Chapter 356 The Main Battle

Flash!

A streak of light in the sky illuminated the battlefield briefly. Everyone was blinded by the sheer brightness of the light in that split second, and when they regained their vision, they were greeted by a massive Mana Blade.

A glance was all they needed to tell that they wouldn't be able to block it in time. They were about to fall into despair and accepted their end, but the Priests and Eban saved them once again.

Boom!

The gigantic golden shield made its appearance. It completely blocked the Mana Blade that Goap sent, but one could see it didn't do as good as it had previously.

The time the Priests and Eban had to erect the shield had nothing to do with how well it fared against Goap's attack. It had simply met its match, which was strong enough to damage it.

It was ridiculous as much as it was frightening to think that Goap could damage the shield that Charybdis, who was hundreds of times bigger than him, couldn't even damage; however, that was just how power worked: size didn't matter.

"You lowlifes!" Goap exclaimed. He was flying above the people. "Did you like my greetings?"

Seeing Goap so close to them instantly evoked the Eradicator group's instinct to retreat. They no longer felt they needed to escort the Executioner group anymore since Goap had already presented himself to them.

They weren't wrong by thinking that way. In fact, even Basil had already told his Legion to retreat the moment Goap launched his first attack.

Retreating in order, Eradicator left Executioner to face Goap. Seeing tens of thousands of persons retreating orderly naturally attracted Goap's attention; therefore, he couldn't just leave the people alone and let them leave.

Coalescing his Miasma in his hand, he created a dark sphere made of a dense mist. He immediately threw it powerfully to the people, causing it to travel through the air at a very high speed.

Boom!

Much to his irritation however, the golden shield, once again, blocked his attack. Looking down at the source of his irritation, his eyes met with Eban's.

'Scylla, I want you to take care of the rest, while I am having fun with this bastard of a Priest,' Goap spoke to Scylla telepathically.

Quirking her eyebrow, she replied, "You should know what I am currently doing now, shouldn't you?"

'I know, but I need you to take care of those pests, so they don't become a problem.'

"You are letting your emotion take control of you, my friend. Remember, our plan is not to eradicate these people, but—"

'I know, Scylla. I know. I know you have to stop the process of Sealing the Kingdom to fight, but they should pose no threat to you, so I believe you can finish them quickly. Leaving it hanging for a while is not a problem, no?'

Scylla wanted to remind Goap that he was looking down on the humans again, but he immediately cut their connection. Sighing lightly as she saw Goap clash with the humans, she paused the Sealing process of the Kingdom, and walked out of the water.

Occupied by Goap, no one in the Executioner group noticed it. Those in the Eradicator group, however, could see Scylla coming at them, so they couldn't help anticipating what she would do next.

Basil, who had expected something like this to happen, immediately commanded his Legion and the Legions who chose to follow his order to erect a wave crusher with Earth Magic. He knew Charybdis would attack first.

"Empower your structure with Mana, and prepare for impact!"

The moment the wave crusher was erected, Charybdis' mouth contracted. A high pressured water stream was shot out of her mouth in the next moment, sweeping the battlefield clean.

Crash!

Since all of the humans were protected by the wave crusher, the Demons became the sole victims of Charybdis' attack. Thousands were killed by the stream, but Scylla wasn't bothered in the slightest.

She kept approaching the human army calmly and kept Charybdis shooting out the water stream. The death toll on the Demon's side kept increasing in each passing second, but she acted as if nothing was happening.

"Keugh! We will only exhaust our Mana if we keep doing this!"

"Hold on! This is a battle of endurance—it is either you or the Demons that are killed!"

The water stream Charybdis shooting at them exhausted their Mana quite quickly due to the Miasma it contained. The wave itself wasn't strong, but its mysterious property made it hard for a Mana Barrier to sustain its shape.

The reason why Basil had instructed them to create a wave crusher instead of a Barrier was to slow down the draining effect of the water. It worked, but it wasn't enough to completely negate it.

Fortunately, just as they thought they would exhaust all of their Mana, Scylla decided to stop instructing Charybdis to shoot the stream out. By this point, more than ten thousand Demons were killed.

The humans, although they were relieved that their Mana was no longer being drained, didn't have a good expression on their face. Close to half of their Mana had been used up, so they worried if it was going to be sufficient for the upcoming battle.

"Assume your position—we are going to enter a Magic Battle Formation!" Basil shouted.

The people had heard of the outline of the plan from the short briefing prior to their march to the battlefield. They knew they were going to do this, but they didn't know what kind of Formation they would use.

A Magic Battle Formation, after all, wasn't something that could be performed simply by standing in the right spot. They didn't know what to do due to the lack of information, so they were floored by the instruction.

Hum!

It wasn't until Basil, the center of the Formation, set up the foundation, did the people know what to do next. They still didn't know what kind of Formation it was, but they instinctively knew how to be a part of it nonetheless.

"Well... My movement will be slightly restricted, but as long as I can borrow these people's power, everything will be alright," Basil mused to himself.

Unlike any Magic Battle Formation, the Formation Basil used benefited him as the center of it the most—unfairly so. It also worked for both Mages and Knights, so he received a significant boost in Mana and Qi.

The only downside was, he couldn't move away from his place without telling the others to do the same. He couldn't just storm off and cut Scylla in two, but luckily he had many powerful long-range attacks.

Turning to the two women sitting behind him, he asked, "Are you just going to stay here? You won't be able to enjoy the battlefield from behind my back, because I can guarantee you no Demon will be strong enough to break through our Formation."

"That's a very roundabout way to say you don't want us to find out your scheme," Iliana responded snarkily.

"Regardless of what I am scheming, you just have to know that I will never put you in any harm."

"Yeah... That's why I am afraid," Iliana muttered. "... To what length you will be willing to go for me."

Pretending that he didn't hear Iliana's muttering, Basil put his hand on top of her head and Blessed her without using his Pacifer Seal. He did the same to Ione, and watched as they dashed to the frontmost line.

"Deacon."

"Yes, Master."

"This will feel uncomfortable, but I need us to be one to increase our odds."

"M-Master? Do you mean—"

"What is with those vulgar thoughts?!" Basil frowned in disappointment. "How you can even think about it is beyond me."

"I can't help it! You always like to use a double-entendre!" Deacon rebuked in embarrassment.

Huffing lightly, Basil put his hand on top of Deacon's head. He channeled his Qi into Deacon's head, and activated the Technique that he had never used in his past life due to the lack of Beast Companion—[One Heart].

[One Heart] was the Knight version of [Assimilation] that allowed one to be fully connected to one's Beast Companion. Basil was using it because he wanted to also let Deacon enjoy the benefit of the Magic Formation he was in.

"O-Oh! We indeed became one, Master!" Deacon stated ecstatically.

When [One Heart] took effect, Basil gained access to every one of Deacon's ability, and Deacon gained access to the part of Basil's mind that he had set to be accessible to Deacon.

Wincing slightly, Basil said, "Your excitement is killing me—tone it down slightly. I can hardly think with you screaming in my mind like that."

"I am sorry, Master!"

Physically speaking, the only apparent change was their eyes that were now the same. Basil's brown eyes now developed a black slitted pupil, whereas Deacon's grey slitted eyes turned brown.

Both of them also had the same presence now, so it was hard to tell them apart just from sensing their presence alone.

Boom!

As soon as Basil got the hang of their newly strengthened and deepened connection, Scylla finally knocked down the 10 metres wave crusher they had built to block Charybdis' water stream with her tentacles.

At this point, they were already 20 metres away from Scylla. Due to her body size however, 20 metres wasn't that great of a distance, so they were still pretty close from her.

"This Formation... This is a blatant exploitation," Scylla muttered to herself. "The center of the Formation is... That human lad again? Hmmm..."

The moment her eyes landed on Basil, she strangely felt intimidated. She felt like Basil was going to be able to take her down even though she knew how insignificant he was compared to her.

"Scylla, don't underestimate humans."

"What?!"

Just as she thought things couldn't go any weirder, she received a [Wavelingo] message from Basil. Thinking that Basil had managed to breach her mind, she was extremely shocked by the development.

Whoosh!

Her distraught state allowed Deacon to land a hit on her. The massive air sphere he had sent struck her right in her abdomen, pushing her to the back until she lost her balance.

The people in the formation, who hadn't even launched anything at Scylla in fright of provoking her anger, were as bewildered as they were amused by the scene. After all, never in their wildest dream had they expected Scylla to get humiliated by the first attack.

They knew, however, who had launched the first attack, so they merely smiled excitedly. With their fear towards Scylla overshadowed by their burning spirit, they prepared their onslaught.