The lightning was still moving quietly between Lian’s fingers.
From the top of a huge root that came out of the Emberroot like a natural rock, he watched the army of Cinderhold.
More than six hundred Cindari were moving through the trees.
The Rootbound Wardens were moving in organized lines. Large and heavy shields were attached to their backs, and the tips of their spears reflected the red light of the Ember Crystals.
The archers were spread on both sides of the column.
The Flame Mages were moving slightly behind the front line, and their red robes dragged across the ground with every step.
The Healers were near the center of the army, and several command units with heavier armor and golden marks could be seen among them.
Three mobile Ballistae were also with the army, each one placed on a heavy carriage and pulled by two armored War Beasts.
This army had not come for patrol, it was moving for war and its destination was completely clear.
Vhalaris.
He looked at them without moving for a few seconds.
If this army reached the city, Rindo and the others would be forced to enter another full-scale battle.
Serafina and Marcus could probably hold the defensive lines.
Cassian could target the commanders.
Ethan would definitely welcome the battle.
But the problem was not the main fighters.
There were more than forty Awakeners in Ashfall and a large part of them had not even gotten close to Level 20.
Some of them had no experience fighting a regular army.
And if Cinderhold launched a direct attack, even if the humans won, casualties would be unavoidable.
Lian narrowed his eyes slightly, but there was another reason for him to pay attention to the army.
Six hundred soldiers, six hundred living beings with Stats that could be absorbed.
His Level was currently locked at 20.
EXP from every Kill was being stored and until he completed the Evolution Quest, he could not gain any new Levels.
But Stats did not depend on Level-Up until they reached their maximum, Stats growth had its own path.
Lian opened his Status Panel for a moment, then looked at the army again and this time he no longer saw only six hundred soldiers.
It was almost like looking at a moving mine full of Stats.
"Are you going after them?" Seris, who was standing beside him, saw his expression, looked at the army for a few seconds and then asked.
"Yeah."
"Do you need help?"
"No." Lian jumped down from the edge of the root.
"There are several hundred of them, are you sure?"
"That’s why I’m going."
Seris understood what he meant immediately, Lian had not chosen this battle only to protect Vhalaris.
He wanted to use it, the soldiers of Cinderhold were not only enemies to him, they were a source of power.
"Okay."
"Okay? That’s all? This is crazy!" Aren, who was still standing on top of the root, looked between the two of them.
"If he needed help, he would ask for it."
Aren stared at him.
Then he lowered his head and looked at Lian, who was walking alone toward an entire army.
For a few seconds, he really could not find anything to say.
"If all humans of the new generation have become like this, maybe Demons are no longer the biggest problem in the world." He finally muttered.
Down in the forest, the Cinderhold army still had no idea that they were there.
The main column continued at a steady speed, the wheels of the Ballistae made sounds as they moved over the dry roots.
The armored War Beasts shook the ground with every step, in the center of the army, several officers riding smaller Beasts moved together.
"We still have no response from Vhalaris." One of them held a communication Crystal in his hand.
It was a type of Crystal that contained magic and a mechanism that allowed it to communicate with another matching version of itself.
A man wearing black armor with orange lines on his shoulders looked ahead.
Commander Varesh Korr, commander of the Cinderhold Advance Legion.
"What was the last message?" he asked seriously.
The communication officer checked the Crystal.
"Rootwarden requested immediate reinforcements, then the connection was cut."
"And Kael?" Varesh frowned.
"He sent no direct message."
"Do you think the Outsiders defeated Kael?" another officer moving on the right said.
They naturally knew about the Outsiders and knew who they were, they had even found and captured some of them during these few days.
Unlike Maelor, they had only directly captured humans, they saw no need to use tricks and directly interrogated them to get the information they wanted.
Several nearby soldiers looked at them.
"It’s only a rumor." Varesh turned his head slightly.
"But the message came from Vhalaris." The younger officer said.
One of the older commanders laughed.
"Kael is the commander of the border, maybe they caught him by surprise in battle." Then he looked at the army column.
"But six hundred Cinderhold soldiers are a different matter, even if they defeated him, they have no chance against us."
Varesh said nothing, however, he increased the speed of the column.
At that moment, a very short sound came from above the trees, he raised his head and suddenly blue light cut through the space above the column for a fraction of a second.
[Thunder Step.]
Lian appeared directly in the center of the army from a distance, right in the middle of the command unit and his boots touched the ground.
Varesh only had time to see a human shadow.
Lian brought both fists down.
[Thunder Calamity.]
Lightning exploded the moment it hit the ground, a circular wave of electricity, dirt and pressure spread out from the center of the army.
The sound of the explosion shook the forest and more than twenty soldiers were thrown off the ground at the same moment.
Lightning moved from metal armor to weapons and from the weapons to the bodies of the soldiers beside them.
Several Rootbound Wardens lost control of their legs and fell to the ground.
The nearby War Beasts panicked, one of them suddenly turned to the right.
The Ballista carriage behind it left its path and crashed directly into the line of archers.
Screams came from several directions at once, the back line crashed into the soldiers in front.
A shield fell, a spear broke, the communication Crystal fell from the officer’s hand and hit the ground.
Varesh remained on his feet, but the lightning wave pushed him several meters backward.
"What—" He did not have time to finish his sentence.
Thunder Step activated again, Lian disappeared, and a moment later he appeared beside the communication officer.
A simple punch hit the center of the man’s armor, the officer was lifted from the ground and crashed into a tree trunk.
The Crystal was still on the ground and Lian crushed it with his heel.
"Attack!"
"From which direction?"
"Get into formation!"
"Mages forward!"
Orders could be heard from every direction, but no one knew how many enemies there were or where they had come from.
One of the Rootbound Wardens looked around in fear.
"Are they above us?"
"No! He’s in the middle of us!" another shouted.
Thunder Step activated for the third time.
Lian appeared on the platform of the second Ballista, the crew of the machine had just noticed his presence and one of them reached for the firing lever.
He placed his palm on the body of the machine.
[Cataclysm Pulse.]
The destructive wave entered its structure, the Ballista remained intact for a moment and then the sound of gears breaking came from inside it.
The Steel plates cracked one after another.
The Mana chamber exploded and the entire machine broke apart from the inside, throwing the crew around with the explosion.
Lian came out from among the pieces of metal, one of the War Beasts charged toward him with a roar.
The creature was more than three meters tall and its horns were covered with Ember Steel.
He did not even change his path, Thunder Calamity gathered around his right fist and at the moment of impact, his fist hit the Beast directly in the forehead.
The sound of breaking bone and lightning came together, the huge body of the creature twisted and fell to the ground.
The heavy carriage attached behind it turned out of control and moved between two lines of Flame Casters.
Several Mages were forced to abandon their half-finished Barriers to escape.
"Wait..." Varesh finally saw the enemy, his eyes narrowed and the image from the reports they had received from Vhalaris came back to his mind.
A young human, dark hair and a strange lightning power that he used.
Exactly a report about someone like this had reached them before the city’s fall, warning them about such a strange person.
"It’s him."
"Who?" the officer beside him asked.
"That human whose name is Lian!"
The name spread through the lines of soldiers, the first reaction changed and confusion was replaced by recognition.
And recognition brought back their confidence for a few seconds, because no matter how strange the reports from Vhalaris were, the enemy was still only one person.
"He’s alone!" Varesh drew his sword and his voice was strengthened by Mana.
"Surround him!"
The Rootbound Wardens began to move, the archers knelt on the ground.
The Flame Mages gathered Mana again, the rear units closed the paths.
More than one hundred soldiers moved toward the center at the same time.
If someone survived for a few minutes and remembered that sentence later, it would probably be the most bitter joke of his life.
Lian stood in the middle of the circle of soldiers, Predator’s Instincts was active, danger was coming from every direction.
A spear from the right, two arrows from above, a Fireball from behind, a sword from the front and a magical root from below the ground.
But him? He was neither worried nor afraid, in fact, he was excited, after a long time he could finally have some excitement.
Unfortunately, the Cindari did not know that they were not facing a human, but a monster in human form...