Boom!
Leaping from one side of the wall to the other, I sent several more "Poison Clouds," condensed to droplet state, into the White Eagles attacking the city. Since I'd decided to conserve reserves, I didn't bother synthesizing lethal poisons.
Boom! Another dozen bodies thudded down nearby, and I jumped to another wall section needing help. Instead of killing these birds, I just paralyzed them with a potent anesthetic, leaving the briefly flightless attackers to the city defenders. In the air, they could dodge and maneuver at will. But on the ground, with coordination issues from my poison, they became easy prey for humans.
Right now, only about five thousand Servant-level White Eagles assaulted the city – scouts and harassers sent by the Silver Sky Sovereign to trigger traps and probe defense weaknesses, of which there were plenty. After all, it was prepped in just three hours, and before that, under the Totem Serpent's protection, the city rarely saw such invasions. Defenders lacked experience. Luckily, Zhu Men's entourage provided excess High-level mages, plus me constantly hopping to trouble spots, plugging defense gaps to let commanders spot and hastily patch them.
Frankly, the city benefited from this probing attack. People adapted somewhat to fighting flying monsters, tested and fixed the raw defenses, and psyched up for battle. True, defenders burned plenty of energy and kept burning it. With the White Eagles tribe near Hangzhou totaling sixty to seventy thousand, this scout force isn't even a tenth. Plus, all current attackers are mere Servants – cannon fodder, replaceable in one breeding season max.
Of course, the Silver Sky Sovereign won't bring its whole flock. It'll leave some at the nest with strong guards, but even so, up to fifty thousand could arrive, with many Pack Leaders and at least a dozen Commanders – possibly peak ones unhandleable without High-level mages.
In short, without decapitation tactics, the city falls for sure; we have only thirty-five High-level mages. They might hold a dozen Commanders briefly but not kill or beat them. In canon, the fight ended with quickly wounding the Silver Sky Sovereign; here, we can only pray my plan works, or the city's citizens are done for.
Boom! More bird carcasses hit nearby, but ignoring them, I leaped to the next defense hole. The fight's raged over an hour, and we've killed about three thousand White Eagles. If it continues, we'll wipe the scouts before mains arrive, giving people a breather. No full magic recovery, but mental relaxation? Sure.
I wasn't just altruistically bounding like an antelope across the battlefield for others' sake – there was major gain too. Full Servant souls and shards were sucked into my White Tiger pendant with enviable regularity, claiming nearly ninety percent of what spawned here. By the end of today's White Eagles battle, I'll have enough Servant souls to upgrade my girls' stars a step.
Half an hour later, at the cost of completely depleting the reserves of five High-level mages, the entire reconnaissance squad was wiped out. Blood covered everything beyond the walls of Hangzhou and even the walls themselves didn't escape this fate. The entire plain was dyed red, and unfortunately, it wasn't just bird blood. Despite all my efforts, accidents still happened, and about fifteen mages died, with nearly a hundred wounded. Compared to the slain monsters, this number seemed insignificant, but my heart still ached painfully.
If not for my loose tongue, all this could have been avoided. Why did I reveal this information to Tang Yue at all? To brag? To impress her? Why? Were TuTu and Jiao Jiao right, and do I have feelings for her? Fine, that's definitely not what I need to think about right now.
Shaking my head, I hopped to the gathering spot for the Supreme-level mages. They hadn't participated in the battle, just like the bulk of the High-level mages, waiting for the real showdown to use their power where it was truly needed—no matter how cynical that sounded. If they exerted themselves now and saved those mages, thousands would die later due to a lack of their energy, if not everyone. Priorities had to be set.
"Mu Bai, aren't you tired? Do you have enough energy left for the battle with the Warlord?" Zhu Men asked me with concern as soon as I landed on the roof of the building where all five Supreme-level mages present in the city were seated.
Realizing that I wasn't far behind Li Tian in raw power and even surpassed him thanks to the "Triple Cast" talent, Zhu Men had included me in the battle plan and naturally counted on me. It would be bad if I wasted my reserve now and couldn't provide support later.
"Don't worry, Senator. I jumped using only the strength of my body, without expending a single drop of magical energy. As for reserve depletion, I only drained my poison element. I plan to use Summoning to call my two senior Commanders-in-Chief when the enemy's main forces arrive, to ease the pressure on the defense forces. The ice element, like the artifacts, is reserved solely for the fight with the Silver Sky Sovereign," I reassured him.
"Excellent, I'm glad you didn't give in to emotions and calculated the future course of the battle correctly. Eh, what a useful body enhancement technique of yours. I heard you offered to sell it when you enrolled in Mingzhu?" Zhu Men asked, his eyes gleaming.
"Indeed. Though, considering that it requires a lightning elemental creature for proper functioning, I preferred to abandon the idea. After all, due to the extremely high mortality rate from independent practice, this technique could easily be deemed heretical and banned, and I don't need that. Better to keep its survival rate at one hundred percent," I replied with a crooked smile.
"I understand. Well then, let's proceed to discuss the tactics for our battle against the Silver Sky Sovereign. Each of us should share our strengths and weaknesses so we can form the right attack combinations and discuss strategies," Zhu Men shifted to a serious tone.
"I'll start. Tan Zhong, Supreme-level mage first step in fire and earth elements. Both elements contain Soul Seeds. Fire with x5.5 amplification, earth x5. I have artifact wings capable of moving at the speed of a weak junior Warlord," the head of the Magical Court spoke up.
"Wu Pin Jin. Supreme-level wind element mage. I have a Soul Seed on it with x5.5 amplification. I can fly at junior Warlord speed," his assistant continued.
"Li Tian. Supreme-level water element mage. I have a Soul Seed on it with x5 amplification. I can only fly at peak Commander-in-Chief speed," Zhu Men's assistant admitted somewhat embarrassedly. Hm, we've got a nice elemental combination here.
"Zhu Men. Supreme-level second step lightning element mage and first step in fire, water, and earth elements. The lightning element has awakened conditional power in the form of armor with a spear, enhancing my close-combat attack capabilities. Soul Seed on lightning with x5.5 amplification, on others x5. I can briefly accelerate to weak mid Warlord flight speed, normally at junior level," Zhu Men introduced himself, and everyone, including me, looked at this mastodon with respect.
There was the main force of today's battle. Now all eyes turned to Luo Mian, since I'd already presented my combat capabilities in the previous conversation with Zhu Men. That left Luo Mian last, and he had no choice but to introduce himself reluctantly.
"Luo Mian. Supreme-level first step shadow element mage. I have dark substance with enhanced sensory suppression effect within my domain. It also amplifies my magic fivefold. I can fly at peak Commander-in-Chief speed," he finally said, and Li Tian's face brightened—at least he wasn't the weakest Supreme-level mage here anymore. Anomalies like me didn't count.
"Luo Mian, either you reveal your full combat capabilities, or you won't leave this roof alive. We don't need someone who'll stab us in the back at such a critical moment," I pinned him with a glare just as everyone was about to start discussing battle strategy. After my words, hostile gazes nailed Luo Mian in place, and he grimaced like he'd bitten a lemon.
"…I also have first step Supreme-level in curse element, and fifth spiritual boundary. Plus a defensive artifact that can withstand a couple of mid Warlord attacks," realizing I somehow knew his combat info, Luo Mian stopped hiding. Li Tian slumped again, as the "weakest" label stuck to him firmly now.
"Now everyone has shared everything. Before hearing your strategies, I'll propose mine, and you can supplement it with your experience. If it seems too unrealistic, we'll switch to yours. Sound good?" I scanned everyone and, seeing no objections or resistance, decided to speak.
I didn't even remember earlier that we'd gathered so many different elements here. With this lineup, if played right, I'm eighty percent sure we can hold the Silver Sky Sovereign for an hour! Now I just need to push my idea through, but I don't think it'll be hard. These aren't dumb people here, and my plan is the most logical one I could come up with.