Chapter 410: Ravaging Army

"Nyxa, stay low and keep a lookout. Find me a herd of bison," Leo instructed, his tone steady. He brought Nyxa to the headless corpse of the bison to make the scent unmistakable. Picking up the decapitated head, he placed it neatly before the severed neck. This also gave her the idea of how a bison looks.

"Awo!" Nyxa confirmed and darted into the forest, her form vanishing between the trees.

You can kill and eat any beast you come across during this, Leo sent through their link, receiving a pleased intent in return from Nyxa.

After a while, even the beasts grew scarce, and not even 8 hours had passed. Morning light had already spread across the forest, yet there was no sunlight, blocked entirely by dense clouds overhead. It seems that Leo didn’t get the desired satisfaction that he expected, but he still levelled up twice and sat at High 4-star rank, so it was all good.

"Lord, breakfast has been prepared. Please come and have it," Sylrael called through the mental link.

"Did Lily eat?" Leo asked.

"Yes. Lady—Sister Lily has already eaten and returned to the skies in case of an attack."

Leo nodded and headed back. He quickly dipped into the private pool, washing off the grime. After freshening up, he sat at a table set under the open sky to eat. The elves had prepared it so Leo and the others could dine outside if they wished.

Soon, an elf approached, silently placing the dishes before Leo. She bowed and left without a word.

Leo raised a brow.

"Nice service..."

Then he realized they had forgotten to bring water or something to drink.

"Looks like there’s still much to learn, after all." With a faint smile, he conjured earth elements to form a clay water container, then filled it using water elements.

Behind him, the elf—Lysira—who had been quietly pleased at Leo’s praise, suddenly felt her world crash at his next words. Looking back, she saw him forming the container himself. She smacked the tray in her hand lightly against her forehead.

"How did I forget water?!" she muttered under her breath, grimacing. Leo naturally heard her and turned.

Lysira panicked, bowing rapidly again and again in apology before hastily retreating.

Leo shook his head and turned back to the meal in front of him.

"Pork? Maybe they cooked the boar." The meat was cut into neat slices, cooked just right. Spices had been used to draw out the flavor, and a knife and fork had been set for ease.

He took a bite—and paused, slightly surprised.

"They taste good... but I can tell Lily was the one who cooked this. They have that certain flavor." Not that he disliked it—rather, it was perfect for him. Food without that touch always felt lacking now.

He also noticed how dense the meat was. Even a small bite felt like a mouthful, filling and rich. Leo already knew the reason—this beast must have been killed before reaching its full size. That meant the meat was more concentrated, offering greater nutrition in smaller portions. Naturally, such meat was more valuable than that of beasts killed at full size.

On top of that, smaller beasts were slightly more costly due to easier transport and the meat retaining its viability for longer periods.

As he finished eating, Lily reached out through their link.

"Leo, they’ve started to move."

"Oh? Who is it—Ronan, Marco, or the girls?" he asked, cleaning his hands and wiping his mouth.

"All. I mean, I don’t see Uraan, but everyone else is approaching the territory from all sides."

Leo closed his eyes, trying to sense them, but they were still outside his Geo-sense range. Not long after, Elaris—the one in charge of the Omnidirectional Sense Array—also relayed the information.

"Lord, many people are coming at once! And I can sense some high-level presence in them!"

"They seem to be coordinating their attacks... but no sign of Uraan? Maybe he’ll arrive at the last moment to blitz through the territory," Leo muttered.

At once, he alerted everyone, and the territory shifted into high alert. Aina, Sylva and Mira climbed the towers from which most attackers were supposed to come. Naturally, towards the direction from which the tanky top 10 students were coming.

"Lord... these beasts," Sylrael reminded him, referring to the few hundred corpses scattered across the mound.

"Oh, right. Howl," Leo commanded.

A subtle rumble spread beneath everyone’s feet.

"An earthquake? Today of all days?!" Aina exclaimed, her voice tight with concern. The others reacted as well. If it were a high-magnitude quake—which was not uncommon—it could easily destroy the wooden watchtowers built with basic structures. Only Lily, Kaelion, and Miho remained calm.

What happened next left even their eyes widening.

One by one, shallow depressions formed beneath each corpse, swallowing them whole. In the next moment, the ground sealed itself as if nothing had ever been there. Even the blood vanished—Howl replaced the soil, carrying away the soaked earth to be repurposed as fertilizer.

Not even a few minutes passed before Leo’s senses caught a massive wave of attackers approaching.

"Damn... how many are there?"

It felt like an entire army charging in from all directions.

"Leo! It’s more than 500 attackers!"

From the sky, Lily couldn’t see clearly beneath the forest canopy, but as they drew closer, the scale became apparent.

Leo’s grin widened.

"They really gathered quite a force," he said, excitement flickering in his voice. Each of the top 10 students likely had around 80 to 90 territory members—and naturally, many of them would be among the top 100.

Dham... Dham... Dham... Dham...

Heavy footsteps echoed as they approached rapidly—most likely Marco’s Regalia Mammoth and Dhalia’s Boreal Shellbeast.

Then suddenly, Leo’s phone rang. Six new messages from six unknown contacts appeared—each carrying the same tone.

>You made a big mistake not allying with us on time!(҂◣_◢)ง !!!@@@###

Leo’s grin stretched even wider as he read them.

"Lily, looks like they still haven’t learned their lesson. Let’s show them what they missed in the competition."

At the same time, Elaris’s voice rang sharply in everyone’s ears.

"Super-fast flying beast approaching from the northeast!!!"

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A/N: Sorry for being late, but the next Chapter will come out in a few hours. Got busy with irl stuff.