The Avalon troops were ordered to clean the battlefield. The dead enemies were carried off to a location west of the frontline and the wounded Avalon troops were brought back to the camp.
Ben gave orders to the five hundred female Elven archers he used to lure the enemy in to hide in the hills near the eastern entrance of the canyon. Ben figured the enemy would begin to wonder what happened to their troops after seeing they hadn't returned and decide to send out scouts to link up with them.
The group of archers was told to kill any enemy who attempted to enter the canyon unless the enemy unexpectedly sent out a large force. Ben doubted they would throw another large force at them without knowing what happened to the original force. If they did happen to send a large force the archers were ordered to return as quickly as possible so they could prepare to fight against the next wave.
Ben used his healing touch and handfuls of Mana recovery pills to heal his troops who were injured. He took care of any serious wounds first and made his way to those with lighter injuries.
[Notice] Spell: Mending Touch has Evolved into Heal Area Level 1!
[Notice] You have learned a new spell! Heal Area Level 1!
[Heal Area]: This healing spell allows the caster to heal any injured people or creatures in a twenty-foot circumference. Higher spell levels allow for a larger healing circumference with improved healing power.
The shock troops were ordered to return to their hidden locations in the small forests along the edge of the canyon. Ben wanted to see if he could draw another group of enemy soldiers in and use the same tactics he did in the first battle.
'I would imagine the enemy will be more alert this time once they discover their troops are not returning. I should prepare for them to use another method against us when we show ourselves the second time. If twenty thousand troops suddenly disappear the enemy commander is going to know marching back into this canyon is not a good idea. I can still only hope he will attempt to throw a larger force at us before giving up on trying to eliminate us.'
Ben gathered up the sixty cultivator/magi he brought along with them from the Spiritual Summit Sect and the two thousand human female light swordsmen.
Once the frontline formations were lined up and prepared to meet the next wave of enemies Ben led the group he assembled back toward the eastern canyon entrance. The five hundred female Elven archers came down out of the hills to rejoin them for the second assault and reported they had killed a lone scout who attempted to enter the canyon.
"Ben nodded and said, "It seems the enemy commander is curious for information on how the battle went. We shouldn't keep him waiting then."
Ben returned to the same small hill they used earlier. The cultivator/magi were told to remain out of sight on the backside of this hill while he and the elven archers climbed to the hilltop. The two thousand female light swordsmen were once again sent forward toward the front of the hill in plain sight of the enemy camp.
Once everyone was in position he gave the order to begin the second arrow volley on the enemy camp.
The screams of pain and chaos resumed again in the camp after only just having settled down. It wasn't hard for the commander to figure out what was happening. He ran out to the border of the camp and spotted the same group of women on the same hilltop again!
He had sent twenty thousand men to deal with twenty-five hundred women, and they never returned. From what he could tell the number of women was the same and their white dresses were free of blood.
The women defiantly yelled at them from a distance while their archers accurately shot down any men who stood together in groups.
The commander went back into the camp and ordered the men to pull back out of distance from the enemy archers until he decided on how to deal with this situation.
As the camp pulled back runners were sent out to gather up the military officers and the group of cultivators who were assigned to assist the invasion.
Ben watched from the hilltop as the enemy pulled back their camp and decided to not push forward. He did not want to move away from his troops too far and risk being cut off from them.
He decided to have the women stand down for now and wait on the enemies next move.
Having moved the camp the enemy could no longer guard the capital city's southwestern section of walls.
The gates to the capital were located on the western wall and the invading army could still guard against anyone from using the gates. What worried the commander was once the night came it could be possible for the Avalon troops to send supplies up and over the walls near where they had to pull back from.
The only way to make a siege effective is to completely surround the enemy and cut them off from receiving any supplies or reinforcements. Now that they had pulled back there was a gap in their lines which could be exploited by the Avalonians.
_____________________________
After having twenty thousand troops vanish the enemy commander knew there must be a larger force out there. The problem is he could not afford to continue to send men blindly after these women nor could he allow them to remain where they are and continue to force them to leave a gap in their siege lines.
The enemy cultivators and military officers reported to the commander and were giving a briefing on what had happened up until now.
The Aithereal royal cultivator came forward after listening to the commander, "Commander Galloway I understand your dilemma but I fail to see how this problem needs to be relayed to the cultivators. Your Botodor King insisted on having you lead this invasion because you are supposedly the most experienced commander in the western kingdoms. I have to admit you have bravely gained a hundred of victories against the northern snow creatures and do deserve this position. We, cultivators, are only here to guard against possible enemy cultivator attacks. This is still a military problem so please deal with it on your own!"
The Aithereal and Lunia cultivators followed the Aithereal royal cultivator back to their camp. The Botodor cultivators looked undecided on what to do since Commander Galloway was from their kingdom.
While the Botodor cultivators stood around looking at the Botodor royal cultivator for a decision on how to proceed Commander Galloway spoke to him.
"I know this has nothing to do with sir royal cultivator. I am only worried if I continue to send more men at this problem we will surely lose them. I believe there is a larger force out there ready to ambush us, and we can't necessarily ignore them. If I ignore them they will have the chance to bring supplies through the gap in our lines and if I continue to send small squads of troops at them without knowing how many enemy forces are out there we will soon run out of men to siege Rodwynne."
The Botodor royal cultivator was unhappy about his cultivation being disturbed. He could only guess the commander wanted to use them as a probe. He could see the problem the commander was faced and chose to at least hear him out.
The Botodor royal cultivator with knitted brows said, "There must be a reason you decided to disturb us. Tell me what you have planned."
Commander Galloway planned to send the Botodor royal cultivator and following Botodor cultivators to eliminate the women on the hill and possibly scout the canyon to estimate how large of an enemy force was hidden there. If he could get an idea on how many troops they were up against he could send a larger regiment of men to wipe them out.
The Botodor royal cultivator was reluctant to be bothered. In the end, he decided to just quickly take care of this problem and be sure to tell the king later of the commander's incompetence.
The Botodor royal cultivator and twelve native Botodor cultivators left the camp and began to casually walk out toward the women occupying the hill a few hundred yards west of their camp.
When Ben and his troops spotted the small group leaving the camp he could only think they must be diplomats or cultivators. Since the enemy still had the upper hand there was no reason for them to send diplomats to ask for conditions.
'Strange why would they send so few cultivators? With the high Qi levels and amount of people on this continent, there must be at least ten or more cultivators per kingdom. Maybe they believe sending these twelve cultivators are enough to eliminate us?"
Ben stood up and barked out a few orders. The female light swordsmen were sent to the rear and the cultivator/magi were ordered to take the front. When everyone was in place Ben decided to test them with a volley of arrows.
As soon as the arrows were in the air the small group of enemy cultivators charged toward them at incredible speeds. They are much faster than a normal human. However, when compared to Whirlwind Maneuver speed they would be considered slow.
It did not take long for them to cover the distance and walk straight into a storm of magic spells. Lava Lakes sprung up before them forcing them to alter their course as they were struck by streaks of Chain Lightning.
Ben did not stand off to the side and simply watch them approach. He cast his Ensnare spell out in front of the charging enemy cultivators and slowed them down long enough for his cultivator/magi to drop a Lava Lake under them.
The group impressively fought their way out of the Lava after taking damage dependent on how high their cultivation had reached. Two of the enemy cultivators were not so lucky. They were pulled down into the Lava before the spell vanished. There was nothing left where they sunk into the lava to even show they had died there.
The struggling remaining injured Botodor cultivators finally reached Ben's line. They were furious and ready to unleash their wrath on this group of magi. When a wave of various strength Aura Assaults crashed down on them they then realized their predicament.
This group of sixty plus mages was also cultivators!
Ben's cultivator/magi were made up of mainly lower stage cultivators. The ten enemy cultivators were higher staged but their injuries from the spells were now slowing them down. With the larger numbers and the help of Whirlwind Maneuver along with Aura Assault, the Avalon cultivator/magi were able to use speed and agility to strike and retreat at the remaining ten Botodor cultivators.
A few of Ben's cultivators were gravely injured who could not dodge the stronger enemy blows. Still with Ben joining the fight and the sheer amount of attacks coming from every direction the Botodor cultivators were knocked unconscious or eliminated.
After the battle, Ben made quick use of his new Heal Area Spell to save everyone except a young woman who had come from a small town in Brandomma to become an Avalon cultivator.
He wasn't very happy about losing her and decided to take it out on the surviving unconscious cultivators. Each of them fell under his sword to never wake up again.
Ben actually found a couple spatial rings on the fingers of the dead cultivators. Athena instructed him to place a drop of his blood on each of the rings to claim them for himself. Inside the rings, he found large amounts of foreign gold and platinum coins along with some pills and spirit plants.
The small haul made him begin to wonder how many other spoiled cultivators were out there with spatial rings full of treasures in this world.
The sun was beginning to set after the cultivator battle. The dead enemy was left where they fell and Ben carried the fallen young women from Spiritual Summit Sect back to the camp.
The hidden shock troops were brought back to the camp and Eleven archers were assigned shifts to watch the eastern entrance to the canyon. They had a natural night vision ability and would see any approaching enemies who attempted a night attack.
Ben also asked the dragons to sleep in the hills near the entrance after they ate. If the enemy decided to throw a large force at them while they slept the dragons were ordered to deal with them.
It had been a long day for everyone and Ben needed to sit down and decide how they would proceed from here. It was obvious the enemy commander was avoiding sending out troops into his trap now.
The Avalon troops began to make enough food to feed everyone after Ben dumped out an enormous amount of supplies beside the cooking fires.
'I might have to move the frontline to the canyon entrance tomorrow morning. It won't be possible to block off the entire canyon entrance so our flanks will be exposed. I will just need to rearrange the formations and bring the dragons into the battle if they send a large force.'
He walked off to his tent to be alone and think up a new strategy to use tomorrow.