No way...that knight guy really detected the Golden Monarchs? Well, shit...no more fun and games, it looks like. But...just to make sure...

"Huh? What are you talking about?" I asked, still trying to pretend nothing was wrong.

However, this only served to piss Mei Mo off even more, and she sent me a death glare. "Xuan Kai...I originally wanted to make you my servant, but now...I just want you to die."

Oh...shit. Yep, looks like that guy really was up to no good. How exactly did he find the Golden Monarchs anyway...? Psychic Magic, perhaps...or just really keen senses?

I doubted it was the latter, considering even if he had really keen senses, he woudn't be able to be 100% sure there was really people hiding, waiting for the perfectly opportunity for an ambush. So my conclusion was...this knight guy most likely could use Psychic Magic - and taking the powerful aura I was feeling from him into account...he was probably quite the expert at it too.

I sighed deeply. "Well...no point hiding anymore, I guess."

And also...they should be here right about now.

I slowly removed my hood, and on cue, all of the hiding Golden Monarchs leapt out at once, immediately firing their spells at Mei Mo.

"Tch...!" she leapt backwards, and her knight moved in front of her, putting up a shield to block most of the attacks.

"What a loyal dog," Li Hai Tang muttered.

"Well...looks like this is going to be even harder than we thought," Song Qian Long said. "I didn't expect us to get revealed, even with Lady Qing using a concealment technique on all of us..."

Qing Xin stepped forward and nodded. "I had used the Level Three Psychic Element spell, Invisibility, on all of us, but...it seems whoever detected us has even stronger Psychic Magic than me."

I pointed at the knight who had just blocked most of the Golden Monarch's attacks with a single shield, Level Three Water Magic - Hydroscreen. This was the most powerful Water Element defense spell, as for most elements, Legendary Tier and beyond have very few defensive spells, meaning the only way to counter an attack at that level was to send back an attack of your own of equal power or more.

The Golden Monarch's were not going all out yet, but...a single person managed to withstand 7 Golden Monarchs' attacks with just one spell...that is indeed quite fearsome. And now that our attack was over...

"Now, it's our turn," Mei Mo sneered, then pointed at us. "Go, my servants! Eliminate them all! Oh, but save the boy for me...I will take care of him myself."

In response, the Midnight Syndicate's monster army roared and began charging at us. Some of them even had humans riding on top of them.

"Hmph! Don't think we aren't prepared for this!" Mayor Zhou suddenly yelled, before slamming his palm into the ground ferociously. "Level Three Space Magic - Warp Gate!"

A massive blue wormhole appeared right behind him, from where thousands of our own troops poured through. The monster army was a bit fazed by the sudden appearance of more opponents, and honestly, I was too. I had expected our reinforcements to get here by foot, not through one of Mayor Zhou's portals...

Oh, but wait...if they came here by foot, then that knight guy would've been able to detect them as well. Good thinking, Mayor Zhou. As expected of the mayor.

However, this mass-scale portal clearly came with a huge cost, as Mayor Zhou bent down on one knee, nearly collapsing. He was panting pretty hard, suggesting that this spell must've used up quite a bit of mana. This meant he most likely wouldn't be able to do much in the actual fight, but...this was worth it. If he didn't create that wormhole to allow our troops through by surprise, then we likely would've been destroyed by the Midnight Syndicate's monster army.

The Golden Monarchs and I retreated for now, letting our reinforcements take up the front and clash with the monster army. I hurried over to Mayor Zhou and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Mayor...are you alright?"

"Yes...I'm fine. That spell cost more mana than I expected, but...I'll be okay with a little bit of rest. However..." he trailed off, looking in Mei Mo's direction.

I nodded. "It's fine. We'll handle the battle. Just move somewhere safe, and rest until you're able to fight again."

Mayor Zhou, after some slight hesitation, nodded firmly, and moved away from the battlefield in the opposite direction. I spun around and faced the remaining six Golden Monarchs.

"We can't let this battle drag on," I said. "They win in numbers and strength with those monsters of theirs. Eventually, they will overpower our reinforcements, and we will be left without an escape route. That's why...we have to finish this, now."

"But...how will we do so?" Qing Xin asked. "Mei Mo is hiding in the back, behind her own troops. We have no way to get to her."

I was a bit surprised Qing Xin knew her name was Mei Mo, but I guess the Golden Monarchs heard everything while they were lying in wait in the bushes.

"Don't worry, I have a plan," I replied confidently. "If we can't reach her from the front...all we have to do is discretely circle around to the back."

"That's a valid proposal, but slightly unrealistic. If we try this, they are going to notice we are gone, and be on high alert for any surprise attacks," Mr. Tan, the representative from Huizhou, said.

Mr. Gao, the representative from Dongguan, nodded his head in agreement. "Indeed...if we want this plan to go well, we'll need a distraction of some sort."

Huh...good to see these two are actually somewhat rational people, despite their haughty personalities from earlier.

"I have thought of that as well," I replied. "Who has a Shadow Element affinity here?"

"Shadow Element...boy, are you really thinking of using illusions to distract them?" Yu Ao asked dubiously.

I nodded. "Is there a problem?"

He sighed. "This tactic would work against someone your level, but definitely not against Golden Monarchs. We have seen too much to be fooled by illusions. Do you really think out of their entire army, no one has a Light Element affinity to easily dispel our plan?"

I shook my head. "No...that's not what I'm saying. Yes, among all the Midnight Syndicate members present now, many probably have Light Magic. However...take a good look at them."

Pointing at our own troops battling the Midnight Syndicate's monster cavalry, I continued. "Do you see now? They are too occupied with our reinforcements to bother using Light Magic to counter our illusions. And besides...logically speaking, the only time when you would use something to counter another thing is when you actually know that 'thing' exists. In other words...if they don't think we are using an illusion in the first place, naturally they won't bother using Light Magic to check."

My rationale left all six Golden Monarchs speechless.

"...Fair point," Song Qian Long finally said.

"Yes...that was a flawless speech," Qing Xin agreed.

The rest of them all nodded in agreement, even Mr. Gao and Mr. Tan. Li Hai Tang also couldn't say anything in response to my words, even though he undoubtedly wanted to. However, in cases like this...my argument was too strong to be vetoed by anyone.

"So...we're going with my plan, yeah?" I asked one last time for confirmation.

Everyone nodded, so I sighed in relief. "Alright, who has a Shadow Element affinity here?"

Li Hai Tang, the person I least wanted to depend on, raised his hand. "That would be me."

I blinked. "Okay...can you create illusions of all seven of us?"

He shrugged. "Sure. What will these illusions be doing though?"

"Uh...just have them be hovering in mid air, watching the fight," I said.

"...Wouldn't that be a bit obvious?" Qing Xin noted.

I scratched my head. "Uh...sorry...I'm not good with coming up with fine details like this."

Yu Ao shook his head. "No, I think what Xuan Kai suggested is just fine. Just create illusions of us hovering in mid air, and pretending to give orders to the soldiers."

Li Hai Tang sighed and went to work. Since controlling these illusions would require quite a bit of his attention span, we couldn't rely on him to do much in the our actual assault. So...we essentially had 5 Golden Monarchs plus me, against Mei Mo and her mysterious knight servant. On the surface, we should have the advantage here, if just in pure numbers, but...we still needed to fight with every ounce of our strength if we wanted to win this.

As Li Hai Tang created our illusions, the rest of us discretely slipped off the battlefield into the thick bushes on the side of the highway again, and slowly moved towards Mei Mo. We probably looked pretty stupid to any bystanders, but this was the only plan we had.

Now then...let's do this.