Lian started moving. At first his steps were slow, but with each step his speed increased.
The first row of Rootbound Wardens reacted immediately.
They placed their tall shields next to each other.
The ends of the shields locked into the stone floor and golden lines spread from one to another.
The commander of the row raised his sword.
"Rootwall formation!"
More than twenty soldiers released Mana at the same time. Golden light connected all the shields to each other.
For a moment, the row of soldiers was no longer a group of individuals. It became one solid wall.
Golden roots came out from under the shields and went into the stone floor of the bridge. Any hit that landed on one point would be split among all members of the formation.
This structure was built to stop high-level War Beasts and monsters that could break the city gates with a direct attack.
But unfortunately, they did not know that they were facing something more dangerous than any monster they had ever seen.
Lian did not slow down.
[Iron Fortress Charge.]
A dense gray pressure formed around his body.
His skin, muscles and bones became hard like the body of a moving fortress.
Then he released Thunder Calamity on that same structure. Lightning spread over his shoulders, arms and legs.
Lian’s body disappeared among blue light and gray pressure. His last step crushed the stone under his foot, and then he hit the center of Rootwall.
The sound of the explosion shook the whole bridge. A circular wave spread from the point of impact and sent dust, stone pieces and golden sparks into the air.
Rootwall lasted less than a second. The central shield bent in the middle.
The Rootbound Warden behind it did not even have time to scream. His body left the ground and crashed into three soldiers behind him.
Lightning transferred from the central shield to the side shields. The soldiers’ hands went numb. Some lost control of their Mana.
The golden roots connected to the ground tore one after another. The force of Iron Fortress Charge passed through the center of the formation.
The defensive line opened from the middle, like a wall broken by a huge hammer. The soldiers on both sides of the gap were thrown back in fear.
The shield that they had worked so hard to form, fell apart so easily.
Lian passed through them without stopping. The first spear came from the left toward his neck.
Predator’s Instincts sent the danger to his body before the blade reached halfway. A raw and instinctive feeling that showed the direction of death.
Lian moved his head a few centimeters to the side. The blade passed by his face and his right hand grabbed the spear’s shaft.
Thunder Calamity went from his palm into the weapon.
Electricity moved along the shaft and reached the soldier’s arms. The whole body of the Rootbound Warden shook.
His eyes went white for a moment and he fell to the ground without being killed.
Three soldiers charged at Lian from behind. He pulled his arm up and both soldiers lifted off the ground.
Their armored bodies spun in the air and crashed into the third one.
All three fell on top of each other.
Another Rootbound Warden with a heavy axe came from the right. The axe blade was covered in Mana.
The man brought the strike down with all his weight.
[Diamond Skin.]
Lian’s skin became hard. The axe hit his arm and the sound of metal hitting something harder than stone rose.
The blade only made a shallow scratch.
The Warden looked at his weapon in disbelief. He had just felt like he hit the hardest thing he had ever seen.
And that hesitation was enough. Lian’s thunderous fist hit the center of his chest.
The armor caved in and the soldier’s body was thrown back several meters, knocking two more soldiers to the ground with him.
The archers on the towers got the order to shoot. Dozens of Mana arrows moved toward Lian from three angles.
Predator’s Instincts warned him with a constant pressure all over his body.
Lian did not even look up.
[Thunder Step.]
Blue lightning exploded among the arrows. All the arrows passed through his previous location and hit the stone floor of the bridge.
He appeared on the platform of the first Ballista. The three Cindari crew members were still preparing the next arrow.
None of them had time to react. Lian placed his palm on the body of the device.
[Cataclysm Pulse.]
A compressed and invisible wave entered the Ballista’s structure. At first nothing was seen, but then thin lines formed on all the metal plates.
A moment later, the device exploded from the inside.
Gears, plates, and the Mana chamber were thrown in all directions.
The Ballista crew fell to the ground from the blast wave, but Lian had controlled the Skill’s intensity so it would not tear their bodies apart directly.
He caught one of the large curved plates of the device in the air. He held the plate in front of his body and moved from the platform toward the archer tower.
Arrows hit the temporary shield one after another. The metal cracked under the pressure, but Lian kept moving forward.
"My god, he really is a monster!" The Awakeners did not know if they should be happy or terrified.
They did not know that among them there was such a monster who was pushing back the entire Cindari army all by himself.
All their defensive lines were falling one by one, and he alone had changed the whole flow of the battle.
The motivation and confidence among all the Awakeners increased and cheers grew louder.
"Haha, with a fighter like this, we have nothing to fear!"
"We will be the final victors!"
Rindo also looked more relieved seeing Lian’s real power. The worries he had were slowly disappearing.
Of course, as much as they had become happy and relieved, their enemies had become more scared and their faces more ugly. Now they understood where that human’s arrogance came from.
He really was powerful! So powerful that he could go head to head with all of them!
At the same time, the rest of the Awakeners also entered the battle.
Seris moved from the right side of the bridge. Her sword spun among the Rootbound Wardens with cold and precise speed.
Each strike could target the neck or heart of the soldiers, but she changed the sword’s path according to Rindo’s decision.
Knees.
Wrists.
Shoulders.
And weapons.
Every Cindari that faced her lost the ability to continue fighting in less than a few seconds.
Seraphina stood in the center of the human line. Prismatic light moved on her blade.
Every time an arrow or ranged Skill came toward weaker Awakeners, she moved her sword.
Transparent and colorful layers formed in the air and changed the arrows’ path.
Some hit the ground. Some hit empty walls. And some returned toward the Cindari shields.
Liana had sent Shadow Wolf into the bridge’s shadow.
The huge wolf disappeared into the darkness of the floor and came out a few meters away from another soldier’s shadow.
Archers who thought they were safe at height suddenly saw black claws on their chest and shoulders.
Shadow Wolf did not kill them. It threw them to the ground with a heavy strike and crushed their weapons.
Marcus kept the Ashfall defensive line.
His injured shoulder did not move fully, but he still pushed back every soldier that came through the gaps with his shield and sword.
Cassian moved among the buildings and the edge of the square. He did not go into the most crowded part of the battle.
He found small commanders, message carriers, and Mages who were trying to keep the army’s formation together.
Every time one of them gave a new order, a sword from a blind spot hit their hand, foot, or shoulder.
But despite the presence of all of them, the real center of the field was Lian. Wherever the soldiers formed a dense line again, he went in.
Wherever a Barrier formed, Cataclysm Pulse broke it from the inside.
Wherever a commander tried to reorganize the soldiers, Thunder Calamity’s fist took him out of the field.
The Cindari still had the advantage in numbers, but they could not gather their main force at one point.
Because wherever Lian reached, it collapsed in a few seconds.
Seven Fire Mages gathered on the left side of the bridge. Their red robes flared up with Mana.
They raised their hands at the same time and threads of fire connected through their fingers to each other.
They had decided to eliminate the biggest threat at any cost! They had to kill that damned human!
[Sevenfold Ember Prison.]
Seven pillars of fire rose from the ground around Lian. The flames changed direction with his movement.
Every time he stepped toward one of the gaps, two pillars moved close together and blocked the path.
The heat increased quickly. The air inside the fiery prison became heavy.
Lian’s burnt armor started smoking again. He moved once to the right.
The flames blocked the path. He stepped back a second time. The pillars behind him shifted with a short delay and completed the ring again.
"How annoying," he frowned.
[Echo Adaptation.]
It activated in his mind.
This Skill did not give a ready answer. It also did not reveal the whole structure of the attack in one moment.
But it recorded the rhythm of the flames’ movement, the reaction time gap, and the pattern of repetition.
First wave.
Then second.
Lian noticed that when the pillars changed direction, they lost their stability for a fraction of a second.
The third wave began.
The flames moved to block the forward path. In that very short pause, Thunder Step activated.
Lightning passed through the fire. He came out of the fiery prison and appeared right in the center of the seven Mages’ circle.
He raised both fists.
Thunder Calamity gathered on both arms, and then he struck both fists to the ground at the same time.
Lightning spread over the bridge’s surface. Seven branches of electricity moved outward and entered the legs and bodies of the Casters.
All seven bodies shook at the same time and their focus broke. Sevenfold Ember Prison went out and the Mages fell to the ground one after another.
Lian deactivated Echo Adaptation. This short use was enough.
Kael watched the field from a distance and his face was ugly. He was furious. The first row was broken. One Ballista was destroyed.
The main Mages were out of the field. The archers could not shoot freely.
If Lian moved without any obstacle for a few more minutes, the entire siege force would collapse.
Kael grabbed the Ember Vanguard spear with both hands. The flames around the weapon became more dense.
It was time for him to intervene personally and remove the biggest threat.