Chapter 120: Meteoric

Eren looked down at their group members. Abe, Henry, Paul, and the rest of them were already up and ready to get to their stations.

They had rehearsed everything yesterday. They knew where to go in order to have the greatest effect from the Array Formations.

Splitting up had been the best course of action. It would seem like they were panicking in the eyes of their invaders. And in turn, this would cause them to become more excited, more bloodthirsty, and act with a lot less thinking than they would have.

And immediately, this gambit worked.

"Don’t let them escape!"

"Go! Go! Go!"

"Redd told us to not leave behind anyone to escape!"

The ones hiding in the shadows burst forth from the entrance of their tunnel. They rushed past the scouting party, who had yet to get rid of the thorny vines wrapping around their legs.

It wasn’t long before they got mired with more Array Formations. Thorns burst forth from the ground, made from R?zoň, and began to catch another four invaders from their attack.

"Ahhhh!"

"Be careful! There are a lot more traps here than before!"

"Tsk! Change of plans! Use your Martial Manuals!"

The next wave of invaders immediately stopped their assault and stood their ground. They were careful to not step in places they had not yet tested to be safe.

Then, they used their sunspores and Reinforced their hands. It formed into large balls of fire in their grip, which they immediately launched towards Eren’s group.

"Fire in the hole!"

The balls of fire streaked through the ceiling. Some of them hit the trees, and upon contact, the spheres exploded into an even bigger flame that consumed the tree in its entirety.

One could only guess what would happen if that hit a person.

"That’s the [Meteoric Flames] Martial Manual," said Celeste. "It’s a famous technique held by the Elvenied Riders. Looks like they were given these Martial Manuals in order to help them invade us."

As expected, it seemed that they were being targeted simply because they were sponsored by the Lindbegs. It looked like the rivalry between the two was a lot more heavier than he thought.

"Don’t worry. I’ve already anticipated this," Eren said.

A few of the [Meteoric Flames] headed straight for their targets. They singled out Abe, Sierra, Henry, and the others who had chosen to flee in different directions.

With their skills, they were able to dodge the attacks. But in doing so, the defensive trees around them shot up in flames, thereby nullifying the defensive tree Array Formations that they had from the beginning.

"Next wave!" someone from the invaders shouted.

Then, a new line of people walked up and readied a new volley of those flaming spheres in their hands.

The [Meteoric Flames] was very powerful. But this meant that the consumption of R?zoň was bigger than other techniques. It also had a very long cooldown, which made it hard to use consecutively.

But the invaders used their numbers and their coordination to send out volley after volley of those flaming spheres.

And even if they didn’t hit their target, they still laid waste to the forest of defensive trees in their Territory.

It was a very well-thought out invasion. They knew the trees were going to be a problem, so they chose to destroy it from the beginning.

"They’re getting a bit more overconfident," Celeste said. "Should we activate it?’

Eren shook his head. "Not yet. We need them to all come out of their hiding."

By now, more than half of the defensive trees in their forest had gone up into flames. In the invaders’ mind, this was the correct time to charge forwards.

Finally, a person emerged from the shadows.

A bespectacled man with a sharp, angular jaw walked forwards and looked at the Territory with a calm look on his face.

This was Redd, the leader of the invading group. He proudly bore the emblem of the Elvenied Riders on his battle suit.

"There you are," Eren muttered to himself.

Redd talked to a few people around him, pointing to something in the distance, as he commanded his people to charge forwards.

Eventually, his hundred or so members finally emerged from the tunnel.

They saw the state of Eren’s territory. Although there were still some unknown traps and Array Formations around them, they still chose to brute force their way forwards and take advantage of their numbers.

Eren’s group only had about twenty people, while they had a hundred. This should be a piece of cake.

"Defeat them and bring me their flag!" Redd shouted.

Finally, Eren scaled down the tree and stood beside Celeste. This was not a battle. This was war. It would be stupid of them to fight on even terms. They had to be resourceful. They had to fight only when they had the advantage.

And thankfully, they had the Array Formations to help them with that.

Thirty people ran towards Eren, their eyes red with mania as they saw the flags hanging off of his waist.

Eren immediately ran back just as fifteen flaming spheres streaked through the skies and headed straight towards

He didn’t stop running. The [Meteoric Flames] crashed towards him, but not before a net made out of R?zoň emerged from the ground, catching the attack before they hit the ground.

The nets bent under the force of the spherical flames, before it turned elastic and bounced the attack back towards where it came.

They weren’t expecting this. The invaders were caught unaware as their very own attacks laid waste to their numbers in an instant.

Just like that, twenty people were out for the count.

"What the hell just happened?!" Redd shouted, his anger echoing through the chamber.

"I don’t know! Some kind of Array Formation," answered someone from his side.

"I thought you had prepared for any counterattacks they had!"

"We were supposed to! I’ve never heard of an Array Formation that could perfectly reflect an attack back to where it came from!"