"This is truly an eye-opening experience."
Elara remarked with deep emotion.
She and Toji Hisami had followed close behind the main army, witnessing with their own eyes the seemingly invincible defense of the Xuanwu Guards.
When the heavy plate-armored lord had first charged out of the trenches, she had felt a brief spike of worry, almost wishing to rush forward and offer support.
Yet Toji Hisami had remained completely indifferent, prompting Elara to hold her ground.
The ensuing clash revealed a truly classic display of military supremacy.
The charging enemy forces had crashed against the frontline like ocean waves against a sea wall, shattering into pieces upon impact.
When the armored lord’s heavy plate had been cleaved open by the swift blade of an elite warrior, she had clearly noted that the steel plating was thicker than her own thumb.
Encased in such heavy armor, amplified by the immense momentum of a full charge, and wielding a warhammer of extraordinary proportions—
The outcome had still been an absolute, unmitigated failure.
The Xuanwu Guards had utterly redefined Elara’s understanding of military warfare.
Across the clearing, the surviving elements of the Black Mountain Army were broken and fleeing in sheer desperation, clearly having tasted the devastating power of the Xuanwu Guards firsthand.
Gazing upon the scene, Elara turned and offered a formal salute to Toji Hisami.
"I cannot simply stand by and let you handle every aspect of the battle. It is time for me to contribute."
Elara produced a short wand radiating a bright silver light, topped with a splayed feather structure resembling a composite bow yet distinct in form.
Catching Toji Hisami’s inquiring gaze, Elara offered a soft, confident smile.
"This was crafted within my own territory, then further enhanced through specialized secret techniques. It is the Feather Scepter, of superior grade."
Elara commanded a distinct background of her own, and her elven artisans possessed remarkable craftsmanship.
Unexpecting that she could field such a refined artifact, Toji Hisami watched with genuine anticipation, eager to witness her performance in combat.
Without false modesty, Elara urged her white deer forward, galloping out to position herself alongside the territory’s mage detachment before initiating her incantations.
A vast reservoir of concentrated mana gathered in the skies above, unleashing a barrage of sustained spells that systematically plowed through the grassland.
The retreating Montenegrin troops were blasted out of their concealed lines, completely exposed and instantly subjected to a merciless rain of projectiles.
Meanwhile, in the rear, the Black Mountain detachments still investing the forested perimeter grew increasingly desperate. They began detonating their remaining explosive stores in a frantic, wholesale manner.
Nearly every barrel of gunpowder and volatile alchemy charge in their reserve was expended simultaneously, generating a concussive shockwave that sent the territory’s defensive energy barrier buzzing violently.
Raging fires consumed the perimeter, billowing thick clouds of smoke that obscured visibility across the sector.
The ancient treants within Elara’s territory found themselves immobilized, unable to advance as they fought desperately to suppress and extinguish the spreading inferno.
For a brief window, the internal defensive forces of the domain were constrained, unable to project outward pressure.
Sensing a fleeting window of opportunity, the cornered Montenegrin soldiers scrambled to link up with their defeated vanguard units, striving to punch their way out across the open grassland.
So long as the green hills remained standing, there would be no fear of running out of firewood!
Provided they escaped with their lives today, they could eventually return to exact vengeance.
Yet how could their adversaries permit such an easy exit?
While Toji Hisami’s heavy infantry and swordsmen lacked the raw mobility to run down the scattering enemy squads, the master marksman Lin Yifei had been quietly preparing for this exact moment.
He began driving over a dozen quivers deep into the turf directly in front of him.
The elven soldiers observing the action displayed looks of stunned disbelief.
Even Elara’s veteran elven heroic soul archer drew a sharp breath.
As a high-tier ranged professional, he recognized precisely what doctrinal technique was being unspooled.
Storm Shot!
Among all archery disciplines, this stood out as the most violent offensive skill, capable of discharging a devastating torrent of arrows in a fraction of a second to obliterate enemy formations.
Under standard operational metrics, an archer who mastered this skill could manage a maximum of five quivers simultaneously.
A powerful heroic soul like himself might push his limits through advanced comprehension of archery arts to approach the threshold of legendary arrow masters.
Yet Lin Yifei had arrayed fifteen full quivers, each containing fifty arrows—amounting to a staggering seven hundred and fifty rounds!
Inhaling deeply, Lin Yifei slowly raised his bow amid the admiring and awestruck gazes of the surrounding elven troops.
[Storm Shot]
The ultimate offensive mastery of the Storm Archer lineage.
Firing three arrows per second, each succeeding projectile gains an additive power bonus of +1% with no fixed ceiling.
As the duration and volume of fire increase over a ten-second window, an additional cumulative power multiplier of +5% applies per second.
The specialized Storm Archer class trait provides an innate multiplier upgrade, pushing the cumulative power scaling to +2% per increment.
"Burst!"
Lin Yifei roared at the top of his lungs.
The next instant, the onlookers perceived only a frantic blur of motion as Lin Yifei’s hands dissolved into a streak of afterimages, and every single arrow planted in the quivers before him vanished.
Projectiles resembling falling meteors tore across the firmament, descending upon the distant enemy formations in a dazzling array of colored lights.
Even the hardened Xuanwu Guards and elite swordsmen turned their attention toward the display in sheer fascination.
Chen Wei calculated rapidly in his mind: Lin Yifei was maintaining a discharge rate of at least ten arrows per second!
The elven archer observing beside him widened his eyes in absolute shock, whispering a corrected count.
"Seventeen arrows per second!"
He stood paralyzed, his jaw hanging open in speechlessness.
Among the elven race, any archer capable of exceeding fifteen rounds per second using Storm Shot was universally granted the honorary title of divine marksman—the highest distinction bestowed upon an archer by elven society.
He had never imagined that the very individual he had once viewed as a rival would tower so far beyond him.
Had they crossed paths in direct combat previously, defeat would have been swift and absolute.
He likely would have faltered before completing the ten-arrow threshold simply due to an inability to sustain Lin Yifei’s blistering operational frequency.
The elven archer struggled to reconcile the reality that Lin Yifei had attained this terrifying echelon of mastery only recently.
When first summoned into the territory, Lin Yifei had been restricted to a baseline of ten arrows per second.
Yet across a mere month of arduous marching and actual combat within the fog, his evolution had shattered every conventional limitation.
As the final arrow cleared his bowstring, a profound hush fell over the spectators, who stared at Lin Yifei with unabashed reverence.
Wisps of acrid white smoke drifted upward from Lin Yifei’s palms, the result of severe friction generated by drawing the bowstring at superhuman velocities.
Furthermore, the frame of his grand bow shuddered violently, showing clear signs of structural fatigue that threatened to shatter it entirely at any moment.
Through his explosive growth, Lin Yifei’s current gear could no longer keep pace with the sheer demands of his combat capacity.
The crowd parted quietly as Toji Hisami stepped forward, pausing beside Lin Yifei.
"I will arrange a replacement set for you shortly."
"Hehe, Lord, you may want to prepare several sets in advance."
Lin Yifei flashed a brilliant, confident grin, and every member of the Jiuzhou vanguard instantly understood his implication.
A wave of tacit, knowing smiles rippled through the ranks, while Toji Hisami reached out to give Lin Yifei a reassuring pat on the shoulder.
Nurtured by the passive blessing of Heaven Rewards Diligence, every individual under his command had achieved monumental breakthroughs, growing perceptibly stronger with each passing day.
Senior professionals like Lin Yifei experienced particularly exponential leaps in progression due to their robust foundational talents.
Equipped with gear tailored to their rising tiers, their equipment turnover rate would inevitably remain high.
This interaction served as Lin Yifei’s low-key demonstration of his evolving capabilities to his lord—a reality both men acknowledged implicitly.
This high-tier professional had now pledged his absolute allegiance to the Jiuzhou Territory and its master.
His loyalty rating sat firmly at the maximum of 100%, accompanied by a deeply loyal overflow.
Ahead, Lin Yifei’s catastrophic display of firepower delivered a fatal blow that crushed the remaining morale of the Black Mountain Army lords.
The kinetic and elemental payload delivered by the Storm Shot barrage far surpassed standard spell artillery.
Aside from a few scattered operatives stationed safely in distant rear bases, the entire forward contingent of the Montenegrin Army was effectively wiped from the board.
The key command lords were obliterated directly under the weight of Lin Yifei’s barrage, leaving no survivors.
The commander of the Montenegrin Army stared with bloodshot, bulging eyes, capillaries rupturing across his sclera as a gruesome expression of fury twisted his features.
"How is it possible for the Jiuzhou leader to appear here?!"
"Have they already traversed the entire fog barrier? They are leaving themselves utterly undefended against the imminent invasion of the mysterious foreign forces!"
Despair rippled unchecked through the surviving ranks of the Black Mountain forces.
Riding her white deer just behind the frontlines, Elara surveyed the devastation with a heart full of lingering awe.
Reflecting on her parting with Moana, she would never have anticipated that Toji Hisami’s territory and personal strength could evolve to such an astronomical degree in so short a time.
This was the terrifying reality of presiding over the apex of trial lords.