Ch-43:First Encounter

Boom

Boom

Boom

An explosion sounded across the outskirts of the entire mountain range, making everyone there feel the aftershocks, yet they bore the same serious expressions.

Altair had ordered many cultivators to dig and hide explosives like oil, energy stones, liquor, and some specially prepared liquid by the alchemists.

It wasn't just the explosion, though, because many of the cultivators would just be hindered but not injured even in explosions of such scale.

"A-argh..."

"G-grr..."

"Ahhh..."

Many such shouts reverberate across the battlefield from all directions since all the waste materials and failed weapons were put near those explosives.

Due to this, many cultivators who couldn't protect themselves suffered from the shrapnel that was launched towards them from the ground and above them.

Altair was using everything at her disposal since all the waste had accumulated throughout their stay here, and all the cultivators worked for the entire night to prepare the trap.

Of course, the females leading them weren't injured in the slightest, as the trap's main reason was to deter the mass army and lower their overall morale to fight to make it easy for their cultivators.

Raon also wasn't aware of the tactic, as he was busy sealing his memories inside his soul for the entire night, leaving the entire defense up to Altair and his two generals.

He had already let the other generals retreat to safety alongside various non-fighters who would only be a burden and increase the death count.

The only reason Raon stayed and decided to defend himself was because he had a feeling that this was the last chance to trigger the treasure growing inside his heart.

As he stood up from his throne and stood next to the balcony, all he felt was the serenity of the height and the cacophony of pained shouts, walking, and resolve of the fighters.

He closed his eyes since all he could see from this height were clouds and sun rays if he didn't focus on the ground where the first collision still hadn't occurred.

The invaders had surrounded the entire mountain range and were ready to attack the fortress-like walls built on the outskirts, but this time they were cautious to not get swept into some kind of trap.

Their cautiousness caused them to fall for the trap once again as several long-range attacks were suddenly launched at them from above the wall as well as behind them simultaneously.

The traps were laid far from the walls and would trigger through a complicated series of mechanisms from above the walls, from which the defending cultivators were bombarding them using long-range attacks.

As the invaders took the brunt of the attack from behind, many of them were injured, but the overall death count was still minuscule, reaching just a few thousand.

Yes, a few thousand was a minuscule amount since both sides had millions of cultivators spread across the mountain range in varying groups and formations.

Unfortunately, it didn't take that long to breach the steadfast defense since Altair's goal was to bait them into scaling the highest mountain from just one side.

The entire defense was a huge concealed trap that wouldn't become visible until the invaders were way too inside to escape, making them continue forward.

Raon's two generals were not going to underestimate the enemy, making them have several contingency plans, but they realized that there was no need due to the arrogance of the man leading their army.

Fenlie Zwigo didn't attack except for twice the formation and once the wall weakened and broke it, which resulted in his followers' morale getting boosted.

The only issue for the invaders right now was the resolute faces of their enemies, who didn't shy away from burning their lifespans, cultivations, and bodies to gain extra power, bringing them down.

The leading figures of the invading army thought that only a few of them would do it, but almost every single one of the defending cultivators was doing exactly that, which was a major concern to them.

Their side's cultivators were decreasing in number, while their enemies would go to the point of exploding near death, causing various injuries and even casualties on their side.

This was of great concern to them, but it was easily solved as they called forth reinforcements from the continent as well as nearby continents to outnumber the defenders numerous times.

Even after all that, they weren't absolutely winning because they encountered various traps, like mazes, hidden deep within that wasted quite a lot of time for them.

Even after an entire day, they had just traversed half the way inside the mountain range, and the number of enemies killed was not even half a million while they faced more than half a million casualties.

They continued marching without sleep or rest, but their journey forward was manifoldly difficult as compared to what they experienced to reach their current position.

Not only did they have to progress further on the ground level across the valleys, but they also had to scale mountain peaks for enemies and encounter traps set up for them.

An entire mountain up to a few hundred meters was fake and full of explosives, causing more than fifty thousand casualties, while its aftershocks led to landslides, leading to a total of more than one hundred casualties.

As if that wasn't enough, the defenders had consolidated their forces deep inside and suffered far less as the cultivators they encountered kept decreasing, but the traps became much more deadly.

By the time they reached the bottom of the highest mountain, four days had passed, and they suffered more than five million casualties while just causing around two million casualties on the other side.

Fenlie Zwigo obviously didn't like the slow progress and took action himself; otherwise, the number of casualties and days needed to reach this would have been at least a week.

Surprisingly, Raon took no action as he sat on his throne with eyes closed, just remembering the past events as well as all the cultivation techniques, weapon arts, and side occupations.

He didn't bat an eye even when Fenlie Zwigo took action and slaughtered millions of his followers in just one day to hasten the pace of the journey.

Fenlie Zwigo was about to go crazy, if not for the fact that they had scaled halfway through the tallest mountain in just one day, but he found that he couldn't progress further.

When he ordered his subordinates to move ahead, all of them could move on the ground but couldn't fly for some reason, as if there was some sort of restriction above that area.

He had no other option than to play on his enemy's tricks despite knowing them, even if he was gritting his teeth in rage at the incompetence of his subordinates.

"Fine, I'll play by your rules, but you're still going to go down," said Zwigo with a smile that was too creepy.

Zwigo stopped taking action as he felt a strong aura press him down whenever he tried to do any major action that accelerated the pace of his march.

After countless fights, they finally reached three-fourths the height, which is approximately 4.500 meters, where they encountered a well-trained troupe with a general leading them.

Zwigo was annoyed and decided to take action. He was about to attack the troupe when he was suddenly attacked instead and pushed back by a sword thrown at him.

"Be patient. Let them fight. We'll meet when it's time" echoed a voice as the sword returned to the top of the mountain, where there was a castle.

The defending troops identified the voice as that of their Emperor, Rio Kigost von Liakroso, which boosted their morale, but they waited for their general to give them orders to attack.

"Attack"

The general shouted as he moved while leading his troops, noticing that Zwigo withdrew upon their first encounter.