The battlefield fell into absolute silence.
The Blackshadow Kingdom's forces realized that their general's head had vanished.
Time seemingly froze.
BOOOM!
And then, a huge explosion occurred inside the black castle as several Mages were thrown to the side, the protection of their armor activating.
When a Summoner died, their Companion Beast died with them.
However, their other beasts stayed alive.
And without the Companion Beast to control them...
Seven Late Commander Stage beasts were now rampaging inside the castle.
The seven beasts attacked the other beasts and unleashed their Elemental Attacks on the Mages and Summoners on the wall.
At the same time, the black shield around the castle dissipated.
The Blackshadow Kingdom had decided to use the general as the center for the Anti-Magic Barrier. After all, if they put the center inside the castle, the enemy might manage to break it by somehow destroying the castle.
However, such a powerful Summoner could protect themselves, and they wouldn't put themselves in danger. As long as they survived, the barrier would hold.
This Anti-Magic Barrier was created with the Darkness Element, and it weakened enemy Spells to a point where they were no longer threatening.
As long as no one managed to get past the barrier, they would be safe.
It was the ultimate counter to the strongest force in this world, Magic.
It was like a modern soldier with extremely expensive body armor, fully suited to survive gunfire.
However, if someone came in close and strangled that soldier with their bare hands...
The culmination of thousands of years of research and optimization would be beaten by the oldest and most primal weapon in existence, a human's hands.
The spear Shang had thrown had been made with Entropy Ore, and Magic had nearly no effect on it.
It was simply a very hard piece of ore.
It wasn't magical in any way.
And precisely because of that, the barrier had no effect on it.
The Grandmountain Kingdom had managed to kill the strongest enemy with a rock.
And the death of the general created a terrifying chain reaction.
Mere seconds ago, they had an army of Mages, Summoners, and beasts, and they had all been standing behind a terrifying shield.
Now, the shield was gone, and several powerful beasts were rampaging inside the castle.
The commanders in the castle quickly assumed command and ordered the Mages to kill the former beasts of the dead general.
Meanwhile, Shang turned around and ran to his sword. After grabbing it, he jumped into the huge crater the black fireball had left behind and leaned against the crater wall closer to the enemy.
Shang was essentially in a gigantic trench right now.
Shang quickly rammed his sword into the ground and created a huge hole.
He jumped into it and put his sword over the hole.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A couple of Mages were already throwing Spells at Shang's location, and his surroundings were being destroyed.
However, it was difficult to hit Shang from this angle, and his sword protected him very well.
Shang was bombarded by Spells for several seconds, hoping that they wouldn't manage to land a clean hit.
Then, the bombardment intensified.
But just a couple of seconds later, it completely stopped and was replaced with distant quakes.
The Grandmountain Kingdom's army had arrived.
The Mages were throwing Spells at the black castle's walls, completely decimating it in the process.
Without the barrier, it couldn't withstand such an aggressive assault.
The barbarians were charging forward at the front, but surprisingly, no Spells landed amongst them.
The Blackshadow Kingdom knew that the Mages were much more dangerous, which was why they were fully focusing on destroying the Grandmountain Kingdom's Mages. They ignored the barbarians.
Several Mages of the Grandmountain Kingdom died, but even more of the Blackshadow Kingdom died.
The Mages of the Grandmountain Kingdom were dispersed, while the Mages of the Blackshadow Kingdom were all gathered in one spot.
Half a minute later, the castle was turned into rubble, and it became very difficult for the remaining Mages to find a good spot to assault the Grandmountain Kingdom.
The two leading commanders noticed that the army of barbarians had come way too close during that clash.
They hadn't managed to decimate the enemy's Mages in time.
With gritted teeth, the commander gave the order.
"Disperse!"
Shortly after, colorful balls of Mana came out of the rubble, shooting into all directions as several groups of beasts ran into the distance, the occasional Summoners sitting on them.
"Chase!" the general of the Grandmountain Kingdom shouted.
The barbarians released a thundering war cry and shot after all the distant Summoners.
Now, it was Summoners versus barbarians.
One Summoner was definitely stronger than one barbarian. A barbarian didn't even have a chance against a Summoner.
However, Summoners consumed a terrifying amount of resources.
They had to strengthen each beast individually, which consumed a terrifying amount of food and Mana.
Now, how many resources did barbarians consume?
One barbarian consumed just a bit fewer resources than an equivalent beast.
The Blackshadow Kingdom had had around 40 Summoners in the black castle.
But the Grandmountain Kingdom had over 200 barbarians.
In duels, the Blackshadow Kingdom would emerge victorious.
But these weren't duels.
This was a war.
The remaining Summoners were quickly assaulted by a swarm of barbarians, throwing their minds into terror and panic.
There were so many of them!
And that wasn't even everything.
There were still several unaffiliated Summoners traveling around the Plague Rat Zone to train their beasts.
They weren't powerful enough to join the defense, but they also weren't weak.
They knew that this place might be attacked by the enemy, but the black castle would keep the Grandmountain Kingdom at bay.
It was risky to train here, but high risks gave high rewards. There were far fewer Summoners here than usual, leaving more beasts for the ones willing to take the risk.
But today, these Summoners would regret taking the risk.
A swarm of Late and Peak Fighter Stage barbarians and even the occasional Champion Stage barbarian were coming down on them.
The Mages focused on chasing the other Mages and on officially conquering the land while the flood of barbarians fell upon the land like a plague of locusts.
They killed all humans they didn't recognize. Their power didn't matter.
They killed all the beasts they could kill.
They destroyed all structures they saw.
The Deepcore Turtle Zone had been bereft of farms and commoners, and the beasts could only be found deep in the caves.
However, before the Grandmountain Kingdom had arrived, the Deepcore Turtle Zone had several villages, and there had been quite a few Soldier and General Stage beasts on the surface.
Then, the Grandmountain Kingdom arrived.
Now, the Deepcore Turtle Zone was very different.
And the same thing was about to happen to the Plague Rat Zone.
On this day, fire and blood rained down on the lands of the Plague Rat Zone.
The only area that was spared was the east, which was where the really powerful beasts resided.
Everything else was turned into rubble and dust.
The barbarians wouldn't stop rampaging for three entire days.
The Plague Rat Zone belonged to the Grandmountain Kingdom now.
