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Chapter 441

  It was John’s own fault, perhaps, that he now had to worry about keeping himself safe at night when he slept. Successfully assassinating Yehel hadn’t actually significantly increased the chances that an assassin would come after him- just that he had to think about it. Previously, he would have been able to die peacefully.

  It might help if he had someone sleeping next to him, but for the moment he’d have to count on the entire camp around him that was so far doing quite well at catching assassins. They had caught a few, but sadly no Ascending Soul Phase cultivators. If they could take out one or two more, the momentum gained for the overall war would be huge.

  Once things were more official with Astrid, that ‘alone’ thing would change, but he didn’t think it was appropriate in the middle of a war. And he still wanted to at least ask the opinions of his other children, even if they didn’t get to make the actual decision. Until then, keeping a formal separation felt most appropriate, and Astrid ultimately agreed. That said, waiting long after the end of the war seemed unlikely from both perspectives. Even if cultivators lived longer, John wasn’t interested in a decades-long courtship process.

  Besides, the time fighting side by side had to count for extra. He certainly felt closer than ever.

  -----

  The closer they pushed the Sovereign Primacy to the coast, the harder they fought back. Perhaps they had something they particularly wanted to keep, or maybe they just couldn't stand the thought of losing. They weren’t much for negotiations, and at the current point the continent was winning so that side wasn’t incentivized to ask for peace. It would look weak, and for cultivators appearances were often more important than reality.

  John had to accept that. It was probably true on Earth, too, he just hadn’t been in charge of anything important. Except maybe a branch of Brad’s Burgers, but that was more locally relevant and not of great military importance. At least not when he’d still lived on Earth, he couldn’t say how the situation might have evolved over the past decades.

  They were close to the last few major battles, targeting a few regions near the coast. The continental forces had the upper hand, and in John’s mind their victory was inevitable- it was just a question of how much it would cost them. Lives of powerful cultivators, those with potential, or just people. So many already lost, and more yet to come.

  Ultimately, John expected to participate in one more large battle- an assault on the port city of Urdcliffe.

  Ursel was quite excited about the prospect. “I’ll finally get to smash that guy’s face in!”

  “You might not be the correct person to face him,” John cautioned. “Your skills might be better used elsewhere.”

  “I’m not the wrong person to face that guy,” Ursel said. “It’s just a little bit of ice. And those picks, what’s he going to do, stab my eyes?”

  “Yes,” John said directly.

  Ursel shrugged. “It’s happened before. Anyway, I’m not stoked about any of the other potential battles. There’s that air lady but she doesn’t hold still enough for me to hit her.”

  “That wouldn’t stop you from defeating her,” John pointed out.

  “Yeah, but I don’t want to.”

  Normally, John could condemn such childish behavior. However, he understood that motivation was a very real factor for cultivators in combat. If Ursel chose a target she wanted to face, she would be more effective. Furthermore, there could be subconscious factors at play. Ultimately, he trusted Ursel to follow whatever plan was decided well enough to make effective use of her prowess.

  Further information continued to come in about the defenders. There was ‘that air lady’, Katri. Likewise, the flaming whip cultivator Sione was there as well. Then, there was another Ascending Soul Phase cultivator of the Last Gasp. She appeared to be a minor elder of the sect, and her age implied she had less talent than Akash as she was only in the early Ascending Soul Phase.

  No doubt she would want to kill John, but who didn’t? He was fairly certain there was a large reward bounty on his head. They merely assumed he was responsible for the assassination, but they were quite certain about his defeat of Akash and his overall importance to the continental alliance.

  -----

  The local terrain had some difficulties for Urdcliffe. It was decently defended from the coastal side- though obviously it hadn’t been enough to stop the invasion- but it was less defended from inland. They had slightly bolstered its walls during the war, but there was one issue. Specifically, it wasn’t at the highest local point. It was downhill, which allowed for siege engines to launch further as well as other issues.

  Rather than drawing things out, it was decided that a straightforward approach was best. Thus it was that all of the water and earth cultivators were gathered together, in union with the darkness cultivators. They wanted to keep the precise details of what they were doing obscured, though obviously they couldn’t hide they were doing something.

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  John fit every element and was experienced with coordinating different elements, so he was directly involved. The plan was fairly simple, which was precisely the point.

  They were going to create a mudslide full of rocks and dirt. They would let gravity do most of the work. The options were either that the walls toppled or they built rapid ramps. Urdcliffe’s defenses might need to be expanded when they retook it. No, that would be true for both ends. It wouldn’t be under control of the Black Peaks and indeed barely under the operation of the Muted Crags, but as part of the continental alliance as a whole. That was how important their ports were turning out to be… and John understood that more and more as they ended up in additional external conflicts.

  Obviously the defenders were ready to face off against their attack. They couldn’t hide they were doing something. However, they were spread out over a wide area, ready to liquify the ground. They had protections in place that would protect their own cultivators from being swept away. The reason they had accelerated their plans for this particular day was simple- it was naturally raining. That saved them half the effort of soaking the ground.

  It was a bit too firm to have many mudslides on its own, but the earth cultivators would free up the rocks and extract any roots as part of the process. As they hid behind a veil of darkness, the port city watched, trying to harass them with attacks that mostly didn’t reach far enough. A few trebuchets struck their own uphill area, almost setting off the event early. They would have been lucky if they had.

  Cultivators not only liquified all of the topsoil, they also had to hold it in place for long enough to reach all of it. The entire process was condensed into less than half an hour, but it was an exhausting task. Hopefully, they would come out far ahead.

  When they finally released everything, it went swimmingly. They were going to have a lot of cleanup ahead of them, but it was better to deal with that after the war was finished. Their armies surged forward after the wave of rocks and mud.

  Water and air cultivators blocked incoming projectiles, creating domes of protection over their advancing armies. They were imperfect, but good enough for distracted foes who were moments away from being buried.

  Not that many cultivators would actually fall to a mudslide. From the Soul Expansion Phase onward, John expected everyone could simply push themselves to the top of the heap as long as they were proactive. A massive leap might help. It was just that resisting the built up energy directly was not going to work.

  As enemies alternatively scattered and stood firm, trying to surmount the incoming wave, the attacking forces followed behind. John’s steps carried him just above the ground, technically flying in the least exciting way. He wanted to confront Sione the fire cultivator, but Salha came directly for him. He doubted she would fall to precisely the same trick, but he was confident in his victory.

  If Ursel had been standing next to him, she could have kicked in the woman’s face. As it was, John had somewhat diminished his earth element. An overall fair trade for creating an entrance to the city.

  Immediately, Salha began draining the air from the surrounding area, reaching for John in particular. He wanted to immediately attempt to strike her down, but he remained cautious. Surely she had a plan, and if he never saw it he would be quite happy.

  He grabbed a bit of mud, mixing earth, water, and air to puff up a cloud of dust. It wasn’t to conceal himself, though he did make it seem that way. Instead, he had a simple idea. That air had to be going somewhere. It would be a thousand times more costly to try to fully erase the air in an area, even on a temporary basis. He hadn’t gotten to observe powerful Last Gasp cultivators for long on account of his swift victory.

  John traced the patterns and flow of air with his senses, and came up with a simple plan. He was slightly disappointed that he wasn’t facing off against the most naive form of things where Salha pulled all the air towards herself. Instead, it was swirling in various ways. People around him were falling, the air ripped from their lungs. Quite effective. He needed to be quick, though his own lungs were well protected. After half faking it once, he was quite happy not to have his lungs collapsed.

  Air element to enhance the flow Salha was making- though only in a certain area. Then he threw a few daggers, watching how she deflected them as he gathered fire element. He had plenty of that left.

  Flashes of light were always a delight, because people didn’t expect him to use the light element without a totem. The tiny distraction might have made all the difference. Either way, John sent a powerful burst of flame along the path closest to Salha herself, guided by the wind currents she was making. His own air element clashed with hers as she reacted to counter his assault. Flames exploded on the front lines as John rushed forward, not expecting her to fall to just that.

  Indeed she didn’t, and rather than retreating she surged closer to John, trying to reach inside of him. However, such a close connection of energy was risky. Rather than negating it entirely, John latched onto it and tried to wrestle for control over her lungs. He’d considered transforming the element she was fortifying her own lungs with into water, but earth seemed just fine.

  He didn’t make it to her lungs, but he did give her a mouthful of dust. As she coughed, she tried to block his incoming sword with her own blade. His sword caught on hers, using Gravity Blade to wring it out of her hand while his own sliced across her shoulder. A returning cut sunk deep into her neck. Her eyes burned with hatred as she died, and John redirected a sudden lightning bolt around him with a shell of water.

  She wasn’t terribly good at lightning, but it was air element. Sadly for her, she wasn’t great at hiding her transforming energy.

  “Get some air back into the fallen’s lungs!” John yelled. They wouldn’t have suffocated just yet. Instead, their bodies had simply collapsed from shock. Some would have been slain by enemies in those moments, but others were defended by their comrades.

  As for John, he sought out his next target. Ursel was fighting Katri, precisely as she hadn’t wanted to. The woman’s speed was giving her pause, as Katri was more wary of Ursel’s grappling techniques. There wasn’t any chance Ursel would lose that confrontation, however. Not if she didn’t get attacked by another powerful cultivator. Sione, the fire cultivator, was the only one not engaged and quite suited for that task.

  So he would be next, though John didn’t expect to fight him alone. With one Ascending Soul Phase cultivator down, their other cultivators were able to push in more aggressively.

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