Ansley Woster was befuddled. He was equally mad and disappointed at the King's decision which he had heard from the Royal Army. He knew what the King was up to, but he could never think doing such a thing was proper in times like this.

"To think that the King encouraged the princes to have a competition in this situation... Darn it! This is not acceptable," he muttered lowly to himself.

Looking at the injured soldiers of his County Army, who could only lie down helplessly on the grounds while the Priests and Healers healed them, he could only click his tongue bitterly.

Their fate was pretty much sealed; they had to fight until their body couldn't move any longer. They were all going to die, and it was for the sake of allowing the princes to have their competition.

"What a stupid way to die." Ansley smiled bitterly. Staring at the direction of Wisselton, the center of Woster County, he then sighed helplessly. "At least, I can die protecting them."

The moment he thought about his sons, a small smile decorated his face. 'So what if I'm going to die? Ensuring their life is my priority. I have failed my wife, and I can't fail my sons too!' Fire returned to his eyes, as he stood from the ground he was sitting.

Some of his exhausted but pretty much fine soldiers turned their head when he stood up, and they gazed at Ansley's back heatedly the moment they realized he was leaving the camp to enter the battlefield once again.

"My Lord..."

"Earl Woster, you..."

Not only his soldiers, but the other Nobles looking at him couldn't help but admire his spirit. Still, the only people who were inspired by him—who followed behind him—were only his County Army; none of the Nobles felt the urge to enter the battlefield with him that soon.

"He is admirable. He is so admirable, he doesn't suit to be a Mage."

One of the resting Nobles turned his gaze away from the disappearing back of Ansley to the speaker. "Why can't a Mage be admirable, Baron Nate?"

"Mages are only admirable amongst Mages, not in front of the public's eyes, Baron Spencer. Only Knights can be admirable in front of anyone's eyes."

"Despite how selfish the people depict us, we are now fighting for them, you know? Doesn't it make us admirable too?" Baron Spencer laughed in amusement, then waved his hand afterwards. "Forget what I just said. I can't believe I even said that."

"Were you laughing at your hypocrisy? Have you finally realized that you are here due to your selfish reason?"

"To be honest, I don't know why I am here." Baron Spencer smiled in defeat. "Unlike you, I don't really treasure the territory I have, nor do I have anyone to protect. I am here just on my whim."

"What a strange one." Baron Nate blinked his eyes. "Are you planning to leave the battle when it is getting out of hand?" He quirked his eyebrow, as he watched Baron Spencer slowly stood up.

Baron Spencer shrugged. "Like you say, Mages are not admirable individuals." Smirking at Baron Nate, he said, "Isn't everyone including you the same, Baron Nate?"

"I won't deny that; I love my life more than anyone else's."

It is worthy to note that the two Barons were not the only people who were resting in the place. There were still soldiers around them that could listen to their conversation, and Nobles that were enjoying the exchange between the two.

Despite how selfish the content of their conversation was, nobody called them out on that. They didn't show any indication that they agreed with the two either, but all of them had the same thing in their mind: 'I will leave this place once the situation is getting out of hand.'

Even before it was really getting out of hand sadly, the humans fighting in the battle of Ruttenhale Barony were already falling apart.

...

Raneil Barony.

Boom!

Thompson, who managed to dodge the mace that the Hobgoblin in front of him had swung at him, shouted out loud to remind his fellow Knights. "Don't let the mace of Hobgoblin touch you! It's too powerful for your body to endure!"

Of course, he also didn't forget his job to kill the Hobgoblin, who was eager to blow his head away. Pivoting in his place, he activated [Matter Augmentation] and stabbed the Hobgoblin with his now elongated sword.

The Hobgoblin was successfully killed, but he couldn't stay idle; the other Middle Class Demons were already charging at him. Turning his gaze to the direction of the gigantic Silencer that Jake, Sylvia, and Norman were facing, he couldn't help clicking his tongue.

"Tsk! My hands are pretty much tied with these Monsters. Too bad, but I can't help you guys." Thompson gritted his teeth, and beheaded the Orc coming at him. "I'll finish all of you quickly!"

Slightly away from Thompson, Steven was surrounded by a group of Demons. He wasn't being cornered, but he was purposefully holding them there in their place with his Aura Ability: [Gravity Center].

Unlike the others, he had to utilize his Aura Ability effectively since it used a lot amount of Qi. Therefore, using his Aura Ability on just one Demon at a time was an absolute waste of Qi, which is why he gathered them in one place before launching his attack.

"Hold on, you guys. I will blast all you of you in a sec." A savage grin decorated Steven's face.

Once he deemed he had gathered enough Demons, he held his sword vertically, and took a brief observation on the Demons surrounding him.

A majority of them were Low Class Demons while the rest were Middle Class Demons. All of them were showing their intention to kill him clearly.

Even some of the Middle Class Demons could slightly move toward him due to their indignation. Steven was slightly surprised upon seeing that, because it shouldn't have been possible.

"Uwah! You guys are scary, aren't you?" Steven shivered mockingly.

Ignoring the enraged bunch, he infused his Qi into his sword, and processed the Qi he was circulating through his entire body into a more complex and potent form—Aura.

The effect of his [Gravity Center] on the Demons was instantly amplified, petrifying all of the Demons in their place.

Once he was ready to showcase his masterpiece, Steven looked around briefly before shouting, "[Gravity Center: Repulsion]!"

Then as if they were blown away by an extremely powerful explosion, the Demons surrounding him were thrown away like a bullet. Sadly for them, being thrown away wasn't the only thing they got to experience.

Since Steven fully intended to kill them, he knew he wouldn't be able to do it just by throwing them away from him with a high speed. Therefore, he had coordinated with Whitney beforehand to ensure the death of the Demons.

All of them weren't just flying to a random direction. Steven had made sure to direct them at the earthen wall Whitney had made, which was decorated with sharp pointy earthen spikes.

As anyone might expect, the Demons were helplessly skewered upon reaching the wall.

"Huuh... I'm glad the wall can hold the bodies of those bastards." Steven wiped the sweat off his forehead.

"Are you doubting me?"

Steven waved his hand frantically, as he turned to Whitney. "No, no, no. I was doubting nature, not you. 'They are so resilient, so what can earth do against them?' is what I thought." Smiling brightly, he said, "I'm glad I was wrong."

"Nature might not be able to do anything against them, but Magic definitely can." Whitney faintly smiled, then looked at the boulder Iliana, the civilians, and most of the Low Class Demons had disappeared into. "What is she planning actually?"

"Are you sure you should worry about that beautiful Mage?" Steven twirled his sword briefly, then pointed his sword to Basil's direction. "I think Basil is having a hard time against those Banshees. Look, he even has to get down from his Companion."

Whitney didn't deny Steven's remark, nor did he agree with Steven; he merely glanced at Steven, then gazed at Basil in contemplation. 'He does not look like someone who is having a hard time against their opponents.'

Even if he wasn't an expert in close combat, he could tell which was the person who was really fighting, and which was the person who was merely "testing the waters." Basil, while focusing on his battle, didn't look like he wanted to end the battle.

"He is stalling for some reason," Whitney muttered. "What are you two actually planning, Basil, Iliana?"

Deciding to throw the matter to the back of his head, Whitney turned to Steven. He nodded his head at Steven, and resumed their cooperation once again.historical

Basil, who looked like he was minding his own battle but in truth was controlling the whole battlefield, observed the Banshee fighting him in disinterest. If not for the fact that he wanted to spread the Demons amongst the others evenly, he would have killed all of the Banshees long ago.

'As the higher class Demons, Banshees are the leader of the horde; everything they say is a command. Since they are more intelligent, I can control them easier, which in turn makes controlling the whole horde easier. If I were to eliminate all of them...'

Once the leader of the horde was eliminated, the new leader would be chosen. They could either be a Demon of the higher class or the strongest Demon in the horde.

From what Basil saw from the horde, the Demon that was going to replace the Banshees after he killed them all was the strongest Demon in the horde. That means, it wasn't a very bright Demon, which would make controlling the whole horde harder.

Why did he need to control the whole horde? The answer was simple: to make eliminating the Middle Class Demons easier ... Of course, he also had another reason for that.

"I need to get rid of them." Basil glanced at the secret entrance of Death Howl Dungeon from the corner of his eyes. "Just so I can kill that thing." His eyes gleamed coldly, as he bisected the Banshee in front of him.