. It was Meryl, one of Themisphere's Lord Marshall.
As they rode forward. He finally realized what this was all about.
"No…," He uttered. He saw the wooden bridge. He saw John and his armies crossing the bridge. What was worse was he saw the large army of Themisphere was mostly already on the other side, in Palgrost.
"No!!" He yelled. He had his super-rare-grade steed ride ahead. He no longer adjusted his speed with his army.
Only Meryl was left to cross the bridge. She rode behind to fire movement-restriction arrows to slow Ezekiel's army. She was now entering the bridge.
"You stay!!" Ezekiel thundered. He used Air Charge, which was similar to Wind Jet but was a skill instead of a spell.
He was about to reach Meryl when a silver meteor crashed into him. The impact threw him backward. He looked up and saw Arther who was flying using his wings tool. Around him was a silvery sphere, his Sphere of Aegis.
"Stop it, marshall," John called from the opposite side. "Your mission has failed. We are already in Palgrost now. There is no need to chase after us anymore."
Ezekiel scowled. Should he have his army cross over as well? But what then? Attack the Themisphere army? That would be a full-blown battle then.
While he was confused about what to do, he heard a notification. Not just him, but all the soldiers in his army also heard the same notification. The notification had something to do with their country's sovereign.
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