Book 3: Chapter 6: It's Like There's A Tiger Lying By My Side
In the end, Aleya is a swordsman that I’ve taught by myself. Even if she’s tired to the point where her arms are sore, she’ll never shrink back from protecting me. Gradually, she became unable to shake the arrows coming towards us in the sky. Left with no other choice, she fought fiercely in close quarters, using her sword to brush away the arrows threatening my life.
As long as I didn’t retreat, she also wouldn’t leave.
She also would never ask me why.
When she started approaching her limits, when the arrows started to scrape her cheeks, and when blood was drenching her body with every wipe, Aleya whispered:
“Young master. It’s about time to go.”
Before her voice fell, an arrow unlike the others, a blood-colored decorated arrow burst through the skies and accurately shot towards Aleya’s neck. I grasped Aleya’s wrist and pulled her into my embrace, simultaneously leaning sideways a little in order to dodge the arrow. But I immediately discovered that the situation was even shittier than I imagined. The arrow didn’t just stick itself into the city wall beside me; no, it completely tore open the cement defense that I was so proud of as if it were a round from a mortar cannon.
Isn’t this crap already something that shouldn’t be classified as an arrow.
I took a glance below the city wall and discovered that this Zhao Chen brat had changed formations.
If the formation before could be described as ‘a hundred flowers blooming’, then this current formation was ‘a cluster of stars surrounding a moon’. I was unable to make sense of what I was looking at, but I had the general idea of what was going on. The tall and sturdy warrior standing in the center was holding a longbow that spanned about 1.5 meters long. The sense of heaviness that the longbow gave off just at the sight of it was extraordinary. He seemed to be a Level 4 Archer and theoretically speaking, there’s no way such an archer of his calibre should be able to shoot such a fierce arrow from such a distance. But the current formation was different; the other people were encompassing him like a bird folding its wings, forming a circle similar to a magic circle. This formation paid extreme attention to the quality of the people, as it very accurately transported power from the formation members into the warrior. In an instant, by relying on these several hundred people, the archer’s level was forcibly raised by two levels. If it weren’t for my swift eyes and quick hands, the exhausted Aleya in my arms would’ve had to take on this arrow.
I have to say, though, this commander is truly something.
Aleya is a Level 5 Swordsman, moreover, a Level 5 Swordsman who’s just promoted a month ago. She’s followed me for 4 to 5 years now and even with my personal guidance, her promotion speed is still only like this. But just by depending on a formation, the other side can instantly pull a Level 4 Archer up to a Level 6 Archer. In one breath, it helped someone step over the extremely vast distance that an ordinary person might not even reach after several years, even several decades, of hard practice. This sort of miraculous formation indeed made me broaden my horizons.
After the wheelchair-sitting girl inquired the people in her surroundings about the current state of things, she once again lifted up her head and frowned.
She probably didn’t expect that this arrow would miss its mark.
I moved Aleya to the side and shouted downwards:
“Hey! What else do you have, use it so that I can see.”
The wheelchair-sitting girl didn’t answer my calls. Instead, the brat by her side stomped angrily as he pointed at me and cursed:
“Don’t be proud of yourself! You were just lucky to avoid it, do you really think you have such great capability! Sooner or later, I’ll overturn this broken city of yours, let’s see if you’ll feel good when that happens!”
Nope, I don’t understand.
You’re talking mindlessly, not even commanding the troops; all you’re doing is adding trouble for the person beside you.
I didn’t pay any attention to him, instead directing a question to the girl sitting in the wheelchair:
“Plan on continuing? I’ll give you another opportunity. I’ll stay standing on the city wall, if you’re able to kill me, then that’s just a testament to how skillful you are, how about it?”
The girl didn’t reply, but the child by her side did yell:
“If you have the balls, then don’t escape! All soldiers prepare, go——”
Before he finished his words, the girl sitting in the wheelchair whispered:
“Don’t be impulsive, Ah Ta.”
The young man shook the wheelchair, swaying the girl in the wheelchair side to side, as he mumbled:
“What do you mean don’t be impulsive, sis, think about how long we’ve been fighting this rotten city. Now that there’s such a rare good opportunity, why should we shrink back?”
The girl bit her lips. Her eyes had been closed the entire time, so nobody was sure as to what she was thinking.
Seeing nobody releasing arrows, I picked up a relatively cleaner spot and sat down on the brick wall. Then, I sloppily began my performance:
“Hurry up. Look at how understanding your little brother is, if you don’t send me off now, you’ll never get a chance to. Once you let me off, I’ll certainly shrink back into my city and you’ll be hard-pressed for another opportunity to see my face.”
The young man very fiercely growled at me:
“Crazy! I dare you be crazy again, boy!”
He stopped caring about his older sister’s opinion and instead roared at the army:
“Release the arrows! Release the damn arrows for me! I, Fang Lita, as your City Lord, now command you all to shoot innumerable holes into that ******* who doesn’t know the immensity of heaven and earth!!”
I coldly gazed at the scene below.
As expected, even if he gave out an order, nobody would listen to a word he said.
The commander here wasn’t him, the army also apparently didn’t trust him; no, the people surrounding him were using a questioning look to gaze at the girl in a wheelchair next to him, appearing to wait for her suggestion. Flustered and utterly discomfited, the young man ran over to the iron-tower-like archer and fiercely pounded his stomach, trying to take the bow away from him.
The archer bore his punch, not daring to resist, but his face displayed a cold indifference.
I crossed one leg over the other, lazily watching on as this occurred.
The girl sitting on the wheelchair gave a glance eastwards.
The young man named Fang Lita very fiercely gnashed his teeth, but soon calmed down after several deep breaths. To my surprise, he was actually able to retract his anger, turn to the girl by his side, and fawningly say:
“Sis, please, I beg you. You have no idea how active that damned fatty called Fang Yuan has been recently. If things continue on like this, then I’ll never be able to take over the position of Overlord of Zhao Chen……”
At this time, the girl sitting on the wheelchair opened his mouth and whispered back:
“Rearline turns into frontline, retreat 30 li. Set up camp, then wait.”
Fang Lita’s brows jumped, but the army already began carrying out the girl’s command and began preparing for a tactical retreat.
The girl lifted up her face towards my general position, wrinkling her brows and pursing her lips.
She comforted Fang Lita:
“This city will always be here, it’s not like it’s able to run. You’ll be able to majestically walk into this city sooner or later.”
Fang Lita nodded, then turned to face me as he shouted with a lofty manner:
“I’ll let you live a few more days!”
He was exactly like what that note about him went; he does appear to follow his older sister’s words very seriously.
That wheelchair-seated girl is still scared. With that arrow missing its mark, she immediately didn’t plan on attempting it anymore. But her way of doing things was also not wrong. It was impossible for Yunyang Territory to blatantly ignore my plight if people kept on harassing and attacking me. No matter if they dispatched troops or told foreign powers that I was expelled from Yunyang, these two distinct issues still required people to come over to inform the attackers. Once the results are out, she will either become more cautious or throw caution to the wind.
Watching those hundreds of people departing in a uniform manner, I didn’t feel any of the tension in my heart being relieved.
Something like the ‘Empty City Stratagem’ only works the first time.
During this time that I’ve won for us……I must make West-Resisting City strong enough to endure the next baptism.