Chapter 741: Heroes Of New Age

Chapter 741: Heroes Of New Age

Outside the Secret Realm...

While the Sunborn and Aurelius students were busy finding ways to drain the beast’s mana, the semifinals to select the 3rd-ranked academy were underway.

And Azirith was still going strong.

As for the audience, it was as if they were hypnotised by the fight taking place at Oreback Behemoth’s location. Most had even forgotten to blink as the recording orbs continued streaming the battle from different angles.

It was so bad that the stream had to be stopped during the students’ matches so the audience could cheer for them.

"Hey... I’m actually starting to believe that Beasts are capable of destroying entire cities within minutes..." one person said.

"Somehow, the cage-like walled city that I thought was suffocating is starting to feel much safer than venturing out into the forest if we have such beasts roaming around."

"Can’t you see? Even people with god-like abilities are struggling to deal even a tiny bit of damage!"

They looked at the board.

Aurelius Beast Academy: 0.6%

Sunborn Royal Academy: 0.9%

This scoreboard actually displayed the moment right after Leo had delivered the shell-cracking punch.

While some humans cheered, most watched the scene in silence.

And as if watching such a mountain-like beast wasn’t terrifying enough on its own, the host kept adding more fuel to the fire with his commentary, sending shivers down the spines of the faint-hearted.

"Everybody! This is just a glimpse of the kinds of beasts that roam around in the wild!" he exclaimed.

"And while the experts specifically chose a beast incapable of launching any major offensive attacks to make it easier for our rising heroes to gain experience, there are even larger, stronger, and far more aggressive beasts out there!"

The crowd in the stadium fell silent at that.

Apparently, none of the common population of the three races knew much about these things. And even though stories about such creatures circulated in many places, people generally treated them as fairy tales or bedtime stories meant to scare children.

The centuries of living inside walls had made them ignorant.

But now, everything was being displayed right in front of their eyes.

To add further fuel to the fire, random images and short videos started playing on the screens, showing massive beasts destroying entire cities.

One video showed an even larger beast than the Behemoth the students were fighting. It charged up a pulse-like attack before unleashing it upon a large city ahead, incinerating everything in its path with a continuous sweep.

Another beast simply walked straight over a city as if it didn’t even exist.

Yet another video showed a massive humanoid rock titan hurling kilometre-wide rocks at the city centre.

"People, even though it pains us to show you these things, we cannot hide the reality of the world we live in. And this, my friends, is just the surface of it."

However, the host immediately changed his tone.

"But it isn’t as if we can’t do anything about it!"

The next moment, a few more videos started playing, showing numerous humans, elves, and even dragons engaging in fierce battles against these beasts. The final frames of those videos showed the beasts being killed while slowly zooming towards the distant cities which were saved.

Some videos featured individual forces, with only humans, elves, or dragons participating separately. A few rare ones even showed powerful individuals from different races collaborating on excursions.

"As you can see, we have capable defenders doing their best to protect us!"

As the host said that, the eyes of many people, which had grown dull after watching the previous scenes, began to brighten as hope returned to their faces.

"They put their lives on the line so that our fellow people can live in peace! So, let’s not forget that even in this ruthless world, we have people we can always look up to!"

FUCK THIS SHIT! I SOUND LIKE A FREAKING SCAMMER!!

The host was internally cringing so hard that he could barely stand it.

After all, he was actually a 6-star Beast Master himself and clearly knew why and how these powerhouses bothered to deal with such beasts.

It was simply a matter of give and take. The Emperor rewarded them for defending the cities. Without those rewards, 80% of these so-called ’heroes’ wouldn’t have even batted an eye.

Only 20% would be willing to perform noble deeds selflessly.

Actually, 20% was a pretty generous estimate, all things considered.

Nevertheless, the host continued his commentary as the screen immediately shifted back to the students fighting the Oreback Behemoth.

"People! This is how we fight! This is how we struggle every single time to defend you!"

The scene cleverly shifted to Aaron and Yano, who were engaged in a fierce battle against several metallic beasts that had come to defend the Behemoth as the students destroyed their homes on the Behemoth’s back.

The scene even captured Yano’s scrunched-up face as he endured the pain from a wound he’d just received when a large porcupine launched a barrage of spikes at him.

It then showed Plato’s pale face as he struggled with mana exhaustion while healing Yano.

"And fret not! We will always do our best!"

The scene shifted to Leo, who was simultaneously releasing three concentrated beams of [Solarflare Cataclysm — Tier 5]like death rays. They rapidly melted the metallic surface of the Behemoth’s shell, causing the molten metal to flow like liquid.

The same way, dragon scenes were displayed.

The cleverly selected scenes, perfect commentary, and carefully crafted atmosphere created a wave of enthusiasm across the three Empires as the audience began cheering loudly.

Some people even openly started praying and worshipping the students, hoping they would succeed in killing the beasts.

All in all, the plan to present the students of various academies as the heroes of the new age was gaining momentum, and the first step had already been taken.

As for the students from the eliminated academies of Velerath, both Azirith and Elarion’s students were cursing under their breaths at having lost such a great opportunity to gain fame.

"Ahh, damn it! It would’ve been so cool if I were there," Darren said with a sigh, though his eyes remained fixed on Kaelion.

"I wonder if his Royal Lion... I guess it’s Noble now... has advanced enough. I want to challenge him so badly."

And just like that, 10 days passed.

Inside the Secret Realm...

"Leo, look!" Lily excitedly pointed toward the bottom of the beast’s foot.

Previously, the beast had been continuously absorbing earthen matter from the ground through its feet and transferring it across its body. However, the rate at which it absorbed the material had now slowed to a crawl.

They also observed that the metallic reinforcement the beast had been producing had slowed considerably.

But just then, the ground began to shake violently as the beast’s body shook and it started standing.