Death… And Me

Chapter 4318: The Big Boy

Roan’s words immediately made many of the newcomers narrow their eyes.

There was no denying the obvious. Roan’s battalion was significantly more exhausted than the surrounding forces.

After the Yin Yang Sanctuary disappeared, they had been forced to expend even more energy while retreating from the collapsing first defensive line. Maintaining formation under the restored Godly Pressure had become far more difficult, and minimizing casualties required constant effort from everyone involved.

The only reason their losses had remained manageable was because the new cultivators who joined them during the retreat helped share the burden.

Meanwhile, the second defensive line was clearly far stronger than the first.

Instead of being composed mostly of Initial and Middle Stage Anchor Gods, this line possessed a considerable number of Late Stage Anchor Gods, with even several Peak Stage ones mixed throughout the formations. The Aura Gods stationed here were also noticeably stronger overall, with many at the Middle and Late Stages.

Compared to those battalions, Roan’s group looked far less appealing.

Under normal circumstances, it would have been strange for anyone to willingly remain with Roan’s exhausted battalion.

However, one sentence in particular lingered in the minds of the newcomers, something Roan said.

The situation will deteriorate quickly...

That single warning made many hesitate.

Considering the condition of Roan’s battalion, or rather, Fushio and Wurshan’s battalion, as most of them still viewed it, it became obvious that they had somehow prepared themselves in advance for the collapse of the first defensive line.

Above all else, there was the mysterious battle formation they had used earlier.

To this moment, none of the newcomers truly understood how it had worked.

They only knew one thing.

It had been absurdly effective.

Could it be that Roan already expected the second defensive line to collapse as well?

That thought sent chills through many of them.

Naturally, the higher-ups would never publicly release information suggesting such a possibility. Doing so would only spread panic across the battlefield and destroy morale before the battle even reached its worst stage.

Still, Roan’s battalion had survived the impossible once already.

That alone made his words difficult to ignore.

The ten seconds passed quickly.

Soon afterward, the battalion’s numbers stabilized at around nine hundred cultivators.

Roughly three hundred of the newcomers ultimately chose to leave and join the stronger battalions positioned nearby. Although Roan’s accomplishments in the first defensive line were undeniable, most still believed that what happened there had been a miracle that could not possibly be repeated.

Roan himself did not care.

Originally, his battalion should have been reduced to a little less than seven hundred members after the losses they suffered earlier. Yet even after giving the newcomers a chance to leave freely, two hundred of them still decided to remain under his command.

That was already more than he expected.

”Here they come,” Roan said calmly.

At the same moment, the next wave of Godly Creatures reached the gap where Roan had positioned his battalion.

Through the soul connection, Roan immediately contacted Rean.

’Rean, check the condition of our members. Send everyone with the lowest reserves of energy to the far back. The second defensive line is much stronger, so it should take longer before collapsing too. Have them focus entirely on recovery. Also, see if you can treat their injuries. Use the pills I prepared if necessary.’

Rean immediately understood the intention behind the order.

’As I thought... we’re using the funnel to recover our forces, huh?’

’Yes,’ Roan replied without surprise.

There was no need to explain much between the two of them anymore. After being together for so long, Rean could often grasp Roan’s intentions almost instantly.

The so-called funnel strategy was actually very simple.

They would intentionally defend an extremely narrow battlefield gap.

Roan’s retreat path from the first defensive line had never been random. During the retreat, he had carefully analyzed the network information about the defense line formed by the second line and selected the best possible position for his battalion.

The location he chose was situated between two battalions positioned atop neighboring small hills.

Those battalions had intentionally occupied the high ground so they could support one another from elevated positions while controlling the surrounding battlefield. Between them, however, there existed a relatively narrow opening that neither side particularly wanted to commit too many forces toward defending.

After all, the Aura Gods on the hills could already provide long-range support toward that area if necessary.

Now, Roan had inserted his battalion directly into that gap.

For the two battalions on the hillsides, Roan’s presence was actually beneficial.

That section lacked high ground advantages, and having Roan’s battalion close the opening allowed both hill battalions to fully concentrate their strength toward the enemies directly ahead instead of dividing their attention.

It was a mutually beneficial arrangement for all three parties.

Nine hundred cultivators now stood under Roan’s command.

However, only around two hundred remained actively fighting at the front and in the skies above.

Unlike before, there were no layered defensive lines within Roan’s battalion anymore.

The only reason he previously organized everyone into multiple compact layers was that the Yin Yang Sanctuary required all members to remain within range. Without that restriction, tightly packing cultivators together inside such a narrow battlefield would only hinder movement and create unnecessary casualties.

Back at the battle, the funnel itself greatly limited the number of Godly Creatures capable of attacking simultaneously.

That did not mean the situation became easy.

Far from it.

As the Godly Creatures failed to break through the stronger battalions positioned nearby, more and more of them instinctively redirected themselves toward the narrow opening Roan defended.

In other words, the enemy forces themselves were being compressed into the funnel.

Their maneuverability suffered heavily because of it, but their overwhelming numbers still remained terrifying.

And with more concentrated numbers came even denser Godly Pressure.

”Wurshan, let’s go,” Roan said as the Crystal Void Scythes materialized in his hands.

Wurshan nodded without hesitation before joining Roan at the frontline once more.

Since Rean had moved to the rear to coordinate recovery and treatment efforts, Roan personally stepped in to compensate for the missing combat strength.

To outside observers, it looked somewhat strange for the battalion commander himself to continuously fight at the front.

Still, nobody complained.

Even if Wurshan died, Fushio was still technically present to assume command.

’Red Death, Death Scythe!’

’Shot of the Three Stars!’

Roan’s crimson scythe slash and Wurshan’s star-shaped weapon struck simultaneously toward a Godly Beast that had lunged at one of their Anchor Gods.

Before the creature could tear the cultivator apart, the combined attack completely shredded its head instead.

Although the Godly Creatures had regained their Godly Pressure, the Sacred Relic’s amplified influence over the battlefield still remained active to some extent.

The creatures weren’t at their true peak strength and would never be if the Relic continued working. They were closer to their real strength now that the Yin Yang Sanctuary was gone, though.

Meanwhile, Celis continuously supported everyone from the rear.

If you ignore Roan’s commands, Celis has been the most important existence within the entire battalion at this stage.

The overwhelming Godly Pressure saturating the battlefield obviously allowed him to create more Godly Energy to manipulate and redistribute among the twins’ group. The twins’ group cultivation technique shone in this situation.

Whenever necessary, he even absorbed Godly Energy directly from the crystals inside fallen Godly Creatures.

As long as Celis remained active, the twins’ group would practically never run out of energy reserves.

Not on a battlefield overflowing with fresh Godly Crystals.

All across the battlefield in front of them, Celis’ vines spread like living serpents beneath the corpses. The vines pierced into the heads of fallen Godly Creatures before pulling their crystals back toward the rear lines.

There was nothing particularly strange about the action itself. Every cultivator understood the importance of recovering energy during battle whenever possible.

Survival always came first.

The only unusual thing was how efficiently Roan’s battalion managed to retrieve the crystals compared to everyone else.

As Roan expected, the momentum of the first enemy waves slowed considerably after reaching the second line of defense.

Unfortunately, slowing them down was not the same as stopping them.

After only a few minutes, Roan could already see the first signs of collapse spreading across nearby battalions.

Even the two battalions positioned on the hillsides beside him were beginning to struggle heavily.

However, Roan’s battalion remained surprisingly stable.

He continuously rotated his forces with precise timing, preventing exhaustion from accumulating too heavily on any single group. Whenever a dangerous opening appeared, Roan immediately adjusted formations to suppress it before it could spread.

He even dispatched several Aura Gods from his own battalion to temporarily assist the neighboring battalions on the hills, greatly relieving the pressure their commanders faced.

Naturally, Roan was not doing that out of kindness.

By prolonging the survival of the two hill battalions, he also extended the lifespan of his own funnel position. Above all, he was managing to allow his cultivators to recover more energy than they were spending.

The longer those battalions endured, the longer Roan could maintain his recovery-focused strategy.

At any given moment, well over half of his battalion remained stationed at the rear, either resting, recovering, or receiving treatment from Rean. It was truly sad that Rean wasn’t an Aura God. If he were, he could use his Instant Recovery in them to heal the injuries fast.

In any case, compared to the surrounding battalions, their overall stamina consumption was incomparably lower.

[Godly Beasts Killed: 846]

After several more minutes of continuous fighting, Roan, Celis, and Kentucky obviously surpassed the eight-hundred-kill mark, earning another Orb Point for the system.

They now possessed Six Orb Points in total.

High above the battlefield, Kentucky sliced apart another Flying Godly Beast with his Sky Feather Blades before speaking through the soul connection.

’Things are going better than expected. The second defensive line will definitely collapse eventually, but not nearly as fast as you originally predicted.’

Roan narrowed his eyes slightly.

Under normal circumstances, that should have been good news.

Yet Kentucky’s words immediately made him focus on the battlefield network instead. ”Wurshan, cover me for a few seconds.”

Without waiting for a response, Roan temporarily stepped away from the front lines while Wurshan continued holding the formation.

Roan quickly examined the information flowing through the battlefield network, checking the conditions across the various war zones spread throughout Toranzo Country.

A few moments later, he returned to the frontline beside Wurshan once more.

”Our situation is actually better than most other battlefields,” Roan said in a low voice.

Then his expression turned colder. ”Pass the order.”

Wurshan immediately looked toward him, waiting for Roan to continue. ”There is a good chance the big boy will make an appearance at any moment now.”

A chill instantly ran down Wurshan’s spine.

”Let’s hope you’re wrong...” he muttered before immediately reaching for his RC to relay the warning.