Chapter 302 - 302. Onslaught
The third battle in which Noah participated was even more one-sided than the first one.
The number of blue soldiers dying in the Empire's side was too high to count, the red cultivators had to step in to stop the slaughter.
Yet, they had lost too many cultivators, even those in the solid stage were being overwhelmed by the sheer number of the soldiers of the Odrea nation.
"What the fuck were those explosions!?"
Seth shouted from his position at the top of the mountain.
He had seen how even the most experienced blue soldiers had died under the might of Noah's weapons, he really didn't know how he would explain those losses to his superiors.
Lisa maintained and expressionless face as she watched the battle, she was doing her best to suppress a radiant smile from appearing on her face.
Leo and Luke did the same but they were far more surprised than her.
They clearly understood the power behind each of those weapons, they couldn't help but applaud Noah in their minds.
"That kid totally deserves the title of "devil"."
Leo spoke in a soft voice, he wanted to maintain that conversation away from Seth.
"The weapons themselves are not that powerful, a defensive spell would block most of their effects. Yet, he actually gathered the attention on himself to mask his real intentions… What a scary kid."
Luke replied in that same tone, he was aware of Noah's character but he would have never thought that he would use himself as the bait to test his weapons.
The two protectors didn't ask for Lisa's opinion, she was busy pretending that everything was going according to her plan.
"So, do you think they are worth the expenditure of a rank 4 material?"
Luke asked Leo, the latter was the one controlling Noah's expenditure of magical beasts' corpses, he had the last word on that matter.
"If they can produce this result every time, then yes, they are definitely worth it. We don't have a better use for them anyway."
Leo gave his approval.
The Odrea country had lost all their inscription methods as well as their knowledge in runes and formations.
Their only usage of the magical beasts' bodies was for the creation of good weapons but rank 3 creatures were enough for that.
Using rank 4 materials for an inscribed item that could damage red cultivators was completely acceptable.
"The only problem is that the Empire won't simply watch as we slaughter their troops. We are used as a training ground after all, there is a limit to how many soldiers it's willing to lose."
The battle in the valley continued.
The red cultivators of the Empire were continuously pushed back, they couldn't do much about the wave of soldiers launching attacks at them.
Yet, they held on.
Battles between cultivators could last for hours, the solid "Breath" in their dantian allowed them to fight for protracted times without ever being expended.
They focused on defending, they just had to stall the battle till the night arrived.
Noah ran freely on the battlefield, the defense of the red cultivators was tight but there were still some of them that were forced to abandon the formation to recover.
Of course, he wouldn't waste such opportunities.
The Mental tremor spell was cast as soon as he found an isolated red soldier, his mind kept track of each assassination that he managed to accomplish.
'Eight!"
That number was the total amount of red soldiers that he had killed in the three battles.
Two were killed during the first one, two in this one due to the Instabilities, and the other four after the onslaught started.
'Surprise effects really suit me the most. Yet, I don't think it will be this easy next month.'
His thoughts were already on the next battle.
Noah knew that the Empire would proactively create battle formations to counter his tactics, there wasn't much that he could do about it.
'I should be fine next month, they won't expect the other blue soldiers to be armed with my weapons. However, what about the following one? What about the one after that?'
Unless he was able to continuously surprise his enemies, he would be forced to wait for his breakthrough before reaching the set number of kills for his release.
'I have tons of materials and all the time I need. What is lacking is my ability in the Elemental forging method but that can be fixed by constant exercise… I should use my time here to increase my ability as much as I can, I need to diversify my creations!'
The only solution that he found was to be unpredictable.
Defending from one unusual weapon was easy, one had just to understand how it worked and plan accordingly.
Yet, what about defending from two of them at the same time?
What about three?
Noah had the knowledge of two words, there were many things that this one had yet to experience.
The only thing stopping him was his inexperience in the inscription field and his limited knowledge of weapons.
He had only fought using his sabers after all, he knew nothing about the other types of weapons.
'If I was to arm the soldiers with two to three different weapons, they would be able to diversify their offensive according to the type of defense that the Empire is setting… I can already imagine my next prototype.'
Noah smiled under his hood as he looked for any other isolated red cultivator.
Yet, they had become too wary of him, no one else dared to leave the defensive battle formation.
The few surviving blue soldiers of the Empire did their best to support the red cultivators but they weren't that effective due to their low number.
The losses on the side of the Empire were huge that day, almost all the blue cultivators had died and many red ones did the same.
When the black soldiers stepped inside the battlefield, they were surrounded by hundreds of corpses that tainted the valley with countless red puddles.
The cause of that scene could be found in a hooded cultivator safely watching the battles at the peak of the human ranks.