The thunder of a hundred marching feet and the distant shouts of men grew louder, vibrating through the very ground of Oakhaven. The sun, now fully risen, glinted off the steel of spears and the heavy armor of Baron Von Hess's legion. At their head, astride a large warhorse, was the Baron himself, his face a mask of furious determination, flanked by his remaining elite guards and cultivators.
Rylan stood at the edge of the village, a lone, unmoving figure, his spiritual energy expanding, a silent challenge against the approaching horde. Behind him, Oakhaven was quiet, its inhabitants safely hidden in reinforced homes, their fear tempered by trust in their new protector.
"Now, Lyra," Rylan murmured, his voice reaching her despite the growing din.
Lyra, positioned with Lena in a cluster of thick bushes near the main path, nodded, her eyes bright with a mixture of apprehension and excitement. "Lena, ready?"
Lena, clutching her healing pouch, took a deep breath. "As ready as I'll ever be, Lyra. For Master Rylan."
As the Baron's legion came within a hundred paces, their formations tight and disciplined, Lyra acted. She threw a handful of small, specialized concoctions into the air. These weren't just smoke. Infused with her Minor Mana Affinity, they exploded into brilliant flashes of light and thick, disorienting clouds of acrid, stinging smoke. The air filled with a cacophony of coughing, shouts, and horses rearing in confusion.
"What is this sorcery?!" the Baron roared, shielding his eyes. The legion's orderly advance instantly dissolved into chaos.
[Ding! Harem Member Skill (Lyra): "Smoke Bomb Distraction" - Effective!][Reward: Minor Tactical Execution +0.1 (Absorbed).]
Lena, seizing the moment while the guards were disoriented, swiftly moved. She didn't engage them directly. Instead, guided by her Medicinal Practices skill, she discreetly tossed small, thorned pouches into the path of the nearest guards. These pouches, filled with herbs that caused painful but non-lethal skin irritation on contact, further added to the guards' discomfort and confusion, subtly breaking their formation.
As the smoke began to thin, and the guards struggled to regain their composure, Rylan moved. He didn't charge. He flowed, a blur of motion, targeting the main body of the legion. His Qi Condensation (Mid-Stage) power surged, and he employed the Twin Serpent Strikes technique, not with physical daggers, but with extensions of his own spiritual energy.
He became a whirlwind of precise, non-lethal strikes. Two spiritual daggers, invisible to untrained eyes, flashed and danced, striking legs, arms, and pressure points. Guards crumpled, not dead, but dazed and incapacitated. Rylan avoided their weapons, his enhanced agility allowing him to slip through their ranks like water, an unstoppable force dismantling their formation from within.
The Baron watched in horror as his "legion" crumbled around him, his elite footmen falling without a clear enemy in sight. Only Borin and Sylas, still weak from their last encounter but recovering, managed to brace themselves, their eyes widening in recognition and renewed fear.
"He's here!" Borin croaked, trying to rally the few still standing. "He's amongst us!"
The Baron, enraged and terrified, finally saw Rylan, moving effortlessly through his men. "Stop him! All of you! Cultivators! Attack!"
Two figures, Baron's remaining Qi Condensation cultivators, moved forward. One was a burly man with a two-handed greatsword, his spiritual energy like a mountain. The other, a gaunt, swift man wielding a spiritual staff, his energy flowing with deceptive ease. They were both Qi Condensation (Mid-Stage), formidable opponents.
Rylan met their charge head-on, his eyes gleaming with anticipation. He was not just defending Oakhaven; he was breaking the Baron's power structure. This was the true beginning of his reign.
End of chapter 20