In the Valley of Mist, a large group of people marched through the foliage while taking care to maintain the barriers around them.

If an observer could see this regiment, they would be shocked due to the fact that there were clumps of black insects all around, trying to get in so that they could devour all the juicy energy resources that were being transported behind the barriers.

As the group made its way through the Valley, the clumps increased in number until it almost seemed like they would completely surround the group.

Yet, just before this was about to happen, a few men and women jumped out of the barrier to shoot balls of fire and bolts of lightning at the places where the mosquitoes had gathered the most.

Although this only put a dent in the total number of mosquitoes, it enabled them to move forward while maintaining visibility.

"What do the scouts report?"

With his usual calm restored, the Sect Master asked a nearby sect member this question while constantly looking around.

Behind him, the task force which had previously attacked Lanthanor walked in a semi-circle, as if protecting the Sect Master.

As for the Knight in the purple habit, he was nowhere to be seen.

"The area in front is free from all magical interference, and there are no troops nearby. We have already set up space-lock trinkets at the spot where we will teleport from."

Although the answer was positive, the Sect Master did not look like he was happy.

One of his main frustrations right now was that their own countermeasures had come back to bite them.

To circumvent the problem of enemies directly teleporting into their home ground, the Withering Leaf Sect had adopted a peculiar method which was actually much more effective than what Lanthanor used.

Instead of using teleportation detection formations where there was an inevitable delay to deploy troops after getting the information about their location, the Withering Leaf Sect had deployed a formation all around the Valley of Mist which directly activated all the traps around anyone who teleported in the entire Valley.

With a system like this, it was impossible to differentiate between friend and foe. Yet, it was highly effective at doing the job.

Over the years, the sect had deployed multiple traps all over the Valley which made it a veritable minefield.

This was the reason the initial plan had been to lure in Lanthanor's army after instigating it by attacking its people.

If all had gone well, the force which entered the Valley would have been annihilated, resulting in the Sect being able to take an upper hand in the confrontation.

Now, it was all wasted as they had to leave the Valley itself.

Centuries of time and resources all spent fortifying and booby-trapping their home-ground: all wasted.

Trying hard not to grit his teeth in frustration at this masterstroke by the King of Lanthanor, the Sect Master completely changed his perspective of this teenager before trying to think about what could be waiting for them when they exited the Valley.

After all, for someone capable of executing such a plan, it was definitely possible to follow it up with a trap waiting outside the Valley.

Although everything looked fine, the tingling that the Sect Master felt in his spine made his hair stand up.

Of course, he had also set two plans into motion which he hoped would bring results that might tip the scales back in their favor.

All in all, although the Withering Leaf Sect was down right now, it was definitely not out.

....

In the sky outside the Eastern Border of the Lanthanor Kingdom.

A small team of 10 people held bags at their chests, panting as if they had just run a long distance.

In the Withering Leaf Sect, there was a reason most members trained as both fighters and mages:it was that they could not teleport around on their home ground as they wished.

Along with this, the Withering Leaf Sect also had in its possession multiple techniques which required prowess in both paths.

Even though each of these Eminent Human Mages had trained to the level of an Amateur Human Fighter, it was still very difficult to run tens of kilometers to get out of the Valley before teleporting to begin their mission.

Each member held the bags gingerly as if they were afraid of whatever was inside.

A few moments later, the go-ahead sounded in their ears, making them fly forward with caution on their faces.

Just like teleportation detection formations, almost all the forces in Central Angaria had formations which alerted the army when someone flew into the vicinity of the Kingdom.

They knew their time was short, and they had to take revenge for being chased out of their homeland.

Taking out round objects that looked like snooker balls from Earth, each individual hoisted them up before taking a deep breath and throwing them at every village they saw as soon as they entered the airspace of the Lanthanor Kingdom.

"Abort, abort! They were prepared!"

As this urgent message rattled off in the ears of those in the sky, they turned around to see 20 individuals standing in the air behind each of them.

It seemed as if they had teleported to that location as soon as they entered the border, as it had barely been a minute since the operation had begun.

Just as they were about to teleport away, they realized that the space around them was locked.

With panic now evident on their faces, the Eminent Human Mages took out amulets from their pockets which were designed to break space locks.

In the case of one of the men in the strike team, the amulet had already been in his hand since the moment he began the mission.

As someone who had always had an acute sense of danger, he had been suspicious that things might not go as planned.

Now, seeing these soldiers near him, he immediately squeezed the amulet to break the space lock around him.

The only reason they had been given the amulets even though they were very costly was that the items in the bags needed to be retrieved at all costs in case the mission failed.

Yet, while the force was still being applied by his palm, he watched with widening eyes as the soldiers carried out a beautiful maneuver that amazed him due to its grace.

Of the 20, 10 had been held by the shoulders while standing in the air.

At the moment they had teleported into the air, those who had been holding the soldiers flung them forward before pointing their hand at the spot where each of the 10 were going to plunge to their deaths.

A platform of ice appeared in an instant, which the 10 men and women jumped on to move forward.

After each jump, another platform appeared at the exact spot where their forward momentum was about to halt, resulting in them reaching the strike team of the Withering Leaf Sect in barely a few seconds.

As soon as they reached, one final platform allowed them to stand with swords pointed at the necks of the strike team.

Similar scenes occurred all around the sky above Lanthanor, resulting in the strike team being successfully captured and the bags retrieved.

....

Back in the surveillance room, Daneel watched the screen that had been transported here from the situation room to display the scenes seen by Kellor.

Indeed, Kellor had also been in the area where the attack had gone down.

BOOM

As each of the balls impacted the earth, an explosion which was capable of destroying an entire 4-storeyed large building rocked the villages which had been the targets of the strike team.

Each of the villages were small, making it so that the balls would have killed at least 50 people each-if they hadn't been evacuated beforehand by Daneel.

The moment he had given the order to drop the mosquitoes in the Valley of Mist, he had known that the war which had been brewing since the assassination of the spies from Lanthanor would break out in full force.

Thus, he had given the order to evacuate at around the time the mosquitoes would have begun to target the Withering Leaf Sect.

His caution had been well warranted, as he had already managed to save 500 people from fiery deaths.

Now, watching the screens around the room which displayed the situation around the Valley of Mist, Daneel waited for the Withering Leaf Sect to come out.

He had ruffled the bush to chase out the rabbit, and it was now time to capture it in the waiting cage.