The one who led the Sangrod army to block the Themisphere army was a vampire named Ezekiel Fanchon. He was also one of the three relic marshalls of the Sangrod Empire.

Ezekiel watched the Themisphere army which seemed to be rearranging themselves.

Upon seeing the movements, Ezekiel ordered everyone to be ready. Themisphere army might have lost their patience and decided to attack. Ezekiel was not keen on fighting the Themisphere army. He didn’t understand why the emperor ordered them to block this army from going to Palgrost. The way he saw it, let these countries fight each other. Why involve themselves?

Still, it was an order. He had to obey.

The Sangrod army readied themselves. They adjusted their front line to be ready for the enemy’s charge. However, they saw the Themisphere army turn back and start to leave.

‘They decide to leave?’ Ezekiel was confused but welcomed this outcome. If the Themisphere army were willing to return to Themisphere, that would be the best.

Ezekiel issued the order to march following the retreating Themisphere army. He made sure they didn’t get too close. He didn’t want to antagonize them and cause them to change their mind. He followed to make sure they returned to their country

The Themisphere army started marching before Jack teleported to Vacharest. They had been marching for half a day before they met the Sangrod army blocking the path. So, they had a long walk before arriving back in Themisphere territory. All the while, the Sangrod army kept escorting them from behind.

The terrains in the Jagara region were mostly mountainous. Not a lot of space to accommodate a huge army. Thus, the army had to stretch into a long line to traverse the path.

Ezekiel continued to follow the tail of the Themisphere army as they headed East in the direction of Themisphere.

After more than an hour, the Themisphere army suddenly made a sudden turn toward the South. Their steeds galloped at full speed.

This took the Sangrod army by surprise. Ezekiel was lost for a second before he hurriedly barked orders. The South was where the Sangrod Empire was located. “Chase them! Sierra, take a cavalry legion and intercept them before they enter Sangrod!”

“On it!” A vampire woman in red armor replied. She also barked some orders and a group of soldiers followed after her as she broke away from the main army.

Ezekiel led the main army to chase after the Themisphere army that was riding away at high speed.

The chase ensued for almost half an hour. The Themisphere army turned several times and slipped past a couple of valleys. Ezekiel ordered the fast-moving troops to charge ahead with him. He didn’t bother to wait for the units with slower movement speeds.

He was wondering, though. How did the entire Themisphere army move this fast? The bigger the army was, the slower it moved.

Ezekiel called his pet, a blood vulture, to tail behind the Themisphere army from the sky. He couldn’t afford to lose that army.

The Themisphere army made another turn behind a cliff. Ezekiel and his blood vulture followed into that turn. He then saw Sierra’s legion rushing from the other end. The Themisphere army was nowhere to be seen.

“Where did the Themisphere army go?” Ezekiel asked once their two troops met in the middle.

“We don’t see them,” Sierra answered. “We’ve been going at full speed expecting to cut their advance, but you are the first army we see.”

“What? That’s impossible! We are right on their tails!” Ezekiel exclaimed. He commanded his blood vulture to fly around to look for the missing army.

“We are in a valley’s path. Our two sides are mountains,” Ezekiel continued. “Such a large army can’t disappear into the mountains in such a short time without us seeing them. There should also be some trails left behind by that army!”

“My lord,” a mage officer approached Ezekiel.

“What?!” Ezekiel hollered. He was not in the mood because he was stumped by the situation.𝑛𝚘𝑣𝖊𝗅𝒏𝞮xt.𝔠𝗈𝑚

“The Themisphere army has a special unit called Arcaner. Our intel mentioned that these units upgraded into Illusionists not long ago,” The mage officer said. “And the illusionists have the spell…”

“Illusion Copy!” Ezekiel made a realization. “Damn it!! We have been had… They must have made a turn somewhere when we focus our attention on their illusions!”

“Where could they have gone to? The path that we guarded is the safest and widest path through this Jagara region,” Sierra said.

Ezekiel thought for a while before he gave his orders. “Sent scouts along the main path! If they return to that path, we will find out soon. We will also march in the direction of Palgrost. We know their destination. If they use the main path again, they will have to pass its end to cross into Palgrost’s territory. We will prepare a barricade there!”

Ezekiel was dismayed. How could they get tricked like this? The emperor would be extremely displeased if he found out. As someone who had served the emperor for a long time, Ezekiel knew that Emperor Marcus was not a sovereign known for his benevolence.

Marcus’ cruelty was not public knowledge, but the upper echelons were well aware of the punishment the emperor had dished out throughout his centuries of rule. It was not something Ezekiel was keen on experiencing.

Aside from the scouts that watched along the main path, Ezekiel also sent some scouts to explore the deeper path of the Jagara region. Themisphere army was huge. It would be difficult for such an army to stay undetected.

*

The Illusion Copy was a spell that created a copy of a target. This copy could be controlled to move as the caster wished. The spell duration was two hours, and its cooldown was three hours.

Before leaving, John made sure that he brought almost all the Illusionist units from the entire Themisphere army, which was around 100,000 units. He had devised a battlefield strategy that utilized a fake army to distract the enemy. He just didn’t expect he had to use it before a battle had even erupted.

The copy created from this spell didn’t have a distance range. It could go as far as its caster willed it as long as the duration had not yet ended. The spell could only create one copy, though. That’s why John needed almost all the available illusionists to create a fake army.

John slowly rearranged the army while they moved toward Themisphere so that the copies were positioned at the rear. When these copies blocked the Sangrod army’s view, John had the real army turned North at an intersection. The fake army continued Eastward, leading the Sangrod army in the direction of Themisphere.

This fake army then made a sudden dash to the South after some time, further luring the Sangrod army away from where the real Themisphere army was. When they realized that they had been chasing ghosts, the Themisphere army had been hours away from them.

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