Chapter 64: The Distraction of War

Before his words even faded, You was the first to act.

A grey magical radiance swirled around You’s body, and formidable power surged outwards from within him.

With such a “living example” to follow, the remaining three, still somewhat dazed, each raised their weapons and unleashed their magic.

As the powers of the four intertwined and merged, thunderbolts streaked over the heads of the soldiers forming the defensive line, assaulting them from afar.

The air before the four erupted with a deafening crack under the oppressive force of the lightning.

Even the ground a short distance away was violently torn open, revealing a deep chasm.

Boom! Boom!

The dull-colored thunderbolts, as if carrying storm clouds, swept forth and rapidly descended, directly hammering the four locked targets.

Thousands of lightning bolts descended, causing a brilliant golden light to erupt even further.

Simultaneously, the four worked in unison, conjuring a magical barrier with all their might to withstand the instantly arriving lightning.

As the deadly attack struck, the space at the point of impact vibrated subtly, and the void rippled outwards like the surface of water.

From a superficial glance, as the thunderbolts slammed down, the four figures seemed to be mercilessly “swallowed” amidst a shifting play of light.

An unyielding lightning storm then swept across the entire battlefield, sending the soldiers, whose formations were already tattered, scattering in disarray without exception.

Wang looked up the very next second her body returned to the ground, just as a shattering sound echoed from that direction.

The fierce glare of the lightning had raged for a moment before finally beginning to dissipate.

Once her vision was no longer obscured, Wang clearly saw the state of the area.

The pockmarked ground was secondary; Wang’s true concern lay with the four individuals commanding the enemy forces.

The three Legion Commanders had not only been forced back, but now lay sprawled inelegantly across the ground, either face down or supine. Only You remained precariously standing.

This was solely because You had reached the “Semi-Overlord” tier (akin to a Semi-World-Ender), which spared him the same disheveled state as his three companions.

Overall, You had also heavily relied on the strength of his three comrades.

Otherwise, if he had faced that tyrannical lightning assault head-on, it wouldn’t have been just the magic barrier that shattered, but him as well.

At that point, even if You hadn’t died, he would have undoubtedly been crippled.

The three Legion Commanders felt deceived. Their recent experience was completely different from what You, their “strategist,” had claimed.

“Didn’t you say the Demon Leader wasn’t skilled in ‘ranged combat’?” one of them, with lighter injuries, demanded as he stood up, brushing off his tattered clothes. “Why, just a moment ago, were we almost wiped out by an attack from dozens of meters away?”

Although the accusation was utterly brainless, You truly had no grounds for defense.

During the early to mid-stages of the war, You had only seen Wang fight with weapons, leading him to neglect his guard and assume she was exclusively a close-quarters combatant.

What You failed to anticipate was that Wang had deliberately concealed her ultimate moves, waiting for an opportunity like the one that just passed to catch them off guard.

Now, the scales of “war” were tipping ever more precariously.

Even if the four individuals commanding the army hadn’t been killed in the recent attack,

Still!

If they were to endure another terrifying lightning strike, it was highly probable that one of them would be “promoted” to a martyr.

After all, even multiplying their numbers by three, individuals with only “Life-and-Death” tier strength would still largely rely on luck to block “World-Ender” tier power.

Wang had already returned to the ground, and the scattered allied soldiers across the battlefield could, for a time, leverage their numerical superiority to hold her back.

However, the time gained was extremely limited. Moreover, Wang was now close enough to You and the others.

If she waited just a few more minutes, gathering enough elemental energy to unleash another round of lightning attacks, she could undoubtedly eliminate all four of them.

Alternatively, she could spend another ten minutes felling the obstructing enemy soldiers in droves, then charge sword-in-hand deep into the allied army’s formation, resolving her objectives through close-quarters combat.

Whichever tactical plan she chose, You’s defeat was already sealed.

There was only one caveat:

The advantage Wang currently held was predicated on the entire enemy force consistently facing her alone.

If the demons who had retreated to the far rear were factored in, the situation might not be so certain…

As she resisted enemies outnumbering her by tens of thousands, a sudden unease stirred within Wang.

This unease was, in essence, fear, yet it felt incredibly strange.

Even when she had sent her family to safety and gone alone to face an army of 300,000, not a single flicker of fear had touched her heart.

But what was this terrible feeling now?

At this point, on this battlefield, there shouldn’t be any danger potent enough to threaten her.

Even as Wang repeatedly reassured herself, the hollow sensation, as if her heart had been gouged out, spread uncontrollably within her, like the encroaching darkness after dusk.

It was as if a bottomless vortex was swirling out from within her, consuming her entire being.

The soldiers battling their terrifying opponent were astonished to suddenly realize:

‘Their opponent’s speed had slowed!’

How unbelievable.

Just a short while ago, when facing that sharp longsword, even at their fastest, the soldiers couldn’t track its lethal trajectory, let alone find a way to survive its edge.

But now?

Wang’s speed was still too fast for the soldiers to follow with their eyes, yet the sword that had claimed countless comrades’ lives no longer guaranteed a kill with every strike.

Some agile soldiers, overjoyed, narrowly managed to dodge the sword’s blade.

Such an outcome once or twice might be coincidence, but with increasing frequency, it couldn’t be explained by pure luck.

A few clever soldiers, a sudden thought sparking in their minds, vaguely surmised a possibility:

It wasn’t that their own speed had suddenly increased, nor was it that their opponent was forced to slow her sword due to exhaustion.

Perhaps there was only one answer: on this brutal battlefield, the humanoid monster that the soldiers both resented and feared—

‘—was actually distracted!’

This unexpected development was nothing short of a miracle for the soldiers.

A wave of joy spread through the army’s ranks, causing their plummeting morale to recover somewhat.

You gazed at this subtle shift on the battlefield, his expression morphing from gloomy to sinister, his upturned lips appearing even more cruel than before.

“It seems the Demon Leader has noticed something… but it’s too late! The moment she harbored unnecessary attachments, the victor between us was already sealed.”

Wang could not hear You’s triumphant laughter.

The distracted maiden, however, caught a subsequent sound with only her ears.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The source of the massive explosions came from far behind them, from what was supposed to be the safe zone.

‘It’s the place where everyone is staying!’

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