Not just Batúk, but even Rugersey thought that Bollands’ Company wouldn’t be able to withstand a single blow. Rugersey looked at Batúk as though Batúk had grabbed the only sweet on the table before he could.

It appeared that not just Batúk, but even Rugersey’s team planned on plundering divine essences from Han Shuo’s team. Unfortunately for Rugersey, Wallace had explicitly stated that no third company must intervene while two companies were engaging. Therefore, Rugersey’s divine guards had been thwarted of the opportunity to get some free divine essences, or so he thought.

Before the divine guards of the Fourth and Second Corps had met, Batúk and Han Shuo’s Seventh and Fifth Corps had started engaging.

The observing party’s attention immediately gathered on the fight. Wallace and Andre were especially focused. They were very intrigued at learning the true strength of the Fifth Corps. They could do exactly that using the sand table that gave them a bird’s eye view.

Unlike Batúk and Rugersey, every since the Sainte Brothers learned that Han Shuo had defeated City Lord Hofs of Hushveil City, they no longer considered Han Shuo as a regular Divine Guard Chief. When Bollands and his company walked into the arena, the two brothers could sense an air of arrogance veiled under their cheerful and relaxed mood. They were skeptical that the divine guards of the Fifth Corps would be easily defeated.

“Humph, you sure are lucky, Batúk!” said Camilla. She felt angry as she watched the company led by Kiffan closing in on her troops menacingly. She was even more annoyed to see that Batúk’s subordinates had allowed Kiffan’s company to walk past them unchallenged and was about to get some free scores from the Fifth Corps.

“Hehe, I am lucky to have wise subordinates!” replied Batúk complacently and cheerfully.

After finishing those words, Batúk turned to look at Han Shuo apologetically and smilingly said, “Lord Bryan, although I cannot ask them to spare your team, before the competition, I have instructed them to be as mindful as possible when they strike. You can rest assured that they will not injure your men!”

Those words meant that Batúk likely had given his men an instruction to target Han Shuo’s Fifth Corps before the competition. It seemed that he assumed the Fifth Corps was the weakest competing team right from the very beginning. However, as the House of Buller still wished to purchase the medicines Han Shuo refined, it was against Batúk’s interests to offend Han Shuo too much and therefore he instructed his subordinates to not hit Han Shuo’s divine guards too hard.

Han Shuo was between laughter and tears. He nodded his head and in a grateful manner, he said, “Then I must thank Lord Batúk in advance!”

Batúk was about to give a few humble and consoling words to make sure there were no hard feelings between them when his eyes happened to catch something on the sand table. His face instantly jolted and he cried out in surprise.

Through the sand table displaying a live feed of the arena, the observing party saw that the miniaturized version Bollands’ company moved into a conical formation aiming at the Seventh Corps divine guards. They were like an incisive and magnificent sword being unsheathed!

The three black dots at the very front of the formation were Bollands, Gilbert, and Sanguis. They were the sharp tip of the blade that was piercing at Seventh Corps’ belly. They were charging at the brightly illuminated region with unstoppable momentum. Instead of defending against the Seventh Corps, they were going on the offensive and attempting to seize the Seventh Corps’ divine essences!

An immense murderous aura suddenly erupted from the Fifth Corps divine guards behind the vanguard made of Bollands, Gilbert, and Sanguis. Having been tempered inside the Eight Desolation and Torment Formation, the divine guards had a great rapport and were well coordinated. The conical formation charged forward with overwhelming impetus.

Gilbert at this moment was wearing an angry face as he pounded the Seventh Corps divine guards in his path using his darkness divine energy. He was whining foul-mouthed, “You sons of bitches tried to pick on us because we look easy, didn’t you? We didn’t even plan on raiding you. But since you fuckers have made the first strike, I will wipe your asses out!”

Originally, Gilbert and the Company only planned on raiding the team from the Second Corps. They were still searching for more divine essences unhurriedly when without any warning, Captain Tino, wearing a most punchable, villainous smile, tried to encircle them with his men from the Seventh Corps.

To the Dark Dragon, these men of the Seventh Corps should be grateful that his Company did not try to raid them. But not only that these people did not know how to appreciate his kindness, they even dared to initiate an assault on his Company!

“Gilbert, they are not to be killed. You better be mindful when you strike!” reminded Bollands in a loud voice.

Before the competition, Han Shuo had instructed Bollands that other than the Second Corps, he must decide the toughness of his countermeasure based on the opposing team’s strength and attitude.

After observing for a moment, Bollands can tell that Tino and his company were only aiming to snatch their divine essences. Although these Seventh Corps divine guards were deserving of a good spanking for their reckless behavior, it was clear that they did not mean to kill. Therefore, Bollands had signalled to his company to cause minimal harm when plundering the divine essences.

Gilbert yielded to Bollands’ command. After hearing the reminder, he cursed a few angry sentences and continued to pave the way alongside Sanguis and Bollands, ramming at Tino’s comrades.

At this moment, Tino, the Captain of the Company from the Seventh Corps, could not feel more regretful for initiating the offense. After seeing Bollands, Sanguis, and Gilbert plowing and shoving through his divine guards like mowing machines, Tino realized that he was up for some real trouble.

Upon coming to his senses, Tino gathered the most powerful experts he had to stop Sanguis, Bollands, and Gilbert as he commanded a few squads to attack their flanks. From how Tino sees it, although the trio at the front was powerful, the rest of the Fifth Corps divine guards must be weak and could easily be defeated. After all, based on the rumors, most of the Fifth Corps divine guards were newly recruited. However, he soon discovered that he was very wrong. When the squad leaders came back to him dejectedly with reports that their flanks were impenetrable, Tino finally realized that he was in deep trouble!

The company from the Seventh Corps was unable to put up any effective resistance against the indomitable blade that was the company from the Fifth Corps. The trio of Sanguis, Bollands, and Gilbert was leading the divine guards behind them straight for the divine essences.

Batúk’s face gradually turned dark as he watched the battle unfold on the sand table. The major patriarchs and the Divine Guard Chiefs who were discussing the situation in low voices all turned completely mute simultaneously.

The party surrounding the sand table had their eyes glued to their center. Their faces were grave and solemn as they watched the Company from the Fifth Corps charged forward like a hot knife through butter.

<i>They are not even on the same level!</i> The observing party shared the same thought.

Han Shuo’s Fifth Corps divine guards were as though an indomitable sword piercing into the soft underbelly of Seventh Corps divine guards without meeting any meaningful resistance. Using the space divine device, the observers could clearly see the valiantness and power of the Company. Against such overwhelming force, there was nothing that Tino and his Seventh Corps divine guards could do other than to run! The gap in strength was just too enormous!

In astonishment, Wallace took a glance at Han Shuo. He saw that Han Shuo was wearing an indifferent faint smile on his face. He did not seem happy or disappointed, as though nothing displayed on the sand table could affect him. Wallace grew even more amazed for he knew that he himself could never achieve that state of total calmness and composure as though everything in the world was in his control.

<i>What a mind-blowing youngster he is!</i> thought Wallace. His mind automatically recalled Andre’s previous proposal and his gaze turned to Andre.

The two were standing close together and Andre immediately sensed the gaze from Wallace. He put on a strange smile and remarked, “I knew it, the Fifth Corps wouldn’t be as easy as it seemed!”

Then, suddenly, Batúk cried, “Lord Bryan, you are cheating!” When he had everyone’s attention, he pointed at the trio at the vanguard of the conical formation and said, “Their strengths are too powerful. All of the defenders in my company have late-stage midgod strengths and yet they couldn’t stop these three from barging in. Evidently, the three are not midgods!”

The crowd started exchanging their opinions with each other after they heard Batúk’s accusation.

Ralph, the Chief of the Second Corps, was wearing a face just as dark as Batúk’s. After he saw the astonishing strength displayed by the Fifth Corps, he was even angrier than Batúk. It wouldn’t affect him in any way if Batúk’s men were defeated. However, the strength possessed by the Fifth Corps was severely threatening the position of his Second Corps in the City of Shadows.

More importantly, Ralph had ordered Kiffan to slaughter the Fifth Corps divine guards before they entered the arena. But from how things have developed so far, there was no telling which team will be slaughtered!

“That’s right, those three divine guards are just too strong! I don’t think that three midgods could break away the defenses put up by a dozen or more late-stage midgods in such a short time!” remarked Ralph loudly. He glared at Han Shuo coldly and asked, “Lord Bryan, did you arranged a highgod into the arena?”

Not just Batúk and Ralph, but all other Divine Guard Chiefs were suspicious. The party’s gazes gathered on Han Shuo following Ralph’s accusation. Only Andre had his brows bunched.

Han Shuo chuckled and shook his head. He explained, “Individuals of similar strengths can unleash power greater than just stacking up the strengths of the individuals – if they know how to cooperate. This is nothing to be astonished about. If people cannot unleash greater strength when they fight in a team, then what’s the point of having this team-combat competition?”

“Fighting in a team can indeed unleash greater strength, but the firepower displayed by those three are beyond reasonable limits!” rebutted Batúk with his brows bunched.

Han Shuo laughed and confidently said, “It is not beyond reasonable limits – it just that you have never seen it before!”