‘He’s going to attack. Good!’

Once Arthur saw the Seat of Order preparing to attack him, he flew out of the army’s shallow attacks and took to the skies before circling around and diving down.

He purposely charged right at Sulong, who- in kind- swept his magical staff horizontally and performed an impressive high jump.

Arthur’s primary objective were the mages, not Sulong, but keeping him away from them was the first step.

Unfazed by the ferocious wyvern, Sulong swung the now-shining staff at it, unleashing a blast of potent Light-aspected energy as result.

The Empyrean Wyvern folded its wings to protect its front, causing the staff and the energy it unleashed to strike the thin yet tough scaled wings.

Arthur felt a jolt of force travel across his body, but it was inconsequential, to say the least.

He swiftly spread his wings again and opened his mouth, spitting flames at the dangerously close Sulong.

Albeit surprised that a direct and relatively powerful attack dealt no damage whatsoever to the beast, Sulong used both his hands to spin the staff and form somesort of watery whirlpool that extinguished the flames.

Thereafter, a strong gale enveloped him, allowing him to remain airborne for a bit longer and confront the wyvern again.

[Law of Resilience]

[Miscellaneous Skills: High Flight(Passive Lv6] - Reinforced Wings(Passive Lv5)]

[Empyrean Trait(Passive Lv2)]

[Berserk(Active Lv3)]

Out of nowhere, Sulong saw the Wyvern move at twice the speed, its body filled with an abnormal quantity of Mana. Before he could react, it flew and then crashed into him, blowing him into the ground with a loud thud.

Although he safely landed on his feet, he felt a momentary numbness in his hands.

[Fire Breath]

Another wave of flames cascaded from above, but Sulong reacted swiftly by banging his staff on the ground and causing several thick walls to surge upwards and protect him.

‘What the hell is that!’

The Seat of Order inwardly cursed, his face turning incredibly ugly, especially he saw the beast fly away and incessantly spit fire at his soldiers.

For a couple of seconds, it rose in the sky and stared at him in what seemed to be a provocative way.

“I guess I should’ve expected that alchemist to have prepared stuff like this.”

Sulong snorted, changing his fighting stance and channelling more of his energy. Five bright and distinct elemental orbs appeared behind him, slowly spinning clockwise. In addition, his eye-catching golden staff grew bigger.

It seemed that, finally, Sulong was going to take this fight much more seriously. Although the Treants were troublesome, Sulong’s soldiers held the numerical advantage and would doubtless win in the end. All he had to do was get rid of the Empyrean Wyvern, which was the only threat on this side of the battlefield.

..

Upon seeing Sulong ready to strike, now with full strength, Arthur didn’t feel the least bit threatened or worried. Although he was facing one of the Ten Seats, he was still confident in his ability to not only survive, but also achieve his objective.

Sulong kicked the ground and shot into the air, the five orbs behind him shooting Fireballs, Earth Spears, Wind Blades, Water Arrows, and Lightning Bolts, all of which were solely focused on the wyvern.

It was a flashy sight, but also a powerful collective attack that halted the wyvern’s rapid flight and helped Sulong close in the distance.

A resounding sound, coupled with a shock wave, occurred as the shimmering golden staff was hammered down on Arthur’s back, sending him flying downwards.

Some of the nearby soldiers poked him with their swords but none of them managed to deal any damage to the scales.

Before he could recover, Sulong, his speed growing exponentially every second, shot down and struck the staff again. He aimed at the head this time, his orbs unleashing somesort of a strange yet destructive fusion attack composed of all the five available elements.

Dust and rubble cluttered the small area in which the wyvern had fallen.

The Seat of Order landed a short distance away, his stance relaxing ever-so-slightly.

However, when he saw a wave of flames come at him, he somersaulted out of the way with a look of absolute shock on his face.

An echoing screech travelled across the battlefield as the Empyrean Wyvern, raised its wings and flew up again. It had sustained injuries, but not nearly enough to render it unable to flight, much less incapacitate it.

“Damned beast!”

Sulong roared and rushed at it again, the orb spinning faster until they turned into a blurry and translucent five-colored circle.

Arthur rapidly backed away, towards the city’s wall while occasionally shooting fire at any exposed group of soldiers. Unfortunately, they seemed to have learned their lesson as they raised the shield-users would jump just in time to defend against the flames. Put simply, Arthur’s tactic wasn’t as effective as earlier, but he offered enough of a momentary distraction to help the Treants create more havoc and gain a little bit of an advantage.

With their numbers rapidly dwindling, however, the fight would likely end in a short amount of time, which would make him the army’s sole enemy and the target of all of their focused attacks.

Normal soldiers, at least individually, might not be able to injure Arthur, but they would be able to slow and hinder him, making it difficult to reach and get rid of the mages.

While spinning and zigzagging in the air, avoiding explosive magical projectiles shot by Sulong, Arthur kept retreating before making an abrupt turn.

A violent gale, fueled by blazing flames, surrounded the wyvern, shattering and cutting some of the scales as the Seat of Order leapt from the ground, his staff growing to the size of a tree.

He swung it horizontally, striking the immobilized parasite with enough force to flatten it on the ground.

Thereafter, spikes surged from the ground, some impaling the wyvern’s wings. With a loud roar, Sulong cascaded onto the fallen parasite as he swung the long staff down.

There was a booming sound as Arthur’s host was hit by a lethal blunt attack that was enough to breakthrough his defences.

[Magic Beast]

Even so, Arthur wasn’t dead, nor did he lose control of the wyvern. Sulong was preparing to finish the job as the spinning magical circle behind him expanded and flew towards him.

Meanwhile, Arthur poured a bit of mana into the storage artifact he hid under the left wing.

Switching hosts using a non-human body wasn’t practical, nor was it always doable. The host needed to have access to [Magic Beast], which allowed the parasite to manipulate Mana to a small degree.

As the Seat of Order’s Elemental Circle pushed down against the Empyrean Wyvern, literally turning it into smithereens, like a sharp meat grinder, Arthur was able to eject his body through the mouth and possess another corpse.

On the other hand, Sulong, strong as he was, couldn’t sense the invisible lizard that crawled away from the wyvern. The man was hole-heartedly focused on removing the wyvern altogether.

…

Western side of Blackcrest

The fight on this side was definitely the most intense. There were thrice as many Treants, all fighting Hector’s infantry soldiers and cavalry knights. There were also small yet agile plant-like creatures that pounced on their targets and shredded them using sharp vines that looked like claws.

The most eye-catching thing, however, wasn’t the fight between Halric’s familiars and the army, but the battle between Hector of Raziwon and Duke Terden Sidus.

On one side, there was the Seat of Protection, holding a large square-shaped white shield that burst with pure Holy Energy. Furthermore, Hector had 50 cavalry knights with him.

Facing him was the strongest of the Ten Seats, the Seat of War.

Terden was holding a longsword enveloped in vermilion flames, his set of scarlet heavy armor was glistening, matching the ominous color of the sky.

“This is what you get for opposing the Consortium, Terden!”

As per usual, Hector spoke with an unnecessarily loud and unpleasant voice. His thick grey brows were furrowed, and his face, which was half covered by his bushy beard, was twisted and distorted.

Instead of offering a verbal response, the Duke sprung into a rapid sprint while slashing his longsword multiple times. Each swing of his resulted in a wide flaming arc to fly toward the mounted and heavily-armored knights of Hector.

Well-prepared for his attack, the cavalry knights were split into several efficient groups, with the one at the front raising his shield and defending against the blazing onslaught of the Duke.

“This isn’t a fight you can win!”

Likewise, Hector charged at Terden and the inevitable clash finally occurred: Terden’s longsword hit Hector’s shield but was unable to inflict any damage upon it. To make matters worse, the cavalry knights attacked Terden from all sides, forcing him to disengage.

He hastily retreated backwards while performing a swift spin with his right hand, which was free, shooting fire non-stop in a successful attempt to stop them from cornering him.

Alas, the Seat of Protection wasn’t a pushover either: Hector chased after Terden, his almost comically-large shield shining brighter and letting out a blast of Holy Energy.

The Duke, busy with the knights, was hit in the flank by Hector’s blast, but he merely staggered a couple of steps before regaining his footing and stabbing his fiery blade into the ground.

Barely two seconds later, the ground shook and turned red, followed thereafter by several pillars of flames that suddenly rose from the dirt.

Close to ten cavalry knights were caught by the explosions, half of which lost their lives and the other half forced to discard their fatally-wounded warhorses.

Terden wasn’t done yet, he pushed his longsword deeper into the ground while letting out a bestial roar.

The flames coated around his blade spread into both of his arms, the ground shook more intensely, and the temperature rose dramatically.

“Back! Get away from him!”

The calvary knights were swift to obey, but unexpectedly, some of them were caught up in muddy-like areas that appeared out of nowhere. The steeds struggled to free themselves as multiple vines shot forth, impaling seven knights before retreating to the ground along with the corpses.

His warning notwithstanding, even Hector was caught up by the Duke’s subsequent attack. Rather than a wave of flames or simple fireballs, there was a single yet devastating explosion that engulfed the area around the caster.

The Seat of Protection banged his shield on the ground and used it as a cover, but he could see its edges beginning to melt even though it was imbued with Holy Energy.

As for the cavalry knights, a third of those retreating were completely incinerated all turning into ash by the initial fire.

…

Southern side of Blackcrest

“What’s she doing?”

Isabella and the other three were initially confused by the army’s total non-aggression. The Viscount’s forces were just standing there in silence.

After a short bit, their Knight Commander, Veronica, put her weapon away and walked forward, away from her men.

The tall and well-built woman raised her head, staring at the four of them before focusing on Evelyn.

“It’s a trap.” Said Charles as he kept holding the cannon, ready to fire it at any second.

“...”

Evelyn saw the woman beckon her to come down, seemingly wanting to talk rather than fight.

“You’re not thinking what I’m thinking, are you?”

Chris’ question made the maid give him a quiet look.

“Whether it’s a trap or not doesn’t matter. We need to stay as close to each other as possible. That was the plan!”

“Something is off. The viscount’s army is not hostile and, now, their commander wants to talk. I realize this is suspicious, but it’s worth learning more. If they’re really not going to attack, then I can be of much use elsewhere.”

“Arthur told us to leave, not fight.” Rebuked Isabella, who gave the stoic maid a disapproving look.

“I know what he said… and I know and remember the plan. If that army is not hostile, then we can leave right away. It’s better than staying here.”

Chris still looked angry, but he didn’t retort. He glared at Evelyn before waving his hand,

“Alright alright. However, we have a plan. We are a team, Evelyn. We discussed everything among ourselves, so don’t go around acting on your own… and by that I mean heading to Arthur’s side to help. He said he can manage on his own and he will.”