Is this really a Game?!

A surge of dark energy shot from the staff, engulfing the elephant in a shadowy aura before the aura turned into tendrils that were seemingly made out of smoke. The beast let out a deafening roar as its movements slowed, its strength sapped by the dark magic that was used with the spell. The thin man continued to channel his spell, his eyes glowing with malevolent power.

The elephant tried to struggle and rip the tendrils apart, but it was unable to do so in a short period of time.

Meanwhile, the tall man recovered from the elephant’s blow and charged back into the fray. With renewed vigor, he resumed his assault, his saber striking true and deep, exploiting the weakened state of the monster. Piece by piece, the elephant’s scales fell away, revealing its vulnerable flesh beneath.

There were no flashy moves from the tall man, no skill, no amazing footwork or swordsmanship, only pure power and rage that was imbued in each strike as he continued hacking away at the elephant, each strike imbued with blood-red mana that made the blows sharper and heavier.

The elephant roared and tried to use the same shockwave from before, but the tall man was ready for it, and he blocked the attack without being blown back, but Reign and the others managed to notice that the barrier shook from the shockwave and trembled for a bit.

Reign and the others had planned more than this, but it turned out that there was no need for them to do anything else. The elephant, a lone Tier VI monster, had surprisingly been enough to give them just what they wanted to know.

They still didn’t know the full power of the two Tier VI combatants that led the Wardens, but that was of no big issue for them. The two were strong, but not strong enough.

Jin had previously battled against them, in fact, he had come to blows with them 3 times, and each time, the battle ended in a draw, even though it was 2 vs 1, and they were the same level.

Reign and Shadow had crossed blows with Jin, and even though none of them went all out and used a weapon, they knew how powerful he was, and they knew how powerful they were.

If the two leaders have not become a lot more powerful, they won’t be able to defeat any of them in a 1 vs 1 battle, let alone if all of them attacked, which they were going to do.

There was no need for an honor when dealing with people like that, none at all.

Reign and the others were already briefed on just what kind of people were leading the Wardens. Not only were they scum, the lowest of the low, but even now, when the entirety of the human race was in danger of being annihilated, they managed to become even worse.

They not only held people captive against their own will and had them do whatever they wished, but they also played games with them.

The ‘games’ they played, however, were nightmares for the poor people they captured.

Sending them off to the forest, having them stay there for days at a time with a promise that if they survived, they would be allowed to become members of the base, no longer slaves.

Nobody survived as the forest was littered with danger, making it impossible for those below Tier V to survive a single night, although there were some lucky ones who managed to do so.

But even then, the leaders would take turns tormenting them while inside the forest, attacking them when they were running away, sometimes even coming when they were sleeping and severing a limb, just because they found it fun.

The male slaves were forced to punch bags for the younger recruits, as workers in some of the buildings they constructed, as well as targets for the long-range combatants.

The women were nothing but playthings for the members of the faction, many of whom were tormented by the sadistic ones, quite a lot of them dying in the first week or two.

Reign had no sympathy for what he and the others were going to do to the Wardens, and neither did the others.

They were only worried about the innocent people inside the base, which was the only reason they were not attacking now.

They were communicating with the spies, getting them ready for the attack that would soon commence, so that the spies would know what to wear to be recognized by Reign and the others.

The main task the spies had was to get to the innocent people and to get them ready when the attack commenced so that they wouldn’t be hurt.

The attack would commence tomorrow, and Reign and the others would be the spearhead, while the top teams of the faction would be right behind them with many others who were going to join the assault.

In total, there would be over 120 Tier V combatants joining the battle and over 300 Tier IV combatants.

It was overkill.

Compared to the Wardens, they simply had way many more people.

Soon, the elephant was dead, and Reign and the others turned around and left.

The flood dragon, the wyvern, and Blackie had been deeper in the forest, and they were summoned back by Beast.

They were the ones responsible for the horde of monsters that attacked the base.

They didn’t even have to do much, just appearing nearby and releasing their aura was enough to make the monsters tremble and run away.

It wasn’t just because they were all Tier VI monsters, after all, the elephant was one too, and it also ran away as quickly as possible.

It was their race.

A Wyvern.

A Flood Dragon.

A Black Panther with a mark from a god that had become a powerful variant species that was still not completely finished with his transformation.

None of them were normal and their auras alone made monsters of the same realm tremble. It was not just power, it was status.

All three of them could be said to be nobility amongst monsters, and their auras showed it, making most monsters of the same realm frightened by them, especially when there were three of them in one place.

Reign and the others wanted to use the three to bring even more monsters over to the base, one or two more waves in order to see just what the Wardens had, but the weak barrier that was put in place would not last long against Reign and the others, in fact, they were confident that they could break it in the initial assault, their combined attacks destroying it at the very start.

As Reign and the others prepared for the assault on the Wardens’ base, tensions ran high. They knew that they were about to confront a group of ruthless individuals who had committed unspeakable atrocities. But they also knew that they had to act, not just for themselves, but for the innocent people who were being held captive inside the base.

The Wardens were a threat to all human factions, and because of that, they needed to be eliminated.

The spies within the Wardens had done their job well, and they had managed to relay valuable information to Reign and the others. They knew the layout of the base, the location of the captives, and the strength of the Wardens’ defenses. Armed with this knowledge, Reign and the others finalized their plans for the assault.

The attack would begin at dawn, when the Wardens were least expecting it. Reign and the others would lead the charge, supported by the top teams of the faction. Their goal was to breach the outer defenses and make their way to the captives, freeing them and eliminating the Wardens’ leaders.

That would be left to two of the top teams, Tank, and Greenie.

Reign and the others would attack with full force right away, their goal being the elimination of the two enemy leaders, as well as incapacitating the Tier V combatants as quickly as possible.

As the first light of dawn broke over the horizon, Reign and the others gathered outside the base of the Wardens. They could hear the sounds of the monsters still roaming the forest, but they paid them no mind. Today, their focus was solely on the base in front of them.

“You guys, this battle, it will be messy and bloody, there will be plenty of people that will die, are … are you sure you are ready for this?” Jin asked Reign and the others as he stood next to them, to which they all glanced at one another before sighing.

“Dad, this … this won’t be the first time we will see such things, nor will it be the first time we have taken a life, a human life,” Shadow said with a determined expression.

“There is no place left for those who are unwilling to kill on this planet anymore, we have all learned that a long time ago, and we have done what we had to do, and we will do the same today.”