"Commander Yarman, now that we've found the enemy, why haven't you ordered an attack? Let's make those damned beasts taste the terror of humanity!" Taren asked with a smile.
Yarman nodded and glanced around. Seeing the same question in everyone's eyes, he smiled and explained, "Before setting out with the army, I gathered information on how these Demon Beasts fought. When they took Morton, their main force numbered no fewer than four hundred thousand. Of course, that was according to the defeated stragglers who fled, so the number was surely exaggerated. But even if we cut it in half, that would still be two hundred thousand. And now, everyone, take a look. There are only about three thousand Demon Beasts around our camp!"
Yarman paused and rose from his seat. "What does that tell us? It tells us their commander has a decent head for war. They know to probe before launching an attack. If we'd left an empty camp here, one filled with traps, they wouldn't have suffered heavy losses. To be precise, three thousand would only have given us a scratch..."
"So you mean..." Thomas still didn't quite understand.
Yarman raised an eyebrow. In fact, he thought he'd made himself perfectly clear...
It seemed that no one was all-knowing. Even well-read mages could talk endlessly about some strange species from a remote forest, but clearly, even their ocean of knowledge had its gaps...
Watching the Demon Beasts hold their position on the magical projection, Yarman patiently explained, "Since the Demon Beasts have chosen to attack, even if they're launching a surprise assault, three thousand of them are no match for my eighteen thousand regular troops. What's more, they know our mages are here. So when those three thousand Demon Beasts approach our camp unharmed, they won't attack at once. They'll use the same tactic to bring the main force closer, then launch a fierce, deadly night raid. Of course, with everyone here backing us up, their plan is nothing but wishful thinking. When their army reaches our camp, that will be the opening act of this Magic Exchange Conference!"
Thomas nodded and shamelessly said, "Ha ha, Commander Yarman, your plan is just like the one I had in mind. Excellent. Should we return to our own camps now and get our mages ready?"
Yarman nodded. "Of course. But I'd like everyone to keep their movements as discreet as possible. We can't let these Demon Beasts realize we know what they're up to. Still, as powerful and mysterious mages, I'm sure that won't be a problem for you..."
The presidents of the six guilds returned to their tents, and waves of mental energy rippled out from within.
As time passed, the night grew darker. At three in the morning, three thousand Zerglings had been lying motionless outside the camp for an hour. If not for the Mirror Reflection faithfully showing their every move, Yarman would have been tempted to send scouts to take a look...
"Could they be planning to stay hidden all night...?"
Swadi, standing beside Yarman, frowned as he asked.
Yarman smiled and shook his head. "Of course not. The grass here is thick, but they'll be exposed as soon as the sun comes up!"
As the two spoke, the Demon Beasts finally stirred again!
The beast at the front slowly poked its head out. Its mouth opened and closed, but it made no sound. A hundred meters away, at the rear of the three-thousand-strong group, an insect seemed to receive an order. It raised its head and made the same motion...
Then, a vast swarm of Zerglings began seeping toward the camp from all sides...
"Excellent. They're finally moving!" Yarman clapped his hands, his voice edged with excitement. "Swadi, send the signal..."
"Whoosh..."
In the Mirror Reflection, a scarlet arrow pierced the silent night, lighting up the gray sky. It struck the Zerglings seventy meters from the barracks and exploded with a roar into a massive fireball!
At least thirty Zerglings were swallowed by the flames in an instant!
Then, thousands of fireballs, ice arrows, bolts of lightning, Wind Blades... formed a dazzling ribbon of magic behind the arrow and slammed into the Zergling army a hundred meters away!
"Boom! Boom! Boom!!"
Explosions rang out one after another. The earth looked as though it had been bombarded by a hundred cannons. Though the thousands of spells were low-level, they still killed at least ten thousand Zerglings!
"Roar! Roar! Roar!" The red Zergling at the head of the pack suddenly lifted its head and let out a furious howl. The Zergling horde, its bloodlust held in check until then, leaped forward and surged toward the barracks like a black sea!
Sixty meters. The nearest Zerglings were only sixty meters from the edge of the camp—a distance they could cover in four or five breaths!
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..." As the magic rose, soldiers who should have been fast asleep suddenly charged out of their tents in full armor. The heavily armored infantry, carrying shields almost as tall as a person, quickly formed up into a formation, creating an iron wall before the Zerglings could enter the camp!
"Everyone, the welcoming ceremony is over. It's time to show these lowly Demon Beasts the power of human magic! The Keren Kingdom's Magic Exchange Conference begins now!" Yarman's cry made the blood surge through everyone's veins.
The mages, who had each been fighting on their own, immediately stopped casting low-level spells. Under their guild presidents' direction, they began preparing large-scale war magic!
In the distance, a great many Overlords poured in from every direction. The entire battlefield appeared in a full, three-dimensional image in Ye Luo's mind. Now, with all the mages preparing war magic, no one was providing Swadi with visual support. At last, Swadi could no longer use his sniper-like ability!
"My Emperor, there are six war spells in total. The Keren Magic Guild has eleven seconds left to finish its incantation, the Sidi Magic Guild has fifteen seconds, and the Kleberd Magic Guild has sixteen seconds..."
Ye Wang clearly relayed the magical fluctuations he had detected through elemental monitoring to Ye Luo! If all six war spells were unleashed, they could destroy nearly a hundred thousand Zerglings in an instant. And protected by the heavily armored soldiers, even if Ye Luo sent a million Zerglings, they would only become targets for the various Magic Guilds...
Ye Luo was suddenly glad he had made preparations. Otherwise, even if he won this battle, it would only be a narrow victory! He would lose a great many Zerglings!
With Thomas at the center, nearly two hundred mages stood around him. The staves in their hands poured all their gathered fire-element energy toward Thomas. Ten meters in front of him, suspended in midair, a huge fire-magic glyph ten meters in diameter was about to take shape!
Just then, a stranger clad in black armor suddenly walked toward Thomas.
"Hey! Who are you?" the captain Yarman had assigned to protect Thomas and the others immediately demanded, pointing at the stranger.
The stranger gave them a friendly smile but said nothing. He raised both hands in a gesture of surrender, then suddenly pointed his left hand at his right!
"Shing!" His right hand suddenly clenched into a fist, and three foot-long steel blades shot out between his fingers!
"I'm the one you're looking for—Ye Luo!"
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