The commanders of the different companies looked over towards where Wu Chang was. It looked like they were waiting for new orders, and Sage was curious what else Wu Chang was going to try.

“The bet is about withstanding attacks, not being fair.”

Wu Chang let out a little growl and then whispered to one of his attendants. The situation in the battlefield shifted. The First, Second, and Third company no longer bothered to hide behind the Fourth. Instead, all four companies surrounded the Jade Horde from every direction and the elite cavalry unit spread out to support them all. The Jade Horde was now completely encircled and if they wanted to retreat they would have to break through the city guard companies first. Even so, the cavalry unit was waiting outside, meaning the Jade Horde would have to break through at least two units to escape their predicament.

Too bad for the city guards the Jade Horde didn’t want to run. The dust cloud continued to swirl around, showing no signs of motion. Not a single member of the Jade Horde came out of the cloud, in fact nothing at all changed after they were surrounded. The city guards looked apprehensive, but they still charged into the dust cloud when they received the order. The noose tightened, the city guards maintained their encirclement even as they advanced into the heavy dust cloud. Visibility was very low, they could only see a dozen feet in front of them. Even worse, the flying sand abraded their skin and irritated their eyes.

There were no goggles in this world, at least that Sage had seen. Even if there were, they certainly didn’t have them in Lionheart Town. There was no desert within hundreds if not thousands of miles, so the city guards were not at all prepared for such conditions. They could only hold up their sleeves to shield their faces, taking turns to peek ahead to look for the Jade Horde and also getting a face full of dust. Eventually, the sounds of combat rung out from the dust storm and Wu Chang looked uneasy. Sage was just as calm as before, showing his confidence in the Jade Horde.

We may not be a first rate power, but just the city guards from Lionheart Town don’t stand a chance.

As he predicted, the city guards could do nothing in a frontal assault. They retreated from the first skirmish and then attacked again. After a half dozen tries, there were quite a few wounded city guards, but those outside the dust cloud spectating hadn’t seen any of the Jade Horde since they changed formations. The majority of the city guard had uneasy looks on their faces. They no longer wanted to continue this ‘training exercise’. The dust storm made it very hard to even keep track of their own allies and many of the injuries had been caused by their own comrades. It was only a matter of time before some of the accidental friendly fire took a life and nobody wanted to be the unlucky ‘winner’.

The commander of the cavalry unit took out a small horn and blew a signal. Wu Chang looked over and frowned. He took a step forward and looked like he was about to yell something out, but then he stopped and just crossed his arms.

A subordinate acting out of turn? Maybe he wasn’t supposed to show his full strength or some secret skill…

Sage watched to see what the commander would do and his eyes widened in surprise. The cavalry commander released his aura, and it looked like a whirling tempest had immediately formed around him. It was like he was walking in the eye of a tornado. The cavalry commander spurred his horse and they, man and rider, charged into the dust cloud. Amazingly, the dust cloud and the tornado aura of the commander collided and almost as instantly disappeared. There was one loud boom and a rush of wind and then both phenomena were gone. The dust blew away just as the tornado was snuffed out. More surprisingly, neither effect had ended. The cavalry commander’s aura was still released, there was a glowing outline around him and his clothing was whipping around from gusts of wind. Opposing him, the Jade Horde was now visible and a glowing field was still hanging heavy in the air around them.

The winds must be spinning in different directions at the same intensity, and cancelling each other out. Is that possible?

He was no meteorologist or aeronautical engineer. He was just making a guess from what he observed. The city guard cavalry commander was quite impressive! The man continued to ride towards the Jade Horde. Seeing the lone attacker, who happened to be at the peak of the fourth rank, the Centurion of the Jade Horde yelled out an order and the outer edges of their formation shifted. The men in the center held their positions, ensuring the Whirling Sand formation was maintained, while the others reformed to deal with the lone rider.

The turtle shell shield tactic shifted. They had been shielding three ranks deep, low, mid, and high. Now they spread out and formed two shield walls, pulling back as the commander charged towards them, forming a corridor for him to charge down. When he turned towards one of the walls, the closest men dropped down and angled their shields like a wedge with the ground. The others near them crowded in and stacked their shields on top, turning the wedge into a ramp bristling with spearheads. The commander wouldn’t be able to trample or ram into them, he’d just end up riding a ramp and getting attacked in the process. Sure, a single man couldn’t hold up a horse, but what about when twenty others are helping him?

They bullied the cavalry commander with numbers. He yelled ferociously and a sound wave rippled outwards, knocking back the nearby Jade Horde members a few yards. They regrouped and pushed towards the rider again. He had paused to issue his battle cry, but as he did, the Jade Horde started to encircle him. The commander swung a huge spear from the back of his horse and a slicing wind shot out. It smashed against a few shields and even cracked one of them. He continued the attacks, but after a few minutes of struggling he only managed to injure one of them and break a dozen shields. The Jade Horde didn’t care about the shields, pulling replacements out of Storage Bags.

Just as the commander was about to be fully surrounded, the rest of the city guards made their attack. They all rushed towards the Jade Horde, which the Centurion noticed and immediately ordered the men back into a turtle formation. They grew compact again, piling into a tight dome and shielding from every direction. The cavalry commander intensified his attacks, but they were only slightly more effective. Previously, he had to stay on guard while being advanced upon from multiple directions. Now, he was the aggressor against a stationary target. Even so, the Jade Horde was too tough. His spear thrust with a loud hiss like a compressed air device. When it stabbed forward he punched into the shields, but could only penetrate a few inches before the spear got caught in the layers of Steel Silk. He caught a few of the Jade Horde in the arm, shoulder, or hand, but they were careful not to lean too close to their shields when the commander struck and protected their vitals.

After half an hour of intense clashes without breaching the turtle formation, Wu Chang looked annoyed. Sage glanced over to him, “Are you satisfied yet? I foolishly forgot to set a time limit.”

Sage let out a small smile, “City Lord Wu Chang, it is up to you now. Will you use your superior numbers to outlast my Jade Horde, or will you accept your loss like a gentleman?”

Wu Chang had also been thinking the same thing and wondering whether or not he would be so shameless.

“My mere Jade Horde can only maintain a formation like that for half a day, we should really improve our endurance.”