Azni limited herself to glance at Khan before suppressing every emotion and pressing forward. She knew that her friend could bring Asyat back to the camp far faster than her, but he was too valuable on the battlefield to abandon it.
Khan understood her thoughts and let her go without saying anything. Still, that sight ruined the pleasant emotion that seeing Liiza had generated and made him go back to a grim thoughtless state that carried a deeper resolve than before.
Thoughts tried to seep past his empty mental state as he dived back into the battlefield to resume his role. Khan had killed a lot by then, but he found himself surprised to realize how frail life was. Death often descended whenever his knife darted, but he had never fully acknowledged how his friends could very well be in the opposite situation.
What if the rebels had someone like Khan on the battlefield? His friends would die for the sole reason of standing on his path. That worry seemed strong enough to put an end to his special mental state, but everything stabilized and became firmer than ever once he reached a simple, instinctive conclusion. He couldn't control anything there, so it was pointless even to try.
That conclusion mostly came from his poor level, but Khan saw how even the stronger soldiers failed to save their lives or affect the battlefield meaningfully.. They had opponents who could reduce their influence, which applied to the leaders on both sides. Khan would have to be more powerful than Yeza to begin having more control, but that sounded vague since his current knowledge didn't allow him to comprehend the state he had to reach.
The acceptance of his small and even disposable role only improved everything that he had experienced before. Khan moved faster, had sharper reactions, and was deadlier than ever once he rejoined the mess. He lost himself, but he preserved a firm resolve at that time. He wanted to perform better to end that chaotic battlefield quickly.
More rebels fell by his hands as he resumed his search for troublesome targets. The battlefield seemed to enlarge as the number of troops shrunk. The rear team took care of the injured within their reach or transported to the camp those that managed to leave the mess.
The ruthless and relentless battles eventually culminated in a slow advance toward the castle. Yeza's side was forcing the enemy army to retreat and was exploiting that trend to kill as many opponents as possible. Khan and everyone else could go crazy now that the rebels were focusing on defending themselves or retreating.
The numerical advantage also benefited the battle among the leaders. Yeza and Captain Erbair saw adults Niqols or soldiers joining their fights and helping them against the rebels who had been able to face them until now. That bloody assault seemed about to end soon, but azure light suddenly flashed among the troops, giving the signal meant for a full retreat.
Yeza didn't stop the assault right away since the army was close to achieving a complete victory, but her expression changed when she checked her cube. The scouts on both mountains had alerted her of an imminent threat. The event wouldn't give her the time to end the battle or capture the castle.
"[Retreat]!" Yeza suddenly shouted among the disbelief of her allies.
"[What do you even mean]?" Captain Erbair immediately complained. "[We are so close to ending this in a single assault]!"
Yeza wished to have the time to explain everything to her allies. She realized how hard it could be for them to give up on everything they had achieved during the assault, but the situation didn't leave her other options.
Yeza knew that words would only make her army waste time without leading to actual conclusions. She stopped advancing and turned to run away from the castle without bothering to add anything else. She even controlled the mana around her to make it echo her feeling in the hope that her underlings would follow her without questions.
The Niqols, both young and adults, trusted Yeza deeply, and the wave of emotions that enveloped them helped remove the hesitation they felt in front of her order. They regretted leaving a battlefield that had taken the lives of many of their companions, but something disastrous seemed about to fall on them, so they decided to follow their leader.
The humans had a harder time accepting that decision, but they couldn't remain on the battlefield on their own, so they followed the Niqols as questions escaped their mouths. Some of the soldiers even dropped their polite tones when they requested proper explanations.
Khan could only snap out of his strange mental state and join his retreating allies. He didn't understand what was happening, but he didn't need to. His position only allowed him to follow orders.
The rebels felt confused, but they disregarded the meaning behind their opponents' retreat and decided to use that chance to attack. Azure symbols flashed on their forearms or chests as mental communications reached them, but they ignored them due to the frenzy that filled their minds.
The rebels had just gone from utter desperation to hope. The battlefield had transformed so quickly that they didn't have the chance to think about their actions. They fell prey to their intense desire to kill those invaders, which made them disregard any potential danger approaching the valley.
A strong group of aliens had survived among the rebel army. Those Niqols didn't hesitate to launch spells that ended on the backs of their retreating enemies as they continued to chase after them.
Yeza's army began to experience losses again, which only intensified the hesitation and confusion that had never stopped to fill her underlings. The humans grew even louder with their complaints, especially Captain Erbair since she had seen one of her Lieutenants falling prey to a strange scarlet bullet that exploded into a mass of fire once it reached the escaping troops. Yet, Yeza continued to run and make her emotions flow around her.
A series of hoarse screeches suddenly resounded throughout the valley and put an end to the complaints. Both armies glanced above them and noticed that a series of big figures had started descending inside the area. Yeza didn't need to explain her reasons anymore at that point. It was clear that she was trying to bring her group away from that flock of Tainted animals and monsters.
Khan only managed to memorize a few flashy features during the short time he spent inspecting the flock. He saw dark feathers, straight, long beaks, and glowing scarlet eyes. Moreover, the scene had another terrifying detail. The specimen in the lead of the flying group was far bigger than the others and had two pairs of huge wings that shone with a silver glow.
Panic immediately filled the troops on the ground. Yeza's group did its best to run away from the valley, while the rebels immediately stopped their offensive to return to the castle. However, the flock dived at an unfathomable speed and reached the ground before anyone could get to their destinations.
Many monsters and Tainted animals descended on the rebels since they were directly under them. Instead, the leader and some relatively big creatures chased after Yeza's army.
The leader of those bird-like creatures abruptly stopped its descent when it was close enough to the ground. It spread its four wings as the silver glow that covered them intensified. The feathers on those limbs quickly stood up before shooting after the Niqols and humans desperately trying to leave the area.
Each feather was as long as a man's forearm and carried the leader's dangerous mana. A rain of sharp and heavy projectiles fell toward the ground and forced everyone to deploy defensive techniques or perform evasive maneuvers.
Khan sensed everything happening above him clearly, even if his eyes didn't point at the monster. The feathers carried so much mana that missing them was impossible, so he jumped left and right to avoid everything that tried to fall toward him.
The feathers dug the ground and made spiderwebs of cracks open when they released their power. Their effects were deadly, and they even succeeded in piercing some of the defensive measures that the troops had stopped to deploy.
Everyone expected that attack to end soon due to the limited resource used in the offensive, but the monster soon proved them wrong. The creature seemed to have an endless number of feathers since that deadly rain continued to fall even after its third wave. Those who had stopped to defend themselves ended up dying due to their miscalculation of the mutated beast's power.
Khan was relatively fine. The feathers were fast, but so was he. He was even slippery enough to perform precise dodges that often led him to avoid those projectiles by mere centimeters. Still, Khan couldn't feel happy about his situation since he had to witness the assault ripping the rear team to shreds.
The rear group had ended up in the lead of the retreat after Yeza's orders, but their members were very different in their nature. Some were Niqols capable of deploying spells that could influence the battlefield significantly, while others were relatively weak troops in charge of bringing the injured back to the camp.
The rain of feathers killed most of those weak troops on the spot and gave the others a hard time. A slaughter unfolded in Khan's eyes, but his skin soon started to burn as he mustered all the power contained in his body to accelerate and reach his girlfriend.
Liiza had deployed a layer of ice on her back to protect herself from the feathers that fell on her, but her spell couldn't stop the attacks completely. Her ability shattered after two projectiles stabbed it and left bleeding injuries near her spine.
Liiza didn't stop running away, but the feathers eventually began to fall toward her again. She could obviously sense them, but she wasn't fast enough to dodge all of them since they covered a relatively large area.
Two of the four feathers flying toward her were about to hit her back, but Khan suddenly jumped in their trajectory. He faced the projectiles with the [Blood Shield] covering the outer side of his right arm and the glowing knife in the other.
One of the feathers landed on his arm and slid across it. The projectile's favorable angulation allowed the [Blood Shield] to deviate its trajectory and made it slide across the array of clotted blood vessels. Entire chunks of his skin vanished as the sharp attack acted as a brush razor, but he eventually managed to send it away.
Meanwhile, another feather tried to hit his shoulder but met the glowing knife first. The weapon cut right through the projectile, but the latter was too long, and its texture was equally tough across its whole structure. Khan severed the enhanced quill in half and deviated its trajectory, but his blade suffered the same fate. It broke right after completing the attack.
Khan didn't have the time to think about his knife. He performed a messy landing on the ground before retrieving his balance and turning to inspect Liiza, but he found her on her knees, with a hand covering a bloody patch that had once been her left shoulder.
A feather had managed to hit her even after Khan had given his everything. Liiza had lost the entirety of her left arm in the process. The energy discharged by the feather after the landing had also disrupted her balance, making her fall to the ground.
Khan didn't hesitate to reach Liiza and throw her on his shoulders. She didn't oppose the process since she had long since noticed that Khan was behind her. Instead, she used that time to cover her injury with a layer of ice. She wasn't fine but losing a limb didn't make her panic.
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Author's notes: I'm having trouble focusing today. The next chapter will take a few hours to arrive.