Chapter 446: Taken the Bait

Even with Priam’s warnings, it was already too late. The Corrupted Beasts had reached the perimeter, and a fierce battle erupted in the most chaotic way possible.

It didn’t take long for Priam to become genuinely perplexed—and irritated. Those people seemed consumed by blind frenzy. Their eyes had taken on a reddish hue, and they charged forward almost without thinking, attacking with unrestrained fury.

Soon, Priam understood the reason behind their behavior: the twins had spent years talking about him to the soldiers.

The two had gone out of their way to remind everyone, all the time, that their ultimate goal was to become soldiers in his faction—and they had most certainly exaggerated every account of his achievements, practically turning him into a deity.

Combined with all the stories and verifiable accomplishments that Priam and his faction had accumulated within the sect, the result was the emergence of an almost fanatical devotion to him.

By that point, the recruits blindly believed every word that came out of his mouth. Priam had only intended to encourage them and dispel their initial fear. However, with him standing behind them, they now considered themselves invincible and charged blindly into battle, completely dismantling their own formation in the process.

Fortunately, those combatants possessed considerably above-average strength. Moreover, Suien was holding the front line, keeping the situation relatively under control.

The petite Inscription Master was surrounded by an overwhelming elemental aura, with every inch of her body covered in glowing micro-runes. She had truly developed a formidable physical amplifier using the elements she controlled, modeled after Priam’s own Elemental Physique.

Suien had become a veritable, unshakable war tank against mindless enemies like these.

She spun while wielding her long staff, gracefully leaping between the gigantic beasts. With every movement, a storm of ice and wind pulverized all the enemies in its path.

Meien also launched her offensive. She fired spears of flame that exploded in a controlled manner amid the sea of beasts, dictating and funneling the enemy’s movements.

Both had learned to fight tactically under Dandara’s direct tutelage. The beasts crumbled easily before the twins, leaving the other three thousand soldiers with the task of attacking precisely and avoiding unfavorable positions.

Noticing the situation, Priam ordered in a curt tone:

"Meien, Suien, focus on controlling only a fraction of the enemies! You’re not supposed to kill everything you can. Let half the horde advance freely!"

This confrontation was supposed to serve as training for the troops. There was no point in continuing like this, considering how powerful the two were and how they overshadowed the soldiers’ experience.

The twins obeyed immediately, reducing their direct assaults and focusing on providing support only to the areas that were beginning to give way.

The ape-like beasts were so brutish that a single strike required several soldiers working together to contain it. At times, their combined strength wasn’t enough, resulting in wounded combatants.

The injured quickly retreated to the center of the rocky formation, where the Holy Sages applied regenerative magic.

Since their injuries were superficial, the wounds closed almost instantly as healing energy washed over their bodies, stabilizing their chaotic auras and allowing them to return to battle immediately.

Watching the clumsy way most of them handled their abilities, Priam couldn’t help shaking his head. Their brilliant talent was going to waste due to a lack of refinement.

Only then did he fully realize just how extraordinary it had been to have Dandara by his side all this time. She had taken charge of everyone’s training and organization, constantly pushing every soldier to their limits during practice. That was why Priam had never seen them fight in even the slightest state of disarray.

The twins were brilliant and talented. No one could deny that they had done a remarkable job with the troops. However, competing with Dandara was impossible. After all, she had been the Sovereign Goddess, and even before that, she had already been a terrifying Immortal.

As for the archers, they kept watch over the entire battlefield, unleashing volleys wherever the concentration of Corrupted Beasts was greatest. Some had actually managed to partially replicate the technique Priam had demonstrated, taking down multiple targets at once to relieve the pressure on the front lines—a living testament to their immense potential as well.

...

After six uninterrupted hours of combat, the ground lay covered in the corpses of Corrupted Beasts.

The soldiers were overflowing with excitement, their faces flushed from exertion. They had exterminated more than six thousand enemies substantially stronger than themselves without suffering a single fatality.

Beyond the absence of deaths, no one had sustained any serious injuries. They had maintained peak performance throughout the entire confrontation and had gradually become more efficient.

As soon as the last enemy fell, Priam ordered those who were less exhausted to begin collecting resources.

To create Corrupted Beasts of such a high level, the Sorcerers employed sinister enhancement methods. A small crystal was implanted in the creatures’ skulls, known as an Essence Core.

These cores contained a fraction of the essence of creation refined by the Sorcerers, fused with various natural materials. This granted the beasts explosive power, although it drastically reduced their life expectancy even further.

However, there was no residual corruption in these crystals, making them extremely valuable items. In addition to the points awarded for each kill, the sect rewarded anyone who turned in a core with extra resources, the amount varying according to its degree of purity.

Although the individual value wasn’t exorbitant, the daily accumulation promised to add up to a formidable sum.

"Let’s check our scores!" an excited female soldier exclaimed.

They quickly pulled out their official emblems to check their accumulated points.

"I have 937 points!"

Several soldiers shouted excitedly, and the one with the highest score among them had accumulated 1,600 points.

However, it didn’t take long for them to notice something bizarre, leaving them deeply puzzled.

Meien had accumulated over 6,000 points, while Suien boasted nearly 8,000.

"Why is the difference so enormous?" the soldiers asked, staring at the numbers in disbelief.

It made no sense to them. Right at the beginning of the battle, Priam had explicitly asked the twins to hold back and let the troops do the actual fighting. Throughout the entire confrontation, the sisters had merely provided strategic support without indiscriminately slaughtering their enemies. Logically, the gap in points should have been narrow.

"Allow me to explain," Priam said in a calm, measured voice.

"The difference comes down entirely to killing efficiency. Deep down, you still treat the battlefield as a competition, or a test where all you need to do is give it your best. My sisters, on the other hand, have already understood the golden rule of survival:

You must annihilate your target in the shortest time possible while conserving as much energy as you can.

I watched the way you fought. You wasted precious opportunities and squandered energy unnecessarily. Do you think a real battle is about winning or losing? No. It’s about killing or dying. Flashy movements might look nice, but the only law on the battlefield is survival. Every drop of energy is incomparably valuable. A Sage’s reserves are limited, so every bit you conserve now could save your life at a critical moment. Never underestimate the cumulative effect of conserving energy. That’s what will determine whether you walk away from here or end up buried in this land..."

At the end of the day, those soldiers were still far too naive when it came to life-and-death battles.

There had been many casualties during the mission in which the twins had participated in the past. However, most of those deaths had occurred at the beginning, resulting from misjudgments. Overall, the troops only engaged in battles where victory was already practically guaranteed.

Even during the decisive battle, the twins had shouldered 90% of the burden to keep everyone safe.

They had constantly put themselves at risk to protect their subordinates. However... this overprotectiveness had ended up shaping soldiers who were merely above average, rather than the terrifying combatants they should have become after receiving everything Priam had granted them.

When Dandara had taken over their training in the past, their condition had been even worse. Only a fraction had shown genuine aptitude. Thanks to her, their overall level had been brought up and improved. However, training in a simulated environment and fighting in a real battle were two completely different things.

After all the cores had been collected, the army regrouped, and Priam began pointing out every tactical mistake with cold, surgical precision.

He taught them methods for mastering battlefield awareness, showing them how to exploit openings to turn unfavorable situations around and achieve the best possible results at the lowest cost.

At the same time, he instructed them on how to act in sync to bring their teamwork to its full potential. After watching Dandara train her troops for so long, Priam had absorbed a wealth of valuable knowledge about infantry tactics.

By working together cohesively, they would be able to create openings to crush multiple opponents at once.

As they absorbed his advice, the recruits finally understood how the twins had accumulated so many points. Whenever they attacked, they eliminated their targets in the blink of an eye, while the recruits wasted precious time on unnecessary exchanges.

Once the troops had rested and caught their breath, Priam led the advance.

Along the way, they encountered a few lone Corrupted Beasts, which were quickly dispatched. It was obvious that these soldiers were rough diamonds with enormous room for improvement.

With just a few direct pointers, they were already beginning to show greater refinement. Although their execution was still stiff and rudimentary, that was an inevitable part of the process. True mastery would only come with accumulated experience.

...

After nearly an entire day of walking, Priam gazed at the horizon and formed a faint smirk.

’The fish have already taken the bait, huh? Great.’

Still at a considerable distance, countless hidden presences were stealthily approaching the army. Priam noticed that they were using some kind of concealment artifact to avoid detection by the Corrupted Beasts. However, they wouldn’t remain at a distance merely observing for much longer.

A little farther ahead, Priam found a strategically positioned valley, ideal for organizing their battle formation.

"Bro, wouldn’t it be better if we sat this one out? That way, they’ll really feel the pressure," Suien suggested softly.

Priam shook his head, wearing a calm smile.

"All the Corrupted Beasts you’ve faced so far were nothing more than a warm-up. You two need training as well, while still providing the necessary support. After all... the real battle starts now."

Priam spoke calmly and extended his open hand.

With a simple snap of his fingers, a wave of pure corruption shot out from him toward the sky, spreading in every direction like a dense fog.

Priam hadn’t forgotten to extract the corruption from the corpses of the beasts they’d killed earlier. However, instead of converting it into Ether, he had stored the tainted essence specifically for this moment.

A second later, he announced, "This will attract every Corrupted Beast within a radius of two thousand kilometers. Are you ready?"

The very moment the words left his mouth, the ground began to shake violently.

The tremors intensified at a terrifying rate, as if an overwhelming tsunami were approaching from every direction.

Then, an endless sea of colossal silhouettes emerged on the horizon, charging forward in a frenzy.

The soldiers turned pale with terror, staring at Priam as though they were looking at the worst nightmare of their lives.

"But I must warn you: you’d better kill them extremely quickly this time, or you’ll genuinely be wiped out here."

As soon as Priam finished his warning, a horde of flying Corrupted Beasts reached the perimeter, plunging down upon them like a storm of claws and teeth.