The Chronicles Of New Havens

"Two Rank Transcendent Lords are insufficient to change anything, but one of them does warrant our attention. If I remember correctly, she's one of our main targets, the heir apparent of the Alzar Kingdom," Crus focused her gaze on Elizabeth.

"Should we deal with her directly?" Ludin wondered.

"You do raise a good point," Crus closed her eyes and contemplated. "…Then let's do this."

She sent a piercing gaze towards the whole battlefield. From four doppelgangers, they turned into eight and then sixteen since their conversation. It did not take long, but another eight sh.i.p.s were sinking. That was the beauty of their combined technique: Ludin focuses on shrinking the attack area, while Crus focuses on filling it. Together, they could make short work of large armies! Furthermore, the two attacks were designed to work independently. Yes, they had to continuously supply the energy, but that was all. Ludin's Seven Closes Heaven barrier was designed to constantly shrink. Crus's Demon Wind Resurrection was designed to split after every successful attack.

Crus strengthened her connection to her martial technique and eight doppelgangers charged towards Elizabeth's ship. With a fresh injection of Martial Energy, they exploded in strength and speed again! It was like they were bathed in a silver lightning! Crus's body might be Perception Realm Adept, but thanks to her Bloodline Ability, her combat power was temporarily elevated to Perception Realm Master. When compared to her enemies, a few Rank Transcendent Lords, mock 'Perception Realms' without Martial Energy, and Low Condensed Drop Arcanists… She was the strongest combatant on the field by far. Elizabeth and Freon might have come close to damaging her doppelgangers. However, if they wanted to break it, it would be much harder. Being slaughtered was the only result!

Elizabeth pulled back on her bowstring and materialized another arrow. Sweat rolled down her forehead while her hands shook from the strain. The main advantage of the Dual Core Rending Technique was the ability to build Magic Energy and release it at once like a tidal wave. That was how she could obtain her Rank Transcendent Lord ability! Except the greatest problem was her Core… Increasing the flow without increasing the source, it was simply speeding up energy consumption. With her Peak Gaseous Fog Core Level, it was enough to fuel two or three more attacks at most! She had to make every arrow count.

Freon was in the same boat. His Bloodline Ability, Thousand Core Resonance, allowed him to 'resonate' and strengthen any spell he chose to incredible levels. The problem was that during this attuning period, it prevented him from using any other spell. So, in exchange for massively increased combat strength, he exchanged his magic's versatility. It was a double-edged sword that few could properly maximize the potential of. The other glaring problem was that he was a High Gaseous Fog Arcanist! One had to know that Condensed Drop was the minimum to control a Bloodline Ability. Freon was forcefully activating it, but one wrong step, and he would backlash! As he conjured another fireball, he could feel his Core quivering and the pain building up. It was dangerous to stay in this state for too long!

The other soldiers were not idling around either. Archers and crossbowmen released volleys, while Arcanists conjured spells. On the side, Ten Dawn Krogan hurled a large stone wall, Ten Dawn Iris sent a dozen invisible razor-sharp wind blades, Ten Dawn Rosemary created water snakes which lunged out of the water surface. Each of their spells were a league above the rest, as expected of the only Low Condensed Drop Arcanists!

Ten Dawn Yvonne stepped forward and channeled her Magic Energy. Wisps of World Energy acc.u.mulated around her like the morning dew. Bloodline Ability! Her Magic Aura frothed violently while her strength briefly touched Medium Condensed Drop, right below the Conquestian and Protector Avin. In terms of magical prowess, she was probably third in the human world! She raised her hand and double-casted! In a flash, dozens of white and black tendrils rushed forward like rain. Out of all the Arcanists present, Ten Dawn Yvonne was one of the few that mastered light and darkness-type magics to a high degree. It fell right beside the hundred other attacks to combat the incoming eight doppelgangers!

Crus smiled and waved her wings. Like a puppeteer directing the stage, the eight doppelgangers abruptly changed directions and zigzagged through the air with impossible movements! For the most part, her martial technique worked by itself. As long as she supplied the Martial Energy, it could theoretically last for a long time. However, for exceptional situations, she could manually retake control to dramatically increase her killing potential! The eight birds casually evaded every attack and accelerated again towards the ship. The closest one to landing a hit was Ten Dawn Yvonne whose spell exploded, managing to destroy two of the birds. The remaining six left afterimages as they dove in!

Without a second to spare, Benedict stepped up. With his sword in hand, he channeled his Martial Energy throughout his body. Like the others, his aura began growing to a terrifying level. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, entering the first stance of the Cloud Sea Style. Growing waves, rising clouds, striking with unstoppable force! He jumped… no, catapulted in the air! Martial Energy gave him an unbelievable jumping force, allowing him to soar above the flagship! At his apex, Benedict released a monstrous slash from his enhanced body and sent a shockwave forward. Flying slash! The flying sword collided with a bird head-on with force enough to cut clean through a brick wall!

Shirley yanked a spear from a nearby soldier before entering Mock Perception! The six birds, which were moving at sub-sonic speeds, slowed down to a normal person's pace. It would have been impossible to attack them otherwise unless she could close the distance like Benedict. Her eyes glowed with a faint flash as she wound her arm back and flexed her muscles. While she was not exposed to Martial Energy like Benedict, she had an extraordinary gift of instincts and senses, which granted her the power of a Rank Transcendent Lord all the same. Shirley threw the spear right as Mock Perception ended, and it arced across the sky. Despite moving at sub-sonic speeds in an erratic pattern, her spear directly crashed into another bird!

Sir Winstin and the other Royal Guards did not dally around either. Regardless of Martial Energy, their bodies reached the Perception Realm standard. Sir Winstin especially, if he managed to grasp Martial Energy earlier, then he had the qualifications to become an Instinct Realm martial artist too! In terms of raw potential, he stood right next to the Sword King Sin and Protector Avin. With perfect form, the man threw a spear with unbelievable accuracy and power, nailing two birds in succession! The other Royal Guards had similar success and downed two more.

But when everyone's attacks landed, the silver lightning cladding the birds discharged and vaporized everything around! It was like six simultaneous lightning strikes! Because, at the end of the day, Benedict, Shirley, Sir Winstin, and the other Royal Guards… unlike Ten Dawn Yvonne, they were using primitive attacks. While it was impressive that they could successfully track and hit the six birds, they lacked the necessary power. It was nothing more than a light tickle to Crus's masterpiece technique! Everything happened too fast. In the span of a few seconds, the birds bypassed every layer of defense and plunged down. Slam! They pierced through the deck and emerged from the underside, creating six carriage-sized holes. Thousand pieces of shrapnel flew in the air as they travelled without resistance! However… they narrowly missed Elizabeth and the others by a hair! In the air, Crus coughed out some black blood, causing her technique to waver.

"Are you okay?" Ludin asked concernedly.

Wiping her mouth with her wings, she replied solemnly, "I'm fine. My injuries from the Featherwind Sect still aren't fully healed. I guess forcing my Bloodline Ability to use my technique was too much. I temporarily lost control."

"Should we retreat then?"

Crus gritted her teeth. "Let me try again," she said as she concentrated again.

Down below, the birds once again divided from sixteen to thirty-two! Their size and power decreased, but their range increased dramatically. They flew across the battlefield unfettered, bringing the total to fifteen sinking sh.i.p.s. Ludin also did his part with his Seven Encloses Heaven barrier. Five sh.i.p.s slammed into the shrinking barrier and the impact was enough to drop them. How long had it been since the battle started? It was one or two minutes, at best. That meant more than two thousand soldiers were taken out by Ludin and Crus alone! That was one-tenth of the total fleet! One could imagine how fearsome and one-sided the battle would be if Ludin and Crus retained their original strength!