Almost a quarter of an hour after Layton’s team left. Finally, there had been a development in the situation inside Jax’s field.
Cracks formed around the field as it showed signs of crumbling.
By this time, Vera had finished absorbing the healing pill and was on standby with the rest of the army officers.
“Hm?” Luka’s brow creased as he felt the Summoning Token inside his pocket slowly cooled down. He took it out and looked at it with a slight frown.
Vera looked over and noticed this. She asked, “Is something wrong with it?”
Instead of replying to her, Luka immediately looked at the rest of the officers and yelled, “Everyone arms at ready!”
Hearing this, Vera was able to deduce the reason behind Luka’s reaction. There was only one reason why he would act this way after checking his Summoning Token. He must have felt a reaction to the token coming from the summoned monster.
Vera immediately took out her small knife while the officers also took their weapons out.
They all looked at the now crumbling light red field with vigilance. No matter what scene would greet them, they had to act accordingly.
Suddenly a loud explosion occurred from on the field. Then it was followed by a fierce whirlwind and then an angry roar. A combination of smoke, dust, and whirlwind fiercely swept through the officers who tried their best to stand firm and not be blown away.
“Ergh…” Vera blocked her face from the fierce wind using her arms. In between the gap, she observed the scene in front of her. However, she could not make out anything, even a silhouette, because of the thickness of the smoke.
“Everyone fall back!”
Everyone heard the familiar voice of Jax amidst the smoke.
“Major!” Luka called out.
“You’ve been warned.”
Another deep voice came and reverberated around them.
Luka and Vera strained their eyes to look at what was happening inside the smoke. They both recognized that voice and were suddenly reminded of the horror when the summoned ogre was decimated with one attack.
Just then, a large silver array appeared above them and made all of them gasp.
The silver array was so huge it actually covered the whole Heaven’s Rupture Array. No, it actually exceeded its range size!
“S-Such a large scale array!” Vera exclaimed in shock.
Everyone was so shocked that some of them even fell on their knees, trembling.
The larger the array, the bigger it needed an amount of magic energy. That was why most large-scale arrays needed other materials like rare stones, forest beast bones, and in rare cases, even grounded internal organs of rare beasts to form the base. It was the same when they created the Heaven’s Rupture Array. They used a lot of materials when forming each point. Then they needed to supplement it with more magic energy using their own people. Even Luka needed to use his innate magic to boost it further. Of course, it was true that this array needed more materials because their level was too low.
Looking at this array, logically speaking, it would not be possible for one mage to cast it. Only a Magus had the energy reserve to do so. However, when Luka and Vera thought of ‘him’, they had an inkling that it was not entirely impossible. Even though ‘he’ was not even a Magus.
More accurately, he could not become a Magus.
“This will be the last time we will show mercy,” the voice said once again.
Everyone followed the direction where the voice came. Floating in midair, they saw a man clad in full black armor, surrounded by several different-sized silver arrays that rotated around him.
Just by looking at him, every officer started to break out in cold sweat.
The man’s aura was very oppressive.
‘Lord Cade,’ Luka thought both in awe and fear.
Just how much magic energy did this man possess? Was the information about his ‘almost crippled’ magic progression really true? Or were all direct members of the Regis Family simply too abnormal?
Luka suddenly remembered how their initial target, Kyran Regis, also showed abnormal strength the first time they met. Even then, Luka did not want to admit it, but that boy was frightening. And now, the man before them was that boy’s father. And he was more frightening.
“If you try any tricks again, we’ll enact proper judgement.” Cade continued.
“Look! The array!” Someone suddenly shouted.
The Heaven’s Rupture Array cracked as the Regis defensive array repaired itself at an alarming speed with the help of the silver array.
Luka and Vera, however, ignored the array and looked at Cade vigilantly.
A scroll appeared in Cade’s hand.
Both Luka and Vera immediately raised their weapons.
“Battle formation!” Luka issued an order.
“Everyone focused on Lord Cade!” Vera also shouted.
When the officers heard them, they responded immediately and reorganized themselves.
The scroll in Cade’s hand disintegrated, and a three-meter wide light-golden array appeared under his feet.
“Tracking Squad launch your anti-cast items now!” Luka ordered.
However, before the rest of the officers could make a move, the light-golden array lit up, and Cade disappeared in a blink of an eye.
Luka and Vera’s eyes widened.
At first, they thought Cade would launch an attack using that scroll. Still, he might not have attacked, but the scroll he used surprised them.
‘A transmission scroll?’ Vera thought in shock.
If you think about it, Cade had the ability to escape from them even when he was outnumbered. However, he actually used a rare transmission scroll so casually.
An earth-shaking crash sounded around them as the Heaven’s Rupture Array finally got destroyed.
While the rest of the officers looked back at the now fading Heaven’s Rupture Array, Luka turned his attention back to where the light red field used to be.
“Major Jax!” He called out and ran.
Vera, hearing Luka, also followed close by.
With the smoke and wind finally abating, the two of them saw Jax on his knees with one hand across his abdomen.
Jax’s uniform was tattered, and he was covered in blood. It looked as if he just survived a death battle.
Vera roamed her eyes and immediately noticed the destroyed ground, forming too many craters for her to count as well as burning trees nearby.
Just what kind of battle happened here?
She also noticed that the minotaur and the cyclops were nowhere to be seen.
As she suspected from Luka’s earlier reaction, the cyclops must have suffered a fatal wound and possibly rendered unconscious. Unlike the ogre she summoned that got destroyed, which in turn destroyed the Summoning Token, the cyclops were only forced to return; thus, Luka’s token was not destroyed.
Remembering the roar they heard earlier, Vera deduced that must have been the minotaur’s last cry before being rendered out of commission.
To think that these summoned monsters were supposed to be their ‘trump card’ and yet Cade handled them singlehandedly.
A cold chill run down Vera’s spine. She was too naive to think that she could get revenge for her member’s death once she entered the inner walls.
The Regis had transmission scrolls at their disposal, and with a monster like Cade keeping guard, he could easily obliterate them.
“What are you all doing here?”
Jax’s accusing voice brought Vera out of her thoughts.
“We are here to provide back up, Major.” Luka replied as he helped Jax to his feet.
“There was no need for that,” Jax reprimanded with a slight frown. “The operation is a failure, tell everyone to retreat.”
“But Major, both Vera and my team successfully entered the Regis Inner Wall. The operation is not entirely a failure.”
“What?” Jax’s eyes narrowed. His brow creased a little as he contemplated for a moment. “Lord Cade will definitely order their men to scour the whole premise to check if there are any other breaches. If the holes our people created to get in were found, it will only be a matter of time before the Regis perform a search inside. Tell them to lie low and stay out of the Regis’s radar.”
Vera immediately shook her head and said, “But their provisions are not enough. It is not too late to order for their return.”
Jax shook his head, “No. Lord Cade witnessed how the two of you appeared here through an array. We cannot use it again. Nor the passage we created. You also saw him use that scroll. I would not be surprised if all their men carries one for emergency use. Once Lord Cade located those holes, it is easy for him to pass the information to the rest and get their men there at once.”
“But the Regis Inner Wall is huge, he will not be able to locate it all in a day. We can still-.”
“Captain Vera, did you really think Lord Cade doesn’t have a way to locate those holes?” Jax asked and looked at the huge silver array above.
Luka and Vera also turned and looked at it.
“I will not be surprised if at this very moment, he is already using that large array to check if there are any foreign magic fluctuations near and within the Regis Inner Wall. If there’s anything I learned after fighting with him, Lord Cade is a cautious man. He can prepare layers upon layers of countermeasures to any form of attack I throw at him.”
“Major is right, besides Sander and the others are trained soldiers, they will be able to survive and find ways to provide for their needs by themselves.” Luka agreed and looked at Vera. “Right now, they can only stay inside. This way, we also have eyes inside the Regis Inner Wall. We can only move accordingly.”
Vera wanted to protest but could not think of any reason to refute their words.
She understood what they were saying, but she could not help but feel uneasy. Apart from that, she was mainly concerned with her member’s safety. Mika was also there, and among Vera’s members, she was the least experienced.
“The Grand Marshal will not be happy at the failed operation but with our men inside, it will alleviate his temper a little.” Jax added. He looked at Vera. “We’ll get them out eventually, but right now we can only retreat.”
“I understand,” Vera finally replied after a short pause.
“I’ll tell Layton to return. At this time, they haven’t reported back yet so they probably haven’t activated the attack array yet.” Luka said and took out his communication device to send out a coded message.
Jax nodded and also said, “Use our private channel when you contact them to block out any magic fluctuation. We’re not sure if signals from our communication devices can be detected. After you send out the orders to Sanders and Gianna as well, we won’t contact them anymore. We’ll still keep track of their movement but tell them not to contact us unless it is important. We can’t risk being exposed even when they use our private channel.”
“Yes, Major.” Luka replied and started sending out coded messages through their private channel.
Jax looked at Vera, “Tell the rest to clear out all arrays. As much as I want to clear out the traces of the passage as well, I cannot risk our men going there and get caught by the Regis’s people.”
“Yes, Major.” Vera saluted before going back to the rest of the officers.
Jax took out a healing pill and swallowed it. He watched as every officer followed Vera to destroy the arrays. His eyes narrowed and looked at the now restored defensive array of the Regis Inner Wall. His eyes particularly observed the huge silver array that was still hovering above the whole Regis Inner Wall.
‘This is fine, right?’ He thought.
=====================
Cade appeared above the huge silver array and overlooked the whole Regis Inner Wall.
After a while, he turned toward the direction where Jax and the rest of the Royal Army were currently at, and a slight smile appeared on his face.
‘With this, our counter attack begins. Make sure to keep up, Major.’ He thought.