[Rebel Leader, Lian POV]
I only took all of my non-benders soldiers who had a war mount and elite earth benders who can control the earth proficiency and, with ease, use it as a ride faster than any mount. Most of them are soldiers sent by the Ten Pillars, so even if we are only about a thousand in numbers, we had advantage when it comes to skill. I could have brought all of my army with me, but we have to arrive there fast and start the offensive as soon as possible since it will be another tough battle if they manage to secure it. The rest of my forces are only for reinforcements and will probably arrive around a few days, there won't be fighting when they arrive since their job was to strongly secure it after my victory. My army is greatly weakened after I intentionally sacrificed most of it, so I doubted there were still rebels left in those locations where the Earth Kingdom attacked.
My army was spread thin, and even if we manage to secure all supply routes, there won't be any resistance if Fire Nation or Earth Kingdom sent a attack. That's within my plan, but I didn't expect them to immediately respond quickly and strongly, even Li was surprised by the development. I couldn't help but inwardly sigh. I wasn't fit to be a leader, and it was proving to be true—intelligence was needed in my position, but I only have strength with me. Li was here to fill that gap, but it's still not enough. Even though we received great support from the Ten Pillars, it still wasn't enough for us to hold against two massive kingdoms. It seems that they don't want to support us too much, as that would reveal themselves and their goals on the surface.
"How close are we?" I said, eyeing Li.
"We are close to another supply route where there's a big camp of our soldiers stationed there," Li said. "We still have a long way to go, but it won't take us a day to arrive there."
Just then, I sensed a person was approaching us underground. Due to us also quickly moving towards it, we met quickly. He revealed himself to be a messenger under Huan, and he said that a smaller force had separated from the main army that was sent by the Earth Kingdom and was now heading towards the supply route closest to us. He said that their numbers were about a thousand and composed mostly of Earth Benders. I know that the soldiers that I intentionally stationed in that location only have earth benders that could be counted by hand, so I doubted they would be able to fight against the army that was heading towards them. Looks like that general was pretty prepared for this, he intentionally chose the location where it would take me a long time to arrive and intentionally sent another army to create another supply path for them.
We will have to cut a part of our group to hold that territory again, but I won't do that. I have confidence in my strength, but I can't afford to cut my army even a little when I'm very close to fighting a much larger army with only a fraction of all of my forces.
"Li, send a messenger to our forces at the back to station another unit of soldiers once we secure that location once again," I said. "Tell them to station a unit of our earth benders instead of non-benders."
Li nodded and did what I ordered. Soon we started moving again, using the earth as our mount. It didn't take us long at that location, and, as I thought, the Earth Kingdom army was there cleaning up ground from the rocks and the bodies of my soldiers. They hadn't noticed us yet, so I immediately attacked. I raised my hand, it felt heavy, but I managed to do so. Then hundreds of spikes rose from the ground beneath the Earth Kingdom soldiers and pierced their bodies, killing hundreds instantly.
"Attack!" I shouted.
The rest of my forces started attacking. The non-benders raised their weapons and moved their ostrich horse mounts towards the Earth Kingdom soldiers, while the Earth Benders started shooting stones, spikes, and boulders from long range. The Earth Kingdom army managed to finally react and also started their retaliation.
I focused my attention on one man who was standing there with a dark expression, blood was splashed on his face, and he was looking at me directly. Due to him wearing the only unique suit out of many, I knew instantly that he was the highest-ranking individual in their army.
"Why are you guys doing this?" he said while looking at the heart-shaped wood in his hand. "I don't understand, we are born on the same land yet you guys are supporting people born from different lands. You people want to be free from noble powers? Don't give me that crap! You people just want to see the destruction of this Kingdom!"
The man then proceeded to bury his foot deep underground, using his bender to create a wide pillar. He then pushed it towards me with all his strength. The wide pillar rammed many of my soldiers—benders or not—and they weren't able to stop it, leading to their deaths.
"You people won't understand," I said, closing my eyes.
I tensed all the muscles in my body and buried my foot deep in the ground. When the wide pillar finally approached me, I split it in half by punching it. Then, I counterattacked by controlling the ground beneath the man and enveloping him with earth, never letting him bend or even move. Then, I opened my hands and closed them, making spikes around the man and piercing him with them. Blood flowed out of his mouth as his eyes lost the determination they had, as well as their life.
Soon, the tides of the battles turned against the Earth Kingdom Army, and soon there were only a few soldiers left from the other side. Just then, I received another report from Li. He said that my army at the back had just been attacked a few hours ago by another army from the Earth Kingdom led by another general. I doubted that my main army would win that, so I sent Li together with a hundred more Earth Benders to lead the fight. I couldn't help but frown inwardly. It seems that the lack in quantity and quality of my army is starting to show its disadvantage more and more.
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