The earth shaking roar continued echoing across the battlefield while the endless ocean of monsters surged forward like a living tsunami. Millions of creatures covered the distant horizon completely. Some resembled gigantic sharks with armored scales while others looked like enormous crabs, serpents, octopuses, and mutated whales overflowing with violent mana.

The pressure alone was enough to make countless ordinary awakeners tremble instinctively.

Above the battlefield, the twelve Sages remained floating silently in the sky like divine beings observing mortal war. Their expressions were solemn as they watched the approaching tide carefully.

Arthur slowly stepped forward in the air.

His voice spread throughout the battlefield through mana amplification.

"All squads prepare for impact. Follow formation exactly as instructed. Apprentice squads remain under Novice leaders. Novice teams remain under Adept commanders. Adept commanders will report directly to Elite Rank leaders. Legendary and Epic Rank awakeners are free to operate independently."

His calm voice carried absolute authority.

"No one is allowed to break formation recklessly. Anyone who abandons their assigned unit will be treated as a deserter."

The entire battlefield erupted with movement instantly afterward.

Thousands upon thousands of awakeners activated their mana simultaneously. Warriors unsheathed glowing weapons while mages began chanting spells. Assassins quietly disappeared into shadows as support healers moved toward the rear formations.

Victor stood calmly among the crowd while observing everything silently.

At that moment, Diana descended from the sky.

The surrounding awakeners widened their eyes immediately after seeing her appear personally before Victor. Many people instantly recognized her as one of humanity’s strongest Sages.

Diana stopped directly in front of him before taking out a dark silver battle suit from her storage ring.

"Wear this," she said softly.

Victor looked at the suit quietly before accepting it.

"Thank you, Princess."

The suit merged with his body almost instantly after he wore it. Dense mana circuits spread beneath the fabric while several hidden defensive mechanisms activated automatically around him.

Victor immediately understood the difference.

Compared to this genuine Legendary grade equipment, the one Sebastian gave him the other day after sabotaging was truly trash.

He couldn’t tell the difference that time as he knew saw the real one before.

A faint smile appeared on Diana’s face.

"Be careful," she said quietly before rising toward the sky again.

Many nearby awakeners stared at Victor with disbelief and jealousy.

Some people even began whispering among themselves immediately afterward.

"Why is Sage Diana treating him personally?"

"Who exactly is that man who didn’t even bother to show respect to the sages?", but the didn’t dare to assume anything else loudly, that could immediately attract Diana’s wrath.

Victor ignored every gaze calmly.

Far ahead, the monster tide finally entered attack range.

ROARRR!

The ocean beasts charged forward violently.

"FIRE!"

Thousands of long range spells erupted simultaneously from humanity’s side.

The skies exploded with countless elemental attacks. Fireballs, lightning spears, wind blades, ice storms, and holy beams illuminated the battlefield like a natural disaster.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Entire sections of monsters exploded apart instantly.

However, the tide behind them continued advancing endlessly.

Then the frontlines finally collided.

The battlefield descended into complete chaos.

A squad of Apprentice Rank awakeners led by a Novice warrior charged toward a group of armored sea horses. The Novice leader swung his gigantic axe horizontally and split one beast apart instantly while the apprentices supported him from behind with coordinated attacks.

Nearby, another squad faced disaster immediately.

A massive shark monster burst from underground and devoured two apprentices whole before anyone could react. Their terrified screams echoed briefly before vanishing completely.

"Hold formation!" their Novice commander roared desperately.

Elsewhere, several academy geniuses began displaying overwhelming talent.

A young woman from the Royal Magus Academy raised both hands calmly toward the sky. Hundreds of flaming magic circles appeared behind her instantly.

"Triple Layer Fire Barrage."

Thousands of condensed fire arrows descended like rain afterward.

Boom!

An entire section of monsters burned alive within seconds.

Cheers erupted from nearby soldiers immediately.

"That is Elena Frost!"

"She is third year, Rank One of the Royal Magus Academy! An Adept rank mage."

Not far away, another monstrous genius dominated the battlefield completely differently.

A tall spear wielder from the Royal Warrior Academy dashed through the tide alone like a lightning bolt. His silver spear pierced through monster skulls continuously with terrifying speed.

Every thrust carried enough force to explode bodies apart.

Blood filled the battlefield wherever he passed.

"He already reached Peak Adept Realm at nineteen years old!"

"That is Cedric Valen from the Solaris Empire!"

Even the live broadcasts throughout humanity’s cities exploded with excitement.

Countless ordinary humans watched the battlefield with nervous admiration.

"Humanity still has hope."

"Our geniuses are overwhelming the tide!"

Another prodigy suddenly drew attention.

A beautiful assassin from the Royal Assassins Academy vanished into thin air before silently appearing atop a gigantic octopus monster. Her twin daggers flashed once.

The creature’s head separated from its body instantly.

Before the corpse even collapsed, she had already disappeared again into another shadow.

Her movements resembled a phantom dancing through death itself.

Meanwhile, Victor remained relatively quiet compared to the others.

He only cast ordinary spells repeatedly while moving through the battlefield calmly. Metal spears pierced monsters while wind blades sliced apart weaker creatures. Occasionally, he used earth walls to protect nearby squads from fatal attacks.

Nothing about his performance seemed extraordinary.

Above the battlefield, Elyndros frowned slightly.

"Is that brat holding back or something?" he muttered while observing Victor carefully. "He has barely done anything impressive."

Lyria crossed her arms calmly beside him.

"The battle has only begun," she replied. "Watch longer."

Hours passed gradually.

The battlefield became increasingly brutal.

More and more monsters emerged from the distant ocean continuously. Corpses covered the ground entirely while rivers of blood flowed between shattered earth and broken defensive walls.

The monsters outside of dungeon didn’t disappear like in the dungeon.

They also had loots, but they needed to be dug manually. So corpes were piling up.

Human casualties also began increasing rapidly.

An Apprentice squad was completely wiped out after encountering a giant crocodile monster. Several Novice commanders died protecting injured teammates. Even Adept Rank awakeners began suffering serious injuries as the pressure intensified.

Then the battlefield shook violently once again.

Boom!

A messenger suddenly appeared beside Arthur in the sky.

"Sire," he reported urgently, "two S Rank Green Dungeons and three A Rank White Dungeons have broken open simultaneously behind the coastline."

Arthur’s face darkened instantly.

The expressions of the remaining Sages also turned grim.

The situation had become far worse than expected.

Dungeon breaks occurring during a beast tide was practically a nightmare scenario.

Below them, humanity’s strongest young geniuses finally began displaying their true strength.

An Elite Rank warrior from the Frost Empire slammed his gigantic hammer into the ground with terrifying force.

BOOM!

A massive shockwave spread outward instantly and crushed hundreds of monsters into bloody paste.

Nearby, a prodigy mage from the Azure Empire created an enormous thunderstorm above the battlefield. Countless bolts of lightning descended continuously like divine punishment and annihilated entire monster waves.

The crowd watching through live broadcasts erupted with excitement.

"Look at them!"

"Those are humanity’s future heroes!"

"They are suppressing the tide!"

Even many exhausted soldiers regained morale after witnessing the overwhelming combat prowess of the younger elites.

For nearly another hour, humanity successfully pushed the monster tide backward.

Then the first wave finally ended.

The surviving monsters retreated briefly toward the ocean while both sides gained a short moment of rest.

The battlefield was now covered entirely in corpses.

Victor stood calmly amidst the carnage without even breathing heavily.

At that moment, three familiar figures approached him.

Jake Walker walked at the front alongside Victor’s other two cousins. Their armor was damaged while traces of exhaustion remained visible on their faces.

Jake looked at Victor mockingly.

"We thought becoming Sage Diana’s pet would finally make you useful," he sneered coldly. "Turns out you are still the same trash."