Chapter 464: Snow Eagle Guard

These exceptionals are concealed beneath a faint layer of twisted light and shadow, blending perfectly with the surrounding environment; without the ability to see through the disguise, one would probably not notice their existence even when walking right up to them.

Lei En couldn't help but be surprised, "Group camouflage technique?"

"Yes," Kai De Jia nodded, "It must have been amplified to Eight‑Ring by some enhancement method; if it weren't for my skill with the Mystic Eye, it almost slipped past even me."

The others all wore solemn expressions.

Eight‑Ring Spell means the caster is at least Legendary High‑rank, above level sixteen.

Kangjiatuo's exceptional being system heavily favors melee, merging bloodlines to boost strength, with spells only as support. Although some follow the Empire's common "Bloodsource Warlock" path, they are very few, and their magical knowledge and inheritance are weak; casters of this caliber are countable on the fingers.

The original five‑Ring group camouflage technique was raised to Eight‑Ring; this is not something a Kangjiatuo warlock could master, its style resembles that of a Legendary Wizard from the Empire!

Has the Lao Bo Di Er family also summoned outside aid?

Lei En immediately formed a conjecture.

He looked ahead; with Truth Willpower and the Soul Eye, the enemy cannot hide.

The Centaur army continued advancing, pretending not to notice the ambush; the road beneath them was a valley squeezed between two slopes, rough and uneven, only wide enough for seven or eight Centaurs side by side. The sides offered a ground tens of meters wide, but it was littered with scrub and rocks, making running difficult, and the overall terrain was low, with the slopes on both sides extremely steep. The Centaurs could barely charge up, but their speed would be severely limited, placing them in a very disadvantageous position.

The hillsides were cloaked in dense forest, ideal for concealment; the valley below stretched for over ten miles, and any spot chosen would make an excellent ambush site.

The Lao Bo Di Er family's troops lay in ambush at the middle of the valley; at the Centaurs' marching speed, they would enter the enemy's impact range in a few more minutes.

This ambush was not particularly clever; the key was that the enemy received support from a Legendary High‑rank caster.

A war in which a caster participates must never be underestimated!

Lei En ran with the troops while pushing the Soul Eye to its limit.

The multi‑core crystal also activated, sweeping over the enemies hidden by the group camouflage at top speed, roughly estimating their numbers at around six thousand.

The most eye‑catching among them were a group of stout, rotund exceptionals, each over two meters tall, wielding heavy weapons such as war hammers, great axes, and two‑handed greatswords.

"Giant Deer Warrior!"

Lei En was slightly surprised; this batch of Giant Deer Warriors numbered over a thousand!

Wa Luo Gen had been gathering intelligence for years and discovered that the total number of the Lao Bo Di Er family's Giant Deer Legion was about two thousand five hundred, yet they dispatched nearly half at once, definitely sparing no expense.

The remaining exceptionals wore mismatched gear, their chest insignias varied; they were private armies of the Lao Bo Di Er family's vassal lords, a hodgepodge of bloodlines and professions, clearly a hastily assembled irregular force, yet their numbers were enormous.

Lei En estimated that these lordly private troops numbered at least five thousand, comparable to the Centaurs, suggesting that the entire Lao Bo Di Er family's vassal private forces had gathered here.

He did not find any trace of a Legendary caster.

However, he discovered a magical trap set on the valley road—a massive rune array spanning over a hundred meters, its core buried underground with virtually no energy leakage; even from several miles away, nothing unusual could be seen.

Without Truth Willpower, Lei En might have overlooked it as well.

He glanced at his phone interface; the rarely used "Weather" display showed abnormal energy distribution in the valley, with wind element content steadily rising—the closer one got to the magical trap, the faster it surged. The Lao Bo Di Er family's coastal domain is perpetually battered by strong winds, so the wind element's energy density is already high, masking the change.

At this moment, the scouting Centaur squad ahead had already approached the magical trap.

It is controlled by a hidden Legendary caster and will not trigger easily; otherwise, sacrificing only a dozen Centaurs would be a loss.

"Lei En?"

Ai Mi Li Si shouted, "If we don't decide now, the entire army will enter the valley."

"Stop immediately!"

Lei En did not hesitate further and shouted the order loudly.

He had intended to silently slip behind the enemy to open a Void Spirit Gate, forming a pincer, but the terrain lacked conditions for encirclement, so he could only halt and reconsider.

"There is a magical trap in the valley; have the Centaur squad return," he said quickly. "Two councilors, watch the enemy caster; everyone else prepare to meet the enemy and fall back outward; I'm about to open a large teleportation gate."

Blue light flared on the back of Lei En's left hand as he began summoning the Void Spirit Gate.

Except for Bo Er Qi, everyone cleared a space.

Ai Mi Li Si's command was relayed, and the running Centaurs and Dragonstone Mercenary Corps halted, stopping precisely at the valley's entrance.

This was a sufficiently wide open area, the horses forming a circular barrel formation as they galloped, as if facing a great enemy.

Within the defensive ring of five thousand Centaurs, the inner core housed the Wizard Corps, the Spear‑Wing Knight Order, and the Scale‑Command Guard; the innermost layer was empty space, occupied only by Lei En and Bo Er Qi.

Lei En focused on casting, and the surroundings fell silent.

However, the silence lasted only a few seconds before the Lao Bo Di Er troops hidden on the valley's side slopes realized they had been exposed.

"Wooo…"

A stirring horn blared through the forest, like the roar of a raging storm, accompanied by a thunderous shout: "Attack! Attack! Children of the storm, for the king's glory, slay these invaders! Kill them!"

With that roar, the group camouflage technique failed.

The forest on the mountain shook as thousands of exceptionals emerged, shouting loudly in response to the commanding roar.

They did not charge down the slope; instead they ran along the ridges on both sides of the valley.

The thousand Giant Deer Warriors surged ahead, possessing agility and speed disproportionate to their size; while running they cast "Acceleration Technique", light breezes swirling at their feet, making the rugged slopes feel like flat ground, their speed increasing continuously.

Lei En stared at the Giant Deer Warriors, and a phrase sprang to mind: "The agile dead fat man!"

However, the Giant Deer Warriors were not the fastest.

Further back in the forest, a pale silhouette appeared; a pure‑white giant eagle rose into the air, its wingspan exceeding ten meters, each feather resembling mountain ice and snow, flawless and unblemished, even its beak like pristine white jade, its appearance strikingly majestic.

These birds, hailing from Kangjiatuo's highest snow mountain, had reached Mid‑stage and mastered ice spells.

"Snow Eagle Guard!"

Ge Lei Wo Mu, leader of the Scale‑Command Guard, shouted in alarm.

Ai Mi Li Si, Wa Luo Gen and the others were also startled; the appearance of the Snow Eagle Guard indicated that the Ai Ti Si family had fully sided with Ma Er Ke.

The Ai Ti Si family's "Eagle Song Hunters" are unique in Kangjiatuo; they blend the "Snow Eagle" bloodline, numbering few—at their peak only about six hundred, fewer than the Scale‑Command Guard—but the Snow Eagle Guard is Kangjiatuo's sole aerial legion, capable of striking from the sky. Though small in number, its combat power rivals that of other families' exceptional forces, even surpassing them.

The Ai Ti Si family's domain lies north of the capital Wang Du Jin Si Lan, and further north is the Bu Lan Deng Gong Guo; these two families are the Lao Bo Di Er family's most loyal allies and were the main force that overthrew the Zhuo Geng Bao dynasty.

The return of the Dragonborn shook Kangjiatuo.

The Ai Ti Si family made its choice through action, dispatching its Snow Eagle Guard to the first battle.

More and more Snow Eagles rose from the forest, and in an instant they numbered over two hundred!

On the back of each snow eagle sits an "Eagle Song Hunter"; they all wield ice‑blue enchanted longbows, wear close‑fitting leather armor, have fur‑and‑feather cloaks around their necks, their eyes sharp as eagle eyes, looking like the Empire's common "Elemental Archer", yet also like "Wilderness Hunters" with animal companions, limited to avian eagles.

The snow eagles fly extremely fast; after a few breaths of takeoff they already outpace the Giant Deer Warriors.

But they did not rashly attack first; instead they slowed down a bit.

Lei En spotted their leader among the eagles.

This was a legendary Mid-stage Eagle Song Hunter, level thirteen; his snow eagle's wingspan was larger, nearly fifteen meters, clearly a legendary bird, its whole body shrouded in ice‑snow mist, like a white light drawing lightning across the sky.

"Roar!"

Three dragon roars sounded together; Yi Geng, Jia Laduos, and Xin Da La each revealed their giant dragon forms—black dragon, copper dragon, and frost sea dragon—vigorously beating their wings, emitting terrifying dragon might, and fearlessly swooping toward more than two hundred snow eagles.

The snow eagles in the sky stirred briefly, then quickly recovered.

They were not frightened by the dragon might.

Lei En noticed secret runes flashing in each snow eagle's eyes; they wore mind‑protecting talismans that resisted the dragon might.

"Giant Dragon!"

"Humph…" the legendary Eagle Song Hunter sneered, saying in a highly contemptuous tone, "It's been many years since we last hunted a giant dragon; the dragon‑born are a generation worse than the last. Thinking you can scare off the snow eagles with dragon might? Brothers, today you'll taste the flavor of dragon blood!"

His voice was not loud, yet it echoed throughout the valley, and everyone heard it clearly.

Ai Mi Li Si's complexion was very poor.

The Ai Ti Si Family, during the Zhuo Geng Bao Dynasty, had constantly refused the dragon‑born's jurisdiction; their snow eagle guard trained against giant dragons, and on several occasions in conflicts killed a few giant dragons belonging to the Zhuo Geng Bao family, calling themselves "Giant Dragon Hunters".

In the usurper war of those years, the dragon‑born's giant dragons were slain by the snow eagle guard.

In the sky, the three giant dragons had already swooped before the eagle flock.

Meeting them were flickering frost arrows, each imbued with great power; striking dragon scales they burst, most failing to pierce the giant dragons' defense, yet the released cold froze the scales.

Except for the frost sea dragon Xin Da La, the other two giant dragons' movements were inevitably slowed.

"Whoosh!"

The three giant dragons opened their mouths and spewed dragon breath a hundred meters long—flame, strong acid, and cold—sweeping the high sky.

The snow eagles scattered like celestial maidens scattering blossoms; they were more agile than the giant dragons, yet the dragon breath's range was vast, and several snow eagles were hit, their feathers forming ice mist in resistance, but they still wailed and fell.

When the dragon breath ceased, the other snow eagles had already put distance between them.

They coordinated flawlessly, dividing into multiple batches to fire in turn, giving the three giant dragons no breathing room; after a few volleys, Jia Laduos and Xin Da La both bore wounds.

The black dragon Yi Geng was the strongest and possessed healing ability, so he remained unscathed.

Yet he was also restrained.

The legendary Eagle Song Hunter, using greater speed and his own legendary snow eagle, repeatedly drew his enchanted longbow, firing arrows like a storm, preventing Yi Geng from becoming complacent and from ignoring the other two giant dragon companions.

"Bo Er Qi, you go up too," Lei En said.

The Ethereal portal would be ready in just a few more seconds; with two Legendary High-rank Wizards beside him, there would be no problem.

Bo Er Qi could no longer hold back; he instantly leapt into the sky, revealing the true form of a golden three‑headed dragon, letting out a fierce roar, his massive dragon body surging like a golden beam. The legendary Eagle Song Hunter's eyes changed dramatically, forced to release Yi Geng, and led over twenty snow eagles to confront Bo Er Qi, launching a massive battle in the heavens.

The battle in the sky was extremely fierce, while the ground seemed much calmer.

Some Eagle Song Hunters, while besieging the giant dragons, casually shot arrows at the centaur army on the ground, attempting to cause casualties, but the Weizelan Wizards dispelled them with spells.

The Giant Deer Warriors had already charged close.

They rushed down the slope, the ground trembling; the outermost centaurs could already see their faces, the enemy's roars seeming to roar beside their ears.

However, the charge order was slow to arrive!

"Maintain formation!"

"Do not panic!"

The centaur captains repeatedly relayed the orders; although every centaur had already grasped their spears and drawn their massive bows, ready to fire, they could only stay still, watching the enemy rush toward them from above.

"Your Majesty!"

The leader of the Scale‑riding Guard, Ge Lei Wo Mu, anxiously warned, "If we don't attack now it'll be too late."

"Wait a little longer!"

Ai Mi Li Si responded calmly.

But her palms unconsciously sweated, she kept glancing at Lei En casting, yet dared not speak to urge him, fearing it would affect Lei En's summoning of the portal.

In the sky the giant dragons roared, and occasionally snow eagle corpses fell to the ground.

The enemy's charge horn was within reach.

Finally, after a minute, Lei En's hand burst with dazzling light, and a tall, wide massive portal was summoned before him, its whole form made of ethereal crystal, standing on a platform also built of crystal.

The figure of the Extreme Warrior burst out of the portal.

Under countless eyes on the battlefield, the Extreme Warriors formed a line within seconds; they raised their Lambo Spears, two squads aimed at the charging Giant Deer Warriors, and two squads at the sky‑borne snow eagle guard, pulling the triggers.

Suddenly, deafening gunfire rang out.

(End of Chapter.)