There was one man who stood out the most in the army. At the center, riding a horse, a man wearing a black robe erged. His face was hidden beneath the darkness of the hood.
"The El Dorado has co to reclaim the Forlorn City," the black-robed man announced. "Surrender and open the city gates, or else don’t bla us when the city is reduced to ruins."
"Wasn’t the beatin’ last ti enough?" Jambavav mocked. "Ya ca again to get more?"
"Hah! We weren’t prepared last ti," the black-robed man scoffed. "Do you dare fight us again?"
"Khe-khe-khe, where is your army?" a spike-headed man demanded, licking his dagger. "Don’t tell you four are gonna fight the two thousand of us."
"Oy, Theon, didn’t you say we were gonna have fun?" a fat man with a round bald head complained. "You brought us to fight just these four?"
"Yeah, you’re gonna pay for wasting our ti."
"Khe-khe-khe, let’s just kill Theon first. We can deal with the city later."
.
.
.
Each statent from the Awakeners in the army shocked more and more.
"They’re openly talking about killing their commander," I gasped. "They don’t look like soldiers at all."
"What do you expect?" Vyaghra replied. "They’re all criminals brought together with the bait of Soul Stones. If we offer them double what El Dorado is paying, they’ll switch sides without a second thought."
"Unfortunately, we’re completely broke," Jambavan sighed.
"Huh? What do you an by broke?" I asked, confused. "We have tons of Soul Stones stored in the treasury."
"Ya didn’t tell ’em, Vyaghra?" Jambavan asked.
"He never asked."
"Guys, speak clearly. You two are scaring ."
"Listen carefully, and don’t overreact," U spoke up, taking a deep breath. "All the Soul Stones in the city were consud to refill your Soulforce."
My eyes widened, my whole body trembled, and sweat poured down my face at U’s words.
"Wh-what do you an all of them?" I murmured. "Y-you an only our treasury was emptied, right? We still have the never-ending Soul Stone crystals in the cave, right?"
My voice was full of desperation, but U shook her head.
"I... I beca poor again," I mumbled, falling on my back.
"Hey, I told you not to overreact," U muttered, trying to push back to my feet.
"Jehahaha! One of them has already given up after seeing our overwhelming numbers," a long-bearded man shouted. "I’ll kill the rest and ask for Grade 2 Mid-Tier Soul Stones as my reward."
He leapt from the ground with a machete in hand, and just as he reached the wall, U ford a rapid series of hand signs. Several magical circles radiated across the city’s surface.
In the blink of an eye, a massive barrier rose, covering the entire city.
The attacker’s machete struck the translucent, shimring barrier, ford by interlocking countless hexagons.
From the point of contact, an unexpectedly huge explosion occurred.
The machete was blown backward, stabbing into the ground before Theon’s horse, while the attacker died on the spot, his body blasted into pieces.
The invaders who had been arguing fell silent as all their attention shifted to us.
"Wohoho, when did you cast this barrier, U?" I asked, flabbergasted.
"After you beca the city’s leader, I cast it to prevent invaders from attacking the city," U explained with a proud smile. "This array can block all Awakeners below the True Sage realm. And if anyone within those realms attacks the barrier, it retaliates with an explosive counterstrike twice as fierce. This formation is known as the Mirror Detonation Mandala."
"Mi-Mirror Detonation Mandala?" Theon gasped, his hands trembling. "Th-there’s no way..."
He jumped off his horse, grabbed the bow of a nearby archer, and fired an arrow at the barrier.
With double the speed of the arrow’s original flight, a sharp pink energy line shot back at him.
As it closed in, Theon’s eyes widened in panic.
He yanked the archer in front of him, using him as a shield.
Boom—
"Y-you fucking ba—"
The archer died, unable to finish his sentence.
"It’s... it’s really the Mirror Detonation Mandala," Theon murmured, stumbling back. "We can’t invade the city."
"Khe-khe-khe, you’re ruthless, Theon," the snake-faced man laughed. "But what made a ruthless man like you so scared? It’s just an array. It’ll be destroyed if we keep attacking."
"Yeah, the snake bastard is right."
"Haha, let’s keep attacking!"
"Hold your horses, you back-alley bumpkins," Theon snapped. "This isn’t just a simple protection array. It’s an array technique from the ancient era—one of the Seven Great Arrays, renowned for functioning as both offense and defense at the sa ti."
Taking a big gulp, Theon continued, "B-but this array hasn’t been seen for thousands of years. It’s considered a lost technique."
He pointed at U and shouted, "Wh-where did you find that technique?"
"Bwahahaha!" Jambavan’s loud laugh echoed—almost to the point of choking.
"Tch tch, ignorant fool," Vyaghra muttered, shaking his head.
U stepped forward with her arms folded and declared, "What do you an ’find’? I’m the one who created it."
"Don’t play with !" Theon snapped, his voice cracking. "Answer my question!"
"Tsk tsk, stop embarrassing us, man," the fat bald man sighed. "It doesn’t matter where she learned it. All arrays need Soulforce to stay active. They won’t be able to hold it for long."
"Oh right, I almost forgot," Theon chuckled, regaining his composure. "The stronger the array, the more Soulforce it needs to stay activated. Forlorn City only has Low-Tier Soul Stones, so it’s just a matter of ti before that beast woman exhausts herself."
Climbing back onto his horse, he ordered, "Set up camp here. We’ll attack the city the mont they run out of Soulforce."
Turning to U, I asked quietly, "Is what he said correct?"
"Unfortunately, yes," U whispered. "At my current realm, I can only maintain this array for five hours."
"And what if we use a Grade 1 Mid-Tier Soul Stone crystal?" I asked with a smug look.
"Y-you an..."
"Precisely," I said, touching her nose.
"With that crystal, this array can easily last for seven days."
A wide, devilish smirk appeared on my face as I pulled the three of them closer. "Guys, I have an aweso plan."
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