Amory was so shocked by what he saw that he lost control of his reins for a moment. If it wasn't for his quick reaction time, not only would he have fallen from his horse, he would have been trampled by his own Dragon Corps. What a terrible death that would have been…
It wasn't just Amory, even the esteemed Headmaster Leopold had an incredulous expression on his face. How could he ever have thought that something like this would happen?
Everyone was aware that Ryu had a spatial ring. After all, if he didn't, just where was he pulling his weapons from? The reason Headmaster Leopold ignored this was because as a well-learned man, he was aware of how rare spatial rings were. In addition, he also knew that the larger their inner spaces were, the vastly more expensive and unreachable they would be as well.
The truth was that Headmaster Leopold had already thought of this sort of exploit. In order to make sure that the Kingdoms with Sects still backing them couldn't borrow spatial rings in order to put Kwan and Kalmin at even more of a disadvantage, he requested that the Breaking Ore be constructed to an abnormally large size. If it wasn't for his odd yet specific instructions, who would go through the hassle of mining such a fragile ore to the size of fifteen cubic meters?
According to what Leopold knew, the best spatial rings on this Higher Mortal Plane had about ten cubic meters of space. Never in his wildest dreams did think Ryu's own was overshadow them to this extent!
Headmaster Leopold could only helplessly sigh. What could he do? It wasn't as though he could suddenly change the rules midway. Plus, Ryu was already at a disadvantage, facing hundreds alone. How silly would everyone look complaining about something like this? Wasn't Ryu right before you now? Then catch him!
Of course, Ryu had thought of this method long ago. His spatial ring wasn't created by the standards of the Higher Mortal Plane, it was a present Granny Miriam's younger sister sent her for her birthday a few decades ago. Knowing how much Miriam loved to travel and care for the sick, her younger sister spent a lot of money getting her elder sister this ring. Even by the Pedestal Plane's standard, it was large, sitting with over just over a hundred cubic meters. Let alone just one Breaking Ore, Ryu could fit a dozen and still have about fifty percent of the space remaining.
Just as Amory was stabilizing his horse, he suddenly caught the faint image of a shadow out of the corner of his eye. Before he could react, the front legs of his war horse were sliced in half. He hadn't even tumbled forward yet by the time Ryu passed him by, not bothering with his presence.
The Dragon Corps couldn't believe Ryu's speed. He had just been just over a hundred meters away, yet a few seconds of distraction already had him upon them. It took him no more than a single attack for their organized formation to be thrown into disarray.
Amory tumbled through the wide cobbled street, allowing him momentum to roll him forward before springing upward. Even with his disheveled appearance, order after order began tumbling out from his lips.
Several squads at the front acted as a buffer while those in the back organized themselves according to Amory's orders. No matter how heaven defying Ryu was, he was too arrogant! Maybe if he used this speed of his to run into the forest, they would sigh in despair, but he hadn't done that. He actually ran right into them! He was most definitely playing into their hands.
What this Dragon Corps didn't know was that while Ryu danced among them, the thoughts they aimed toward him were the same thoughts he had about them. To Ryu, it was completely foolish for Amory to charge straight at him. He should have cast a net, closing off Ryu's options. But, as things stood now, Ryu had too measures he could take!
Numbers meant absolutely nothing to Ryu. Amory had twenty Qi Refinement experts, but he actually restricted them with military rules. How could they bring out their strengths like this?
When wars on the Immortal Planes were fought, they weren't done in this way. Immortals were often left to their own devices, allowing them to wreak havoc as they saw fit. In Ryu's opinion, this wasn't a good approach either. Control and order were all important when fighting in such a large group. But, too much restriction was a bad thing as well!
Due to their formation restrictions, the Qi Refinement experts could only watch as Ryu incapacitated their allies right before their eyes. Although none of them died, their falls from their high horses broke several bones. They simply weren't as lucky as Amory. While the First Prince had been a lone rider at the front, when they fell, they were amidst several other men and horses. Those who fell suffered greatly.
What broke Amory's heart the most wasn't even the injuries of his men. Every time another war horse gave off a pained cry before becoming forever crippled, he felt knives being stabbed into his heart. Each one of these war horses were carefully bred for over fifteen years. He had poured at least ten thousand gold into even the youngest. As for his own war horse, even a hundred thousand gold was a conservative estimate.
With every flash of Ryu's glaive, another war horse fell. By the time Amory finished rattling off his commands just twenty seconds later, almost thirty war horses and warriors were incapacitated. Ten percent of his Dragon Corps, gone, just like that!
Ryu smiled as the Dragon Corps organized itself. He suddenly found his pathways cut off.
After learning from his mistakes, Amory had the Qi Refinement experts take the helm. Everyone else was simply canon fodder to Ryu.
The twenty Qi Refinement experts surged forward from all sides, the strongest of them being of the Middle Qi Refinement stage.
Ryu's body flickered and swayed, narrowly dodging spear after spear. Unfortunately for Amory once more, he had made another mistake.
Ryu was inexperienced in combat. Even after spending eight months training against beasts, that was the true extent of his knowledge. He had never fought another human, nor had he ever taken a life. Yet, Amory did him the greatest service by outfitting his warriors with the weapon he was most familiar with. What a great gift this was.
As time passed, Ryu's movements became more fluid. He began to understand that although beasts had intelligence, humans were still that small notch above. By now, the remaining Dragon Corps had completely encircled Ryu. At Amory's behest, fifty archers had once more taken aim, but Ryu saw this as a cheap trick. Did Amory really expect him to believe that they would shoot at their own allies?
This time, unfortunately for Ryu, that was exactly what they did.