After defeating Sasar, Brand led the refugees to continue heading south. About an hour and a half later, they attacked another Undead Army, replicating the previous victory, and the refugees’ group maneuvered through the second to third layers of Madara’s search line.
They faced the nets formed by the three columns of Diren, Gulob, and Leidios in front, while the hills were covered by the Skeleton Army behind them. It seemed dangerous, but in reality, they enjoyed a delicate balance, like the calmness in the eye of the typhoon.
Although combat inevitably caused casualties, Brand’s plan continued to be effective.
Manoeuvring south of the Deer Hunting Hills, the Madara Undead Army quickly discovered a huge problem — the refugee group that should have been surrounded by them seemed to have vanished like it had grown wings. When the ’Dead Maggot’ Magus and Albton, Weisa converged, they headed south to merge with Gulob, Diren, and Leidios — but after scouring the area, they still couldn’t find the refugees who supposedly fled into Silver Sparrow Mountain.
Could the intelligence be wrong?
As a deceitful commander, Magus never believed in luck. It immediately speculated whether the group was hiding in a valley, waiting for the Undead Army to sweep over the hills.
Magus immediately ordered all Undead Armies in the area to release all scouts and search once more around the convergence point, ensuring to find the refugee group.
But as the scouts were deployed, the Madara ’Obsidian’ Corps’ seventeenth column commander Gulob quickly realized he lost track of a squad, led by Black Knight Sasar, as if they had vanished. Before he figured out what happened, the twelfth column commander Diren had also encountered the same confusion.
Soon they both realized a mysterious army might have silently breached their encirclement and circled behind them—
But how did this happen? How could a group of one to two thousand escape from the nets formed by numerous scouts? If it were luck, that would be too good to be true.
However, they dared not delay, and immediately reported this to Magus. The ’Dead Maggot’ was furious upon hearing this and nearly smashed the scroll case containing the battle map onto their faces.
It almost pointed at their noses and cursed them: "You worthless trash! The third batch of graduates from Bulomando Black Rose Academy are all maggots! Get out of my sight immediately!"
Gulob and Diren didn’t dare to retort, retreating with shame. Then Magus calmed down, summoned Albton and Weisa, and ordered the Undead Army to spread out on both wings, preventing the refugees from circling out of the encirclement.
Next, it issued a second command, instructing the other three column commanders to search in reverse direction backward. Although it looked down on Madara’s new dark nobles, just like it despised the dim-witted Kabais, it now had to rely on their strength.
This was ultimately Madara’s new strength—
It only worried whether it had reacted too late.
But in fact, Brand had just passed behind the second squad of ’Blood Witch’ Leidios, trailing about three miles behind the third squad.
His plan differed slightly from Magus’s expectations.
Brand galloped past the sides of the refugees’ group, signaling the key members among the mounted refugees and loudly instructing them to turn back. His action wasn’t surprising, as Brand had done this several times to help refugees avoid Madara’s Undead Scout Cavalry.
When those key members saw Sir Knight, they instinctively ordered the refugees in their areas to turn around. But some clever ones approached flatteringly and asked, "Lord, did you spot those monsters’ scout cavalry ahead again?"
"No, you turn them north, discard everything except food, water, and weapons, we need to prepare for accelerated advance." Brand replied from atop his horse.
His words shocked them greatly, north? Isn’t that where Madara’s main army is? They had barely escaped from that direction, why return?