Defenders had an advantage in a battle, but that was only if their fortifications could stand up to those on the attack. Against cultivators far into Spirit Building or later walls made out of granite performed little better than paper. More exotic and rare materials were needed along with enchantments, and walls weren’t the end of things.

Diamond Hill Sanctuary’s walls were strong enough to be a factor, but the previous damage limited their effectiveness along with the gatehouses. There was still some trepidation among the attacking forces, but if they didn’t act soon the invaders might actually be able to put together an enduring foothold in the area. That was absolutely something they didn’t want.

The siege was already active, trebuchets launching whatever sufficiently heavy materials were brought along or able to be found nearby. Cultivators launched attacks in both directions, though even with the defender possessing a height advantage few of them were able to reach the trebuchets to attack. Likewise, few individual cultivators from the forces of Graotan were able to actually do more than defend the siege engines.

Though the forces of Graotan had some constraints, the constant battering of the enemy formations were going to require a response from their enemies first. The enemies might be able to prop it up by providing their own energy to the formation, but that would be very much in the favor of the siegers. The invaders weren’t able to recover their energy as quickly, especially the critically important Ascension cultivators. So far they had been provoked into launching several attacks from their fortifications, but without committing they were unable to cause lasting damage.

It was possible the defending forces were holding something back that would let them take out the trebuchets. If that was the case it would likely happen all at once. Otherwise they had to be hoping for the attackers to run out of ammunition- which would certainly happen eventually. Even with storage bags to hold large volumes of material, several siege machines constantly firing went through rock rather quickly. If they were in a defensive position around a stockpile they might be better off, but their current situation limited them.

The enemy might know that… but as it was it seemed that the formations might still be battered into nothing, after which they would be able to attack directly. They just had to wait for that time.

-----

At the same time as the bombardment was happening, a group of cultivators slowly and patiently climbed the sheer surfaces of the Diamond Hill. They were more than sheer in a way, since some angles involved overhangs. Climbing up those required the use of natural energy which would normally give away their location, but they were carefully arranged to prevent that. Specifically, with the use of formation flags in a way Catarina had grown experienced with over the years.

They weren’t truly undetectable. Even though she had brought forces to Stregate, seemingly appearing from being invisible, the technique only worked when those she was avoiding the notice of were distracted by something else. Either that or it took a large amount of natural energy to sustain, and someone like Velvet with a high proficiency in stealth to help. Velvet was with them for the sake of scouting, though she hadn’t intended to be getting this close.

They weren’t part of some sneaky assault, they were merely just climbing up the side- not towards the entrance nor entirely opposite towards the rear- for the sake of Catarina’s curiosity. It was justified, because she could find a way to negate the enemy’s formation if she understood it well enough. During the bombardment that was the perfect time, since it was at peak activity.

The group stopped just shy of the actual walls so Catarina could make sure there wasn’t anything that would give away their position. They were about as close as they could be regardless. Even if the defenders were clumped away from them, they would still potentially be noticed. Like by the Ascension cultivators. Catarina was keeping half an eye on them as she studied the way the formation reacted.

-----

The tiny infiltrators were happy to see that their work had provoked a response. There were all sorts of traps set… for rats. Because the humans would of course believe anything that could cause such damage to their supplies had to be rats. The growing mold was a different matter, but it seemed many of the supplies had been disposed of. They were already replaced, but the sergeant found something interesting as they checked on one area.

Someone was sneaking about. Not just any someone, but a non-invader cultivator. They didn’t have the same tasty scent of ascension energy. That was too bad, because the ants were looking to pick off people if they could. Instead of remaining in position the sergeant decided to follow the unexpected human, carrying a storage bag full of freshly unsabotaged food.

They moved quickly, too fast for the individual ants to keep up. They were, however, able to increase their mobility by forming themselves into a variety of structures- mostly little wheels where they rolled around, providing power with the movements to accelerate. It was just enough to keep up with a cultivator sneaking around slowly, which let them spot the door as it closed. It fit firmly enough into the wall that no signs of it could be picked out. Not at eye level, anyway. There were slight cracks at the floor and the ceiling, so small it would take something like an ant to wiggle through.

So they did.

Following the narrow passageway down through the area around them they eventually came to a gathering of cultivators with similar energy. Though the sergeant was not of the same intelligence as the great queens, they were sufficiently intelligent to organize. And understand speech. The individual they followed was reporting on the status of the battle up above as food was distributed.

“Are they here to help?” asked one of the humans.

“I detected at least a few members of the Order. I doubt they know we’re here though.”

“I’d like to get in contact with them if we could,” said the first.

The sergeant was already working on that plan from another angle, though it would be a bit difficult. No hive had interactions here as far as he knew, so they wouldn’t know the sign language. Old techniques it was.

“What’s that?” A sudden response from one of the nearby cultivator sent a spear piercing into the wall, a ring of ants narrowly avoiding being killed. While they would gladly give their lives for the community, it would be a shame to die. The extended aura natural energy should have crushed any number of insects, but it didn’t even make them uncomfortable.

The ants tried to wave again, in what they hoped was not a taunting manner. While the cultivators gathered around they then quickly formed into a word. “Allies.”

“Allies?” said one person.

“It’s possible,” admitted one of the gray haired ones, probably an ‘elder’. “The Order has had dealings with some strange ants…”

How rude. They weren’t strange at all! If anthing the stupid ants were the strange ones. But the sergeant continued to direct the group on what words to spell, with each ant knowing which portion it would belong to. They formed one word at a time. “Can… understand… speech…”

-----

After a good ten or twenty minutes Catarina was satisfied with her studies. She could bring down the formation easily enough, though it would actually withstand the bombardment longer than it appeared on the surface. That was information that had to get back to the rest of the army. But first, she might as well get started. Catarina slowly and carefully carved a few unobtrusive runes at the base of the wall. Unless the formation specialist came by specifically to look at the area nobody would notice… and the rhythmic sounds of boulders and the like crashing against the barrier meant they were probably occupied.

She would have liked to go all the way around the whole perimeter, but she was going to have to be satisfied with breaking few at a couple small points. She wasn’t going to risk getting caught, as the enemy forces could kill their little squad if they were spotted.

-----

An hour later, the bombardment halted. The visible reason was that the trebuchets were low on ammunition, which was not entirely incorrect. The actual reason was regarding two pieces of information that had come in.

Many formations were powered by ambient natural energy, and the one that had been set up on the Diamond Hill was no different. That meant it would be able to recover to full effectiveness if left alone for too long. Thus, sustaining the bombardment would have been the right choice if they didn’t have a plan.

Arrows still continued to hit it at regular occurrences. Though they were small they carried significant amounts of energy, creating rather large and intentionally quite loud explosions as they impacted the barrier.

“Grandpa,” Alva cautioned, “You do need to rest for the battle.”

“If I don’t sleep, and they don’t sleep because of that, I come out ahead,” he countered.

“You only sleep like… four hours,” Alva shook her head. “So do that. Then you can continue this. But if you try not to sleep at all, then I’m going to team up with Fuzz to wrestle you unconscious and we’ll all be exhausted.”

Anton didn’t have much to say to that. Closer to the start of Alva’s cultivation career she had advanced cautiously given her young age, and Anton had possessed a couple years of a head start. After more than thirty years that gap had shrunk significantly, to the point Anton was well aware that his granddaughter could basically match him. Anton had gotten into a bit more trouble during his career and maintained the advantage through decades of archery experience, but the gap between them was not large. She might even surpass him soon. If he made use of forbidden techniques he could swing the battle, but he would only use Candle Wax in an emergency. And using the power of Fleeting Youth against his granddaughter would just tire him out more and make him need that rest. “Fine. But you need to keep them up instead.”

“Deal,” Alva nodded. “I can shoot that far without trouble, at least.”

With that, Anton took a short time to recover, while the rest of the army was busy preparing for an assault- though they were trying to look like they weren’t. The good thing about an army of cultivators is that they could ready themselves quickly when it came time to fight.

-----

In the morning, the actual bombardment began again. The long pause hopefully wouldn’t have made the enemy realize the rhythm was slower- or if they did notice Grant hopes they would chalk it up to being low on ammunition. They were, even with what they had gathered the previous night, but it would last long enough one way or another.

It was impossible to disguise armies marching up a long gradient towards the Diamond Hill. They didn’t even try, but the very act was a distraction for other things that were being put in place. Catarina wouldn’t be attempting to invisibly sneak up to the enemy this time, since she needed to be where they would break through and attention would inevitably be focused there already. It was better instead to have her organize a defensive formation. As a mobile formation it would not be nearly as powerful as what the enemies had but it would at least help protect the weaker soldiers as they approached. There was ultimately very little cover otherwise. It would have been a dozen times worse if they had to fight through gatehouses along the way, but as they had been destroyed in the occupying force’s attack they were mostly rubble.

The barrier shook under the bombardment of trebuchets and individual cultivators, showing weakness that was not quite what it seemed to be.