Refining the Heavens 4 (炼天四)

Chapter 45: Never Falter

The aftermath was both bloody and gruesome. It is the violence, not the deaths that had struck fear in these warriors.

There were many casualties, and each as difficult to accept as the last.

Over five thousand were killed and nearly twenty thousand wounded.

The heaviest blow to the army come in two forms, the army's pummelling morale, and the loss of some of their best fighters and leaders.

Three, Esley privately considers, because Kairos who was the pillar of hope for their army is now being doubted.

They still acknowledge his prowess and title as the Rakshasa, and his overwhelming intellect that created the guild Snowdrifts, but now they have a new title for him, youngling.

Young and naïve. That's the veteran's judgement of Kairos' performance on the battlefield.

It all adds up, after he had led his group right in the middle of the enemy's army, went up against their warlords and now the series of blunders he had made. Most importantly, they are angered that he had closed his eyes after Martial General Gu sacrificed himself to save him.

"Keep your mumbles down. He is the young master of the Astroire house."

"Yeah, shush. You never know when those nobles will snap."

"Especially the self-made ones. They always have something to prove."

They gave him a wide berth, but unless they are part of the Snowdrifts, they no longer showed him the same respect as before.

Kairos didn't care.

Esley, on the other hand, had a huge headache.

This man, Kairos, owed them nothing. And, he did resolve all the issues.

What right do the others have in faulting him?

All the higher ranked cultivators think so as well. They see things differently, because they could catch the details that lower rankers missed.

They felt the thick collection of elemental energies around and they knew that whatever that vanished rune was, it wasn't useless. They are just incapable to appraise its use.

Just the amount of power in the air demanded them to give Kairos their respect.

It was at the level of a mage to pull that much natural energies together and form a rune. And, one of the highest orders to boot.

They also noticed, twice, the martial trances that Kairos had went into, a state of being where one uses their moment of epiphany to breakthrough an impasse, and Kairos spent it on them to save their sorry behinds.

Granted, some exceedingly talented individuals are more likely to enter such inspired trances when facing obstacles, these are still considered once-a-century occurrences that only those that had great wisdom may receive.

The common practitioners on the other hand, wouldn't recognise what is a trance if it slapped them on the face.

The clean-up took the better half of the day before the soldiers could recover their dead. It took longer because of the brutality they faced left victims in pieces.

Esley called for the army to gather as soon as they are ready to march on.

Allowing his war mount to prance down the rank and files, the supreme commander of the frontline army – and now an expedition army, monitored the subtle changes to his men's mindset.

Different from the frontlines, these soldiers are now under the pressure of defeating the invulnerable stronghold, Ku Kang Camp.

Without Kairos' reputation of doing the impossible, they wouldn't have picked up such courage and confidence, but they would still fight as trained men would.