Time passed and a few hours went by without much activity. Sam looked at the troops on both sides and watched as they moved towards the city.
When the fiend troops arrived at the second trap and crossed it without triggering anything, the rear troops already reached the third trap.
They started going crazy and this time, the young lady didn't have any other choice other than sending the spare beasts of the troops first to check the traps, they lost too much in the first two even though they had the scrolls and they felt like they prepared enough.
She also kept on recording the results of the first two traps to send back to the city.
But this time, she couldn't help but feel her throat run dry when they reached the third trap. The details of the third trap are written in blood on the scroll and she knew that everyone died after this. So, he wanted the spare beasts to test the situation out.
But after a few minutes, she saw the beasts attacking each other and eating each other alive, most of the beasts died and the few beasts that are too weak to move around and eat each other, started gnawing on the rocks and the soil.
She couldn't help but feel like a chill has run through her spine.
But Sam who is back in the city couldn't help but frown at this.
Even though the traps recharge with time, there is no way they would be able to recharge within seconds, they need to make sure that there is some extra time between each activation so that they can have enough energy.
But the troops already arrived and for the canyon, this is already the second activation. He is afraid that the third activation wouldn't be as powerful if the cultivators just followed these beasts, even an hour or two might not be enough to gather enough energy.
In fact, even the third activation might not be powerful enough to completely stop the rest of the troops if it happens immediately.
The young lady seemed to hesitate though. After all, the situation with the beasts is too cruel and dangerous, she didn't want to take the risk.
But she looked through the scroll and went through the process in which the beasts went crazy.
She thought of something and decided to test it out.
She looked at her personal guards and said.
"We are going in, you guys are going to follow me and keep on following my orders inside, do not do anything other than what I say no matter how much urge you have to do it."
The guards nodded without question.
So, she went in with her forty personal guards and they ran at full speed.
The rest of the forces are standing back and waiting for something to happen. They are nervous and anxious, but their expected consequence didn't come, instead, they just slowed down a bit as they felt the thirst.
But the core disciple looked at her personal guards sternly and said.
"Do not, drink anything. Hold the thirst it. It is just an illusion. It is just an illusion."
She kept on yelling as she led her troops, her personal guards who almost went for their gourds stopped their actions and just kept on running and soon they are hit by the rest of the curses, the itch, the hunger, and even the hallucinations.
But every time, it happened, she controlled her own urge with a lot of effort and she went on with giving the command to the rest of the guards.
Since the guards are absolutely loyal to her and listen to their every command, they didn't dare give in to their urges. In fact, Sam is a little surprised by this, even though he couldn't hear every detail because the surveillance is capturing this from far away, he could understand what she is doing and he was shocked by how efficient her method is.
One has to understand that he created this Cursed Canyon to make the beasts and the contractors kill each other and he succeeded the first time. A bond that wouldn't let harm each other no matter what, was broken that easily in this canyon, but these people managed to cross the canyon in a way that Sam couldn't even fathom.
Their bond is so much stronger than the bond between a contracted beast and the cultivator whose lives are linked together.
For a person to harbor such loyalty towards others, it is not an easy thing to do.
He couldn't help admire this young lady for a moment.
But Sam is a bit troubled after the young lady and her troops crossed the formation.
Because, this counts for the third activation of the canyon, but since there are not many people in the third activation it didn't take a lot of energy and maybe a fourth one will be possible, but it wouldn't be as effective. It would take at least a few hours for the recharge and the troops could cross it freely. This is exactly what he was worried about.
But luckily, the forces didn't know this and they didn't dare to cross the canyon directly. Sam is really hoping that the formation masters that came with them couldn't notice this.
They could only wait.
But the next thing that happened surprised Sam.
The young lady is looking at her personal guards and went to each one of them to ask about their experience in the canyon.
She started documenting all of them rapidly to get a quick comparison, after she was done, she looked back at the forces on the other side and then at the guards.
"We are going to the other side once again. I will be giving orders to you again. This time, each one of you will be carrying two people and no matter how much they try to wiggle out of your grips and how much they try to cry and yell and say something to convince you, you shouldn't be leaving them until we cross the canyon again."
The guards nodded and she led them back.
The fourth activation Sam has worried about happened and the guards listened to her orders and more than half of the troops were picked up.
Halfway back through the canyon, suddenly the lady realized that she is not feeling the hallucinations anymore.
But she didn't think too much and just felt that the continuous moving around made her immune to it.
They crossed the canyon in fifteen minutes and dropped off the troops there who felt a bit dizzy, but still alright.
They went back into the canyon to get back and pick up the remaining people. But once again halfway through, she suddenly looked at her guards and asked.
"Do you feel the hallucinations?"
All the guards shook her head and she suddenly thought of something. She ran towards the remaining troops and asked.
"One of you come here."
They all exchanged glances, but no one dared to move. She pointed at one and asked them to come.
The soldier reluctantly came forward and she dragged him into the canyon and asked questions based on the scroll.
"Do you feel thirsty?"
"No."
"Itch?"
"N.. No."
"Any hunger or hallucinations?"
"No."
The soldier shook his head and the lady had her eyes brightened. She immediately yelled at the remaining troops.
"The energy of the formation ran dry, come fast."
The troops were reluctant but they still moved forward and soon they were relieved that they are feeling everything.
Sam who is looking at the screen the whole time, felt a bit down. But he is not extremely disappointed and just looked at the front-end troops they are currently waiting as they wanted to recuperate.
It would take around an hour or so for them to come to the city.
Before that, the troops from Rear city will arrive.
Sam looked at Noah and said.
"It seems like we need to prepare for battle. How about some surprise attacks at the gate?"
"Let's go."
With that, they went to the city gate and started placing some basic traps.
"You know, if only you had let me use those liquid energy cells, we wouldn't have had to do this at all. The formations wouldn't have run out of energy and we could be at complete ease with the situation."
"Stop complaining and just do this. It is not like you don't have other tricks up your sleeve."
"Of course, I have many, but the problem is they are unsuitable to use here."
"Why?"
"It would be an overkill."
Noah looked at him as he placed down a few formation flags near the gate.
He just threw one flag after another to different positions and left.
They went back and took up some hidden positions to launch the first attack.
Soon, the lady and the troops reached the gates. They are obviously no guards at the gate and they directly came in.
