Chapter 214: One Blow Each

"Don’t be afraid!" Austin drew a deep breath. "They’re Epic troops. A skill with that much power must drain them. They can’t possibly use it more than—"

Hundreds of sword strikes cut through space again.

Another wave of ranged troops fell dead.

Austin stared. Then he roared.

"All forces, attack! Kill Cassian!"

He couldn’t wait any longer. His own archers and mages could fight at range, but their attacks took time to reach the enemy. Across hundreds of meters, much of their power was lost as well. How could they trade volleys with Sword of Space?

The ground rumbled as more than a hundred thousand Rare and Epic troops launched their assault.

Among them moved twelve immense creatures, each more than ten meters tall and dozens of meters long.

Austin’s Legendary troops. Kodo Behemoths.

The pressure rolling from the Kodo Behemoths made many viewers catch their breath.

"Black Hole!"

Six dark vortices appeared between the two armies. They posed little danger to the Behemoths, but Rare troops were dragged off their feet and torn apart in great numbers.

Before the Crown Lords could cheer, Austin threw out a golden scroll.

The pull vanished. The Black Holes remained, but the crushing force that had dragged the enemy into them was gone.

The Beacon Lords burst into cheers.

[I’ve seen that Anti-Gravity Equation on the Worlds Market! Two billion Aether. Absurdly overpriced. Free Will really can afford anything.]

Galen was delighted.

[Galen Tervain: Without Black Hole, those Dragons are just big lizards with their teeth pulled. Enough troops can bury them. And Lord Austin has Kodo Behemoths!]

[Galen Tervain: However strong the Eclipse troops are, they can’t hold off an army of a hundred thousand!]

He had barely finished when the broadcast erupted again.

[What are those troops?]

[How are they doing that? Those Epics look like children in front of them!]

[Legendary! More Legendary troops! And they’re women!]

[Why aren’t those perfect troops mine?]

The Black Banner Lords watched with naked envy. The women’s beauty only made their terrifying strength harder to bear.

[They’re going for the Kodo Behemoths!]

[Legendary against Legendary!]

Tobias alone sounded positively proud.

[Tobias Reed: Those are the boss’s Stormlance Valkyries! I didn’t know they’d become Legendary too. They once took me prisoner!]

On the battlefield, all twelve Stormlance had activated Storm Body. Lightning wrapped them as they tore through the enemy army, leaving blood and broken bodies in their wake. Each headed for a different Behemoth.

A few dozen meters from her target, Sigrid used Thunder Step and rose into the air. She calmly slid both short spears into the harness on her back.

Her body straightened, power running up her spine. Then she drove a fist into the Behemoth’s skull.

A dull boom shook the air.

The impact caved in a patch of its head several meters across and a meter deep. A terrible ripple spread from the dent, running through the monster’s whole body.

It made a thick, choking sound. Blood and brain matter poured from its nose and mouth.

Sigrid’s control of her strength was so precise that the Behemoth took the full force of the blow. Sending an enemy flying hundreds of meters might look impressive, but much of the impact would be spent moving it.

Almost the same scene played out across the battlefield.

Huge bodies struck the ground one after another. They twitched a few times, then lay still.

Kodo Behemoths were formidable Legendary troops. Their bodies were immensely tough, and they could breathe lightning and acidic mist. None of these twelve had even had the chance.

Cassian looked helplessly at Sigrid.

"I told you to make it look close."

She turned toward him, sounding wronged.

"We only used half our strength! If we hadn’t killed them, they would have reached you. Shall we make the next part look closer?"

Cassian had no answer.

One punch to kill a Legendary Behemoth, followed by a hard struggle against Rare and Epic troops?

Who was going to believe that?

Twelve terrifying Legendary beasts, killed almost at once.

Austin stood staring. His troops gazed in horror at the bodies. Even the broadcast seemed frozen, as though everyone watching had been caught by the same spell.

The Stormlance had shown the Province what they could do, and the Province could scarcely take it in.

Ten full seconds passed before anyone found a voice.

"Extreme..." Austin trembled. "Legendary Extreme troops."

The words sent a shock through the audience.

Extreme troops. Every Lord wanted them. Every Lord dreaded meeting them on the other side of a battlefield.

It was an astonishing conclusion, yet nothing else seemed to explain what they had just seen. An Extreme Legendary line could kill a Kodo Behemoth of the same Level with a single blow.

Golden Behemoths. Century Kings. Grand Arcanists. Faerie Dragons. Any of those names could drive a Lord wild with desire.

This Sector had opened little more than three months ago. Cassian already had a whole squad of an Extreme line the Homeworld’s records had never listed.

Suddenly, so much made sense.

[Darian Frost: No wonder he takes every Ranking so easily. No wonder he held through who knows how many waves in the Regional Boundary battle!]

[Darian Frost: He killed more than ninety thousand Lords from two Marches with his own forces. He had these troops all along! The Dragons were there to keep us looking in the wrong direction!]

Elara laughed.

[Elara Vayne: Poor Nine. She’s worked hard for him!]

The Crown Lords cheered. Their enemies in the Black Banner, Beacon League, Dawn Coast, and Sunspire Federation looked as though they were attending a funeral.

Then a red countdown appeared over Austin’s Domain.

[Forced withdrawal: 30... 29...]

He had remembered what happened to Claire and Norell. Without a thought for the hundred thousand troops already outside his Domain, he chose to flee.

His pride?

What was pride worth compared with his life?

The Crown Lords wasted no time mocking him.

[Where’s that arrogant tone now, Austin?]

[What did you expect? The Beacon League values profit over loyalty. Of course he’d run to save himself.]