Chapter 154: Endless-battle Veteran
When Priam took the first step forward, the entire tide of elemental power reacted violently.
It was like an elephant crashing into a full pool; the abrupt reverberation of energy made the courtyard tremble, and everyone present felt their hearts speed up by pure reflex.
Daraen froze in place at that very instant, her head turning back with eyes widened in shock.
Priam advanced at the vanguard with his hands casually crossed behind his back.
His steps were calm, rhythmic, without any hesitation. It was as if an invisible and absolute barrier existed in front of him.
His serene expression gave the impression that he wasn’t making any effort at all, while the elemental power in front of him literally bent and opened a path, allowing his small group to walk without resistance.
The five advanced directly through the line where the wind element was most violent. While the other candidates struggled to move a miserable meter every few minutes, Priam’s group simply walked at a normal pace, overtaking everyone as if they were strolling through a garden.
It was at that moment that a change happened.
"Boss Priam... I..."
Dandara’s voice echoed from behind, strangely low, stripped of her theatrical tone or confidence.
Priam immediately stopped and turned toward her.
"If you have an idea, you can say it," Priam said, holding her gaze. "There are only five of us here, but I trust my life to each one of you. You’re no different. If you thought of something, just say it."
Dandara swallowed dryly. Her green eyes visibly trembled, and her wolf ears twitched. A deep confusion flooded her features.
They barely knew each other, and she was only a beast hybrid who had somehow squeezed her way into his faction for some reason she herself didn’t understand — and now, that young man was giving her the weight of blind trust. Something even she didn’t have in herself.
But before Priam’s firm, steady, and welcoming gaze, Dandara’s chest rose and fell. She pulled in a sharp breath, and something locked deep in her soul came undone.
"I’m assuming you don’t want to recruit more people right now because selecting the right talents, commanding them, and training a mass of people from absolute zero would be long and difficult work," Dandara began to speak.
And as the words left her mouth, her face transformed.
The hesitant, confused, and vulnerable expression from before simply melted away, revealing a completely different creature.
Her eyes gained the cold, sharp gleam of a freshly honed blade. Her fluctuations, previously chaotic, dropped into a heavy frequency, solid and unshakable like a mountain. Even the tone of her voice changed, becoming dense, authoritative, and magnetic.
Priam let out an internal sigh, feeling a chill of excitement. *That* was the true Dandara. This was the owner of Transcendental talents.
"I will take on that responsibility. I will command everyone and put them in line; I will handle all of that work. This is my specialty."
She dictated the words with the natural arrogance of an empress declaring obvious laws. Then, she turned her body imposingly, pointing toward the block of rejects stuck farther behind — it was a sea of nearly 1,200 Mages on the verge of collapse.
Priam didn’t hesitate for even a single second.
He nodded.
Turning on his feet, he changed the group’s route, opening a cleft directly against the devastating wave of the earth element that was crushing the rejects.
In a matter of seconds, that army of outcasts, who had been watching lives being lost with every breath, felt the pressure of the earth element almost completely disappear.
They trembled from head to toe, their faces distorted by the despair of imminent death. Faced with the sudden relief, they raised their eyes, stunned, and found five figures standing in front of them, acting like a divine shield blocking the reaper that was trying to swallow them.
"Thank you... thank you so much..." a young Mage, covered in dust and blood, stammered, her legs shaking and about to give out.
"All of you! If you still have the damn desire to live, get up now and get into formation!"
Dandara’s voice echoed like booming thunder, exploding in the Mages’ ears and shattering their stupor.
Everyone widened their eyes, turning their heads in shock toward the wolf woman.
"Boss is extending his hand to give you a chance to survive. Besides that, if you show the basic ability to obey orders and act properly in combat, he will consider accepting you into the faction," Dandara dictated the orders while walking back and forth, the aura of a general exuding from every pore.
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you. I won’t waste my breath twice: everyone enter Arc Formation immediately! I will govern every move you make from now on."
Behind her, even Flaris, Shione, and Lumiere watched the scene with their jaws dropped. Was *that* the same girl who had been annoying them while being carried on the stairs just a few hours ago?
The young Mages got up. Their survival instinct spoke louder; they didn’t think twice and advanced in mass, grouping together as close as possible behind the backs of the five protectors.
Dandara, standing rigidly at the front, began shouting directives at a terrifying speed, allocating bodies, dividing the elements, and shaping the chaotic mass into a perfect geometric formation in the shape of an arc.
An Arc Formation was a theoretically simple military arrangement, one that any Mage from the Divine Plane had already seen. However, applying it in practice, under the pressure of a test and with 1,200 panicked strangers, was a monumental task.
Commanding each flank required precise leadership, calculating the exact limit of each individual so the entire barrier wouldn’t collapse.
Until that moment, none of the other four Super Geniuses leading their factions had dared to place their subordinates in a tactical battle formation.
They were simply using their own raw power and the group’s individual control to advance forward. After all, any synchronization mistake in a military formation under elemental pressure would result in an explosion of flesh and blood.
But Dandara organized the chaos. In less than sixty seconds.
She turned her body forward, her eyes locking onto Priam’s, and gave a firm nod.
"Boss, the rear is consolidated. You can advance."
Priam swallowed dryly before the icy, confident, and undisturbed tone of that young woman.
Her fluctuations and posture now emanated the authority of an endless-battle veteran, someone who seemed capable of moving entire armies against the heavens themselves.
For a brief instant, even Priam felt a glimpse of intimidation before that monster.
He took a deep breath, then, without delay, advanced, creating some distance from the army behind him.
Now, the group of only four served as the first barrier, but the elemental wave still fell over the others behind them. There was no way Priam alone could block such a large area to protect them while walking.
But even so, he reduced the elemental power by one third.
"YOU! Control the Yin of earth only in your own area! Don’t try to be the pretty girl who does more than everyone else!"
Dandara roared, pointing furiously at a girl.
And not only her; Dandara kept pointing nonstop at several people, correcting them and making them act together, without any of them trying to do more than necessary.
Then...
After the turbulent initial half-minute...
That army completely stabilized.
The Elders watching everything were stunned, completely speechless.
They were dealing with only two-thirds of the power they should have been facing, but they were still an army of only 1,200, where everyone there had been rejected for not having even the minimum ability.
The battle formation was perfect.
Every word of reprimand and command from this General was perfect.
"What... what is happening? Where did a monster like this come from?" one Elder spoke, almost stuttering.
Right after that, all eyes turned to Priam, with renewed admiration. Unlike everyone who had considered this half-beast some kind of trash... he had recruited her immediately, right from the start.
The shock of seeing Dandara in action was so great that, for a while, they forgot Priam and the other three were advancing alone ahead... something the other four armies with thousands of people were having to give everything to achieve.
Now, Priam’s pace was slower, because he couldn’t move too far away from the others behind him.
But his speed was still almost the same as the other four armies.
In a few seconds, he communicated with Dandara, then they made a curve, returning to the wave of wind element energy.
"You idiot, do you think you’re their savior? They’re nothing but trash; otherwise, why would we discard them? What you’re doing is absolutely useless!" Daraen mocked from just ahead.
"Go mind your own business! If you keep talking shit, I’ll slap you myself!" Shione shot back, with a furious look.
"You...!"
Daraen clenched her fists tightly. She promised herself that she would get revenge later in the sect. Then she snorted and turned back to her army, focused on reaching the front.
Uswyn hadn’t said anything before, but these four Super Geniuses already knew that the ranking of this army when reaching the end was already the first test of the factions. The first places would receive more points and more resources right upon entering the outer sect.
...
Time passed slowly, second by second, minute by minute.
All the Elders carefully watched every word and every action from Dandara. She really seemed like a war veteran, casually giving orders to foolish and careless young Mages.
But absolutely none of them died after she took command.
It was as if she could predict the future, and when someone was approaching their limit or about to make a mistake, she would roar furiously, making them move from their position to the center of the battle formation.
The tips of the arc were the most difficult, with the center becoming easier and easier. She rotated people, perfectly moving the more rested ones to the hardest positions.
An hour passed.
All five factions reached the halfway point.
At that moment, Priam stopped his steps and smiled.
"We’ve arrived."
He turned around, staring into the eyes of Flaris, Shione, and Lumiere, who immediately became excited.