Chapter 626 – Devil Scorpion
Joshua looked at the expressions of those present and couldn't help but smile bitterly, "We had underestimated Zhao Hai from the start. Now that he has established his name in the continent, it would be close to impossible for us to deal with him. And since the situation of the Church isn't very good, it would take us some time in order to make a proper move."
Ao Ke and the others recovered and couldn't help but breathe in some cold air. But Ao Ke's eyes suddenly lit up as he said, "If the one we're facing is indeed Zhao Hai, then the situation would be good for us. Although you don't have a way of dealing with him in the continent, we are currently in the sea. Zhao Hai's strength should be limited here, we can use this opportunity to kill him, essentially removing a huge problem of yours while at the same time removing a big helper of the Mermaid clan."
Upon hearing Envoy Ao Ke, the eyes of Joshua and Alex couldn't help but turn bright. This was good, even if it was difficult to deal with Zhao Hai in the continent, one shouldn't forget that they are currently in the ocean. One of the strongest entities here were the Sea Dragons. If they can remove Zhao Hai, then they would be removing a huge problem in their plan.
After thinking about this, the group couldn't help but get restless. Alex looked at Illac and said, "Illac, did you say that Zhao Hai's undead were strong? Did you happen to see Zhao Hai? He shouldn't be too far away from his undead, right?"
Illac shook his head and said, "Patriarch, this one hasn't seen him. At that time, the situation had gone hectic, I simply didn't have the chance to look for his shadow."
Alex nodded and said, "When you attack tomorrow, you must pay attention to any Dark Mages or even Zhao Hai among the Mermaid army. If we become sure that it is Zhao Hai, then we'll do our best in order to kill him. Saving the plans of the Gods from being disrupted all the time."
Illac nodded, then Alex turned to Joshua and said, "Bishop Joshua, do you have a portrait of Zhao Hai? We don't want Illac to mistake him for another person."
Joshua nodded and said, "Of course, this Zhao Hai is the Church's number one enemy. It would be impossible for me to not have a portrait of him." Then he turned his hand before a portrait appeared. The portrait was draw masterfully, showing Zhao Hai's figure as well as his face. Zhao Hai was holding a magic staff on one hand while also wearing a black robe on his body. His face was colored so well that the picture looked to be alive. But Zhao Hai didn't have much expression on his face, probably due to the bias the artist had against him.
But when they saw the portrait, Alex and the others couldn't help but gawk. They didn't expect that this formidable Zhao Hai that Joshua was talking about to be quite young. They were expecting a skeleton looking Dark Mage, not an ordinary healthy young man."
The group looked at Joshua, their expression probably saying, "Did you take the wrong thing out?"
When Joshua looked at their expression, he couldn't help but force a smile and said, "Rest assured, I didn't take the wrong thing out. This is indeed Zhao Hai, aged about 20 years old and was just recently married. Don't be fooled by his ordinary looks, his methods are extremely brilliant. If we're really facing him, then General Illac would need to be careful."
Alex nodded, then he turned to Illac and said, "Illac, take this portrait with you so that you can clearly identify this guy. If it is really him, don't go and attack him immediately. Come back and tell us first so that we can concentrate our efforts and destroy him in one go." Illac nodded, then he took the portrait before turning back and leaving.
After Illac left, Alex turned to Joshua and Ao Ke and said, "Bishop, Envoy, if we prove that it is Zhao Hai, I would have to ask for help from the two of you so that we can be more certain of eliminating him. You should know that this fellow is a Dark Mage, and both of you can do light magic. And since he is fighting underwater, he shouldn't be able to escape if our three sides deal with him simultaneously."
Ao Ke nodded and said, "Patriarch Alex, rest assured, we aren't just here to witness the fun. As long as we confirm that it is Zhao Hai, then we would immediately make our move."
Joshua nodded as well, "Right, we're not here to just be an audience. If we can really kill Zhai Hai here, then even if this Joshua loses his life, I would still do it in the name of the Radiant God."
Alex nodded and said, "Good, good, we're fortunate that the two of you are here. "The army had just experienced a huge battle, so they would need to take a day off. Tomorrow, Illac would attack once again while looking for this Zhao Hai."
Ao Ke and Joshua were also people who can command troops. So the two knew about the impact their recent losses would have to the troops. Therefore, neither of them opposed to it.
The next day, after Alex and the others had their breakfast and were preparing to head into battle, someone suddenly sent a message. A large amount of undead were attacking them.
Alex and the others gawked, then Alex immediately gave the Sea Dragon a command, "Go and find General Illac." The Sea Dragon nodded before turning around to leave.
Alex turns to Ao Ke and Joshua, he smiled faintly and said, "Just as we are about to look for him, he suddenly came. I want to see if this person is really Zhao Hai."
Ao Ke coldly snorted and said, "If this is really Zhao Hai, then he's being extremely arrogant. For a Human to dare attack the Sea Dragons in the ocean on his own is a very impatient move."
But Joshua actually frowned and said, "We still need to be careful. This Zhao Hai is not good to deal with."
Ao Ke couldn't help but be unconcerned. After seeing Zhao Hai's portrait, he had begun to form doubts about Joshua's words. In his opinion, a 20 year old young man wouldn't have much abilities. Ao Ke believed that since the Radiant Church weren't able to deal with him, they chose to exaggerate his qualities in order to same them some face.
However, since Ao Ke was Joshua's ally, he didn't want to say anything that would embarrass the other part. So he just nodded and didn't say anything. At this time, Illac had walked in from outside and then gave a salute to those present.
Alex nodded at Illac's salute and then said, "Illac, someone just sent word that undead creatures were heading towards us. I suspect that this Zhao Hai is coming. Go and organize the troops for defense. Remember, don't counter attack. Even if we lose some people, the important thing is confirming if it is really Zhao Hai." Illac nodded, then he turned around to leave.
Alex turned to Joshua and Ao Ke and said, "Bishop, Envoy, let's go take a look at this Zhao Hai." The two nodded before the group headed outside.
Zhao Hai was currently inside the blade scale whales body. In front of him was the monitor and on his side were Laura and the others. Megan and Lizzy were especially anxious at this time.
Zhao Hai wasn't planning to handle his affairs in a low key this time. He released 1 million undead, comprised of both magic beasts and Fishmen. They were currently in a cube formation as it headed towards the Sea Dragon camp.
The reason why Lizzy and Megan were anxious was because Zhao Hai had made the two of them the commanders of this attack. The calculations and strategies all came from Lizzy and Megan, so it wasn't strange for them to be quite nervous.
Zhao Hai looked at their expressions and couldn't help but smile, "It's going to be fine, no need to be nervous. Even if we get defeated, our losses only comprised of undead. Don't be afraid of anything and just boldly try out everything. You must learn how to command an army attack."
When Lizzy and Megan heard Zhao Hai, they couldn't help but let out a long breath. What Zhao Hai said was correct, they weren't commanding humans this time, but undead. Even if these undead were to get 'defeated', they weren't essentially dead. Ninth rank undead couldn't easily die, all they were doing was going back to the Space.
After thinking about this, they immediately calmed down. Then their expressions turned to excitement as the looked at the monitor. Their change made Zhao Hai and the others smile.
The cubic formation advanced slowly. At the same time, a cubic formation also appeared on the side of the Sea Dragon camp. Zhao Hai and the others found out that the Fishmen really liked this formation, maybe because it was very simple.
The two great formations slowly approached each other. Lizzy then turned to Megan and said, "Megan, you go first."
Megan didn't become polite, she nodded and said, "Alright. I've thought of quite a lot of formations yesterday. I want to try their prowess this time. I'll go with the Devil Scorpion first. Brother Hai, this formation has a thick center while having two extended wings on each side. And as the battle goes on, the rear army would sprang up from above, attacking the enemy in that direction. This formation looks just like a giant scorpion." Then Megan used her hand to move the monitor. Zhao Hai also had Cai'er help her with this. The image that Megan described can be fully described on the monitor.
Megan's Devil Scorpion formation did indeed look like a giant scorpion. The Center army has two wings on each side that would attack the enemy in two fronts. At the same time the Rear Army was also being the scorpion's tail, slowly going up, preparing to attack the opposite party from above.
Zhao Hao nodded and said, "Right, what you described is very clear." Then he waved his hand, making the undead creatures move, following the directions that Megan just described.
Megan and Lizzy were going to experiment on the idea that they had come up. They weren't like the Fishmen who already had their cubic formation, cone formation, or their whirlpool formation. For the fishmen, these basic formations were the ones that would express their potential the most.
And also, experimenting on new formations was something that would take a toll on soldiers. Soldiers much achieve near perfect movements in order to follow the idea of their commander. What their commander wants to do, they would need to do it, there was no room for any mistakes.
Chapter 627 – Poisonous Scorpion Tail
Achieving this formation wasn't easy, even the world's most disciplined army would still have problems executing it. After all, ideas couldn't be easily transferred to commands and movements. Therefore, any formation would need to be thought through and drilled properly before being executed in the battlefield. Formations like the cubic formation, whirlpool formation, cone formation, and others have been drilled by the Fishmen for lots and lots of years.
However, Zhao Hai's situation was quite special. What he commanded were undead, which functioned basically like blocks. What you want them to do would be done by them. Dark Mages might have problems in doing this, but Zhao Hai had the Space to assist him. He becomes a perfect commander to a perfectly functional army with all these points in place.
Just as Megan finished describing her formation and wanted him to employ it, Zhao Hai immediately arranged for his army to execute the formation. Before long, the entire army looked like a giant scorpion facing against a large Rubik's cube.
Illac was currently in the core of the cube. When he saw the undead going against his army, his expression couldn't help but turn heavy. He immediately issued a command, making the cube constantly rotate.
But at this time, Illac suddenly discovered that the formation of the opposite party has changed. The center army turned still as two wings suddenly came out of the undead formation. Upon witnessing this sight, Illac's face changed, he didn't expect that the other party would have the ability to command the undead to this degree.
Illac immediately said, "Face the enemy with a cone formation, make sure to defend against those two outward wings." Illac was currently inside a giant shell covered by numerous thorns, as though it was a huge sea urchin. But the shell was transparent while there weren't any water inside, evidently due to the sea dragon bead. There were some furniture inside as well, making it Illac's command center.
Along with his order, the cube immediately changed its shape. The front of the cube that was slowly rotating started to extend out front and straight towards Zhao Hai's center army. However, the left and right wings didn't budge, they had held off the enemy attack quite successfully.
However, Illac was completely unaware that Zhao Hai's rear army, the scorpion's tail, had started to attack from above.
In the war between Fishmen, very few troops chose to get too close to the surface of the sea in order to attack the enemy. This was because that position exposed them to attacks from aerial magic beasts. And since they were accustomed to the bottom of the sea, their eyes wouldn't be able to survive the glare. If they approach the surface, it might hurt their eyes, blinding them in the process. Therefore, it wasn't common for any Fishman to attack from above.
It was because of this that Illac managed to eat a huge loss. Just as his cone formation started, Megan turned to Zhao Hai and said, "Brother Hai, Use the wings to make two cone formations and make it break through their defense." Zhao Hai nodded and then had the undead move according to Megan's method.
Illac stared at Zhao Hai's move, at the same time, his ears had also been open, listening to the messages from the front regarding the current situation. Illac's expression couldn't help but turn heavy, he really wasn't expecting the other party's capacity to command the undead to be this degree. In their past encounter, he thought that the other party can only command his undead to rush in and fight, he didn't expect that the Dark Mage was able to make a formation such as this. Even Fishmen would have a hard time executing such a maneuver, but the other party had actually done it.
However, Illca can’t think about it for too long. The front of his army has finally gotten in contact with the other party. As his cone formation clashed with the other party's cone formation, blood immediately came out. At the same time, the two wings of the opposite party started to also form a cone formation as it went towards the Sea Dragon Army.
Illac immediately ordered two armies to make a whirlpool formation to meet the opposing cone formations. But his reaction was still a bit late, after all, he was still focused on encountering the center army and wasn't able to see the side armies. But fortunately, although late, his side armies still managed to block the approaching cone formations, which made Illac's army fall into full defensive mode.
One could say that Illac's response was correct, even if he was late in meeting the side armies, he still managed to block both of them as well as Zhao Hai's center army.
But at this moment, the scorpion tail of Megan's formation had arrived. It dived down from above and attacked the top of Illac's cube formation.
The people at the top discovered the tail too late, so when word got sent to Illac, the division commanders at the top already met with the approaching army. But since there was no unified command, the top still haven't done a whirlpool formation, they just met the scorpion tail as they were. And under Megan's request, Zhao Hai had also turned the tail into a cone formation, acting like a drill as it barrelled towards the center of the cube formation.
When Illac heard the news from the top formations, he felt that his head has been hit by a stick as his vision saw stars. But since he was a competent general, he immediately took action. At this point, the enemy had already broken through the first layer of the formation. So Illac immediately sent word for the second and third layer to change into a whirlpool in order to block the enemy attack.
Illac was fortunate that the subordinates on those layers were members of warring tribes, so their response was very quick. After the first layer was broken through, the second and third layer also started to slowly rotate.
Illac knew since the first layer was already broken through, the second layer also wouldn't be able to block in time. The whirlpool formation was quite strong, however, it would also need time to be set up. So Illac plans to have the second layer stall for time, blocking the scorpion tail just in time for the third layer to get its whirlpool formation fully operational.
Zhao Hai and the others were inside the Blade Scale Whale, paying attention to the response of the other party. At this time, Megan couldn’t help but sigh and said, "It looks like I'm only up to this point. I didn't think that the other party would have such quick response. But the experimental formation still turned out good. At the very least, we have proven that its attacking might is quite strong."
Zhao Hai and the others nodded. Just from this clash, the other party was already placed on their back foot. Especially during the attack of the scorpion tail, it had actually punctured through two layers of the other party's formation. It was indeed a very good result.
Megan turned her head to Zhao Hai and said, "Elder Brother Hai, my trial for the Devil Scorpion is done. You can have them draw back and have Lizzy give it a go."
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, "Alright". Then he waved his hand, making the three extending armies retreat back while the center army slowly backed out.
Illac's face turned ugly when he heard about the report. Although the people at the top managed to block the opponent's attack, the losses that they suffered wasn't small. At the same time, he was also nearly defeated, this made Illac very angry.
At this time, the opponent army suddenly retreated slowly, making Illac stare. But he immediately ordered all of his men to keep their position and not chase after the foe. He was afraid that this might be another of those plans of the opposite party. So Illac immediately made his cone formation turn back.
Upon withdrawing, Adam immediately surveyed each division. Then he tallied their losses while also paying close attention to the actions of Zhao Hai's group.
Adam saw that the core of the enemy was also in the middle of the cubic formation, just like the Fishmen. In the middle of the formation was a single Blade Scale Whale. But this whale was very different compared to the other undead. This Blade Scale Whale wasn't comprised of only skin and bones. Adam reckons that the Dark Mage was inside this Blade Scale Whale. This was because he had been looking at the cubic formation for a long time and couldn't find any other place for the opposite party to hide from. And it would be impossible for the mermaids to allow this commander to be exposed to the outside, so it was natural for this Dark Mage to be inside the great cubic formation.
Adam's vision focused on the out of the ordinary Blade Scale Whale. And at this time, Zhao Hai was also doing the same, focusing his sight towards the big urchin in the middle of the other party's formation. His human eyesight seemingly able to pierce into the far distance.
At this time, Zhao Hai's cubic formation had recombined. Zhao Hai calculated his losses and found out that more than 50 thousand undead has retreated into the Space. Such a short encounter actually made them lose that much, this was beyond what Zhao Hai was expecting.
However, Zhao Hao also found out that the other party had lost significantly more people compared to him. One must know that from the start of the attack to the present, only one hour has passed by. And in this one hour, the other party had already lost tens of thousands of people. This casualty count was very big.
But Zhao Hai didn't become merciful, he knew that if his heart were to turn soft, the losses due to this war would escalate even more. So he turned to Lizzy and said, "Lizzy, it's your turn. How do you want to attack?"
Lizzy smiled faintly and said, "I also want to try out a formation. I have given this formation the name of Four Armed Demon!"
Chapter 628 – Four Armed Demon
Zhao Hai said, "Four Armed Demon? That sounds scary. Tell me how you want to arrange it."
Lizzy smiled faintly and said, "Big Brother Hai, did you manage to see the weakness of the opposite party's cube formation? It actually has a weak point."
Zhao Hai replied, "Weak point? What weak point? How could something that the Fishmen had used for so many years have flaws? So tell me, what is it?"
Lizzy smiled faintly, then she waved at the screen, enlarging the Sea Dragon's cubic formation. After looking at the formation, Lizzy said, "Big Brother Hai, look at this, although the formation looks very secure and compact, it still had one shortcoming. When this formation makes a move, the are edges in the back that almost always stayed motionless!"
Zhao Hai had always felt that there was something off with this formation, but he wasn't able to know the difference. But now that Lizzy reminded him, Zhao Hai finally saw it. Although the formation looked like a rubik's cube, it functioned much more like a square. The square was able to rotate but the four back edges always stayed in place. Even when the top face rotated, they still stayed completely still. Although some Fishmen were on those faces, they seem to be isolated from the rest of the cube and weren't participating in the fight.
When the group heard Lizzy, their eyes couldn't help but light up. Lizzy looked at their expressions and faintly smiled, "This point looks like nothing, but it was actually a point of importance. Once you break those four edges, the cube would break. So I designed this Four Armed Demon formation in order to deal with that weakness. The center army would be attracting the attention of the enemy commander. And when the opportune moment comes, four arms would make their move and target those weak spots!"
While talking, Lizzy drew the image of her formation on the monitor. The formation looks like a four armed man that would hug up the enemy's cube box. And his four arms would be grasping the back edges of the opponent's formation, effectively breaking it apart.
Zhao Hai and the others couldn't help but look at Lizzy in a new light. The way Lizzy and Megan attacked were very different. Megan's attack emphasized on good attack and battle maneuvers, going head to head with the opponent's formation. But Lizzy actually looks for weaknesses in the enemy's formation and capitalizing on that knowledge to make a formation that would be able to break the enemy's formation.
If Megan were to be described as open and aboveboard, like a Warrior wanting a duel, overthrowing any ideas of underhanded tricks, Lizzy would be like a strong assassin, always actively looking for weaknesses in the enemy that she can exploit.
Lizzy turned to Zhao Hai and said, "So Big Brother Hai, is it possible?"
Zhao Hai laughed and said, "How could it not be possible? Look at this." Then Zhao Hai waved his hand as the cube of undead advanced. While it was advancing, some undead magic beasts slowly crawled and formed four distinct armies on the edges of the army, ready to launch an attack at any time. Other places of the formation didn't change in order to not attract Illac's attention.
But this time, Illac was already being very careful. Zhao Hai's attack managed to make him focus on his next movement. It doesn't matter if the other party was Zhao Hai or not, but their command of undead made Illac startled. Because of this, even if Zhao Hai kept his cube formation as it advanced, Illac didn't dare to lower his guard. Moreover, he was prepared for any change that might suddenly spring out.
Zhao Hai pushed forward slowly, carefully making sure that nothing would be noticed on his formation. Zhao Hai knew that for Lizzy's formation to be successful, preliminary moves needed to be taken into consideration. Only when the enemy's attention gets focused on the center army would the four arms be allowed to make their move.
Illac was somewhat confused at Zhao Hai's slowly approaching army. He didn't understand where the other party's awesome formations went. If they had used a formation before, then they should have a formation for this time, that was for sure.
However, do they really want to attack like this? Illac didn't know what to think, therefore, he sent an order to stand by, preparing for any changes that might occur. His eyes were completely stuck at the other party's army, looking for signs of any changes in the formation.
Seeing the other party's reaction, Zhao Hai couldn’t help but smile faintly and said, "We should employ multiple cone formations in order to attract the attention of the opposite army, then we'll go attack the four edges. Lizzy, what do you think?"
Lizzy nodded and said, "Alright, the most important thing about my formation is the attack on the four edges. If we lost this chance, then the other party might quickly come up with a solution. After all, the enemy is an experienced general."
Zhao Hai nodded, then he waved his hand as his cube formation changed into small cone formations. Then it slowly advanced towards the other army.
After seeing this move, Illac couldn't help but let out a long breath. As long as it's not those special formations, then he would have means to deal with it.
However, Illac still didn't treat this matter lightly. Rather, he was currently focusing on his defense. He couldn't risk making a wrong move at this time. The tail of the Demon Scorpion was still fresh inside his mind.
Before long, the cone formation finally clashed with the opposing army. Everything seemed to be quite normal, there were not special things happening. This made it easier for Illac to command his army, everyone was perfectly following his commands.
In this fight between Zhao Hai and Illac, there was almost close to no long-ranged attacks. Zhao Hai didn't use any since he didn't want Illac to know that his undead were able to use long-ranged attacks. Illac didn't use any long-ranged attacks either because he knew how ineffective those would be against the undead. Unless these undead were hit in their vital points, they could still continue on and attack.
Hitting these undead with long-ranged attacks wasn't easy. And most importantly, whether it be Fishmen or magic beasts, once they use magic, they would appear weak for a short time. Doing these against close-combat undead was akin to courting death. Because of this, Illac chose to refrain from using any long-ranged attacks. Both sides were using melee in order to draw losses from each other.
Zhao Hai had a lot of cone formations in his attack, but Illac managed to block all of them while using the conventional whirlpool maneuvers. But Illac didn't use small whirlpools, he was using a big whirlpool in order to maximize the amount of defensive power that he can exhibit against these cone formations. At the same time, this would also slowly dull the tips of the enemy's cone formations.
This whirlpool formation was deemed to be the most defensively powerful formation of the Fishmen. Almost all Fishman armies were able to skillfully use and execute it, after all, it always comes in handy, especially in situations like these.
Zhao Hai's performance has also been satisfactory. It also seems like his use of small cone formations was the right decision.
At the same time, Zhao Hai and the others were also waiting for the opportune moment, that moment when the enemy starts to relax. Time passed by, and Illac started to feel relieved. The other party wanted to grind them down. But although Illac's rate of losses was greater than the other party, the enemy still only had 1 million people. If Illac can sustain for a bit more time, the enemy would have no troops left to grind them down.
At this time, Lizzy saw that the other party was quite attracted to the current situation, so she immediately turned to Zhao Hai and said, "Big Brother Hai, it's time to attack." Zhao Hai nodded, then with an intention, four arms suddenly sprang out of the four corners of his formation. All of them simultaneously going for the four edges of the opposite party's cube formation.
This change came very abruptly, the enemy didn't expect that Zhao Hai and the others would make this move. The Fishmen were already used to this cube formation. Not moving the four edges was done in consideration of it being easier for the overall command of maneuvering. But Zhao Hai didn't have this problem, he was commanding the undead, even if the entire formation were to make a collective move, it was still very possible. Zhao Hai's formation was extremely flexible to any change in form.
The Demon's four arms had now changed into four cone formations as it struck the four edges of the opposite party's cube formation. And since Zhao Hai had already attracted the enemy's attention into the center army, their response to this surprise attack came very late. Before Illac and the others made a response, the four cone formations were now making their way into the core of the cube formation.
The four troops on the edges didn't expect that they would be receiving an attack, so naturally they weren't able to make a proper response. And since their position was at an edge, it was close to impossible for them to make any significant moves. The four undead formations were now killing through the cube formation as it headed towards the center. At this time, the whirlpool at the front was having problems, so Zhao Hai used this opportunity to have his center army push through.
Illac was looking for any changes in the battle. When the four arms came, Illac stared for a moment before his face paled and he commanded, "With me as the center, block the enemy, quick!"
His subordinates were truly worthy of being warring tribes, they were quite strong. After their initial reaction, they were immediately stabilized by their leaders. Then with Illac as the center, all other formations made their move and surrounded Illac. Then layers of rotation and counter-rotations began. Before long, a huge rotating bead was spotted in the middle of the cube formation.
Chapter 629 – Interesting Thing
The weakness that Lizzy had found out was actually already known to the Fishmen. They have used this cube formation for many years, so how could they be unaware of its weakness? The four edges supported the formation, they just couldn't ignore it.
Some people have been using this weakness in order to break the cube formation, so the Fishmen quickly found a way to deal with it. The method was actually very simple. It was to gather a group of elite troops into those edges in order to not let it be broken into. At the same time, they also developed a defensive formation, called Ball.
This ball formation was what Illac was using right now. With the commander at the center, the sphere would keep revolving and counter revolving layer by layer. It looks like meat grinder, anyone who entered this formation would be ground to paste.
In addition to these two methods, there was also a weakness in this method of breaking the formation. The troop requirements needed to accomplish such attack was very high. Their actions must be fast and their movements must be unified, making its composition very strict. This was because if there were any defects in any one of those four attacking divisions, then the entire operation would be placed in jeopardy. It was precisely because of this that this method of breaking the cube formation has slowly vanished from use, allowing the cube formation to dominate in the Fishman armies.
Although the ball formation was a very good defensive maneuver, and can defend against an attack on the four edges of the cube, its defensive power was still inferior to the whirlpool. Moreover, its counter-attacking capabilities are extremely low. Because of this, the formation had always been a backup formation. Almost nobody used this formation at this time.
Naturally, Lizzy and the others weren't aware about those considerations as well as restrictions in using their attack. After all, they were commanding undead, so they don't need to worry about minute flaws in their formation.
But when Illac did their ball formation, Zhao Hai's attack became useless. The ball formation might not be good in offense, but it can certainly hold its own when it came to defense. Especially against small attacks such as the Lizzy's four demon arms, it was incredibly effective. Before long, the four divisions of undead that Zhao Hai had sent had been grinded into nothingness.
Zhao Hai didn't worry about any of this and just commanded his undead to retreat, reforming their cube formation before going away.
At this time, Illac didn't dare to take pursuit. The recent attacks had almost scared him to death that the thought of pursuing didn't even enter his mind. Illac didn't expect Zhao Hai to use a formation that targeted the cube's weakness. One must know that this method hasn't been used for so many years. If Illac's troops weren't formidable, then he might have lost his life just then.
Illac doesn't understand what the other party wanted to do. The other party was using undead, so it was natural to think that all of them were expendable. However, the other party was using his undead as though it was an army, and also retreated after suffering some losses. This was completely unlike what a Dark Mage was supposed to do.
Illac and the other Sea Dragon's relationship with the other Dragons haven't been established in just a day or two, so they clearly knew what Dark Mages were. And they were clear that Dark Mages, when commanding a lot of undead, would just let them attack in a swarm-like manner. This way, the Dark Mages would use less magic as well as mental power.
When Dark Mages command the undead, they use magic power, however, the consumption of their mental power was even more. When Dark Mages use formations, they would surely be using more mental power than usual. Because of this, Dark Mages rarely used formations when attacking with large numbers of undead.
But contrary to normal customs, Zhao Hai actually arranged the undead in formations and also had them fight like any normal army. This made Illac confused as well as afraid of Zhao Hai.
At this point, Illac was almost sure that the other party was Zhao Hai. If the other party was composed of a battalion of Dark Mages, they wouldn't be able to control the undead to such an astonishing degree. Not only can the undead change formations, it can also target weaknesses in the opponent's defenses. This was absolutely not something that a group of Dark Mages were capable of.
A Dark Mage can surely command undead into delicate positions, however, a group of them can't. After all, it was very difficult to find dozens of Dark Mages that were of the same strength and skill in Dark Magic. And since their skills were different, it was an inevitability that their control would have slight mistakes as well. These slight mistakes can be fatal to the battlefield. The only logical explanation to what just happened was that only one person was controlling the entire army of undead.
The reason why Illac dared to affirm the other party's identity was the fact that he was facing against undead and not people. In the end, Dark Mages weren't military men. Their genuine might in the battlefield relied on their undead. Only a few Dark Mages would dare study army formations at the same time. After all, shuffling between cultivating magic and studying formations was something near impossible to do.
Most importantly, an undead army doesn't have any low and middle-level officers. The quality of these officers would heavily affect the effectiveness of the army. Some good low and middle-level officers can spot any small change in the battlefield and would make the appropriate adjustments. A commander's word would just act like a guide for these kinds of people, they can already do what was expected of them, and maybe even more.
However, the undead was different. They don't think before they fight, they just do what they were commanded to do. This led to Dark Mages seeing formations as useless in their way of fighting. They might as well let their undead rush the enemies down until one of them prevailed.
Once he had confirmed that the other party was Zhao Hai, Illac couldn't help but feel dread. For Zhao Hai to have the ability to command the undead to this degree was very terrifying to think about. This was something Illac wasn't expecting. At this time, Illac felt that he was fighting against a wise commander and his army, not a Dark Mage and his undead.
Although Illac managed to defend against the opponent's attack, the losses that he had suffered weren't small. Especially during the last encounter, it almost claimed Illac's poor life. Because of this, when Zhao Hai retreated, Illac immediately reformed his cube formation. However, he kept the ball formation ready just in case another attack came in their way.
But even if Illac was being careful, he was still very worried. Not because of the other party, but because of his army's current strength!
The troops that he commanded were all made up of Fishmen, and Fishmen were alive beings. Unlike the undead, these people had limits on how much stress their bodies can handle.
Illac was currently worried about the overall strength of his army. After going through offensive and defensive maneuvers, his army should be quite tired right now. When their strength gets too low, their situation would reach disastrous levels.
Illac didn't quite understand Zhao Hai's purpose of coming today. Why did he come? Did he just want to attack with 1 million undead only to get turned back? How could this be possible? Was Zhao Hai this arrogant?
Zhao Hai and the others were currently inside the Blade Scale Whale. Lizzy's face turned quite ugly as she said, "Big Brother Hai, it seems like this method had already been thought through by the Fishmen. Otherwise, they wouldn't have come up with a response this quickly."
Zhao Hai nodded and said, "Their reaction was indeed very good. But since the Fishmen already knew about this weakness, why haven't they used it now? I'm quite confused about this."
Lizzy sighed and said, "It looks like I failed this time. I didn't think that my formation was already been used before."
Zhao Hai showed a faint smile and said, "That may not be the case. Although the formation seems like it has been used before, it doesn't mean that you can't use it anymore. Since the Fishmen rarely used it, then there should be some shortcomings in the your formation. If you can find solutions to those, then wouldn't you be invincible in the battlefield?"
Lizzy thought for a moment before she nodded and said, "This formation truly has a lot of weak points. I'm going to try and improve it. Megan, let's go."
At this time, Cai'er's voice suddenly came, "Young Master, I've discovered something interesting. Want to take a look?"
Zhao Hai stared, then he nodded and said, "Alright." After he responded, Cai'er changed the monitor's display, showing the image of the Dragon Palace.
Zhao Hai and the others were shaken upon seeing the image. They didn't think that there would be such a large reef. Moreover, the other party was actually able to move it, this was too shocking.
But when the monitor zoomed it, the group discovered something. Naturally, it wasn't the Dragon Palace that Cai'er wanted to show them, but something in the palace instead.
Zhao Hai and the others were still some distance away from the Dragon Palace, so their eyes weren't able to see it. Only through the monitor were they able to see it.
After Cai'er enlarged the image, several people appeared. Zhao Hai couldn't help but stare when he saw these people. He hasn't seen Sea Dragons before, but he had heard about them from Luo Luo.
The reason why the Sea Dragons wore blue robes was because these robes were actually their scales. Dragons normally didn't wear any other clothing, otherwise it would transform along with them.
Because of this, Zhao Hai was sure from Alex's blue robes that he was a Sea Dragon. Moreover, it was certain that his status wasn't very low. This was because all other Sea Dragons were having him as their center.