Thousand-Faced Dragon

Chapter 465 War
This was the toughest battle Rean had ever faced.

"Stay alert! This is war, not a battle!"

The knight in the monk's skin roared, dissatisfied with the candidates' slackness; their movements had slowed, and they had become complacent about life and death.

Rean's original plan was to use this war to assess the quality of his own side, to see if they could coordinate their attacks, and to observe their performance in dire situations.

But the result was quite bad.

"So what if I've died a dozen or twenty times? How can I be so careless? How can I accept death so easily!"

The enraged Rean bears the heaviest responsibility, having died more than thirty times.

However, he remained in high spirits, and even became more and more frenzied as he fought. His physical transformation into a dragon was already very obvious. He was nearly 2.1 meters tall in his half-dragon knight form, yet he had the slender and balanced physique unique to a monk.

Despite his high speed, he possesses immense strength. Although seemingly unarmored, he can rival the elemental physical strength of the opposing lizard demon. He maintains an almost hypersensitive level of reflexes.

Defend against attacks for your teammates, protect them from assaults, and hunt down the wounded.

His highest death toll ironically proves his ability and will on the battlefield, but
"On the battlefield, the more conspicuous a person is, the easier it is for them to die."

Once again, he shielded the spellcaster (Saliman) from the demons' attack. The moment Rean appeared in that position, six "great sharks" crawled out from above, below, left, and right at the same time.

Some pulled at his head, some risked their lives to bite, some spewed out mist, some bypassed Rean to attack Suliman to interrupt the spellcasting, and some even directly rammed Rean's fist with their bodies.

When Rean cannot kill one instantly, he is destined to be surrounded and killed.

"Damn."

Before he could even utter his last words, Rean was torn apart by five horses in an instant, and he faced his thirty-seventh death.

As he himself said, this is war, not battle. In war, no one is truly immortal; it's just a matter of how much it costs to take you down.

The better you perform, the sooner you will die.

Wild beasts will retreat when faced with a powerful foe, ordinary soldiers will hesitate and become angry when faced with a mission that means certain death, and heroes will burn their lives to unleash formidable power, but these silent hunters simply and ruthlessly make their exchanges.

I'll trade my life for yours.

Can't exchange them? Then let's go for two for one, four for one, ten for one, or even one hundred for one. The superior quality of these troops forces even mid-to-high-level professionals to grit their teeth and accept this kind of exchange.

Everyone died and died again, but their will was not weak. Even Dimon, who roared all the way, died ignoring the pain and wounds, but this did not affect the outcome of the battle.

Those monsters, those endless legions, could devour all the candidates' enthusiasm and fighting spirit.

No matter how passionate or selfless you are one second ago, the other side will forcibly take your life the next moment, and all your desperate efforts will only result in another loss.

Fearless of death? No, in the single eye of these demons, there was still fear, unease, and hesitation. But not one of them retreated.

"These are the Lizardmen? With soldiers of this caliber, a mere three-hundred-strong battle group would be enough to annihilate a small country."

This cannot be explained by individual strength alone. This highly organized exchange of pieces is an intelligent life's awareness of death.

"This was an external battlefield in a major war. In reality, it was the last line of defense for a small country. Its fall directly led to the massacre of tens of thousands of people."

When Wu reappeared in the center of the battlefield, it meant that this deadly contest had come to an end.

If this continues, it's enough to destroy the pride of these candidates whose will has reached its limit; there's no need to wear down their fighting spirit.

His gaze swept not only over Rean but also over the three candidates. Female assassins had the fewest deaths, yet their killing efficiency remained among the highest; the Shadow Dagger wasn't too bad against these elemental beings.

The enraged blue dragon had died countless times, often in the 20s. He transformed into his dragon form several times to fight and breathe fire, and even once defended a section of a wall. But this also led to his increasingly frequent deaths. When hundreds of fearless monsters pounced on his flesh and blood at the same time, he fell with extraordinary speed.

That seemingly ordinary guy had only died a handful of times. Once the hunter realized that the prey was worthless, he naturally regarded it as a worthless target and let it go for the time being.

But he continued to adapt to the battle, and even when he died repeatedly, he did not hesitate at all.

"Snapped!"

With a snap of his fingers, everyone was teleported back to the hall. When most of the candidates were numb, the trial had become meaningless.

The proud and arrogant candidates for the title of hero could only gasp for breath.

The exhausted blue dragon was drowsy; he had died too many times, causing his mind and soul to reach their limits.

Only the frenzied half-dragon monks were still not satisfied with the taste of blood.
"enough."

Wu slapped Rean on the back of the head, his icy breath forcing him to calm down.

The reason Rean has been able to go mad until now is not because he is much mader than the candidates, but because after being possessed by "Wu", his bloodthirsty instinct is endless.

Wu, who was on the same battlefield back then, fell amidst a pile of corpses just like that.
"These are not ordinary lizard demons; they are their elite elite force. You can think of them as a special guard unit dedicated to protecting the Queen—the cream of the crop."

These words brought a sigh of relief to everyone.

If all the bottom lizard demons are truly so fearless and numerous, then perhaps no country on the continent could stop them.

"However, the basic abilities and racial characteristics of these old versions from thousands of years ago are not as good as the latest versions. The new bottom lizard demons have stronger sensory abilities, faster talent for manipulating earth crystals, and their basic qualities are probably doubled."

That's not funny at all.

Wu explained the evolutionary characteristics of this elemental life form, which often uses a "typical" as a template for mass production through replication, while newborns evolve again on this weakened version.

These "hero templates" are the "queens" of their tribes, and those who can become their guards and protect them on their evolutionary journey must be the elite of the elite.

But who knows how much their race's basic strength has been strengthened after so many wars? Is what was shown in those images the upper limit of this race, or just the basic average?

"Don't take them too seriously; they're not even second-rate in the Demon Tide War."

These simple words were the most resolute death sentence; with the kingdom's current strength, it would be difficult to withstand such a direct confrontation.

Putting aside the individual strength, this highly organized and fearless legion is on a completely different level compared to the current kingdom's army.

"Don't worry. In the early stages of the Demon Tide, we won't encounter such a legion. They also fought their way out." Rean had already seen the "answer sheet," and this was not an opponent that the group could encounter at present.

This is the middle of the Demon Tide, the Iron Army formed from countless deaths. The demons in that day's image were also skilled in battle, but they did not have this madness that would not hesitate to perish together with their opponents for the sake of killing efficiency.

They are a death legion honed by countless wars, knowing the rules of war. When their side is fearless of death, their own casualties will be less. Those strongmen who are quickly replaced can easily cause more than ten times the casualties given enough time.

After the world fell into racial wars, there were no longer any destined strongmen. As long as a body could get tired and injured, it could be easily replaced.

"Get stronger. When you're strong enough that you can kill a whole group with one punch, these legions won't be able to keep you here." When the weak can exchange numbers and lives for the strong, it seems the strong can only repay with combat power several levels higher.

"When they realize they can't replace you, they naturally won't come after you and waste their resources. Candidates, you are still too weak."

(End of this chapter)