The Army of Gluttony has arrived.
The atmosphere changed as thick bloodlust spread out in the air.
It was a little bit suffocating.
Souta narrowed his eyes and smiled. "Even though they are weak, they possessed great momentum."
The enemy had fought their way to this country. The cities, towns, and villages that were on their way were massacred. Some of those people resisted but they couldn't defeat the Army of Gluttony.
Everyone knew that some of the towns or villages only had a few experts. So it wasn't surprising that they couldn't defeat the enemies. At the very least, the elderly and children managed to escape and seek refuge in other countries.
"Souta, why didn't they fight the Army of Gluttony the moment they exited the border of Eru Empire?" Alice asked in a low voice.
"It's not like they didn't fight. There are battles everywhere. Small squads were dispatched first and fought several times against the enemies. That's one of the reasons why some of the people managed to escape on time or else none of them would be able to escape." Souta explained.
"A large-scale battle will occur now." Eilish joined the conversation. She pointed at the walls behind them and said, "From this country up to the borders of the Eru Empire will become the main battleground. The small-scale battle was just to clean up the entire land, and help the people escape. If a large-scale battle occurred while ordinary people were nearby I'm sure you already know what will happen."
"The ordinary people will die... They will not be able to move under the pressure of a Shackled Realm expert." Alice said with a gloomy look.
"Yeah. The ordinary people have escaped while those unfortunate ones have died so the whole area was cleaned up. The Holy Lands and Large Countries will start to fight. They will send their army and use the three nations as a vanguard. They will not give up the three nations easily and the land before us will become a battlefield. No more ordinary folks so they could counterattack without worrying about the death of ordinary people." Eilish explained.
"What about the death of ordinary people who failed to escape?" Alice asked.
"I'm afraid that the higher-ups are already prepared for it. Casualties will always happen. At the very least, they managed to evacuate tens of thousands of ordinary people. Even if there are ordinary people that are alive there... Once the battle starts, they will perish just from the shockwaves alone." Eilish said with a frown. She was quite knowledgeable about this since she experienced several wars in her journey.
Eilish glanced at Souta and said, "Souta could even kill ordinary people if he released his energy. The higher-ups already tried their best to avoid high-rank battles while helping ordinary people. There's no place for them in this kind of battlefield."
"I see..." Alice nodded.
"They are here," Souta said.
They stopped talking and they focused their attention on the army ahead. They would thoroughly annihilate the enemies without letting any of them escape.
"Attention!!"
Schine, who was at the front of the army, raised his hand.
A man from the Army of Gluttony was approaching them with steady feet. He was holding a huge piece of paper in his hand. He was here to give them the message of their army.
He stopped thirty meters away from Schine and said in a loud voice, "People from Selnes Country! Open your borders and surrender yourself to our Lord Gluttony! If you don't want to surrender then you will face the Army of Gluttony and die a painful death! Mercy will be given to the people who surrendered to our Lord!!"
Souta, Shen Yao, and the other representatives glanced at this unknown man with a cold gaze. This unknown man thought that the Selnes Country would surrender while the huge forces like the Holy Lands were on their backs.
Selnes Country would be destroyed by the Holy Lands if they surrendered.
Schine narrowed his eyes and said coldly, "There's no need."
He waved his hand and the messenger opened his eyes widely.
Whoosh!!
A red line appeared on his neck. His head slowly fell to the ground, spraying blood in every direction.
The messenger was killed.
Schine raised his hand above his head and said in a loud voice, "I will only say a few words! Kill! Kill our enemy! Kill the one that threatens our country!"
"Kill!!"
"Kill!!"
"For the country!!"
"For our people!!"
"Kill!!"
The army of the Five Master Clans shouted as their energy shot through the air.
Their spirit was high.
The soldiers charged forward with great momentum. Their morale was high and their aura was making the ground vibrate.
"Charge!!"
Their voices resounded throughout the land.
Souta watched this scene with a smile on his face. He turned his head and looked at the warriors of Athena.
"Go... Edilon, Fremi, stay here. Let them fight and hone their skills through combat." Souta said.
Edilon and Fremi, the two Four Shackles experts of the Sixth Grain War, nodded at his words.
Aside from the two, the Three Shackles experts also stayed behind watching the battle from this position.
Warriors of Athena charged as they followed the lead of the soldiers of Five Master Clans.
They started fighting the enemies.
Explosions sounded and various skills were used in just a minute. The mages floated in the air before casting spells to bombard the flanks of the enemies. The ground kept shaking and thick smoke rose into the sky.
Souta glanced at Eilish, "Do you want to join them? You're at the limit of Two Shackles. You can use this chance."
Eilish shook her head. "I think it's not enough. The strongest among the enemies are just Solidifying Realms. It will be hard to stimulate my potential using them."
"Okay," Souta nodded.
He slightly raised his head and looked ahead. His eyes moved and saw silhouettes from afar watching the battle.
Souta squinted his eyes and suppressed the surprise in his heart.
'So they are here...'
It seems that they were just watching the battle and didn't have any plans to move.
But... If they were here then it was going to be more troublesome.
'Can I fight them alone?'
Souta looked at the Heads of the Five Master Clans and the representatives of the large factions.
'Can I trust these people? My strength hasn't reached an overpowering state so I can't fight those guys alone.'
The strong experts in the Army of Gluttony were just observing them. They were testing the might of Selnes Country and the alliance army.
It's troublesome but it's made things more exciting.
Unconsciously, a grin appeared on his face.
Oops! I'm getting carried away.
Souta took a deep breath and slightly moved his hand. After a few seconds, he gritted his teeth and bit his tongue until it bled.
'As expected it's getting worse...' He said inwardly, trying to ignore the pain.
'You can't do it for the time being... You've just absorbed millions of resentment and grief so your body and mind will not be able to handle it more.' Saya's voice sounded.
'I'm just trying...' Souta said.
He absorbed all the souls in the boundary and it boosted his strength highly. But the effect was too much and it made it easier for him to lose control of his instinct.
"What's wrong, Souta?" Alice asked worriedly when she saw his face.
"It's nothing." Souta shook his head.
It was already great that his strength increased vastly. It would need release form before he could think about defeating a Four Shackles but it was different now after he absorbed all those souls. The [Void Entanglement] and [Void Shrouding] also increased his base stats.
The battle continued while the rest of the top contenders were just watching from the sideline. If one side moved, the other would move too. Still, the strong experts from the Army of Gluttony were several tens of kilometers away so the chance of them making a move was low.
There's no sign that the Shackled Realm experts of the Army of Gluttony were moving. At this rate, this bunch of people would get annihilated by the combined force of the Five Master Clans and Alliance Army.
One by one the soldiers from the other side had fallen. They didn't have enough force to stop several One Shackle experts much less the Two Shackles experts. They could only try to fight back and kill those experts below Shackled Realm.
"It's going to end..." Souta muttered.
"What about the experts from the other side?" Eilish asked.
"They are watching," Souta replied to her.
Eilish turned around and looked at the Head of the Five Master Clans and the representatives of the huge factions. "They know it?"
Souta nodded and smiled, "Yeah, when those people move we will move too. Just focus your attention on breaking the third shackle. At that time, you will have enough strength to perceive the enemy."
"I thought that we didn't want a battle between the same ranks. Our enemy didn't have a single Shackles Realm while we dispatched our Shackled Realm." Eilish said.
"Well, it's not that they can't. The enemy could send One or Two Shackles experts but they didn't do so. I don't know why but it seems that they are waiting for something." Souta said as he rubbed his chin.
Eilish narrowed her eyes and something came into her mind. She glanced at the walls and muttered, "Probably something to deal with the barrier so they can launch an all-out attack."
