Kill The Old Ones!

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The strong aura fluctuations coming off Diana swept throughout the entire camp.

Everybody looked over and saw her hovering in the air, bathing in a gorgeous aurora of lights that formed ribbons around her body. They also saw a radiant rainbow halo appearing behind her head.

Then, she grew a pair of wings—metaphysical ones, one that only looked real, but in truth, it’s just made from chakra and shaped by the manifestation of her bloodline.

Speaking of bloodline...

Whimpers of weaker monsters echoed across the camp. When people looked over, they couldn’t help but be stunned because most of the small monsters are now cowering in fear, daring not to move at all.

It’s as if a mountain was suddenly pressing them on the ground, and they couldn’t move.

This was bloodline suppression caused by none other than Diana.

Her talent: Dragon and Phoenix Martial Physique—wasn’t a decoration. It doesn’t just speed up her martial practice and progress; it is an incredibly rare union of bloodlines, something that appears very rarely in history.

Dragons and phoenixes are two races that stood on top of the beast hierarchy. It wouldn’t be wrong to call them Divine Beasts.

Diana’s bloodline is even more miraculous considering the fact that neither of her parents had a Divine Beast bloodline. They were humans, through and through. Talented, yes. But not as absurd as she was.

So, the fact that Diana was born with this talent was truly outrageous since it shouldn’t have been possible in the first place.

Diana’s wings fluttered behind her, and with a strong beat, three large orbs appeared around her.

With a point of her fingers, these orbs began shooting out bolts of dark red darts, and when these darts hit the monsters, they all were incinerated to ashes.

Dragons and phoenixes are creatures often connected to the element of fire. And what Diana used just now was Dragonfire—an innate ability of dragons, flames of incredibly hot temperatures, and incredibly destructive properties.

Diana’s slaughter was fast and accurate. When she called the small monsters "small fry," she was not exaggerating. It didn’t even take her a full minute before she eradicated her lot.

Just like that, the growing wave in the west was solved.

Diana landed at the camp, looking as indifferent as ever.

Ren knew that his wasn’t the full extent of Diana’s prowess. It barely scratches the surface of just how absurdly talented and gifted this woman was. But he didn’t point it out since it’s completely unnecessary.

If there’s one person in this camp that could truly push Ren to use his full strength in a fight, it’d be her. However, Ren wasn’t some battle maniac.

Besides, they have other matters to attend to.

**

The defense continued.

Monsters were funneled into the winding paths and entered the meat grinder they designed. The team was eagerly slaughtering monsters to earn merit points since their earnings are doubled during this event.

Some have already earned enough to buy weapons from the shop, and with weapons on hand, their efficiency rose to a whole new level.

Ren was still on the lookout. When large and problematic monsters appear in his sensory range, he does his best to slow them down or kill them by hurling wooden stakes at them from where he was.

Monsters have come from other directions too, but the largest concentration still comes from the east, where the rainforest was. Therefore, most of their personnel are concentrated on the eastern walls.

The team was doing fine, especially his own team—the ones from the Letter Kingdom, most of them, at least.

Adrian, Lucian, Elena, Kael, Darius, and Lily were thriving in this event.

They were clothed, energetic, armed, and deadly. Their talents, the very ones that made them the representatives of the Letter Kingdom, were in full display before everybody.

Although their performance might not be as exaggerated as his or Diana’s, they’re still formidable. They are serving as a role model for others and helping to stabilize the whole team’s morale.

Alas, there were some who were just disappointing.

Aurelia, Aria, and Sieg...Ren doesn’t even know what to tell these three. He just acts as if they were never here most of the time; that way, he wouldn’t feel irritated.

Honestly, it’s the three of them that’s holding the whole team back. They’re too slow, too picky, too sensitive, and too stupid to accept reality as is. They still want to maintain their dignity even though the situation and everybody else couldn’t care less about it.

The number of times they were caught lacking and being a disappointment was surprisingly humiliating; this is why Ren just pretends to not see them sometimes.

Thankfully, the rest were there to pick up the slack. If most of the people here were as disappointing as these three were, Ren would’ve had an annuity at this point.

**

Diana’s predictions came true.

Some people got injured, and a few experienced their first death.

The injured were pulled back and taken to the med bay to recover. The healers were more than ready and attentive to not let them perish or lose limbs.

Their injuries vary from mild to grievous. Some just needed some light healing and a moment of rest, and they could return to the fight; others needed more care because they’ve gone a little bit overboard of what they could handle, and they would need to rest a little bit longer regardless of whether they wanted to or not.

Of course, some had accidents like mangled flesh and torn limbs, injuries that no amount of healing could restore—at least not the ones they have available right now.

An option for them was to die and be ressurected in full health and intact. Sure, it costs merit points, and the cost of the next resurrection increases, but this was a better option than saving up.

It’s because of these injuries that they were reminded how absurdly monstrous this secret realm was.

Had it not been for the reconstruction option, the injuries they’ve had would’ve been real problems. They would’ve been crippled, or worse, dead.

It reminded them that this was not just a simple competition. It’s also a reminder of the monsters they have to face in the future, after this tournament is over.

And this is with an organized team, by the way.

The representatives of the Heavenly Bronze Empire aren’t stupid. They knew that they’ve been incredibly fortunate to have leaders like Ren and Diana stabilizing and paving the path for them.

These damages might’ve been severe, but it’s within expectations, and their overall performance was already as good as it can get provided for their current situation.

But even they weren’t completely immune to damages, so what does that say to their competitors who probably haven’t had enough time to build a base?

They’re most likely even more miserable than they are. The idea doesn’t make them fully comfortable, but they’re glad that it’s the enemies, not them, who are experiencing that.

**

The next six hours felt like days or weeks because of how hectic it was.

Even though everybody was reminded to pace themselves—and normally, fighting for hours shouldn’t exhaust them too much—they were surprised to find out that they’re tiring even faster for some reason.

There were multiple reasons for this, but it’s mostly because of the strange environment and lack of preparation and tools to make the job easier.

Still, they made do with what they have.

And as time passed by, with monsters continuing to flood them in all directions, slowly but surely, more and more people were earning enough merit points to purchase weapons and other gear from the shop.

With these, their efficiency was rising, and they were becoming more and more used to the flow of battle.

At some point, Diana and Ren joined the fray, and that’s when everybody saw what true rampage looks like.

Diana, with a sword and shield as her weapon choice, was like a valkyrie herding petulant souls back to the afterlife. She was tanking multiple monsters at once; some were even several times bigger than she was, and she was doing it with effortless grace and lethality.

She leaves burning trails in her wake, incinerating monsters and her wake, and her flames heal and reinvigorate those who fought beside her, making them subconsciously follow her lead.

Ren was like a miniature titan. Each punch he threw shook the earth and blew up monsters to the point of cowering. His might was so overwhelming that it made people wonder who the real monster was.

And he’s doing it all with his bare flesh. All he wore was pants and boots. He had no weapons. He uses punches and kicks monsters to oblivion, and he’s beating them back to wherever they came from.

These two were the semi-official leaders of the camp. One was a natural-born leader, and one was a handsome tyrant with blackened arms.

With these two at the helm of the team, their survival was guaranteed.

Before they knew it, six hours had passed and the crisis had ended. The last monster fled to the rainforest with their tails between their legs, and the only proof this crisis even happened was the river of blood and hills of monster remains surrounding the camp.