Chapter 176: Offense And Defense Switch Places
Seeing that the disorganized retreat was about to turn into a rout, Commander Bahamund commanded officers at all levels to rally the soldiers and arranged professional teams to blockade the air element in groups, covering the main force’s retreat.
After the army gathered together, the musket team and several advanced professionals served as a deterrent, focusing fire to attack as soon as the air element approached.
Facing the dense bullets, arrows, and javelins, the air elemental found it hard to dodge and failed to charge formation, instead taking several attacks.
Its life strength was average, so it didn’t dare to press hard and could only trail around seeking opportunities, but was repeatedly thwarted by the Amn people.
Jacqueline Castle, Anse put down the telescope and sighed heavily.
The distance was too far; he had no way to convey orders to the air elemental and could only watch it rigidly execute the previous tactics.
The air elemental’s intelligence was slightly stronger than the earth elemental’s, but only by 1 point.
“The four elements are still a bit lacking; it would be great if it were a wind giant.” He was still not satisfied.
“What nonsense are you talking about!” Illyas rolled her eyes at him and took the telescope from his hand to observe the battlefield situation.
“Let the guards clean up the battlefield and bring back all those magic cannons.” Anse suggested.
“Okay.” Illyas waved her hand lightly.
Behind them, Knights Leader Auston nodded silently, glanced at Anse’s back, and turned to leave.
“Should we lead a team to pursue?” Anse saw the experience prompt stop and felt a bit regretful.
“Forget it.” Illyas shook her head slightly. “The Amn professional teams didn’t suffer heavy casualties; if they counter-charge, it wouldn’t be worth it.”
“That’s quite possible.” Anse had detected earlier that among those professionals were three advanced professionals, including that barbarian Derik.
This didn’t even count the commander team that had been hiding in the rear; the Amn people were indeed well-prepared.
However, no matter how thoroughly they prepared, it couldn’t compare to the rapid growth of a “genius” sorcerer; there were so many variables that even divination spells might not work.
Even Anse himself hadn’t expected the four elements to be so overpowered, making elemental summoning one of the strongest spells he had mastered.
‘I have to say, watching the summoned creature crush the opponent feels pretty good.’ He felt delighted inside.
His mind quietly sank into his thoughts, pulling up the character card.
The experience pool reached 6725; the earth elemental and air elemental had earned him over six thousand experience points, including a dozen low-level professionals and over three hundred common soldiers.
It could only be said that the Amn Army still had some resilience; they hadn’t collapsed despite so many deaths.
‘Professionals give so little experience; it’s better to fight monsters.’ He sighed inwardly, not liking killing people deep down, especially commoners.
Killing monsters or other races felt satisfying, but killing people came with a slight psychological burden.
Over six thousand experience was enough to raise a new multiclass to level four, but now clearly wasn’t the time to consider that.
He returned to reality, his gaze focusing; a pretty face appeared in his view, his gaze complex.
“Why are you staring at me like that?” He didn’t step back but leaned forward a bit, their noses almost touching.
Illyas dodged sideways, sat on the flying carpet, tilted her head to look at him: “Were you really just a magic apprentice?”
“Yeah, I luckily awakened dragon race bloodline; my ancestors seem to have been silver-horned subspecies.” Anse explained.
“Heh, you’d be better off not saying that, because I’ve actually seen silver-horned subspecies.” Illyas chuckled lightly. “Silver dragon sorcerers usually specialize in cold spells, but you know quite a few; you’re pretty good with magic missile.”
“Huh, is there anyone who can’t do magic missile? Doesn’t it just require having hands?” Anse feigned surprise.
Illyas’s eyebrows shot up; she took a deep breath and flew the flying carpet into the high altitude.
“Why get mad…” Anse cast fly and quickly followed.
After his interruption, Illyas no longer dwelled on the bloodline issue; her grandmother had told her since childhood that respecting privacy is a form of gentleness.
The two arrived one after the other above the retreating Amn Army, gazing at the Amn people from a kilometer away, but the mindsets of both sides were now completely reversed.
Anse waved his hand, and the heavily injured air elemental flew into the high altitude, circling him twice with a hint of intimacy in its posture.
“Go back; hopefully we’ll meet again.” He waved, ending the summoning.
The air elemental looked at him quietly and vanished into the wind, the surrounding wind swirls dissipating with it.
“Can it… understand?” Illyas asked curiously; as far as she knew, the four elements only spoke Primordial.
“It can understand, but it doesn’t speak Common Tongue.” Anse explained.
If the distance was only a few hundred meters, he could convey orders through the spell without words, more convenient than expected.
After all, “loud conspiring” was indeed a bit abstract; the spell creator couldn’t have overlooked this.
“Do you know other fifth circle spells? Can you keep the Amn people here?” Illyas’s eyes were full of curiosity.
“I do, but I can’t keep them; let them go.” Anse appeared magnanimous but was actually a bit helpless.
He could summon the four elements a few more times, but the Amn people were now on guard, so the effect wouldn’t be as good as before.
There was only over a hundred barrels of tar left, each barrel fifty pounds or about twenty kilograms, covering too small an area and only effective against common soldiers, yielding little experience.
He was a paladin after all; chasing retreating soldiers in broad daylight to throw oil didn’t sound good; better to maintain some dignity.
He planned to send someone in the federation’s name to notify Amn afterward, demanding ten thousand gold coins in war reparations to compensate Jacqueline Castle and Dulag.
Otherwise, both sides would remain hostile, and he could legitimately send elemental beings to attack the Amn Barracks every day.
Advanced professionals weren’t cabbages; they couldn’t possibly gather so many every time and stay in the barracks daily, right?
This was just his strategy; the enmity between both sides was deep, and even if they surrendered, he wouldn’t let it go just like that.
Time was on his side!
Illyas looked at Anse strangely: “Amn people have no conscience and don’t know gratitude; only exterminating them will make them feel fear.”
“I know; this isn’t over.” Anse waved his hand.
After this battle, the offense and defense had switched; whether to attack, and how, was up to him.
He had misty step, wall of force, elemental summoning; he could run, defend, trap, and fight, already possessing the strength for proactive strikes.
“As long as you know.” Illyas knew Anse wasn’t the traditional kind of paladin.
The two watched the Amn Army retreat without further attacks; even the Amn people were somewhat surprised.
The Jacqueline Knights trailed several miles behind the enemy, keeping watch on the Amn people’s movements; the knights were cavalry and weren’t afraid of a counterattack.
Castle guards and the Dulag guards who came to support cleaned the battlefield, gathered loot, and finished off heavily wounded soldiers.
The earth and air elementals struck hard; there were few lightly wounded.
Strictly speaking, all this loot belonged to Anse; those musket ammunition and magic cannons were valuable and could fetch a big sum.
‘I wonder if Faerun weapons are valuable in the Astral Sea?’ Anse’s thoughts stirred; reselling weapons was hugely profitable.
