"Hmm..." Thorn stood at the edge of the cliff, crossing his arms and staring at the town below with his eyes flickering in blue flames. After a moment, Anson arrived at his side and turned his head towards the town as well. "Unbelievable..." He muttered while staring at the chapel on the middle of the town.
Thorn turned his head towards him, "This much is to be expected. Looks like the chapel is protected by something. Maybe a relic." He continued after turning his head towards the town again, "The wooden structures and houses look relatively new compared to the chapel."
"Are the houses protected too?" It was Buck who came to his side this time. Thorn shook his head. "No, only the chapel is protected. The houses are all normal." His eyes flickered with flames once again as he looked at the chapel. Through his eyes, he could see that the chapel was covered in a majestic red aura, akin to a burning flame.
"Then, should I bombard the houses along with the path too?" Buck's eyes sparkled. Thorn jerked his head and stared at Buck for a moment. "No, there are prisoners held in the town. We must be careful."
Making a disappointed face, Buck turned back. "Boring. Tell me when it's time to start." He walked towards the knights, who were busy preparing a make-shift base with tents.
They divided the area along the cliffs into different sections. A section for commanders, a medical tent, relics storage tent and a section for knights to rest and eat.
"Haha... Setting a base this close to the enemy, we must be mad." Anson shook his head. Thorn looked at him and sighed. "Yes, but we cannot do much in this place. This is the only suitable place in this situation where we could set up our base."
Anson nodded at Thorn's words and turned back. "Let's not delay any longer. The knights are quite nervous already, if we wait any more, they may not even have the will to move."
"Alright. Then let's start, go and position yourselves on the path according to what we discussed. As soon as Buck bombards the path with the relics, you need to charge inside." Thorn's gaze lingered at a specific part of the town, the entrance that led to the underground cells, before he turned back and headed towards the base which was now complete.
As Thorn headed towards the middle of the camp, the knights gathered in front of him and lined up. Asa and Price headed towards the opposite sides of the cliff with a small relic on their hands. It was a small crystal ball, fixed on a wooden spike. The inside of the crystal ball contained a spherical purple aura.
After reaching the end of the cliff, Asa kneeled down and buried the relic, with the crystal ball sticking out of the ground. Checking if the relic was buried properly, Asa stood up and turned towards the other end of the cliff. She saw Price was already done burying the relic too and was looking towards her.
Asa let out a faint smile and moved her hands to signal Price with her hands. Nodding his head, Price knelt down again and started feeding his essence into the ball in a very specific way. Asa was also feeding the relic using the same gestures on the other end.
After a moment, the purple aura inside both relics began expanding and exited the crystal ball. The aura expanded themselves from the opposite ends and met at the middle, creating a dome shape around the cliff.
Completing their tasks, they headed towards the middle, where everyone was gathered. Seeing them come back, Thorn nodded his head and looked through the crowd. He could see that the knights were nervous to fight their battle.
"Knights of the Sacred Order!" He called out. "Today we stand against these cultists, these ravages of society. We fight them so that our family, our people can live peaceful lives. Standing here takes courage, and your courage, your courage will lead us into victory. Your courage will keep your family safe back home."
His gaze moved through the crowd once again. He could see the eyes of the knights were ignited with morale once more. Satisfied, he closed his speech. "Now, let us fight with all that we have. May the night protect us!" He drew a crescent moon on his heart with his hand and stood straight.
The knights followed the gesture and shouted, "May the night protect us!" Immediately after, Anson divided the knights into squads, according to their original plans.
Nodding at Thorn, Anson departed towards the path leading 3 squads. The three squads were led each by a Night Leader of the two commanders and the Marshall. Although the Night Leaders of the commanders were only candidates, they were tasked with leading the squads.
Leading the squads were Lonz, a tan-skinned Night Leader under Marshall Buck, Price, who was under Anson, and finally, Edana, who was under Thorn. Before departing, Edana glanced at Thorn and nodded her head. Thorn also looked at her and nodded back.
Anson and the three squads carefully walked on the path towards the town. Once they reached the designated spot, they stopped and prepared themselves.
Back up on the cliff, Thorn was standing at the edge, looking down on the path. He could see the silhouettes of Anson and the knights, and that they had reached their position.
"Bring it out!" Thorn commanded.
Haskell came forward with both of his hands full. One hand had a lantern which was burning with a bright blue flame, while the other hand had a bag, seemingly full and heavy.
Buck appeared in front of Haskell and smiled. "I'll take it from here boy." He reached out his hands. Haskell looked at him and nodded, handing him the lantern and the bag.
Buck approached the cliff and dropped the bag on the ground. Opening the bag, he put his hand in it and fished out a fist full of transparent crystals. Haskell hurried over and grabbed the lantern from Buck's hand, opening the lantern.
"Oh thank you boy." Buck smiled and started touching the crystals in the blue flame of the lantern. Once the crystals touched the flame, a blue unstable flame would form inside the transparent crystal.
After he was done, Buck turned towards Thorn and smiled. "Now look at this." He stood sideways and planted his right foot firmly on the cliff. Taking a step forward with his left foot, he focused on the path where the traps were laid.
He gripped the crystals tightly with his hand, veins bulging on his whole arm. After a moment, his veins started to glow a blueish tint from the inside, and his muscles bulged. He pushed off with his right foot and rotated his hips. Using his arm like a whip, he threw the crystals with all his might.
The crystals left his hand and went towards the path in the speed of bullets. Each crystal he threw landed precisely on the marked areas from the map Price drew before.
Buck turned back from the cliff and faced Thorn. Giving him a huge smile, he opened his mouth. "Boom."
*BOOM BOOM BOOM*
A series of explosion rang out from behind him, covering the path with dust. Using this moment, Anson and his squads charged towards the town's gate.
"CHARGEEE!!" Anson cried while running towards the gate.