Chapter 344: Perfect Plan

The great battle erupted, clearly divided into three different fronts.

In the sky, the Sages and Philosopher-level Sorcerers collided. The shockwaves from their impacts alone shredded the clouds and pulverized the air, creating a storm of apocalyptic destruction.

Elsewhere in the sky, Mishnar and the red-dressed Sorcerer exchanged deadly thrusts at high speed, moving kilometers away from the epicenter.

The level of power displayed by these two fronts was enough to wipe out the weaker soldiers, so they moved as far away as possible.

On the ground, the two colossal armies — numbering hundreds of thousands combined — charged straight toward each other, closing the distance amid the frantic roar of imminent death.

"Kill them! Kill every last one of them!" Shakwi roared from above, his voice overflowing with malevolence.

The distance between the vanguards dropped to less than two hundred meters. Flesh was about to collide with flesh.

That was when...

Right in the center of the enraged Sorcerer horde, a subtle wave of wind erupted.

A figure appeared out of nowhere.

"Hi."

Priam smiled amicably.

At that millisecond, thousands of Sorcerers felt a visceral chill run down their spines — a terrifying premonition of imminent death.

He opened his hands. Two spheres of energy instantly appeared above his palms.

*BUZZZZ!*

The space around the spheres wavered, twisting like glass about to crack. Inside them, tens of thousands of microscopic wind blades spun at an insane speed, emitting a shrill, piercing buzz.

Those closest to them felt their eardrums nearly burst. The frequency was like incandescent needles drilling directly into their brains.

With a quick, fluid motion, Priam hurled both spheres into the air.

At first, they were only thirty centimeters wide. But as they rose into the sky, they grotesquely expanded, reaching more than thirty meters in width within a fraction of a second.

**RUMBLE!!!**

An overwhelming storm of wind blades erupted from the spheres with a deafening roar. They descended like the very scythe of the God of Death, reaping everything that possessed life.

"SPREAD OUT! NOW!!" Shakwi screamed from above, his voice cracking with sheer desperation. There was nothing he could do but shout, since another Elder from the sect was blocking him.

The Sorcerers tried to scatter, but it was already too late. The range was colossal. In the blink of an eye, hundreds of thousands of transparent wind blades fell like rain, each one exploding against the ground with brutal force.

The result was an indescribable massacre.

Bodies were sliced, shredded, and ground apart in midair. Heads were severed from shoulders before the mind could even process the pain; mutilated limbs, organs, and sprays of blood scattered through the crimson whirlwind. A sea of Sorcerers was reduced to a bloody mist without even getting the chance to release a single scream of agony.

A thick curtain of dust, vaporized blood, and corruption rose into the sky, covering several kilometers in a grotesque veil.

"What power...!"

The army led by Priam’s allied forces, having been warned to retreat beforehand, watched everything from a safe distance. Seeing that one-sided massacre, many of them were completely petrified, their eyes wide with shock.

"Don’t waste time! MOVE!" Flaris roared, snapping the troops out of their trance.

Instantly, the two thousand members of her faction moved like a perfectly functioning machine, splitting in two directions. High-level inscription runes gleamed in their hands.

"Mishnar, you damn bitch! You still have the nerve to call us evil?!" Shakwi roared from the sky, his eyes bloodshot. "Using such filthy and cowardly tricks... You’re nothing but a bunch of shameless bastards!"

*WOOOOOSH!*

A majestic, multicolored barrier nearly a kilometer in diameter rose from the ground, completely sealing the space within.

Even the Philosophers high above stopped their attacks and looked downward.

Their senses swept across the dome, and silence fell over all of them.

Right at the center of the newly erected barrier, Priam stood calmly, completely unharmed.

Around him, trapped inside the same enclosure, remained nearly a hundred Sage-level Sorcerers... and thirty-nine Mage Master-level Celestials.

"I-Impossible!" Shakwi stammered from above, his voice breaking from pure shock.

In the very center of all the devastation, Priam let out a dry snort. It hadn’t caused quite as much destruction as he’d planned, but it was enough.

These Sorcerers were unbelievably stupid. The enemy army had been arranged in three rigid lines: the vanguard with the ordinary soldiers, the middle with the Sage-level ones, and the rear with the 50 Celestials grouped together.

Instead of distributing the Celestials as generals to lead the masses, they preferred to treat them like untouchable gods above mortals. To these people, mixing with the common rabble seemed like an unforgivable sin.

Taking advantage of this, Priam had moved at maximum speed, practically teleporting himself to the epicenter of the 50 Celestials without emitting the slightest fluctuation.

Then, he used two advanced-level Power Runes. They were called Wind Calamity.

The application was simple and straightforward. It swept away everything within a vast area. Its strength scaled directly with the purity of the element being channeled — and since Priam possessed countless treasures and resources, the result had been apocalyptic.

The land was reduced to a barren wasteland.

Nearly 80 Sage-level Sorcerers were instantly ground to pieces. Around 20,000 nearby Mage Master-level Sorcerers were pulverized.

And, to top off the move, the physical bodies of 11 Celestials were completely destroyed.

The exact moment their bodies exploded, Priam didn’t hesitate: he captured their Celestial Marks, killing them for good.

He had wanted to kill at least half of them, but the physical constitution of the Sorcerers was considerably tougher than that of the average Mage.

This result left Shakwi completely catatonic. The armies hadn’t even collided, and with a single opening move, Priam had already thrown everything into absolute chaos.

"How?! How did 11 Celestials die in the blink of an eye?! That’s impossible! You cowardly bastards!" Shakwi roared, losing his mind in the sky.

If they had fallen in an honorable battle, it would have been acceptable — after all, fire refined gold. However, that hadn’t been a duel; it had been a profane massacre completely devoid of any etiquette.

From a distance, Mishnar and the veterans watched everything in shock. Priam never acted according to the manuals, and with every move, he shattered common sense.

The commotion had been so great that it took them a while to understand the true purpose of the newly erected multicolored dome.

When they finally understood, their eyes widened.

It was an extremely high-level barrier inscription, right at the absolute limit of what a Mage Master could manipulate.

Mishnar immediately remembered: that was the most expensive inscription sold on the market of her branch. Dandara had bought it during the three days of preparation for the war.

That meant Dandara had anticipated that the inscription might come in handy.

The sect Elders looked at one another in astonishment. They had fought countless battles against the Sorcerers, but this was the first time they had ever seen the legendary and feared Shakwi ranting and cursing like a cornered fox.

When the dust settled on the ground, outside the barrier, 279,000 Sorcerers remained, their faces pale and disoriented.

"KILL!" Shione roared from the allied side.

The soldiers drew their weapons excitedly, responding with a collective roar as they charged forward at full speed.

The situation that had previously seemed suicidal — facing 50 Celestials and a legion with many Sages among them — had changed drastically. The excess forces had been decapitated right at the start, and victory had now become perfectly achievable.

The two thousand members of Priam’s faction, after activating the barrier, advanced to fight outside.

If the Sorcerers outside focused on attacking the barrier, it would collapse within a matter of seconds. However, from the inside, the barrier was a hundred times more resistant. With Priam maintaining control of the inner side, it would be practically impossible for the enemies to break through it from within.

Therefore, the mission of the external army was simple: slaughter the Sorcerers outside and secure the perimeter of the dome.

Inside the barrier, Priam faced the blood-soaked figures staring at him with murderous hatred.

There were 39 Celestials and 100 Sorcerers, equivalent to elite Enlightened Sages, remaining.

Everything had gone according to plan. Now, he had to exterminate those bastards alone.

Anyone else in his position would have been sentenced to death. Dozens of monstrous enemies were trapped in the same space.

Priam wasn’t a god. He knew perfectly well that, under normal circumstances, his only option would be to run. But...

Those were Sorcerers.

Thanks to his exile in the past and the World Power Seed he had discovered in that place, the main weapon of those enemies — corruption energy — was nothing more than a nutritious feast to him. (Chapter 192)

Priam suffered no damage from corruption; he devoured it and converted it into Ether to use.

In other words, even against a thousand terrifying enemies like these, unless they possessed astronomically superior strength capable of killing him in a single blow, Priam would never lose.

However...

The moment the enemies drew their weapons and focused on him in fury, his instincts suddenly sounded an alarm.

Priam fixed his gaze on a specific individual among the Celestials. That man radiated an aura that was terrifyingly denser than the others.

The man coldly snorted. Suddenly, the Celestial Mark on his forehead pulsed and glowed as if a third eye were opening.

The pressure emanating from him was on a completely different level from the other Celestials.

Priam swallowed hard, his eyes narrowing in disbelief.

"A... Veteran Acquired Celestial?!"

Upon hearing the murmur, the man’s lips curled into a sinister, cruel smile.

He opened the palm of his right hand. The space around him violently wavered, and a golden lotus emerged, floating above his skin.

The mere presence of that lotus caused heaven and earth to tremble in resonance. An uncontrolled, primordial energy began spreading through the air.

The fabric of space cracked and tore, unable to withstand such a terrifying load.

Priam’s expression immediately turned grim. That lotus overflowed with unimaginable destructive power.

If that bastard attacked the barrier from the inside... the dome would be pulverized instantly.

His perfect plan was about to fall apart!