Doomsday Pillars

When the hundreds of insurgents saw their leader was captured by Theo and Rama, they immediately fell into a state of crazy frenzy, as they began to chant their slogans and scream their lungs out. These groups of people occasionally fired bullets into the sky, in an attempt to intimidate. This was the usual tactic they employed to bring terror to their opponents. Alas, their cheap tricks didn't even faze the 35 people inside the village, let alone scare them.

"More of them will arrive soon, Brother Theo." Daisy said, as she received the information from the spirit birds who flew in the sky scouting their surroundings.

It appeared the enemy was waiting for a new leader to replace the one they had captured. Then, after their leader was done quelling the chaos, they would charge into the village.

Realizing their situation would turn worse with every second passed, Daisy turned to Theo and asked, "What should we do, Brother Theo?"

Placing his hand on his chin, Theo calmly watched the enemy, as he threw the question away, "What do you think we should do, Rama?"

Rama was silent for a moment and then said, "Well, there are only three options I can think of. Defending until our reinforcements arrive, running away to another place, or attacking first.."

Theo fell into his thoughts when he heard Rama's answer. A few seconds later, he opened his mouth.

"First, we are not sure about when or even if the reinforcement will come or not, so let's shelve that idea aside for now. As for running away, I am quite sure with our strength, we can easily break out of this encirclement by focusing our attack in one point. Thi-"

"We indeed could do that. But If we want to run away, I think we should do it before their main troops come. There is also the problem of where we should run to."

Hearing how meticulous Rama's explanations were, Theo couldn't help but clap his hands, hard. The man also provided the most important question before they ran away: where to go.

"Wow… I wonder why Alex picked me as the leader. He should really choose someone with some military background for a mission like this. At the very least, he should have chosen you, Rama." Theo said with a sad smile.

Everyone fell silent when they heard Theo's words. It seemed like Rama and several other fighters also felt the same way. Looking at the awkward situation, Daisy tried to ease the mood by giving Theo a compliment.

"Brother Theo, don't be dispirited. I am sure Alex chose you because he trusts your capabilities. Remember when you used your critical mind to face the previous problem? Moreover, you are always calm when faced with a problem".

Turning his head towards Daisy, Theo asked, "Am I really like that?"

"Of course! What else then?" Daisy said enthusiastically.

Theo smiled again when he heard Daisy's confirmation. Patting her head like an adult would do to a child, Theo said, "You are truly a good girl, Daisy. Alright! I feel much better now."

Turning his head towards the others, Theo then said, "I've made my decision. Let us attack them first! 

"..." Daisy suddenly felt that shouldn't have spoken and regretted it deeply. However, she still supported his decision.

"So, this is the plan!" Theo said confidently. "With the enemy spread out too thin I am sure we can defeat them before the main force arrives. If they combine with the force and get bigger it will be way harder for us then".

-

The hour worth of time they had got before they were surrounded was really helpful to make sure the three wounded fighters were at least back on their feet. The wounded General Nasser also looked much better than his previous condition. But despite the fact they were mostly recovered from their wounds, Theo advised them to not join the fight lest their condition worsen again.

When the sun was right above their heads, 30 figures were seen rushing out of the village, as they made their way towards one place in the encirclement. That place was the insurgents' temporary headquarters.

Using her [Lifeform Detection] spell, Daisy could accurately pinpoint the location where most of the enemy's Sky realm fighters were gathered, as well as the possible location of their temporary headquarters. When Theo was reported about this, he instantly knew where they were going to do their surprise attack.

Previously, Daisy had detected one hundred or so enemy Sky realm fighters among the thousands of insurgents. She had noticed they were spreaded out around the village when they were being surrounded. 

If that was only the case, Daisy wouldn't find it strange. However, she then realized there were fifty of those Sky realm fighters congregated in one spot. When Theo heard this piece of information, he was almost one hundred percent sure that place was their headquarters. Therefore, he immediately ordered the fighters to attack the place.

In less than one minute since Theo gave the order, all the 30 plus Sky realm Knight and Magus veteran fighters led by Rama rushed under enemy fire and arrived at the suspected location of the enemy headquarters abruptly and gave a shocking surprise to the enemy in the area. 

Rama, who led the charge and was the first one to arrive, swiftly leaped into the air, while brandishing his tier 3 spear. Raging flames appeared and engulfed his whole body as he casted [Fire Aura - Tier 3 Fire Spell]. This spell enhanced his strength and speed as well as gave him fire-augmented attack.

With his body on fire, Rama looked like a flame dragon descending from the sky. He landed on the ground with a loud bang, knocking down those around his landing zone. He then swiftly zoomed through their camp wreaking havoc.

Meanwhile, while the insurgents were still shocked by the sudden attack, some of them were silently beheaded by several flying swords. Theo's signature [Sword Formation] didn't remain silent, as he started attacking every enemy in sight.

Daisy, who was on the back of the group, also joined the party as she casted [Bright Shield] on the fighters in danger, while occasionally firing [Light Missile]. She also summoned spirit wolf to charge at the enemy.

Currently, there were around 100 or so enemy fighters in the area, half of which reached the Sky realm stage. The group could clearly recognize the ones who reached Sky realm stage, since they wore red robes, while the Earth fighters were in a matching uniform. There were also civilians wearing plain clothes among them. These distinct attire actually helped Theo and the others to decide which one to kill and which one to disable.

Facing a group of plain clothes civilians, Theo immediately used his [Mind Blast] spell on them. The spell successfully knocked all of them unconscious in an instant.

When most of the red robes fighters had already died, leaving only the civilians and several Earth fighters, Theo shouted loudly, "We do not wish to hurt you! Run back to your home! We are here to make sure the Heavenly Gate people don't bother you anymore."

The shout was followed by the others as the area quickly filled with shouts that told them to leave. The plain clothes civilians and some of the Earth fighters, who were still conscious, just stood there confused about what to do. The terror and threat they received from the Heavenly Gate made them hesitant to flee.

Even though more insurgents from outside the headquarters were arriving, the 30 plus fighters easily destroyed them too; with this, the message became more effective as some of them began to flee. Seeing the situation getting better, Theo immediately ordered the others to start attacking the other sides while spreading the message as well.

This was the strategy Theo concocted when he learned about the enemy's situation from the captured leader. Thanks to the fat man, Theo knew the red robes were the Heavenly Gate most devoted followers, while the uniformed and the plain clothes people were just forced to join their cause. Therefore, when these people saw Theo and the others killing the red robes fighters, their fighting morale plummeted.

There were a few of the red robes fighters who managed to drink the red liquid, thus giving Theo and the others some trouble. But, with all of them using tier 3 weapons and tier 2 protective vests, those fanatics didn't stand a chance.

In the end, in order to lower the enemies' morale even more, Rama decided to use his AOE spell [Burning Field - Tier 2 Fire Spell] to burn the bodies and headquarters. The more chaotic the insurgents were, the better for them. Daisy then began to see groups of insurgents escaping from the battlefield.

At the moment, after fighting for a while, they were able to repel thousands of those surrounding them while killing hundreds of them. However, Daisy knew the main troop would arrive shortly. Seeing that the enemies had been routed, Theo turned to the others and said with a smile.

"Let's head back and reorganize in the village."