The other three leaders had the same realization as the dwarf Risen. They all thought they were above everything and everyone — especially Clekul, who never bothered to hide anything — but today, they had met their downfall.

No one was stupid; it was obvious Darian had planned for this and set the whole thing up.

On the other side of the battlefield, Niara was glowing, ready to fight at any moment. Just then, deafening sounds echoed as a sea of massive figures started to approach.

It was a real ocean of enemies. But this time, the scale was twice as big as at the beginning.

Nothing had been held back. The four leaders realized that if they gave the enemy more time and kept playing into their games… things would only get worse. Almost half their army had already been wiped out, so now it was all or nothing. They had to use their numbers to crush them while they still had the chance.

Darian's expression also turned serious. The real battle was about to start. There probably wouldn't be room for any tactics — all they could do was face it head-on.

The battlefield was already soaked in blood. The metallic smell was suffocating, and huge lakes of blood covered the ground.

Now, that army of eight thousand watched as the endless wave of enemies drew closer, their faces showing a bit of nervousness.

Saying they weren't nervous at all would be a lie. This was a real battle, not a game. But even with the nerves, they weren't afraid. Winning in a straight-up clash seemed impossible, but they fully trusted that person still had cards left to play.

*ROAR!!*

Their roars were like thunder.

All kinds of enemies — as huge as mountains, with overwhelming and corrupted auras — charged in. They looked insane, charging to kill with no fear.

The enemy tide had finally arrived. The Risen knew they were being sent to die, but they were determined to serve as shields so the Beasts or the Spiritual Guardians could land the real blows.

Niara flapped her wings in the sky; white particles appeared again.

"Kill!"

Irana roared the order and attacked the first enemy. Her blessing flared to the max: a golden and bluish aura, like Yin and Yang, surged around her Summoner.

With a single move, those two auras fused, and then struck a Beast. The creature's massive body was completely charred the moment it touched those strange powers.

That marked the beginning of the great battle. All the sprouts and allies went all in, but of course, they couldn't hold on for long.

"Udynes, help them hold the field," Darian ordered, releasing Udynes and her Summoner to fight with the others.

Udynes nodded and activated the power of the winds, spreading the white particles through the enemies once again.

As expected, the Risen touched by them were badly wounded and vanished — but even so, none of them backed down. That tactic was useless now, but it had already served its purpose. After that, she charged in with her Summoner, her power cutting and clearing a path toward the Beasts.

Niara stayed still, itching to fight. Meanwhile, Darian turned to Veyle, Athven, and the twins. Now it was their turn.

...

Near the battlefield, coming from the South, close to the massive wooden wall, three thousand Risen Chiefs were approaching quietly.

Leading them was the trusted Risen Chief of the dwarf. Earlier, he had been ordered to circle around and strike from behind. The dwarf had given him the main mark of the Risen Lord — a symbol capable of commanding part of the power of the Risen Lord who had died sealing the World of Life.

Once he arrived and used it to attack, the wall wouldn't hold — it would collapse in no time. Right after, the enemy army would be crushed from all sides, mercilessly.

Those orders had been given before the four leaders decided they couldn't keep playing Darian's game… but it was already too late to call the three thousand back.

They were too close. And those selected were Risen Chiefs specialized in hiding their auras… which was completely useless — and even a bit ridiculous — against Darian's senses.

In fact, they had taken a huge detour and lost several minutes. As soon as they got close, they suddenly felt something... it was an instinctive feeling of danger.

They all stopped and looked around, startled.

Their souls seemed like they wanted to run away in fear, but there was nothing there. Just a few meters ahead stood the massive wall piercing the skies.

The Risen Chief gritted his teeth, not sure what to do. But hearing the thunder and screams from the battle up ahead, he knew he couldn't back down. He had to try — or die.

"Screw it!" he shouted, pulling out that black mark, the size of a fist.

The skies across the World of Life trembled. The leftover power of the Risen Lord was activated and began to stir. It wasn't something you were supposed to mess with — this world could collapse if they pushed it too far — but drawing a bit of it to win the battle seemed like a reasonable risk.

The Risen Chief was suddenly covered by a terrifying black aura. He growled, overtaken by wild euphoria. That was the absolute power of a Risen Lord. With it, there was nothing to fear.

He raised his fingers forward. Black strands, like lightning, began to shoot out.

When he focused it all into a single strike…

...he noticed something lighting up and looked down.

"What the hell?!"

There were tons of small round things on the ground, pulsing and appearing out of nowhere. They were surrounding all three thousand of them, like a trap that had been set way in advance.

*Boom!*

One exploded, and a Risen Chief was obliterated in a rain of black blood.

"Ah!"

"No!"

Terrified screams rang out, and then endless explosions swallowed all of them in perfect sync.

Still, that commander surrounded by the Risen Lord's power couldn't be taken down that easily. With no way to run, he ignored his dying allies and turned to strike.

As he turned to face forward…

On the wall ahead of him, countless small round things suddenly appeared and lit up.

"Die!" he roared, putting everything he had into blasting the wall.

But… those round things were actually pills.

Pills made specifically to deal with him. In fact, the whole wall had been built to lure the enemy into trying to use the Risen Lord's power "in secret" and blow it up by surprise.

Athven knew that was possible and had been the one to suggest this plan to Darian. Athven just didn't know how to block that power or kill the enemies — but Veyle, who had been with Darian longer, had become an insanely useful secret weapon.

Since Darian had gotten his hands on a huge amount of those purifying crystals, and the pill in question was fairly easy to make, Veyle had produced a ridiculous amount in just a few days and hid them inside the wall as soon as the battle began.

Now, Athven controlled the full power of those pills, activating them and targeting the Risen Chief.

He felt his corrupted power getting disrupted, his energy slowing down.

His eyes went wide, but something like that would never — not in a million years — purify a Risen Lord's power.

**Pierce!**

A blinding wooden spear shot out from the wall and struck him with no warning.

There was no need to counter the Risen Lord's power directly — just nudge it a little and crush the ant trying to play with an elephant's strength.

...

Shortly after, on the other side of the wall, Athven's eyes lit up.

The ground in front of Niara trembled, and a wooden root slowly rose up. At its tip was a freshly obtained black mark.

She smiled, and Darian took the rune. "Perfect. We got the main mark."

Then he turned his focus back to the battlefield. They had truly taken the first step toward victory. But… he had a gut feeling that finishing this wouldn't be easy.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.