Chapter 261: A Painful Comparison

"Arcane Arrow!"

"Twin Star Burst!"

"Whirling Axes!"

"Bloodboil Spear!"

"Call of the Wild!"

"Serpent Ward!"

A dazzling storm of skills poured down from the walls.

A Rank-XIII Domain measured more than a kilometer across. Roughly two hundred were enough to form a defensive ring around the Five Elements Temple. Those on the outside had all taken the Fortress path and occupied fortress sites, making their defenses stronger still.

The line of Domains stood like a great dam against the flood of beasts.

A few fortresses caught Cassian’s eye. Pale barriers enclosed them from end to end. Ordinary Elemental Beasts could do little more than dent the light before it sprang back.

"Barriers? Some of them have already reached Rank XIV..."

Roars shook the battlefield.

Twelve Golden Behemoths leaped a hundred meters into the air and crashed down among the monsters. They did not even need Blood Boil. Every sweep of their immense claws sent blood and torn bodies flying.

Elara’s Dwarf corps stood like a wall of steel at the front, her surviving Hill King fighting alongside the Storm Guardians.

Nessa’s thirty-six Legendary knights drove back and forth through the horde as though nothing could stop them. Annihilation Orbs appeared among the beasts, clearing whole patches of ground for her Light-and-Dark Templars.

Seraphine, Lyra, Dain, and the other leading Warbound Lords were more fearsome still. In personal combat, they surpassed even the Golden Behemoths.

[They’re so strong! Divine Province’s Lords are incredible!]

[No wonder Lord Darian put them in the center of the front line. Fewer than thirty of them!]

Champions from the other Provinces watched in shock.

[I was wrong earlier. They aren’t just stronger than us. They’re far stronger.]

[Watching the broadcasts, I never understood how great the gap was.]

[And every one of them follows Cassian...]

Someone shouted and pointed upward.

"Look at the formation!"

Cassian raised his head.

Tongues of flame, sword energy, and streams of poisonous water shot from the Five Elements Formation, killing the approaching flyers. Even the strongest monsters that escaped those attacks lost their way. They circled helplessly through the sky several kilometers short of the Temple until the Legion’s flying troops surrounded and killed them.

Cassian’s last worry vanished. He gave Darian a thumbs-up.

"You get the greatest share of the credit for this."

The formation had made defending the Temple ten times easier.

The wholehearted praise left Darian delighted and a little embarrassed.

"No need to be so polite. Where else would I get a chance to kill this many monsters?"

That was true. Every monster killed by the formation counted as Darian’s kill. By the end of the contest, he could earn billions of Battle Essence and add another hundred Epic troops to his army.

Of course, maintaining a formation that covered tens of kilometers consumed a frightening amount of Aether too.

"Where are your Stormlance?" Darian asked suddenly.

Cassian pointed into the distance.

"Taking the bosses."

Darian looked toward the repeated flashes of lightning and shook his head.

"You really don’t stand on ceremony."

The other Provinces had impressive troops as well. Cassian saw Repeater Corps, Divine Arsenal Corps, Black Armor troops, and Retinue Guards—all famous Epic lines.

Hidden Dragon Province’s Repeater Corps were especially striking. They were Epic Extreme troops. Each carried a repeating crossbow with astonishing power and rate of fire.

Still, the Crown had only a thousand or so Lords here. It took a full hour to clear away the monster wave.

Under the formation’s protection, the Five Elements Temple remained completely undamaged.

Maren descended slowly, her face a little pale. She was smiling nevertheless.

"The attacking beasts drop Elemental Pearls too. I wonder how far we’ll advance after this."

"Thank you for your hard work, Lady Maren."

Cassian gave her a respectful bow, then took the opportunity to submit all the Pearls his forces had gathered.

The wave had been enormous, but bosses were scarce. Their supply of high-Quality Pearls was limited.

Even so, cheers soon broke out across the Legion.

[Fifteen percent!]

[One battle brought us to fifteen percent! The Wall of Water is already at sixteen!]

[With the formation protecting us, a monster siege is a chance to get ahead!]

[We only had to bring everyone back because we have so few Lords. Otherwise, we might be close to the second siege already.]

[I wonder how the Divines, Logicians, Angels, and Demons are doing.]

[As long as we beat the Second Legion, I’m happy. No need to compare ourselves with those great races.]

[Fair enough!]

Cassian was curious too.

Just then, a picture appeared in the All-Races Champions Channel and caused an uproar.

Gideon, commander of Mount Celestia’s Legion, had posted it. The image showed a seemingly endless sea of Elemental Beasts.

[A monster siege? Mount Celestia has already reached ten percent?]

[Incredible. Our Demon Wolf Legion is only at 2.8%.]

[No wonder Lord Gideon was so arrogant earlier. Confident, I mean. He has the strength to back it up.]

Malcolm promptly joined the praise.

[Malcolm: Mount Celestia will surely take first place!]

Gideon accepted the flattery without the slightest embarrassment.

[Gideon: Azrak, Zareth... how are your Wonders progressing?]

The commanders he named were the rivals he considered worth his attention.

A long time passed before Azrak replied.

[Azrak Thalor: Construction has only just begun. I hope you can still smile at the end, Lord Gideon.]

It was as good as admitting he was behind.

That was hardly impossible. Angels stood below Divines in the Racial Ranking, but that did not mean Mount Celestia was weaker than Brahma. Mount Celestia was said to have ancient beings who had surpassed Mythic and reached Eternal rank.

The other commanders Gideon had challenged said nothing.

The Crown Champions’ hearts began to pound.

"This is insane," Lana said. "The Flower race is one thing. But Mount Celestia has only just triggered its first siege? And the Divines, Demons, and mechanical races are behind them?"

Silas Venn’s expression turned grave.

"Even if ours is a reduced version of the Temple, we mustn’t let the other races learn our progress. They’ll come for us."

The others sobered.

A thousand Lords carrying a Wonder with the highest completion rate would be like a child walking through a market with a sack of gold.

[Don’t worry. Only a few of us have permission to speak in the All-Races Channel. We won’t let it slip.]

Only Cassian knew their Temple was no reduced version.

He also knew they might not have the highest progress. There were formidable people among the other races who had yet to show their hands.

Mordane, the Blood Emperor of the Blood Throne, for one.

——

Blood Throne Legion.

Rivers of blood crisscrossed the sky for tens of kilometers, growing denser as they approached the Five Elements Temple. It was the same Blood River Formation Cassian had faced before.

A Rare Golden-Plume Falcon broke through the outer defenses and came within a kilometer of the Temple. Dozens of enormous Blood Effigies rose from the nearest rivers.

The falcon beat its wings, firing a storm of razor-sharp feathers. They did little to stop the Effigies. Within seconds, the creature gave a piercing shriek and was torn apart.

The same scene played out across the surrounding sky.

"Wonderful, Grandpa Mordane!" Vespera said, watching the Channel. "Even Mount Celestia is behind us."

Her excitement grew.

"With the Blood River Formation, we only need a small part of our force to defend. Everyone else can keep hunting outside. Two sources of Pearls at once! We really can fight for first place."

"We must still be careful," Mordane said. "On the last day, powerful Legions that know they’re behind will attack weaker ones for their construction resources."

As a Mythic Hero, he controlled the great formation with ease. He could not help sighing.

"I thought Cassian would be a dangerous rival, with all those peak Legendary fighters and his unknown Mythic reward. Who could have expected his own people’s infighting to ruin him? A sad waste."