"Y-you!!! H-how!!!"
Everyone from Crown Prince Ranon's side was in great bafflement as they looked at Leon who was well and unscathed.
"How in the world did this happen? I-I clearly saw with my own eyes that you were severely injured and weakened! I captured you and took you to prison myself!"
Out of all people who were shocked by Leon's appearance, it was the Lieutenant who could not contain the sudden turn of events.
He could not understand how and why Leon appeared so strongly before them. He even managed to incapacitate the Crown Prince's strongest retinue - Arabella!
Too bad, none from their side would ever know the answer. For once it was revealed, then the enemy would have a significant understanding of how powerful he truly is.
"I'm sorry for being late…" Leon looked at Mishael, Kazimir, and Antoine then at the rest of the knights who were already in a dire state.
He understood that the casualties for them were too high and that their crew was significantly lessened.
"Let's deal with the matter at hand first…" Kazimir shook his head and looked at the bloodied Arabella with conflicting feelings.
Leon understood and immediately cast a spell to keep Arabella in prison just like the prisoners they have brought with them.
Before he joined the fight against Crown Prince Ranon's men, Leon gave some brief information about the strongest mages in the army so that they could watch out.
"I'll go straight to them one by one… just continue to hold your ground." He said before sending a flare spell up in the air.
Shiuuuu!
The spell exploded in the air releasing a piercing sound. What happened next made the enemy's heart turn cold.
That is because out of nowhere, a dome isolation barrier was created.
The gorge was covered by a crystalline dome that was ridden with complex gold and multicolor runes that surely restricted the movements of hostile forces in the ground.
Crown Prince Ranon gritted his teeth… Leon got them good with his move.
The isolation barrier's main purpose was to effectively block their ability to communicate through the notification paper and communication stone. Therefore, it would be hard for them to ask for the rear troop's help unless they kill off the people who activated the array.
A sudden realization hit the Lieutenant and his men…
Looking at the size and the appearance of the array, it was not put up so suddenly and by a single person.
It must have been put up by Leon and his men for many days at least three to five days…
That meant that from the moment Leon was captured until today, someone is working for the array to be set up firmly in the entire gorge region!
That also meant that Leon purposely let himself be captured so that their focus would turn to him and they would eventually realize that his men had already infiltrated the ambush camp!
That explained why the array was perfectly set up in the gorge region when no one from Seirende's side supposedly knew the exact ambush point!
"C*rse this mad dog!" Crown Prince Ranon could only shout profanities to his teeth and order the Lieutenant and his men to fight to the death.
Leon had no intention to prolong the fight as he knew that even with his presence, they were still outnumbered.
Besides, he and his brothers also wanted to know what happened on the other side, where their family is also under ambush.
He flashed straight to the Lieutenant and immediately engaged in a sword fight with him, while he left Biggie to do his thing and help Mishael, Kazimir, and Antoine's men to deal with the thousand men.
The Lieutenant himself could barely hold a fight against Leon, however, he too no longer planned to hold back.
"You may think that I am easy to deal with as the other two lieutenants you managed to defeat. There's a reason why I am the only remaining one standing among us three…" He said as he coldly conjured his curse power into his other hand.
"Cursed power users are nothing but greedy people who borrowed powers from the innocent…" Leon was not provoked by the Lieutenant's threat and continued to be unbothered in fighting.
His attacks continued to put heavy pressure on the Lieutenant who was trying his best to balance his guard and attacks with the curse power.
Cold shivers started to run through his back as he continued to receive Leon's heavy blows.
If not for his men joining him to attack Leon all at once while trying to buy time for him to recover and recharge for the attack, he could have long succumbed to the monstrous prowess of the enemy.
However, his men started to fall one by one, and the pressure brought on him became heavier as the moment went on.
In the end, he could only prematurely release the attack and force himself to retreat at a safe distance just to breathe.
Leon waved his hand to execute a massive earth spell, creating multiple layers of stone shields to protect him and the knights fighting beyond his position from the massive curse attack spell.
Boom boom boom!
The entire gorge shook as the earth shield tried to stop the massive curse ball from reaching Leon and the knights.
Leon continued to conjure the spell repeatedly, which created an effect of an indestructible earth wall that kept regenerating as it got destroyed by the curse power.
In the end, the curse power managed to become exhausted and dissolved into nothingness, leaving only massive debris of burnt earth.
As soon as the cursed ball died down, Leon flashed on the Lieutenant's side once again. But this time, he was already too exhausted to react quickly and could only find his vision rolling uncontrollably to the ground.
Plop… in an instant his head was gone leaving only his body frozen stiff from being unable to react to the curse power.
Seeing the dead Lieutenant, the entire army started to become chaotic. But Leon did not deal with them immediately.
Instead, he looked at Mishael and asked him to observe the body, in case that a spirit fragment would appear and suddenly attack the unguarded, just like what happened during the investigation of the dark knights.
Seeing that another one of his strongest men had fallen, the Crown Prince went into a frenzy.
"D*mn you! Dog prince! You should just die!" He shouted as his eyes turned bloodshot, wanting to kill Leon in many ways.
"All you men, join me! Let us kill this prince first!" He ordered all the nearby mages and knights, forcing them to leave their opponents in order to deal with Leon.
This also made the pressure on Kazimir and Antoine's side gradually lessen, but they were worried that Leon might be in danger of dealing with too many men at once.
Fortunately, the Crimson Blades, along with the original five knights who went with Leon appeared. They just rushed quickly to the battlefield after ensuring that the activation of the dome isolation array was secured.
They immediately saw Leon getting surrounded by a great number of soldiers so they moved to help him get away from the predicament.
Seeing another twenty or so men joining the Seirende's side did not affect Crown Prince Ranon that much.
His goal was for his troops to make Leon become weak so that he could deal with him easily.
However, his negligence towards the new player proved to be a critical mistake!
As soon as the Crimson Blades engaged in the fight, their ferociousness was revealed. They were like a portion of Leon's mad persona the moment they wielded their swords in battle.
Even Kazimir and Antoine were shocked to see how they looked in a real war like this. After all, they did not manage to see the Crimson Blades in action during the war because of their unique circumstances.
They lived up to their names as Crimson Blades… for not only their swords were colored in red by the blood of their enemies, even their bodies were covered too because of how they engaged in bloody carnage.
Antoine most specifically, almost stood in a daze upon seeing his youngest maternal cousin, Olivier in action.
Back then, Olivier was ostracized for being the weakest among the Astaze brothers and became more outcast in the family when he decided to join Leon's crew.
Though Antoine did not doubt that Olivier was as talented as his older brothers, somehow, his decision to become associated with the 'trash prince' weakened his position in the family.
But at this moment, he could only wish for his uncle and cousins to see how Olivier had grown so far ahead compared to all of them.
For he had never seen such a kind of summoner, who would cover not only himself nor his blade with blood…
But even all his contracted beasts were that vicious as well!
