Orion would flee toward the ruin's depths where overcoming a bottleneck in unmoldable terrain would be difficult…
Where pursuing would require fighting through confined spaces favoring defenders.
She needed him to stay visible. Needed him committed to surface confrontation where she could actually reach him, confident enough in his position that he wouldn't imdiately flee when she arrived.
So she was holding back... Deliberately. Making the advance look difficult rather than easy. Making it seem like she was struggling against the army's coordinated defense rather than rely inconvenienced by it.
Let him think she was near her limits. Let him believe the day of continuous combat had depleted her to the point where breaking through three thousand soldiers required all her remaining strength. Let him feel secure in his nurical advantage and prepared defenses.
Then strike when he was committed and flee routes were cut off by her ice.
The White Serpent continued weaving through attacks. Ice shields continued deflecting what couldn't be evaded. And Selphira advanced ter by ter through the army's defensive fire.
Looking tired... Looking like soone fighting at their absolute limits.
To make every one unaware that the old woman approaching was considerably more dangerous than she appeared.
She couldn't fuse yet…
It was a risk she couldn't take when the primary objective was reaching Orion and Victor, not demonstrating dominance over an army that was secondary to the real confrontation that mattered to her.
For the mont Orion seed not to be retreating despite her advancing aggressively through defenses supposed to protect him.
It was behavior that was still intriguing in its lack of appropriate caution despite her acting.
Perhaps because she was alone too now and that made him underestimate her? Did he think an individual tar without backing of her own army was a threat he could handle even if that tar was Selphira?
It was good, but still another thing that enraged her slightly, yet sothing that also provided advantage. If Orion's arrogance kept him in a position where she could reach him before he recognized his evaluation error, better for her.
Let him think he was safe. Let him believe his army and prepared defenses were sufficient. Let him stay visible and reachable.
That's all she needed.
Selphira kept pressing directly through the army without deviating toward the flanks or attempting so maneuver that would have taken more ti even though it might cost her more mana.
It was an approach that used more shields to literally run over soldiers who didn't move fast enough to get out of the way.
The White Serpent didn't slow for individual soldiers. It just flowed forward like an avalanche. Anyone too slow to dodge was crushed under its mass or sent flying by an impact with the ice shields protecting its body.
It was brutal... The advance of soone who'd decided that reaching an objective mattered more than minimizing casualties of so traitors.
Advancing through the center also considerably affected the quantity of soldiers composing defensive and offensive formations. Created chaos in ranks supposed to maintain order under pressure.
They couldn't defend very well because the serpent broke or climbed any obstacle and obstacles couldn't be too large or they'd obstruct their own formation. Also they couldn't launch very concentrated attacks toward Selphira because collateral damage to their own units would be worse than permitting her to continue progressing without maximum opposition. Attacking with power sufficient to seriously threaten her required techniques that would cause massive casualties among the sa soldiers who were too close to possible deflection trajectories.
It was a tactical nightmare... Their nurical advantage beca a liability when their own people were in the line of fire. But though they couldn't stop her completely, they were effectively wearing her down through accumulation of small and more accurate attacks.
They forced her spending considerable mana on shields she had to constantly manifest. Projection after projection responding to attack waves that never completely ceased.
Dozens of minor techniques, hundreds in seconds and thousands in cumulative terms. Small attacks that though they bounced off defenses or were destroyed, accumulated damage through the cost that each defensive layer required.
It was a strategy of death by thousand cuts. Recognition that if they couldn't defeat her through a single great blow then they'd exhaust her through attrition eventually reducing her capabilities to the point where she'd beco vulnerable.
Each shield manifested costing mana. Each deflection required so energy expenditure. The drain was constant and relentless even if no single attack was threatening.
And Selphira was pretending but still felt it.
She'd been fighting for a day already. Hours of eliminating mutants before this and now pushing through three thousand soldiers while maintaining constant defense. Even her trendous resources had limits.
She still penetrated the defenses with a combination of speed and ice shields that ford and fractured repeatedly as they absorbed impacts. Regeneration maintaining her functional protection but draining her reserves with each cycle of damage and repair.
The army also attempted different tactics. Tars with earth affinity trying to destabilize the ground beneath the Serpent to compromise Selphira's high mobility.
But the ice she projected stabilized the surface before the enemy techniques could fully manifest. Counter-manipulation negated the attempts to create treacherous terrain that would have slowed the advance.
Freeze the ground solid... Make it hard and stable to deny earth tars the moldable material they needed for their techniques. Simple but effective counter.
Water and wood mana also couldn't do much against the superior ice.
Water she absorbed and converted. Wood she froze and shattered. Her elental advantage in these matchups was significant enough that enemies with those affinities were nearly useless against her.
But each conversion still cost mana. Each absorption required energy investnt and though it was fairly efficient, efficiency wasn't the sa as free.
Reserves continued draining as she penetrated line after line. Progress that was impressive in speed but that ca with a price accumulating inevitably.
♢♢♢♢
Finally Selphira reached the army's rear guard. Position that was already almost in the courtyard of the building guarding the underground entrance.
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