BXBX NOVEL Chapter 73: 71: Gathering Forces
The final deadline he had given was about to pass.
If she refused the church’s search, it implied that all evidence provided by the Fischer family was authentic, and the Isaac family was indeed a subordinate of the Sea God Cult.
The fate of heretics was never good, and they often did not want to surrender without a fight.
Thus, a battle was almost inevitable!
Byrne stood to one side and analyzed, “The Isaac family’s guards are probably around thirty or so, but basically, they don’t have the guts to fight us hard for Lady Isaac, and in the end, there are likely only a handful who would die loyally for her.”
Indeed, both the old priest and the town chief understood that the guards were very close to the family, almost equivalent to private soldiers, but there were certainly not many who would stand against the entire church and the country for a family that had turned to evil.
“So, our main opponents are those three extraordinary Isaacs.”
“Lady Isaac of high-level Beginning is a knight, whose source of the power of Bloodline is ‘Heatwave Blood Whale,’ capable of producing high-temperature water vapor in her surroundings. Moreover, she has superb swordsmanship and probably several combat skills as part of her family inheritance.”
“Her brother is a mid-level Beginning adept in both paths, wielding the Bloodline power of ‘Heatwave Blood Whale’ as well as possessing spellcasting talent of the Elements type. At this Beginning Level, he should be able to practice only two types of Elements Spells, both of which are not very powerful.”
Byrne paused for a moment, then continued with a serious tone,
“The last one is sent by the Sea God Cult. According to the servant’s testimony, the opponent is likely a low-level Transmutation Extraordinary Exponent, with Earth-type Bloodline power, and he is also carrying a Treasure class Mysterious rare artifact, obviously the most problematic existence.”
Upon hearing this, everyone tensed up, the father and son knights of the Verne family even regretted coming, for although assisting the church would yield rewards, the risk was indeed huge.
Mayor Andes immediately scowled and said through clenched teeth,
“A low-level Transmutation Extraordinary Exponent… That’s indeed a bit too tricky. If he appears, we must attack this person with all our might.”
Although Byrne had once hunted a Moonshadow White Bear nearing low-level Transmutation with his father, the strength of that Moonshadow White Bear was arguably the worst within the Transmutation Level.
Moreover, Lucius had an extremely high battle IQ, and Byrne admitted that he simply couldn’t compare to his father in this aspect.
Additionally, Extraordinary Exponents with high intelligence typically proved to be much stronger than magic beasts when at the same level!
And not just slightly stronger but a lot stronger!
Because Extraordinary Exponents would use alchemical weapons, Mysterious rare artifacts, learn “combat skills,” “Spells,” “spellcasting technique” from their inheritance, contemplate diverse tactical strategies, and possess judgment abilities far superior to that of magic beasts.
Perhaps two Middle Rank knights at the Beginning could contend with one high-level Beginning knight. However, a knight who had reached low-level Transmutation could easily kill three high-level Beginning knights in a direct confrontation.
After all, there’s a divide between the 1st Consecution and the 2nd Consecution of the Extraordinary Exponents.
On their side, there were seven Extraordinary Exponents—the 2nd Consecution “Pharmacist” Byrne and the 2nd Consecution “Listener” Irene.
As well as the high-level Beginning old Tempest Priest, who was also an Elements Spellcaster, the mid-level Beginning Mayor Andes, the father and son knights of the Verne family at the Middle Rank Beginning level, and the low-level Beginning sheriff.
In addition to those, there were hundreds of armed commoners carrying flintlocks, outfitted with some alchemical explosives, who were undoubtedly also a vital fighting force in this battle.
In the more distant past, the nations of the Ouden Continent did not have structured armies at all, composed purely of warbands formed by Extraordinary Exponents.
Back then, commoners were only fit for logistical support labor, with a status much lower than today’s, and even earlier, commoners were no different from slaves.
With the advent of the flintlock, the development of alchemical spells, and the advancement of collective spells, true armies emerged a few hundred years ago, and knights from the knight class who could be killed by gunfire gradually had their lands taken away.
The crowd waited a while longer, the final deadline had passed, and everyone could see that the other side was not planning to respond, and definitely did not want to surrender.
The Isaac family was planning to resist until the bitter end—they were indeed spies planted by the Sea God Cult!
Under the dark night sky, numerous fires almost lit up the heavens, and everyone’s expressions were extremely serious as sweat began to emerge on their foreheads.
Mayor Andes was getting impatient. He turned his head and asked the old priest loudly,
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“Great Priest, when do we attack?”
The old Tempest Priest shook his head, gazing at the Isaac family mansion and said, “Wait a little longer, there are still some who haven’t arrived yet.”
After a while, dozens of people rushed over, it turned out to be Aaron, the elder of the silver descendants, along with Emil, who brought dozens of guards.
They were able to occupy an entire street for residence because the church had accepted them, and according to the covenant, they needed to exert their efforts at times like this.
Aaron, Irene, and Byrne exchanged glances, then looked again at Emil, who stood at the very front of the silver descendants, as if the true elder.
The three of them understood each other immediately without saying a word.
With the addition of a high-level Beginning Spellcaster and a high-level Beginning Bloodline Knight, their number of Extraordinary Exponents reached nine.
Adding the two Fischers, there were five individuals at the high-level Beginning Rank, and with the many armed commoners, their advantage gradually became more apparent.
The town chief looked back at the old priest until, at last, the priest sighed, knowing that now the only choice was to fight.
His expression darkened as he spoke loudly,
“Attack, charge in and capture all members of the Isaac family. The main targets are those three Extraordinary Exponents, we cannot let any of them escape!”
The old priest’s eyes were fierce as he spoke without hesitation, “Be prepared to launch an attack at any time, and it’s fine to kill the targets if necessary!”
Although he had been close friends with Lady Isaac for many years, once he had made up his mind, the old priest knew there could be no wavering.
On the battlefield, even the slightest hesitation could be fatal— it could even doom everyone!
Since Lady Isaac chose the Sea God Cult, she was seeking her own death, so there was simply no need for pity now.
The patrol guards then approached and shouted, demanding that the Isaac family’s guards open the door or else they would use alchemical explosives to blast their way in.
The guards of the Isaac family had already been pushed to the limit and finally made a choice, dejectedly opening the gate and meekly stepping out, immediately dropping their weapons to show they had no intention of resisting.
Seeing this scene, Irene shook her head and said to Byrne,
“The subordinates we really need are definitely not like these people.”
The sheriff immediately had those guards of the Isaac family seized, their hands bound behind their backs with ropes, checking every face to see if the three Isaac siblings were among them.
Just then, everyone suddenly heard a long whistle sound from afar.
“They’ve climbed over the wall and are running that way! We chase!”
While everyone actually said nothing, they took for granted one thing: the low-level Transmutation Knight Extraordinary Exponents were highly mobile and had great stamina, they didn’t have any cavalry, so it would be very difficult to catch that person.
The most important targets were still to capture Lady Isaac and her two Beginning-Level Extraordinary Exponent brothers, and it could be considered the mission was accomplished for now.
Something seemed off, Byrne’s brow was tightly furrowed as he felt there was an issue somewhere, but with no experience in commanding combat, he was greatly inexperienced.
He just felt the atmosphere was odd but couldn’t articulate any specific reason, and could only quietly lead the family members to fall back behind the crowd.
Although Mayor Andes was a Middle Rank Beginning Extraordinary Exponent, he had no combat experience whatsoever, let alone the ability to command the patrol teams.
He could only steel himself and ask the old priest and sheriff,
“Should we split into two groups, one to charge in here and one to intercept them, or should all of us go after the fleeing ones?”
The old priest had experienced warfare and was rich with commanding experience. Just as he was about to answer after pondering, he suddenly turned his head to look at the estate wall not far away.
“Evade!”
The wall beside the gate suddenly showed a multitude of cracks, followed by hundreds of pieces of stone and dirt exploding outward in an instant, like a deathly whirlwind blasting open towards the unsuspecting crowd!
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