Liang Ji had no idea that the examination of his Vassals was being watched by so many of his classmates, or that Teacher Du, their homeroom teacher, was explaining and commenting on it.
At that moment, all his attention was focused on the battle between his Vassals and Teacher Du's Spotted Serpentfolk—the examination itself.
Fifty minutes had already passed. Every second brought them closer to the sixty-minute mark, and Liang Ji could already see a perfect score waving at him.
Of course, these final ten minutes wouldn't be easy. They might even prove harder than the fifty minutes before them.
On the examination grounds, only a little over three hundred of his Half-Dragonfolk remained. Every one of them was wounded, some lightly and others badly. Not a single one was unscathed.
The gap between the combat skills of the Half-Dragonfolk Vassals and those of Teacher Du's Spotted Serpentfolk Vassals was enormous. In a straight fight, during the combat-skills examination, his Vassals were practically being crushed.
His Half-Dragonfolk could barely land a single hit for every ten attacks they made. In the same span, however, they might already have taken more than twenty blows from Teacher Du's Vassals.
The more than three hundred Half-Dragonfolk still standing had each been stabbed by the Spotted Serpentfolk's spears at least ten times. Some might have been struck more than twenty times.
The "Hegemonic Body" cultivated by the Half-Dragonfolk was powerful. It made them impervious to blades and spears, and granted them a strong resistance to poison.
But while one thrust might fail to pierce them, and five might fail as well, after being stabbed more than ten times—or even twenty—by the spears of Teacher Du's Spotted Serpentfolk Vassals, even the strongest defenses would eventually give way.
Once their defenses were breached, the potent poison produced by Teacher Du's Vassals would enter the Half-Dragonfolk's bodies through the spears driven into them.
The "Hegemonic Body" could resist poison, but as the toxins accumulated, they would eventually overwhelm its limits, wreaking devastating corrosion and destruction until the Half-Dragonfolk Vassals were dead.
What's more, compared to the poison, the terrifying shock force contained in the Spotted Serpentfolk's spears posed an even greater threat to the Half-Dragonfolk.
Often, the moment a spear pierced their defenses and entered their bodies, a violent shock force would erupt. It tore through the surrounding flesh, tendons, and bones with brutal speed and power, inflicting massive, explosive injuries—or even piercing straight through them.
Teacher Du's Spotted Serpentfolk Vassals were all seasoned warriors, highly skilled in battlefield slaughter. After fighting the Half-Dragonfolk for dozens of minutes, they had already learned their body structure, their weak points, and their vital spots.
When inflicting explosive wounds or piercing injuries, they deliberately targeted the Half-Dragonfolk's major arteries, important tendons and bones, internal organs, and even their vital points.
Once such a wound was inflicted, it caused massive blood loss, shattered bones and organs, and other fatal injuries.
As a result, the number of Half-Dragonfolk killed by these injuries far exceeded the number who died from the poison's corrosive effects.
By now, Liang Ji had also noticed another flaw in the "Hegemonic Body" cultivated by the Half-Dragonfolk: its recovery was far too slow.
In fact, the "Hegemonic Body" was so powerful and overbearing that it often made wounds and flesh heal even more slowly and with greater difficulty.
"This is a fatal flaw. It's even worse than their lack of mental resistance."
Liang Ji quickly jotted down what he had discovered in his study notes and considered how to address it:
"It would be best to find another bloodline inheritance that could boost vitality and help wounds heal, so the Half-Dragonfolk could cultivate it and integrate it into the 'Hegemonic Body.'"
"I'm not looking for anything as terrifying as dripping blood to regenerate or regrowing severed limbs. But at the very least, it should speed up the healing of their injuries."
"Demon-serpent bloodlines excel at shedding their skin and gaining a new life. They shouldn't lack bloodline inheritances that help wounds recover."
"I'll ask Teacher Du about it later."
Thoughts turned in Liang Ji's mind, but most of his attention remained fixed on the battle taking place on the examination grounds.
As time passed, the battle tilted further and further against his Half-Dragonfolk.
Their injuries kept piling up. The longer the battle went on, the more severely those wounds took their toll—and the greater their casualties became.
Although the Spotted Serpentfolk under Teacher Du had suffered more than twenty casualties under the Half-Dragonfolk's desperate assault, most of the more than seventy survivors were practically unharmed.
For one thing, these Spotted Serpentfolk's combat techniques were far too refined. Liang Ji's Half-Dragonfolk could rarely land a hit even after ten attempts, so they naturally had little chance of inflicting any injuries.
For another, the Spotted Serpentfolk worked together exceptionally well and feared no death. When one of them was wounded, they would even sacrifice themselves to shield a comrade from the Half-Dragonfolk's attack, trading their own death for their companion's continued fighting strength and a chance to counterattack.
After more than fifty minutes of brutal slaughter, Liang Ji's Half-Dragonfolk had lost over six hundred lives to kill or wound just over twenty of Teacher Du's Spotted Serpentfolk—a difference of thirty to one.
Now, most of Liang Ji's Half-Dragonfolk were already like spent arrows, while Teacher Du's Vassals still retained most of their fighting strength. The scales of battle tipped faster and faster, and the Half-Dragonfolk Vassals died in ever greater numbers, at an ever quicker pace.
This was clearly the result of Teacher Du's Vassals' extensive battlefield experience.
On the battlefield, one had to win the greatest victory at the smallest cost—even if that meant deliberately sacrificing one's Vassals, one's comrades!
When the number of Half-Dragonfolk Vassals rapidly fell below three hundred, Liang Ji realized more and more clearly that things couldn't go on like this.
There were only a few minutes left until the sixty-minute mark for a perfect score. But at the rate the battle and slaughter were proceeding, his Vassals might fall just short of the final hurdle, slaughtered to the last before the hour was up.
By now, Liang Ji could also see that the several small circular formations formed by Teacher Du's Vassals were coordinating across the battlefield. It was clearly a tactical arrangement, and it was slaughtering his remaining Half-Dragonfolk far more effectively than any ordinary approach.
Even when he ordered the remaining Half-Dragonfolk Vassals to gather together, abandon their attacks, and focus on holding out, he suddenly discovered that Teacher Du's Vassals were using those several small circular formations to tear his remaining forces into separate groups and scatter them across the battlefield. It was difficult even to regroup, let alone put up a united defense.
Seeing this, the warrior chief of the Half-Dragonfolk Vassals, Chi the Eighth, immediately gave an order. He learned from the enemy's example, leading the most severely wounded Half-Dragonfolk in a suicidal charge. They held back Teacher Du's Spotted Serpentfolk Vassals as they surged in to split up, surround, and slaughter them, buying time for the rest of the Half-Dragonfolk to gather together.
As a result, nearly a hundred of Liang Ji's remaining two hundred or so Half-Dragonfolk died in an instant, bringing their numbers below two hundred.
"For the Heavenly Emperor! Hold the line!"
Even Chi the Eighth, the warrior chief leading this force, suffered a fatal wound while protecting his people and carving a path for his comrades to regroup. In the end, he cried out one last time before dying.
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