As soon as Liang Xiong gave his command, a pair of experienced Formation Initiates from the Outer Sect poured their energy into a carefully prepared formation surrounding a dozen spring lambs. The poor creatures were terrified and he disliked using them in such a cruel manner but the formation amplified both the sight and scent of the lambs, creating the illusion that there were hundreds of terrified lambs staked out for the locusts to feast on.
When the scent reached the locusts, the swarm instantly shifted their course, no longer heading directly toward the village and instead flying directly toward Liang Xuanji and the disciples of the Purple Thunder War Hall. Several of the younger disciples shifted nervously, clutching their weapons with white-knuckled hands or shifting their position to meet the rushing swarm. A few muttered quiet prayers to the Heavens and looked at the swarm as though death were about to descend upon them.
"Formations at the ready," Liang Xiong called as he unshouldered his powerful war bow and knocked an arrow. "Archers at the ready. First volley falls behind the swarm! Second volley hold for my command!"
Liang Xiong had made careful arrangements after learning about the swarm. A flying enemy would be too difficult for his inexperienced juniors to shoot with their bows and it would be too easy for one of the locusts to escape. A single mating pair of locusts could give rise to a swarm of hundreds in just a few months time, wreaking untold havoc on the surrounding countryside. That was why it was so important for them to both tempt the locusts into the trap with the promise of a feast and to pressure them from behind so the swarm didn't panic and turn back the way they came when the jaws of the trap snapped shut.
"First volley, loose!"
At Liang Xiong's shouted command, fifty archers poured their energy into their arrows moments before letting them fly. Fifty arrows arced high over the locust swarm before releasing their energy in a deafening clap of thunder.
Unlike arrows fired from a mortal bow, the archers of the Purple Thunder War Hall used their arrows to call down lightning. When each arrow reached the peak of its flight and began to fall back toward the earth, it exploded in a searing hot purple lightning strike like a bolt thrown from the Heavens!
Panicked by the lightning strikes and peals of thunder, the locusts surged forward, rushing toward the meal before them and desperate to escape the terrifying rain of lightning behind them. The high-pitched buzz of flapping wings and the chittering of dozens of locusts filled the air, their murderous bloodlust sending chills down the spines of the young men and women under Liang Xiong's command.
"Formations, now!" Liang Xiong snapped, his voice ringing out loudly over the din of the rushing insects. "Second volley, ready!"
At his shouted command, six groups of Formation Initiates poured energy into their node of the wide-area formation that had been carefully prepared the day before. A purple and golden shimmer of energy flowed across the ground as the formation sprang to life. Less than a breath of time later, dozens of locusts plunged to the earth as the Ground Binding formation made it impossible for anything to fly over the ground it covered.
Among the junior disciples, several who had unconsciously held their breath began to relax and focus again when they saw the formation spring to life and the locusts began to fall. Battle Leader Liang might be young and this might be his first time commanding so many people, but the disciples of the Inner Sect were no joke! Seeing the enemy fall to their commander's plans gave every one of them a surge of confidence that the rest of the battle would unfold as he intended as well.
As the locusts fell, Liang Xiong searched among the dozens of insects until he spotted the largest of the strange beasts. Its carapace had turned from the ashen gray of a Corpse Devouring Locust to a dull red the color of dried blood and its eyes glowed with equal parts malice and hunger.
Moving with speed too fast for a mortal eye to follow, he drew back the string on his powerful war bow aimed directly at the Brood Mother of the swarm. Unlike the arrows fired by the Brawlers under his command, the arrow loosed from his bow turned into a bolt of searing hot lightning as soon as it left the string, streaking across the battlefield and exploding against the chest of the falling Brood Mother before it could even reach the ground!
"Second Volley, loose!" Liang Xiong commanded, readying a second arrow and waiting for his next opportunity. As the only Soldier on the battlefield, not only was he responsible for commanding all of the disciples from the Purple Thunder War Hall, but he also carried the duty of eliminating the strongest and most dangerous locust in the swarm. While he could personally slaughter several of the lesser locusts, he held his shot and waited for the other archers to create an opportunity for him to fire again.
Across the once-calm fields and grasslands, dozens of lightning bolts fell from the sky, blasting the earth and sending up showers of rocks and dirt. Not every lightning bolt found a target but enough did that over a dozen locusts fell to the ground as blackened, smoking husks, never to rise again.
The surprise didn't last long, however, and the remaining locusts quickly leaped forward on their powerful legs. Bloodlust gleamed in their eyes and their dagger-like mandibles flashed in the light as they surged toward the front rank of disciples who held spears at the ready. Behind the swarm, the Brood Mother chittered even as she smoldered, springing forward along with her swarm.
In her eyes, her brood were both her children and her soldiers. If someone harmed them, the swarm would devour that person whole. If someone harmed her, that person must die! Right now, she chittered at her swarm to clear away the puny soft-skinned people between her and the man on the horse.
He had struck her personally and nothing would calm her thirst for blood until she devoured him alive!