"Kill!!"
A soldier raised his longsword and thrust it into a suit of armor, penetrating half an inch deep.
In the next instant, a blade swung from the side and severed his head.
The moment his corpse hit the ground, the soldier who had killed him was cut down by someone else.
Chaos reigned across the battlefield, with similar scenes playing out everywhere.
Three distinct factions formed three concentric circles.
The outermost ring consisted of ordinary citizens, most of whom lacked any actual combat ability.
Facing the soldiers' armor, they did not even have the means to pierce it.
Their kitchen cleavers and improvised tools could do little more than leave faint scratches on the steel.
Then, they were cut down.
In less than ten minutes, hundreds of civilians had already been slaughtered, their bodies piling up in pools of blood.
The middle ring was the coalition army of the nobles, numbering over fifteen thousand men.
Well equipped and well trained, they fought both the inner and outer circles simultaneously.
Finally, there was the inner circle where Luo Li stood, consisting of fewer than a thousand men.
As the battle grew more intense, this inner circle began to shrink.
Gaps left by the fallen were filled by those behind them, but they were inevitably forced to retreat.
Luo Li stood calmly at the very center of the circle, right by the execution platform.
The Moon Banner stood tall, planted firmly in the earth.
The bright moon hanging overhead allowed everyone to see the young girl clearly without the need for torches.
Her long silver hair shimmered with faint light under the moonbeams.
Her crimson eyes scanned every corner of the battlefield.
The fighting continued, and from the outside, shouts of "For the Saintess! For the Kingdom of the Moon!" occasionally rang out.
Though it was perhaps inappropriate to think about it now, she could tell from those words that someone was deliberately guiding and inciting the crowd.
Under normal circumstances, ordinary people would be in a state of panic and confusion when faced with such a situation.
No one had ever experienced such a massive event, and a dazed reaction would have been the most natural response.
But this time was different.
It was clear that the middle aged man who had first stepped forward was guiding and inflaming the people's emotions, to the point where they had taken up arms to defend her.
Luo Li did not know who the man was, but she was still grateful to him.
If not for the citizens in the outer ring diverting a portion of the enemy's strength, she would have struggled to hold on even if she used every trick up her sleeve.
One of the most critical issues was that her abilities provided percentage based buffs.
When used among a powerful army, the effect was no different from giving everyone a shot of adrenaline, resulting in a visible explosion of combat power.
It wasn't that the army became invincible because of her, but rather that a strong army could exert even greater power with her support.
However, a weaker army was a completely different story.
The thousand men brought by Lord Byron and the fifteen thousand brought by the other nobles were all regular soldiers who had undergone strict training, but their strength was mostly below level ten.
Everyone's attributes were just slightly above average, with most stats ranging between five and eight.
Some of the physically stronger ones might reach between six and nine, but it was almost impossible for them to exceed ten.
Her Brilliant Protection could only increase those numbers by twenty percent.
In other words, for the strongest man in this army, the buff would only add two points at most.
Even if all five attributes were added together, the total increase would be no more than ten points.
If she were buffing a level thirty individual, the attribute points alone would increase by over a hundred, not to mention the other bonuses.
Therefore, although she had released Brilliant Protection, its impact remained limited.
While it could turn a regular army into an elite army for a short period, it still couldn't reach the level of true powerhouses.
Knight level existences were not something you could just have whenever you wanted.
The number of people in the entire Kingdom of the Moon who could be classified as knights was only a few tens of thousands out of a population of hundreds of millions.
In Luo Li's eyes, the soldiers before her were essentially just amateurs flailing at each other, hardly worth her notice.
After all, she had witnessed the battle between the Dragon King, the Beast Sovereign, and the Demon Emperor.
Compared to that, this little scuffle was nothing.
Without real strength, they couldn't stir up any significant wind or rain.
It was like trying to stir a cauldron with a toothpick—she felt absolutely nothing.
Tsk. A bunch of trash.
Unfortunately, it seemed she was also a member of this trash.
But compared to them, Luo Li's level had at least reached sixteen.
So, she wasn't just ordinary trash; she was elite trash... wait, what was she thinking?!
Now was not the time for such thoughts! She needed to focus on how to survive.
Luo Li really wanted to crack open her own skull to see what was inside, wondering how she could still be daydreaming in the middle of a battlefield.
Was it really because her way of thinking had changed after becoming a woman?
Men and women had different physical structures, different physiologies, and different ways their brains functioned.
A male brain's way of working tended to be singular and auxiliary, with the left and right hemispheres acting as a primary and a secondary processor, leading to a more calm and decisive way of thinking.
In contrast, a female brain functioned with both hemispheres working simultaneously.
However, this meant that logic and emotion, which should have been handled separately, were processed at the same time.
Since it was difficult for one train of thought to clarify everything, women were more prone to falling into confusion.
When faced with danger, a man's thought process would be: 'There is danger. Fight or hide.' Then, he would choose decisively.
A woman's thought process would be: 'There is danger. I'm so scared. Should I fight? What if I get hurt? Should I hide? What if I can't hide in time? Will it hurt? There's danger, stop overthinking, I'm so scared, should I fight...'
It was a recurring cycle.
The left and right brains each expressed their own opinions, neither yielding to the other, effectively fighting with themselves.
Then came the confusion. The brain didn't stop working, but the consciousness did, unable to process the sheer volume of information from both sides.
This was why women's immediate reactions in abnormal situations were sometimes not as quick as men's.
However, this also brought great advantages in other areas, such as attention to detail.
Because both sides of the brain operated at once, they thought about more things, leading to more details being considered.
Since men tended toward singular thinking, they were very focused, but sometimes they would forget one thing while doing another.
A woman's thinking was more comprehensive; the left brain could handle part of the task at hand while the right brain was already considering how to do the next thing, and she might even have the spare mental capacity to indulge in some internal gossip.
So, was her thinking now starting to develop in a more feminine direction?
But why was she still able to be so decisive now? Was it possible that in her case, it wasn't one or the other, but rather both combined?
As her gaze scanned the surroundings, her mind constantly judged the situation on the battlefield.
What to do, how to do it, what dangers would come next, and where the greatest threat lay—all this information was instantly summarized, analyzed, and decided upon.
It was so fast that even she found it hard to believe.
The current situation was indeed terrible.
A thousand men against fifteen thousand. Although space was limited and the actual ratio of combatants couldn't reach one to fifteen, it was still at least one to three or four.
One person had to face three to four enemies simultaneously.
The battle was chaotic and difficult to sustain.
Luo Li furrowed her brow as a sudden idea popped into her head.
Though it was a last minute desperate measure that might even make things worse, she had no other choice.
"Lord Byron."
"I am here, Your Highness! Should we leave?"
Seeing the situation worsen, Byron grew increasingly anxious.
He didn't want to die here. He had come specifically to avoid death, so how had he ended up on the verge of dying anyway?
This Saintess was truly a blockhead. Why couldn't she just be more flexible?
As the saying goes, a great man knows when to yield. Couldn't she just endure for a bit?
As long as she survived, her loyal knights and her connections would be enough to completely crush these insolent nobles.
He grew more frustrated as he watched the situation deteriorate to the point where retreat would soon be impossible.
Finally, Her Highness spoke.
At the thought that he might live, Byron's eyes nearly beamed with excitement.
"We aren't leaving. How many men did you bring, and how are they divided?"
"Four squads, with two hundred and fifty men in each."
Two hundred and fifty? What a lovely number.
"You really are a dimwit."
Lord Byron was stunned for a moment and scratched the back of his head, not quite understanding what she meant, but he still lowered his head with a grin.
"Thank you for the compliment, Your Highness!"
Compliment, my foot!
"I am taking command of the troops!"
Without waiting for Lord Byron to respond, Luo Li issued her orders directly.
"Everyone, listen to my command! Squads one and two, retreat! Squads three and four, form a circular defensive formation!!"
The girl's voice wasn't loud, but it acted like a stabilizing force, boosting everyone's morale.
They quickly obeyed and began to move accordingly.
The previously chaotic troops began to stabilize.
Seeing this, Byron quickly followed suit and shouted, "The Saintess has given the order! Squads one and two, retreat! Squads three and four, form a circle! Move, move, move!!"
It had to be said that these troops truly were family retainers, as the orders were communicated perfectly.
This also indirectly showed how much importance the nobles placed on their private armies.
Soon, squads one and two had fully retreated to the inner ring, while only squads three and four remained on the outside.
"Everyone, listen to my orders! When I say retreat, you retreat! When I say strike, you strike! When I say advance, you advance!"
Byron quickly repeated her words at the top of his lungs.
Izzy and Hubert also joined in, shouting together.
"Squads three and four, move behind squads one and two and stand by!"
The formation shifted rapidly, and the shouting from Luo Li and her companions caused a brief moment of confusion among the noble soldiers.
Few people would issue direct tactical commands in the heat of battle.
This left many enemy soldiers dazed, unable to tell for a moment whether the orders were coming from Luo Li's side or their own.
Question marks popped up in the minds of the noble soldiers.
However, Luo Li had no time to worry about them and focused on the flow of the battlefield.
Although chaos remained, at least the majority of the soldiers Lord Byron had brought were beginning to follow her commands.
"Squads three and four, retreat two steps! Squads one and two, weave through and advance! Target the enemy—strike!!"
In the next second, the squad of several hundred men stepped back as one, while the soldiers standing by in the rear moved forward almost instinctively upon hearing the command.
Squads three and four stepped back.
Squads one and two emerged directly from the gaps between their comrades, raising their swords to slash!
Clang!
The sound this time was not particularly clear, but it still drew the attention of many on the battlefield.
Luo Li ignored everything else and issued another command.
"Squads one and two, retreat one step! Squads three and four, weave through with swords raised! Target the enemy—strike!!"
Some enemy soldiers were caught completely off guard by the sudden appearance of blades, falling before they could even react.
The other Stuart soldiers, seeing this, suddenly understood what they needed to do.
Following the crowd—one of the most basic human instincts—functioned more effectively now than ever before.
Imitating their comrades, the Stuart soldiers instinctively understood the purpose of this formation and integrated themselves into it.
Even if some of the units were disorganized, they at least knew enough to stand with their comrades and advance or retreat together.
They did what their companions did without needing a single word.
In such a moment, action was the most appropriate language.
"Retreat two steps, weave through and strike!"
"Ha!"
Someone among the soldiers shouted, and his companions nearby immediately learned the trick.
"Strike! Retreat!"
As the entire troop's proficiency grew higher and higher, Luo Li no longer even needed to call out the squad numbers.
Everyone understood what their next move should be.
Only two words were needed: strike or retreat.
And that original shout of "Ha!" suddenly gained a rhythm.
With the word "strike" leaving their lips, the advancing soldiers let out a synchronized shout of "Ha!"
Then, while the enemy was still confused, they struck with their swords, retreated, and struck again!
The once chaotic battlefield was now dominated by the rhythmic shouts of "Strike! Retreat!"
The once shrinking circle had ground to a halt.
By the time Aubrey realized something was wrong, over two thousand men had already been cut down at the outer edge of this circular formation.
The corpses of soldiers lay scattered across the ground in every direction.
His gaze passed through the soldiers and landed on the young girl who was constantly issuing orders.
Even as an enemy, he couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration.
A young girl, in such a moment of crisis, could actually integrate her troops, issue precise orders, and judge what was most beneficial for the battlefield.
With just the two short words "Strike! Retreat!" she could make an entire troop suddenly burst forth with power they hadn't possessed before.
She truly was the person who had repelled a hundred thousand demons with only five thousand knights.
She was a genius of war.
It was a pity. If this Saintess hadn't targeted the nobles from the very beginning, they might not have become enemies.
But now, it was too late for such thoughts.
Aubrey took a deep breath, feeling a moment of regret, but he knew what had to be done.
He turned to look at the man beside him who had been observing the army's movements.
"It is time to act. If we delay any longer, things might go wrong."
"Understood."
As he spoke, the man looked up toward Luo Li's position and took a bow and arrow from his back.
The arrowhead was aimed straight at the girl.
However, just as the arrow was about to be released, the sky suddenly brightened.
The man's pupils constricted violently as he jerked his bow upward and fired into the sky.
The arrow collided with a fireball, instantly triggering a massive shockwave!
Whoosh—Boom!!
"Lord Aubrey, such a sneak attack seems... somewhat unbecoming of your noble status."
"Vincent?"
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