Chapter 1268 - Shadowy Figures (1) (1/2)
“Big Brother, Chaos ambushed.”
Icy Snow shifted her gaze away from the sky and turned to Rhode. Upon hearing her words, Rhode nodded and the corners of his mouth lifted into a proud smile.
“Good. Looks like things are going rather smoothly. I thought those guys would get overly excited while killing and forget the plan.”
Rhode said, flattening the creases on his shirt. At that moment, he wasn’t dressed in his usual noble attire. Instead, he wore a straight, black uniform and donned a pitch-black cloak outside. With a hood over his head, he was covered in black from head to toe, hiding his appearance. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t only him—his followers were dressed similarly too. Be it warriors, mages, rangers, or other classes, they all wore pitch-black cloaks that wrapped themselves completely. Looking ahead into the distance, apart from a distinct group of black figures, no one could differentiate their genders.
“How should we go about it, Leader? Follow the old way?”
Bubble asked, hiding in the shadow behind Rhode. She was also clothed in the same manner and gazed in excitement at the battlefield ahead. The Chaos army was approaching their defensive line, but Bubble wasn’t concerned at all. On the contrary, judging from her look, she seemed as though she couldn’t wait for them to get closer.
“What’s the instructions from Senior Heart? Has the enemy commander confirmed his attacking route?”
Rhode asked and gazed ahead, knitting his brows and pondering for a few moments. Upon hearing his query, Icy Snow nodded, extended her arms, and pointed to the left and right =.
“From here to there. Every Chaos army has a being in the caliber of a Chaos Lord, but they are mostly hidden in the back, so I can’t determine their position. At least for now, based on the intelligence from Big Sister Orchid Heart, this is only the range I can probe so far.”
“Woah, five Chaos Lords? That bast*rd sure devoted his whole life for his, huh, Leader?”
Upon hearing Icy Snow’s remarks, Mini Bubble Gum blew a whistle. Canary, who stood beside Mini Bubble Gum, stretched out her arm and held the latter’s shoulder, reminding her of her place. Then, Canary pondered, before gazing at Rhode with some hesitation.
“In this case, we need to act more passively. If the Chaos Lords are sharp in detecting our probing, our plans are likely to be discovered. I suggest waiting before taking more actions. At least for now, we still have ample time.”
“Can you find out who the Chaos Lords are?”
After listening to Canary’s words, Rhode nodded in response, before turning to Icy Snow again. Icy Snow widened her eyes, looked ahead, and her eyes glinted in a mysterious flash. At the next moment, her gaze returned to normal.
“I’m not sure about other areas, but the one closest to us is the Horned Behemoth.”
“Oh? That’s interesting; I didn’t expect Ion to summon it. Seems like this Chaos Dragon really put a lot of effort into this…” After hearing Icy Snow’s report, Rhode was taken aback, but let out a cold laughter shortly after. At that moment, some people in the group behind him also made a strange laughter. After hearing the laughters, Rhode turned around and said: “Alright then. Everyone, you should know what to do.”
“Of course, Leader. Leave it to us!”
“Hahaha, Ion, that idiot. To think he chose to summon a Horned Behemoth; seems like even God is helping me this time around.”
At that moment, the group responded at once, but not everyone understood what Rhode meant. On his side, Lapis looked to the left and right in suspicion and curiosity. She pulled down her hood tightly and couldn’t understand what these people were talking about.
“Huh, what? What’s going on? Sir Rhode, what are you talking about? Is there something wrong with the Horned Behemoth?”
It wasn’t surprising that Lapis was so nervous. After all, this time she didn’t expect to be chosen by Rhode to join the battle in the front. Frankly, her head went blank when she received the invitation from Rhode. This innocent alchemy elf was well aware of her status. She was a researcher who stayed in the backend and Rhode wouldn’t bring her into battle unless absolutely necessary. But this time, not only was she involved in battle, but she also joined Rhode’s group in heading into the depths of Chaos. Even though this was a huge challenge for Lapis, the always timid young lady nodded in agreement without hesitation this time. As a matter of fact, Lapis’s thoughts were simple—by doing so, she could spend more time with Rhode.
Was it that love made one go crazy? Or perhaps love lowered one’s IQ?
“You’ll know after you see it.”
Gazing at the confused Lapis, Rhode smiled, turned to Icy Snow, and said.
“Little Icy, contact Orchid Heart and inform her there’s a Horned Behemoth at our 3 o’clock. She knows what to do.”
After giving Icy Snow the command, Rhode turned over and swept a glance at his group.
“Alright, everyone. Get ready to move out. Listen to my command!”
The battle continued.
Erin stood at the top of the guard tower, knitting her brows and staring at the battlefield in puzzlement. The dense magical storms had faded gradually, while the Chaos creatures who had their attacks stopped launched their attacks again. Erin initially thought this was the result of her side expending too much strength. But shortly after, she realized that the situation was otherwise. The formidable spell casters maintained their attacks, though they were only casting ordinary, high-level spells like blizzards and flame meteor showers. Erin felt like they were working without putting in the effort… And in reality, that was indeed what they were doing.
But what astonished Erin was that these people weren’t really not putting in any effort. On the contrary, their performance seemed like a segment of a bigger plan. Because after closer observations, Erin discovered that even though the formidable ‘players’ appeared lazy, their positioning was just perfect as they covered one another’s blind spots. As soon as any accident happened, they could fill in the gaps superbly. Not only that, but even though the Chaos army also seemed to be pushing on slowly, they were only able to move really ‘slowly’. Once Erin’s side failed to defend against them, the Chaos army was definitely capable of picking up the pace and breaking through the city wall after stopping the first wave of defenses. Despite that, the Chaos army failed to charge through the defenses and that only proved one thing.
The pressure applied on the Chaos army wasn’t removed yet. On the contrary, the pressure applied on them was managed on purpose!
“Miss Orchid Heart, what are you guys…”
Erin couldn’t help but turn to Orchid Heart who stood beside her. At that moment, the young lady with unkempt hair and hugging a heavy tome leaned on the wall, her half-opened eyes making her look sleepy. Even though Orchid Heart seemed really casual and nonchalant, Erin didn’t belittle her strength. Because after arriving here, Rhode informed Erin that his subordinates would be led by Orchid Heart. Erin was also confident in his explanation. This wasn’t the first time Erin met Orchid Heart. As a matter of fact, Erin clearly remembered when she led the undead army in attacking the Land of Atonement, Orchid Heart copied her moonlight attack to destroy her remaining units, forcing them to retreat without any choice. According to Rhode’s information, Orchid Heart was the war commander-in-chief of the entire Void Territory, and it was exactly her who led an army and repelled Ion’s undead army when he attacked the Void Territory… Just from this point alone, Erin had to respect Orchid Heart’s opinions. Although Erin was now the Dark Dragon, it was a pity that in terms of warfare, she wasn’t any better than a novice. Even though she went into war with the undead army in the past, she served as a secret weapon who was experienced in facing unprecedented situations. But when it involved battle strategies, she didn’t have too many ideas.
Facing Erin’s question, Orchid Heart opened her sleepy eyes, looked at her, and replied softly.
“We need to create an opening for Leader.”
“Rhode?”
After getting along for so many days, Erin knew that they basically addressed Rhode as ‘Guild Leader’ or ‘Leader’. Most of them called him ‘Guild Leader’, while a minority called him ‘Leader’. It was apparent that those who called him ‘Leader’ were closer to him. Even though Erin didn’t know the reason behind it, it was obvious that the level of trust between them and Rhode was higher than the rest’s.
“Yes. When the wave crashes onto the shore, it will carry along some impurities as it returns to the ocean. We need to carry an opening for Rhode, so he can slip through the rear of Chaos and outflank their retreat.”
“… But I think it is quite risky.”
Even though Erin knew that this was Rhode’s plan, she still felt like it was a dangerous idea. The Darkness Capital right now could be said to be Chaos’s nest. Erin thought that this risky initiative from Rhode’s group was lacking in consideration.