Chapter 1101 - 854: Already Here

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"Your Majesty... when do we counterattack?" Even one of Dana’s subordinates seemed eager to try.

Yet Dana merely smiled slightly, a picture of confidence as she spoke, "Wait for all of our people to arrive. This time, we shall annihilate all those fools who think they can challenge the dignity of the Ancient Mage Tower, not a single one will be spared!"

Although Ai Lin was far away, she could hear everything clearly. It had to be said that this Dana was indeed smarter than the average fool from the Ancient Mage Tower. It was just a pity that she was born in the wrong environment. If she had been born into a political family in the White Dragon Empire, Ai Lin might not have been able to manipulate her so easily with plots and schemes.

But there are no such ’what-ifs’ in this world.

At this moment, Ai Lin was reflecting on this while waiting for Dana’s moment to attack.

It was a full three days after Ai Lin defeated Dana before all of her people had assembled. Ai Lin suspected that some of them definitely didn’t want to come, after all, their lord had been driven out of the Imperial City—what hope could there be? As for how Dana eventually managed to get them there, Ai Lin didn’t know; all she knew was that Dana’s attack was about to begin.

Now Dana was brimming with confidence. She had nearly five hundred mages from the Ancient Mage Tower; she also had five hundred recently transformed Sanctuary Mages; and, in addition, a thousand monstrous creatures that looked like the very embodiment of evil—these creatures likewise possessed almost Sanctuary-level strength.

With such a force, facing a thousand soldiers of The Divine Auffa Empire, Dana truly didn’t believe they could pull any tricks.

This would be a victory easily within reach!

No sooner had Dana set out than a mage responsible for reconnaissance suddenly came rushing from afar, "Your Majesty! The soldiers of The Divine Auffa Empire are rushing over at full speed!"

Dana was taken aback. Had they been discovered? But then she laughed, "Perfect! Saves us the trouble of looking for them. Let them hurry over and meet their deaths!"

In the distant sky, a cluster of tiny black dots were rapidly approaching. It didn’t take long for them to draw near, and a thousand Sanctuary Mages forming an attack formation descended from the sky and landed in front of Dana’s army.

Dana glanced at the opposing side and then laughed, "What is it, is your commander too afraid to show themselves?"

However, Ai Lin resumed her commander’s posture, emerging from the group of just-created Sanctuary Mages, "Oh no, actually, I’ve been here quite a while. Seeing you were having such a grand time, I didn’t want to interrupt!"

Dana had never imagined that the enemy commander had been under her nose the entire time, clearly aware of everything she had just done. Even so, what of it?

"I guess you must have come a long time ago," Dana said with a smile, not sensing she was caught out because she was fully confident.

"Yes, I was one of the first to arrive here. I was worried I might be recognized, but it turned out they didn’t know each other well either, which was quite convenient," Ai Lin said.

"You’ve been here all along, yet you show up now. Do you think you can stop this great evolution?" Dana believed that since Ai Lin knew all along but didn’t appear until much later, she must have wanted to secretly monitor everything. Just when Dana thought she had achieved such a transformation, Ai Lin hastily and secretly mobilized troops. What Dana hadn’t expected was that the evolution of her people would be so swift that when the soldiers of The Divine Auffa Empire arrived, they would directly face such formidable enemies.

"Stop you?" Ai Lin laughed, "Don’t joke. You’re nothing but easy targets. Why would I stop you? Are easy targets no longer easy targets just because they get bigger? Since you dream of becoming stronger, why not indulge in your dreams?"

With that, Ai Lin took a few steps forward, staring into Dana’s eyes, and declared loudly, "Here’s the deal, I’ll give you a chance to live. Seal your mana and surrender now, and we promise not to kill you. How about it?"

Ai Lin’s mockery did nothing to frighten Dana. On the contrary, it settled her even more, and she laughed aloud, "That sounds like an enticing offer—who doesn’t want to live? But it’s a pity that you’re not Long Yi; you’re not Ai Lin; and you’re certainly not Xiaodie who can devour energy. You don’t have enough of a deterrence for me!"

Ai Lin chuckled, waved her hand, and the soldiers behind her immediately deployed for attack. Then she said, "Look, I’ve given you a chance. Since you don’t appreciate it, I can’t be blamed anymore."

Dana was unconcerned. She held an absolute advantage both in numbers and in strength. There was no reason for her to lose.

The battle began immediately. A full thousand mutated Giant Beasts took the vanguard, charging straight at the soldiers of The Divine Auffa Empire. Meanwhile, the soldiers of The Divine Auffa Empire formed their positions, beginning to encircle and suppress the beasts. These beasts were immensely powerful, even though there was nothing to prove their strength, the pressure they brought was definitely on the Sanctuary level. Facing these creatures, the biggest advantage of the soldiers of The Divine Auffa Empire was that they were better trained.

These monsters were not adept at casting magic; they used battle techniques similar to those of a Magic Fighter. They hid Magic within their grasps and bites—should they claw or bite someone, mighty Magic would burst forth. This should have posed a great threat to Mages, but fortunately, these creatures were not true Magic Fighters.

Originally, these beasts were transformed from humans. When they were still human, they had received little training; and although their strength had significantly increased after transforming, their intelligence had drastically decreased. This resulted in their fighting being more about obeying commands instinctively, rather than experience.

On the other hand, the soldiers of The Divine Auffa Empire were already well-trained, and with Ai Lin’s systematic training, they used formations to maximize the advantages of various magics, avoiding disadvantages. So even though the monsters charged first, they held no disadvantage in the offensive, even managing to push back the onslaught.

Furthermore, Ai Lin herself, as an extraordinarily skilled Magic Fighter, was well aware of a Magic Fighter’s strengths and weaknesses.

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At first, Dana was brimming with confidence. She was convinced that even if these monsters were not going to have a decisive effect, they would at least cause a huge impact and possibly even chaos to the opposing side. However, she soon realized that she might have been too optimistic about the situation. The monsters’ charge was indeed formidable, but the damage they inflicted was very limited, because the enemy had not shown the slightest sign of confusion and had maintained their formation, continuously separating and attacking the monsters. In contrast, the monsters, due to their low intelligence, showed a huge decline in momentum after the initial charge.

Dana knew she couldn’t keep this up.

"All units, spread out your formation!" Dana ordered.

The Mages, who had been watching the commotion, immediately prepared themselves.

On the other hand, Ai Lin also noticed the change on the enemy’s side and loudly commanded, "Everyone, get into defensive formation to counter the first wave of impact!"

Just as the defensive formation was set up, the attack from the Ancient Mage Tower had already arrived. The powerful magic combined with the charge of the monsters was extremely formidable.

Fortunately, the timely transition to a defensive formation blocked the first wave of impact without any mishaps.

"Form a balanced formation! Cover each other in a cross pattern!" Ai Lin shouted.

This formation was specifically designed to deal with the situation at hand.

Utilizing the Giant Beasts at the forefront, Dana’s Mages were able to fully exert their power, while Ai Lin’s forces could only offer crossfire cover as they resisted the monsters’ attacks and simultaneously attacked the enemy Mages in the rear. Despite Dana’s camp having certain advantages, because all the monsters were melee units, Dana’s Mages dared not use large-scale, high-damage offensive moves. On the contrary, Ai Lin’s side had no such concerns, they only needed to withstand the attack from the monsters up front, after which they could pour their magic onto the enemy Mages in the back with impunity!

"They are using our monsters as cover..." Dana realized this problem. She had planned to have a formation with both front and back ranks, which should have been unbeatable. But now it seemed that the enemy was turning their advantage against them to establish their own?

"All monsters! Go around them! We’ll pincer them from both sides!"

Dana immediately issued such a command.

Just as the monsters intended to circumvent, Ai Lin’s command had also been given, "Everyone, take to the sky! We’ll fight in the air!"

As the soldiers of The Divine Auffa Empire took to the skies, followed by the roaring monsters, a bigger problem emerged: do you even know how to engage in air combat?

The air combat skills of a Magic Fighter were Ai Lin’s trump card, and she was very aware of the greatest weakness of being a Magic Fighter in the air. But those foolish monsters surely had no idea.

The moment they took to the sky, Dana knew she had met her match.

The troops from The Divine Auffa Empire had outstanding experience in air combat, whether facing monsters or Mages, they had appropriate combat methods. Amongst her own ranks, only those Mages from the Ancient Mage Tower truly possessed combat experience and could be considered combatants, while those new Mages who had just ascended to Sanctuary had not even adapted to their new bodies and strengths.

Time was running out for her!

Dana realized that the enemy’s decision to attack at this time was not made in haste. That young Commander intended to seize this opportunity to strike while they were still unprepared, bursting forth when they had not yet harnessed their true strengths.

It was a clever thought, but would she let her succeed?

With a cold laugh, Dana immediately issued a command. All her forces and monsters were to divide the enemy’s thousand men into two groups; she would personally lead five hundred elite Mages from the Ancient Mage Tower to deal with five hundred of them, while a thousand monsters and five hundred newly-promoted Sanctuary Mages were to entangle the other five hundred. As long as they succeeded, as long as they held their ground, that would be enough.

Dana had confidence in her people. Although they had suffered some losses at the start, she did not think it was a failure of the knowledge of the Ancient Mage Tower but rather bad luck or something else—perhaps they had simply encountered opponents that were too strong. And now, with five hundred against five hundred, they would at least stand equal in battle, she believed.

Yet all of this was merely to buy time.

"Hey, girl! Do you dare to face me in single combat?" Dana shouted at her.

"I don’t dare! Let’s just keep fighting like this!" Ai Lin chuckled and replied.

Dana had assumed Ai Lin would happily accept the challenge, but to her surprise, the other side backed down! That shouldn’t be the case, should it? This young Commander didn’t seem like someone who would fear confrontation, especially considering how Ai Lin had bravely pushed deep into enemy territory.

Did she figure out my plan? That doesn’t make sense, does it? (To be continued. If you enjoy this novel, you are welcome to vote for it on Qidian (qidian.com), your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)