When Qin Yu led her troops up the final step, she saw a brightly lit military camp situated on the mountain top, completely empty.
‘This is definitely a trap!’ Qin Yu ordered her soldiers to be on high alert, preparing for enemy troops that could be lying in ambush at any moment.
The mountaintop was much wider than Qin Yu had imagined. The camp was built on a flat, open area, and further away were many jagged, strange-looking rocks.
She led her troops forward slowly, entering the enemy camp.
The camp’s scale was quite large; it didn’t look like something a force of only one thousand would have.
Remembering the blocking force they had already encountered, Qin Yu realized her night raid was no longer a secret. The enemy had already sent troops to ambush her.
Having lost the element of surprise and now facing more enemies than expected, Qin Yu felt a pang of fear.
Could her troops alone truly defeat the enemy?
Down the mountain at their camp, there were warhorses. If the enemy split their forces to attack them, could her five hundred soldiers left behind hold out?
For this raid, Qin Yu had traveled light. Her soldiers carried only twelve days’ worth of rations.
If they lost the horses, could they rely solely on infantry mobility and combat strength to break through the enemy encirclement within twenty days and reunite with the main force?
Qin Yu decided to take no more risks. They would return to the temporary camp at the mountain’s base. Stability was the most important thing.
She ordered the troops to halt and assess their losses. The final tally showed that from the original two thousand soldiers, only a little over one thousand eight hundred remained.
‘These losses are… acceptable,’ Qin Yu thought to herself, relieved.
Then she led the troops to turn around, preparing to descend via the main road to reunite with the five hundred soldiers left earlier.
Qin Yu arranged for a portion of her forces to act as the rear guard, lest the missing enemy troops suddenly appear, and then led the main body in an orderly descent down the mountain.
Just then, a clamor of voices erupted from below. A force ascended the mountaintop via the main road.
By the light of their torches, Qin Yu looked at the opposing banner. A large “Chen” character fluttered in the wind. Leading them was a middle-aged man holding a long sword.
He pointed his sword at Qin Yu, who was at the front of her column. “Your Highness, my apologies!”
Qin Yu looked at the enemies before her. They were stained with blood. Combined with the fact they came up the main road, it was almost certain her five hundred soldiers had been wiped out.
At that moment, from behind Qin Yu, from behind the jumbled rocks and from further across the mountaintop, fully armed soldiers emerged.
They were in full gear, having waited for a long time, just to sandwich Qin Yu’s forces between them and the troops that had just arrived.
Now, Qin Yu’s only escape route was the small path down the mountain.
But as the saying goes, going up a mountain is easy, coming down is hard. Facing the steep mountain path, Qin Yu’s legs felt weak just thinking about walking down, let alone doing so while evading relentless pursuers.
Fight to the death here, or run for it now?
“Surrender!” Just as Qin Yu hesitated, Chen Yufei slowly walked out from among the soldiers, coming to stand before her.
“Your personal command?” Qin Yu praised sincerely. “General Chen truly lives up to your reputation, using troops like a deity, able to trap me here!”
“My apologies.” Chen Yufei gave a slight bow. “Since this is a military exercise, I cannot afford to worry about the propriety between ruler and subject!”
“What, you really won’t let me go?”
Chen Yufei didn’t answer Qin Yu’s question. Instead, she drew the sword at her waist. Its blade gleamed coldly in the torchlight, making her stance clear.
Seeing Chen Yufei’s posture, Qin Yu knew she was determined to keep her here.
Facing Chen Yufei’s army, Qin Yu had no desire to retreat. She wanted to use her own strength to defeat Chen Yufei, to earn the support of the Chen Family. That would only benefit Qin Yu’s future ascension to the throne.
“Brothers!” Qin Yu turned and shouted to the soldiers behind her. “Success or failure rests on this one move! Follow me and attack!”
After speaking, Qin Yu raised her staff and charged toward the enemy. Seeing the Crown Prince herself charging on the front line, the soldiers behind her were greatly inspired and followed Qin Yu in the assault.
Chen Yufei, however, was in no hurry. She led her troops in tightening the encirclement.
Watching the circle grow tighter and tighter, Qin Yu felt there were at least three thousand men surrounding her forces. She couldn’t help but panic.
Both sides were elite troops, equipped with extremely advanced magi-guns.
Fighting in the open area atop the mountain, with almost no cover, Qin Yu’s soldiers could only avoid being mowed down by getting entangled with the enemy, mixing the two forces together to confuse the lines.
At a numerical disadvantage, Qin Yu anxiously pondered countermeasures.
‘Going head-on won’t work… we need a stratagem…’
“Over there! Attack toward that pile of rocks!” Qin Yu suddenly caught sight of a cluster of strange rocks on one side of the mountaintop.
Everyone immediately shifted their attack direction. Spurred by the rewards Qin Yu had previously promised, they erupted with astonishing fighting spirit. Remarkably, the vast majority followed Qin Yu in breaking through, transferring to the shelter of the jumbled rock pile.
Hidden behind the rocks, Qin Yu clutched her chest, kneeling on the ground with one hand braced to keep from collapsing.
The earlier battle, where Qin Yu had swung her staff to carve a bloody path through the enemy, had greatly depleted her magic reserves and stamina.
“Your Highness…” A soldier beside Qin Yu moved to help her up.
“No need…” Qin Yu forced herself up, standing shakily. “I’m fine.”
The soldier beside her looked at Qin Yu with a skeptical eye, not believing her words at all.
“Everyone, find good cover! Prepare to counterattack!” Behind the rock pile, Qin Yu and her troops had cover. Their confidence in a successful counterattack grew significantly.
“Heh,” Chen Yufei chuckled softly, walking toward the rock pile. “Your Highness, when you can’t win, do you hide like a turtle retreating into its shell?”
Qin Yu gritted her teeth, ignoring Chen Yufei’s taunt. She knew her side was outnumbered; they had to fight steadily.
Chen Yufei’s combat boots made hollow echoes on the ground as she stepped closer and closer to Qin Yu’s position.
“Qin Yu! Dare to face me one-on-one!” Chen Yufei suddenly stopped. “If I win, you surrender obediently. If you win, I let you all go!”
‘How dare she look down on me like this!’ Qin Yu’s heart was full of rage at being so underestimated. Qin Yu was, after all, a Mage. How dare Chen Yufei be so bold as to challenge her?
“Come on!” Qin Yu walked slowly out from behind the rock pile. Even though she was almost completely exhausted, she chose to accept the challenge.
Seeing Qin Yu accept, Chen Yufei wasted no more words. She directly raised her sword and attacked Qin Yu, who responded with a magical counterattack.
However, the fireball that should have hit was easily dodged by Chen Yufei with a simple sidestep.
‘No!’ Qin Yu realized then that Chen Yufei’s agility was also formidable.
After a few exchanges, the strength Qin Yu had mustered earlier was almost gone. She could only dodge attacks while retreating, trying to put distance between herself and Chen Yufei to recover some stamina.
But the mountaintop was only so big. Qin Yu was soon forced back to the edge of a cliff.
Qin Yu finally gathered a bit of strength. She stopped, standing at the cliff’s edge, abandoning her earlier state of constant retreat. She focused intently on Chen Yufei, readying herself for a counterattack.
“Oh, not bad!” Chen Yufei, seeing Qin Yu had recovered some stamina, wasn’t too surprised.
She suddenly pulled a staff from the air. A ball of flame shot from its tip toward Qin Yu.
“!” That Chen Yufei could use magic was something Qin Yu hadn’t anticipated.
She didn’t react in time. A momentary lapse, and she was nearly set ablaze by the flames.
Instinctively, Qin Yu took a step back, forgetting she was already in a desperate situation.
Her foot found only empty air. The sensation of weightlessness instantly washed over her…