The army of the invaders formed seven groups, and even the existences in the fourth rank left their battles to support their respective teams. According to Andrew Elbas' description, the Elemental formation was powerful, so deactivating it had to be their priority.
Noah charged the metallic orb in his palm as he waited for the leaders of each group to give the order to attack.
He had hinted that there could have been a problem with the functioning of the item since his "Breath" wasn't exactly ordinary. However, after performing a few tests in complete secrecy, he confirmed that he could use his darkness to be one of the energies needed to take care of the Elemental formation.
After all, individualities always affected the composition of the "Breath" in peculiar ways, and Noah only needed to know if the metallic orb recognized his energy as "Breath" of the darkness element.
The enemy troops showed stern expressions at that scene and gathered in front of the castles to prepare for the imminent clash. It was evident that the invaders had come prepared for their defensive method, so they could just do their best to protect it.
"Charge." A single word resounded in the minds of the rank 5 cultivators of the invaders, but it was enough to trigger a series of battle cries that followed the advance of the seven groups.
Noah stood at the center of his team, and his Demonic Sword followed him closely, ready to protect him in case an attacker managed to pierce the blockade around him.
Of course, Noah could fight even if he was charging the orb, but he couldn't express his real strength if he fought among allies.
Multicolored lights spread in the environment as the seven teams crashed on the first line of defense of the Empire. Many spells flew and exploded as the various groups fought to pierce or block their enemies.
Shockwaves and loud noises echoed through the groups, but Noah could only hear muffled sounds in the middle of all those heroic cultivators. Meanwhile, inscriptions started to appear on the orb as his "Breath" kept on fueling it according to Andrew's instructions.
"Wind, you are going too fast. Slow down!" Andrew's voice resounded in the minds of the seven cultivators carrying the orbs. The Royal family had provided special notebooks that could keep track of the status of those items so that Andrew could monitor it.
Deactivating the Elemental formation required strict coordination, which gave birth to the need of a supervisor that warned the carriers whenever they didn't respect the planned schedule. Andrew had even chosen simple codenames to make their communication more intuitive.
"Prepare for impact!" Someone in Noah's group shouted, and he noticed how the black giant in front of his team had raised an arm to punch them.
Elder Julia raised her hand at that sight, and the giant suddenly stopped moving before a small tornado formed inside its raised arm. The hurricane spread until its entire arm exploded, preventing the puppet from completing its attack.
Noah's group began to cheer, but the giant quickly raised its other arm to attempt in another attack. Yet, Elder Julia stopped it again with the same spells.
The power of a rank 5 cultivator in the solid stage was incredible. It could directly incapacitate puppets that could potentially defeat other beings that were in the gaseous or liquid stage!
Nevertheless, the Elemental formation wasn't so easy to defeat. The Elbas family wouldn't have retreated the first time otherwise.
The arms of the black giant reformed in a matter of seconds and resumed their attempts to punch the team advancing through the allied troops. Yet, both of its limbs exploded again as Elder Julia created storms inside them.
That cycle repeated itself multiple times, and Elder Julia couldn't help with the advance of her team at all since she had to prevent the giant from landing its attacks on it. All the rank 4 cultivators would die otherwise, and there was a high chance to have casualties among those in the fifth rank too.
If the invading forces had decided to attack without any preparation, seven rank 5 cultivators in the solid stage would have been busy keeping the giants at bay. The army of the three forces would have been too weak to face the Empire in that case. After all, the cultivators on that level were the leaders of each faction.
Also, the giant didn't appear weakened by the damages that it was suffering and simply regenerated in a matter of seconds, ready to attack again.
The battles around Noah continued, and Elder Julia kept on fighting the Elemental formation as the team advanced. Andrew Elbas would shout orders through the special notebooks whenever one of the seven carriers didn't respect the schedule set beforehand.
The Empire did its best to stop the invaders. It even resorted to basic tactics such as leaving some castles unprotected, and focus all its troops on specific sources.
However, the invaders had prepared for that eventuality too and simply reinforced the teams that had to face more troops.
In the end, the numerical advantage and the losses inflicted through that year of wars won against the defenses set in the last decades by the most potent force in those Mortal Lands.
The seven teams reached the castles and opened a path for the carries while protecting them from the enemy troops who were madly trying to break through the blockage. Noah flew at high speed toward his target enveloped in the black light of the darkness giant.
He couldn't understand anything about that kind of formation, but the amount of "Breath" of the darkness element contained inside that puppet was merely insane. It made him wonder if the Empire had hidden experts with a darkness aptitude through the millennia.
"Is everyone in position?" Andrew asked when his team reached their castle and shouted an order when all the carriers gave affirmative answers. "Throw!"
Noah threw the metallic orb in his grasp toward the castle, and the inscriptions on its shining form began to flicker as it neared the body of the black giant. A path opened in the ethereal body of the puppet, and the orb slid right through it before starting to destabilize.
Explosions resounded as the seven orbs detonated at the same time and spread the shining lines on their surface on the castles. The giants suddenly stopped moving when that happened, and the formation on the sides of the mountains began to release sparks.
It seemed that those lines, coupled with the "Breath" of the respective elements, had created a short-circuit in the part of the formation containing the Elemental formation. Those giant forms ultimately vanished as the effect spread, and the invading forces could focus once again on the troops of the Empire at that point.
As for Noah, he looked for a particular lightning cultivator that had tried to catch him by surprise.