The dazzling light in the distance was the radiance emanating from the army formation's battle flag.
Everything went smoothly; the army formation was completed in less than ten minutes, and the opportunity Liens had been waiting for finally arrived.
Theoretically, his 'sword' combined with the battle flag's attack had a chance to defeat Alfred, and even if it couldn't, it could greatly deplete Alfred's strength.
The essence of battle is to overcome the weak with strength.
Whether Alfred, with his immense consumption, still possessed the strength to contend with Balder and the others was unknown, not to mention Lucrezia, who had another side hidden within her.
Therefore, the moment the army formation was completed, their chances of victory almost reached their maximum.
However, a problem still existed within this.
"Can this be a reason for your retreat?"
High in the sky, the azure greatsword did not fall directly as before, but remained suspended in the air.
Liens did not directly release the power of the 'sword' but maintained its activated state in a low-consumption mode.
The theoretical plan was perfect, but the premise for this plan to succeed was that their attacks must actually land on Alfred.
The 'sword' was unlikely to miss due to its attack form, but the battle flag's attack would be difficult to guarantee, so the plan to weaken Alfred could not be guaranteed to be completed.
This was also the reason Liens did not directly launch an attack but maintained such a deterrent state.
Of course, if Alfred did not choose to retreat, then they would have no choice but to fight with all their might.
Alfred seriously looked at the azure greatsword piercing through the cloud vortex, then glanced at the increasingly dazzling light in the distance, a faint smile gracing his lips.
"This can indeed be a reason for my retreat... My safety is related to the stability of the entire Hartwin Kingdom, so I certainly cannot take risks lightly."
"However, this does not mean that this war will come to an end. I look forward to your further growth before the next battle arrives."
Alfred said with a smile.
With that, his figure appeared beside Ralph and Grover in the next instant.
"Go."
Hearing Alfred's request, Ralph did not hesitate and immediately used 'Earthwalk' to traverse the earth veins with him and Grover, transferring to another location.
Liens did not stop their departure; after briefly sensing the direction of the earth vein changes, he withdrew the maintained 'sword' and exited the 'Heaven and Man as One' state.
"Are you alright?"
As the anomaly in the sky receded, the others flew to Liens's side to inquire about his condition, while Isabelle used divine magic to check and treat his injuries.
"I'm fine, just a bit exhausted."
Liens shook his head slightly, indicating he was fine.
Aside from the sword he used to repel Alfred, having the two techniques of killing intent prediction and 'Absolute Barrier,' he had not sustained any damage in the battle.
Of course, the same was true for Alfred; they had only engaged in conventional combat and had not truly fought to the death.
Alfred temporarily had no such intention, while Liens believed it was not yet time to fight to the death.
He had not yet found the correct path to defeat Alfred; fighting to the death now would be too soon.
"Let's return to the city first and set up defenses; Liens should be attacking again very soon."
Liens said.
Although Alfred said he could not take risks lightly, he also said he would not give up easily, and the continuously swirling killing intent reminded Liens that this battle was not over yet.
Everyone did not resist Liens's suggestion and quickly returned to the Outer City defense line, which had already taken initial shape.
After returning to the city, Balder immediately ordered the army formation to cease operation, but he did not disband the army formation; instead, he had the soldiers stop their mental resonance, remaining in their original positions and preparing.
At the same time, he ordered the soldiers to be distributed diluted potions that could restore mental and physical strength, so that the soldiers could maintain a good state as much as possible.
Alfred's attack time was unknown, so the army formation could not be maintained indefinitely, as that would consume too much of the soldiers' mental and physical strength.
If Alfred dragged out the army formation, then once the soldiers' energy was exhausted, the army formation would be useless.
"I'll rest for a bit first. If Liens attacks, wake me up."
In a simple resting room, Liens said to everyone. With that, he directly sat cross-legged on the bed, assuming a meditating posture to enter the instance.
Liens did not know if this stalemate was what fate wished to see, but he wanted to strive for a victory.
Everyone did not disturb Liens's rest. After exiting the resting room, Balder said to the others with a serious expression:
"We just received intelligence from our spies that the kingdom's armies defending other regions seem to be showing signs of active engagement."
"Even Baker City has shown whereabouts of assembling troops to support other regions."
"It is speculated that the kingdom intends to rely on the Sword Saint to suppress our main force here, while other armies gradually quell rebellions in other regions, and finally annihilate us in one fell swoop."
Upon hearing this, the others were not too surprised. They had discussed this situation in previous meetings.
"When we shifted from being the attacking side to the defending side, this was an expected outcome."
Lucrezia said calmly.
There was nothing they could do; they couldn't defeat the Sword Saint. If Liens hadn't been here, the situation might have been even worse.
"Should we ask Liens to act?"
"If Liens were to descend with his power and cooperate with Liens, it might be possible to defeat the Sword Saint."
"Although the army formation's attack is powerful, we all know it has some accuracy issues. If the Sword Saint cannot be restrained, the attack might not actually hit him."
After Cruz finished speaking, he turned his gaze to Ady Hoke and Valerie. They were the priests of the God of Absolute Fairness, and only they could contact the Old God.
"God will not act until the Rebel Army truly faces a fatal crisis."
Ady Hoke replied seriously, indicating that they also could not ask 'God' to possess them at this time.
"It's not yet time to ask for divine help, is it? We still have the army formation, and we have Liens who can contend with the Sword Saint, plus so many Second-tier Extraordinary Ones here."
"This force absolutely has hope of defeating the Sword Saint; we cannot give up before we even try."
"Don't you agree, Old Brother Donahue?"
Uria said with a laugh, wanting to lighten the mood and boost everyone's confidence. After speaking, he turned to look at Donahue, signaling him to quickly respond.
"That's right, we can at least be considered powerful individuals vying for power. Although we can't defeat the Sword Saint, we can't lose heart because of that."
"If we don't even have this much courage, how can we lead the Rebel Army to victory? How can we break through to higher realms?"
"Moreover, those guys won't allow the kingdom to quell the rebellion so quickly... Wait, it might not even take a day or two before they contact us."
Donahue responded, also offering a plan.
"Let's discuss this later. Let's first go to the various positions of the army formation to defend and ensure the safety of the army formation and the soldiers."
Balder glanced at Donahue, pondering whether there were some deeper reasons behind the plan he proposed, but he did not dwell on it too much and quickly arranged for everyone:
"Isabelle, you guard the center of the army formation, monitoring the situation of all sides of the army formation while preparing to support others."
"The rest of you, form pairs and guard the five corners of the army formation."
Everyone nodded seriously, accepted the instructions, and then immediately set off for their defensive positions.
As for Liens.
Although he had consumed a lot in the previous battle, his own condition was still good, and Balder and the others did not need to disperse their strength to guard him.
Moreover, as his strength grew, his Sense became increasingly sensitive.
Even when he was in the instance, as long as there was a strong killing intent swirling around, his body would automatically wake him up.
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