~Boom!

Like a water ghost, Mikel jumped to the side, trying his best to avoid the incoming fireball in horror.

Yes!

To him, the sky was raining fireballs, stone balls and arrows.

Almost everyone around him had either died by getting hit or shot or even accidentally killed off by their comrade's blade... making him one of the few one of the luckiest people ever because he had been dodging all this time and still managed to survive without any major injuries.

With his head buried in the reddish broken icy-now, Mikel's hands trembled in horror.

He lifted his head fast without a moment to lose as if trying to locate the other battlefords that he could previously see from a distance.

But with all the chaos, they would either be dead, injured or just displaced.

Of course, he did spot 2 others from afar who now had their hands full dodging the incoming attacks.

But right before his very eyes, an arrow passed, and one of them stood frozen in place.

Then suddenly, his neck turned, and his head fell to the side below his shoulders, just hanging there like some decoration.

Again, he also saw a Thaman, belonging to the Legion that was marching next to him, quickly raising his golden staff in the air at the boulder defiantly.

And the moment Mikel saw this, his eyes lit up.

GOLD STAFF THAMAN!

.

Yes. 

Golden staff ones were so strong, and the only ones stronger than them were the Silver Staff Thamans.

Earlier on throughout the battle, these Thamans might've probably been busy healing injuries or blocking attacks.

This was what Mikel believed.

After all, if they embodied Adonis and were supposed to confuse the enemy or spiritually aid in stopping all enemy attacks.

And if a Thaman couldn't do it, then they were seen as corrupted Thamans that have secretly sinned against the heavenly one or didn't have enough faith.

Mikel watched in anticipation, waiting for the golden Thaman to begin his work and stop the flaming boulder.

This whole thing gave him a new idea. What if the Thamans stopped healing and all focused on blocking arrow and boulder attacks?

Then wouldn't they be saved?

Mikel's eyes twinkled with a confident smile on his face while watching the fireball head straight for the courageous and bold Thaman that still had his hands and a staff raised in the air.

'Do it... Do it... Do it...

Block these bastards and show them who's boss!'

~Boom!

The fireball crushed the Thaman.

And like so, Mikel's smile froze with his brain flying away for a second.

He started at the same spot as if hoping for some miracle to happen where the Thaman would get up again.

But sadly, nothing of that sort happened, making his looks quiver in disbelief.

W-w-why? 

Eh?... Could it be that this particular Thaman doesn't have enough faith or had secretly sinned in some way?

Mikel couldn't help looking over the place where the Thaman died in disgrace.

Deserves it!

What Mikel hated were Adonis sinners or people whose faith in Adonis was dwindling.

Even up to now, Mikel still believed that this must be a challenge from above.

Because in his mind, Adonis had never lost to lesser regions and would never do.

So all he had to do was think fast and prove himself worthy, or Adonis would really get disappointed with them and abandon them here.

And then when that happens, they would all die.

So what was he waiting for?

With that, Mikel briefly looked towards the dicks silently before turning his head back and squinting his eyes ahead to the mighty Slope Top.

Again, he also looked at the incoming attacks too.

How to go about this? How to go about this?

Mikel now had his thinking hat on.

.

Observing rationally, he realized that there was some delay pattern in play here.

Firstly, one could say that the enemy was launching out 2 separate waves of attack in alternation.

The first wave was mostly 2/3 boulders and 1/3 arrows... And the second wave was the opposite of that (1/3 boulders and 2/3 arrows).

It looked like they wanted to rain continuous attacks, they didn't use all the weapons at once because they didn't want a massive delay lap that would create more time for them, the followers of Adonis, to get to the top.

It may be that loading these balls onto the weapons took some time, so they had to do an alternating set.

When one team was launching, another team would be loading.

But even though they had just 2 separate attack waves, Mikel had to assume that there should be a stationary backup standby set too that would take care of any setbacks or delays.

Of course, the most troubling thing of all was that even with both sets of waves going on, it was hard to see their launching patterns.

Why?

Because they changed it up every time.

Since the beginning, he had been observing where they shot, how many times, and so on.

But it was too unpredictable.

Not to talk of the crazy arrows just flying around like silly.

The force from the boulders alone could displace him and his men, pushing him towards another region that is about to be attacked by an arrow instead.

So you see his drift?

They filled the spots where the boulders wouldn't go with arrow shots.

So thinking about things, his best bet would be to stay in the Arrow zones!

With boulders, especially flaming ones, the chances of getting hit, flamed or heavily injured is 9~10/10.

Yes. Even if one jumped to the Arrow zone after dodging because they weren't fully prepared, they could still get hit heavily... Even mid-air.

That said, from what he had seen, if one were already in the Arrow-zone, the chances of hitting were 7~9/10.

Of course, there was also the risk of someone from the Boulder zone knocking one away, making them get shot instead.

So even though it was still a terrible chance/percentage, he chose to stick to the Arrow-Zone.

But the only problem now was that these bastards kept changing the arrow zones beside him like crazy.

And that's why he had been meeting cleaning boulders and whatnot.

He truly wanted to strangle them to death for all this.

.

That said, Mikel had also thought about the situation around the docks.

The boulders here rolled down and had even destroyed their vessels docked there.

In fact, at the bottom of the dock was like a stampede of all sorts of boulders that could crush one silly.

So retreating wasn't an option.

Even if they did go down, how would they safely get onto the second line of this behind?

F***!

Some of the ships up front had already sunk, okay?

Mikel quickly pushed that thought out of his mind and focused on advancing instead.

Yes.

They only had to reach the top, and this madness would be over.

But of course, he couldn't advance alone.

Doing so would only single him out, making death come his way even faster.

With that, he quickly turned and yelled short 3 sentences to those who weren't injured nearby.

And they in turn, yelled the same orders to those nearby too.

Those that did survive weren't stupid.

They knew that they could only go upwards and never look back.

So if they wanted to survive, then they had to move!

That said, at this point, chariots and horses had either died or already flung their riders, running up the slopes instead.

Of course, they weren't attacked because they weren't the enemy here.

Thus, the animals that managed to make it out of the battlezone and fled upwards were safe.

Hey... More rare species for Terique and even Pyno.

.

Mikel waited for a while, watching a few others at the back make their way close to him instead.

Yes. When he had gathered a large enough force, he would then charge!

But while all this was going on... above the slope, Teriquen Captain Pritchard was also dealing with the matters of what as well.

Soon, 4 others came towards him.

"Report!"

~Pap.

The men did the famous military salute they learned in Baymard before placing their hands behind them with their feet apart.

And even though everything was going well for them, they still had stern expressions.

It was as if their feat so far was nothing.

"Captain! Except for the 2 stationary/backup units, the 2 attacking units are all out of Arrows!

As for boulders, we only have a total of 62 left for the stationary units, and 19 left for both attacking units."

Pritchard squinted his eyes deeply: "then it's time to round Phase 1 up. We will burn the Siege weapons before advancing. After all, we don't ever want any risk of them stealing it. Wood, chains and all the other raw materials are in ample supply. So the Private military manufacturing team here can do the job after the war. Understood?"

"Yes, Captain."

"Good!

Now go give them hell before we move on!

It's time for Phase 2 to begin."