075 Fight On, Young Maiden!

Outside the sealed chamber, the armies of humans and magical beasts were locked in fierce combat. Though the human forces had been hastily assembled, thanks to Li Yi’s measured command, mutual trust, and seamless cooperation, the casualties—while seemingly severe—had not resulted in many actual deaths.

In contrast, the magical beast army, despite their longstanding formation, found themselves at a disadvantage in every respect. As for timing, they had been forced into battle at this very moment; in terms of terrain, they fought in the unfamiliar palace of the human king; and as for unity, they were surrounded on all sides by human soldiers—hardly surprising, given that they were waging war on foreign soil.

It was, in every sense, a string of misfortunes.

Lance and Sang Qing, having failed to locate the prime minister, had joined the fray as well. After all, their ultimate goal was to reclaim the palace, and whether that meant capturing the ringleader or slaying every last foe made little difference.

On the battlefield, Sang Qing was every bit the equal of any armored soldier—charging with unmatched ferocity, utterly forgetting that he wore only a light, flexible cuirass. Lance stayed close behind, deftly dispatching stragglers and intercepting hidden threats, entirely forgetting his usual role as a long-range mage.

Li Yi stood at the rear, observing the battle with a calm, inscrutable gaze. In recent years, he had preferred this detached vantage to joining the fray himself. As a general—or even a marshal—what mattered most was to grasp the flow of battle, not merely to be swept along by it. To use one’s mind rather than one’s hands: this was a lesson he wondered if his daughter would ever truly understand. The thought of his wife and daughter, whose fates were still uncertain, made him furrow his brow ever so slightly.

Though outwardly chaotic, the conflict was in fact unfolding according to a hidden order, with casualties remaining within his calculated bounds. No major, unpredictable clashes had yet occurred. Everything now depended on when the magical beasts’ commander would arrive—only then could the final act of this palace drama truly begin.

As Li Yi kept watch for the enemy’s leadership, a sudden and violent burst of light erupted from the direction of the royal bedchamber. The beam seemed to shoot straight upward from underground, brilliant white, filled with fragments of earth and shattered palace walls. The sheer, unfamiliar force of the energy stunned everyone in the midst of battle.

Lance was the quickest to recover. No sooner had a second passed than he grabbed Sang Qing’s arm, his voice quivering with urgency. “Where is she?”

“Could she still be in the king’s quarters?” Sang Qing, caught off guard by Lance’s rare lapse of composure, found his mind blank, and responded instinctively with a vague answer.

But Lance had no time to dwell on Sang Qing’s uncertainty. Shaking free, he scanned the surroundings in desperation, trying to confirm her whereabouts.

Seeing the strange magical light and Lance’s obvious distress, Li Yi’s thoughts immediately leapt to the task he had entrusted to her earlier.

Could something truly have gone wrong with the king?

Li Yi’s expression hardened, and a command—unyielding as steel—was swiftly relayed from the “Human vs. Magical Beast Joint Command.” Once the front-line soldiers received it, the battle erupted with renewed intensity. This time, the humans launched the main assault, abandoning their prior strategy of a slow, unified advance in favor of a bold, localized offensive.

“Secure the royal bedchamber at any cost—whatever that mysterious energy is, we cannot let the enemy get to it first. And judging from Lance’s reaction, that power may well become our greatest asset in the battle to come,” Li Yi declared.