At the sound of the horn, the squirming black tide on the horizon stirred to life.

"Charge!"

A roar like a crashing tsunami erupted from the Snake-man army array. Countless Snake-man Warriors twisted their grotesque snake tails, their humanoid upper bodies brandishing crude Bone Spears and Stone Axes as they charged from the mire of the Jade Swamp onto the dry plains.

They brought with them the swamp’s characteristic stench and slimy dampness. The ground seemed to be covered by a layer of greasy slime, and the dust under the sun turned into nauseating sludge.

The torrent of nearly 10,000 Snake-man Warriors, like a moving, gray-green plague, swept toward the defensive line of the Black Stone Territory.

Mixed in among this disorganized cannon fodder were nearly thirty enormous Swamp Giant Lizards.

Every step they took made the earth tremble. Their bodies, covered in heavy Scale Armor, were like moving hills, and on their backs sat Snake-man Handlers holding long whips.

And further back, in the shadows cast by the surging Snake-man Warriors and Swamp Giant Lizards, hundreds of figures were faintly visible.

They were the Dark Scale Guard, the elite among the Snake-men.

They uttered no war cries, merely following the main army in silence, like a school of sharks lurking beneath the waves. Their cold gazes continuously scanned the Black Stone Territory’s defensive line, searching for a weak point for a fatal blow.

High in the sky, the "Snake Woman" Najasha licked her scarlet lips.

She rode atop her hundred-meter-long Corrosive Poison Wing Dragon, looking down upon the wave of destruction she herself had unleashed.

Her gaze was indifferent, as if she were looking at a group of ants about to be crushed.

The Snake-men charged with incredible speed. In the blink of an eye, their vanguard had already covered over a thousand meters.

Three hundred meters.

On the Black Stone Territory’s defensive line, the Knights gripped their Weapons, their breathing growing heavy as their hearts pounded in their chests.

The Pegasus Knights circled overhead, the rush of wind from their beating wings clearly audible.

Just then, Najasha made her move.

The Corrosive Poison Wing Dragon beneath her let out a piercing shriek.

It folded its wings and dove, a black-green meteor streaking toward the very heart of the Black Stone Territory’s defensive formation.

"ROAR!"

The golden Giant Dragon, Sun, let out a furious roar as golden light flared from its hundred-meter-long body. It could not tolerate another Magical Beast acting so brazenly in its presence. With a single beat of its enormous Dragon Wings, it prepared to soar into the sky and intercept.

"Sun, be still."

Raylo said.

Sun froze. A flicker of confusion and impatience crossed its enormous golden eyes, but it forcibly suppressed its battlelust, its frustration audible only as a series of low growls rumbling in its throat.

The Corrosive Poison Wing Dragon’s speed was incredible. As it dove, a gray-green Domain suddenly unfurled with the beast at its center.

The Tier Five Corrosive Poison Wing Dragon’s "Corrosive Poison Domain"!

The gray-green current spread out like a tangible tide. Wherever the Domain passed, grass instantly withered and blackened, poisonous bubbles sizzled up from the hard earth, and a stench so vile it could suffocate the soul filled the air.

This Domain was a dagger, thrusting straight toward the heart of the Black Stone Territory’s formation.

The Snake-man army drew ever closer to the defensive line.

Two hundred meters.

One hundred fifty meters.

One hundred meters!

The grotesque smiles on the faces of the vanguard Snake-man Warriors were now clearly visible. They could even see the sunlight glinting off the Armor of the Knights behind the defensive line.

Now.

Raylo, who had been standing still on Baofeng’s back, slowly raised his right hand.

In his hand, he gripped the ice-blue serpent head, "Ice Wind."

No war cry. No wasted motion.

Raylo simply raised it, aiming it at the surging torrent of Snake-men and Giant Beasts before him.

The next moment, all the Magic Power in his body surged forth like a bursting dam, pouring unreservedly into the Head of the Demon Serpent in his hand.

Simultaneously, an icy, tyrannical, ancient will filled with a lust for destruction surged back along the channel of Magic Power, lashing out madly at his mind.

It was the remnant will of the Nine-headed Demon Serpent.

Raylo focused his Spiritual Power, resisting the encroachment of the Nine-headed Demon Serpent’s will with all his might.

At almost the exact same moment, on his shoulder, Moonlight’s pale golden eyes suddenly flared. Its pure and immense Spiritual Power transformed into a cool, silver radiance that poured into Raylo’s Sea of Spiritual.

On his other shoulder, Coal Ball also sensed the urgency of the situation. A flicker of anxiety crossed the Space Young Dragon’s glossy black eyes. The space around its small body began to warp slightly as streams of pure Spiritual Power flowed ceaselessly into Raylo, helping him build a defensive line against the Nine-headed Demon Serpent’s will.

Three seconds.

Just three short seconds.

But in Raylo’s Spiritual World, those three seconds felt like an age-long war.

Finally, through Raylo’s own tenacious will and the full-throated support of Moonlight and Coal Ball, that ancient, tyrannical will was once again forced down and suppressed.

The tightly shut Snake Eyes on the Head of the Demon Serpent, "Ice Wind," slowly opened.

The eyes were a profound blue, darker than the deepest ocean and purer than the coldest ice.

The instant they opened, it was as if all the light in the world was sucked into them.

The very heavens and earth changed color.

The sun, scorching just moments before, seemed to be shrouded by an invisible veil, its light growing dim and feeble.

The air temperature plummeted at an unnatural rate, and the Knights’ exhaled breaths instantly condensed into white mist.

The sky turned grim, and a sudden flurry of ice and snow began to fall. Then, without warning, hailstones the size of rice grains rained down, CLATTERING against everyone’s Armor.