Although the enhancement of battle energy in the early stages is limited, with a number as large as 300,000, even a slight improvement is enough to push the strength of the entire legion forward significantly.

  Moreover, this all-around enhancement of physical fitness easily elevated the combat power of the orc legion to a whole new level.

  Seeing that his snake-men were no match and were suffering heavy casualties, Richard could only grimly admit defeat to Tony, saying, "Stop, I surrender."

  "Heh, weren't you acting all arrogant just now? Why are you chickening out now?" Tony sneered upon hearing Richard's surrender, showing no intention of stopping.

  The referee merely observed the situation on the battlefield without intervening. Since Richard had stopped his transcendent snake-men from casting spells but the dense corrosive poison mist had not yet dissipated, the referee assumed that Richard was still continuing his attack.

  "You bastard! I've already stopped my transcendent followers from casting spells, and you still won't stop?" Richard roared in frustration, his face dark with anger.

  Tony smirked coldly, completely ignoring him. He watched as the well-equipped orc wolf cavalry easily tore through the outer formation of the snake-men and charged straight toward the transcendent snake-men.

  Richard was helpless and could only watch as these transcendent orcs, empowered by battle energy, slaughtered the snake-men until the mist completely dispersed and the referee finally intervened to stop the battle. The invasion passages of both sides gradually detached from the divine realm of the venue.

  Exhausted and with reddened eyes, Richard returned to William’s side.

  Seeing Richard in such a state, William could only console him, "Don't lose heart, it's just a minor setback. Your core followers and divine realm are still intact, and the future is long."

  Hearing William’s comforting words, Richard forced a smile that was uglier than crying and choked out, "Scholar, my transcendent snake-men followers have been almost completely wiped out. I won’t be able to continue in the competition. You have to go on and do your best!"

  "Don’t be too upset. If I get the chance to face him, I'll help you take revenge." Seeing his usually cheerful friend looking so miserable, William couldn’t just ignore it and offered his support.

  To William, a fair fight on the battlefield meant that any outcome was acceptable. But this was an internal competition within their civilization. Richard had already publicly admitted defeat, yet Tony had exploited a loophole in the rules to completely wipe out Richard’s transcendent snake-men followers. While it was technically within the rules, it was undoubtedly a ruthless and underhanded move.

  The competition continued despite Richard’s withdrawal. Hours later, it was finally William’s turn to step into battle.

  Familiar with the process, he quickly established his teleportation passage. Keeping in mind his promise to avenge Richard, he decided not to be too ostentatious. He didn’t even summon his main combat units.

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  After calculating Tony’s followers’ strength, William deployed only three to four million logistics jumpers, ensuring that the number matched Tony’s previously revealed power to maintain a balanced fight.

  As an overwhelming swarm of creatures poured out of the teleportation passage, most opponents, witnessing the spectacular sight, immediately abandoned the idea of fighting William.

  A few stubborn challengers attempted to test the strength of these ferocious-looking creatures. However, in an instant, they were completely overwhelmed by the swarm.

  Both sides suffered heavy casualties, but William’s strategy was one of pure attrition. As long as any logistics jumpers fell on the front lines, he would replenish their numbers through his teleportation passage. This relentless wave of reinforcements completely shattered his opponents' morale.

  This led to most competitors surrendering outright, abandoning any foolish attempts to resist.

  William practically cruised through each round, facing no real pressure until he reached the sixth round, where he finally encountered Tony’s well-equipped orc army.

  After Tony’s battle with Richard, the 300,000 transcendent orc wolf cavalry had already been revealed to everyone.

  With his strength now exposed, Tony's subsequent victories came easily. Those who lacked the power to fight him would surrender immediately.

  Even those with some strength would agree to a small-scale battle, led by Tony, to showcase their followers' abilities before amicably ending the match.

  However, if anyone refused to play along and genuinely tried to defeat him, Tony would go all out and strike with extreme ruthlessness, always aiming for maximum damage.

  From William’s years of experience in reading people, Tony was clearly a control freak—someone highly self-centered who wouldn’t tolerate challenges to his authority.

  As long as everything followed his script, Tony was willing to show some goodwill. But the moment someone acted against his expectations, he would swing to the opposite extreme. He was the typical zero-sum thinker, believing in absolute victory or defeat with no middle ground.

  "Heh, finally, we meet. I promised to avenge Richard, and a man must keep his word. Time to teach this kid a lesson."

  With that thought in mind, William connected his divine realm to the battlefield, manifesting a demigod projection.

  His gaze met Tony’s demigod projection across the battlefield, while four million logistics jumpers flooded in, quickly forming a massive insectoid sphere in the sky.

  Seeing this, Tony remained confident and was the first to speak:

  "I’ve watched your previous matches. Your followers are strong, but they’re not my match. I suggest we each send out only ten thousand followers for a relatively fair battle, minimizing losses. What do you say?"

  Hearing Tony's suggestion, William sneered internally.

  This kid had it all planned out.

  Given what William had revealed so far, a 10,000 vs. 10,000 battle between his logistics jumpers and Tony’s transcendent orcs was unwinnable for William.

  Tony was acting like he already had the match in the bag.

  "I don’t think so," William replied with a playful smirk. "After all, numbers are my advantage. I think I can win. You’d better not be too confident, or you might get humiliated."

  William's mocking tone and smirk made him look downright punchable.

  "Heh, looks like you didn’t study properly. You still don’t understand the orc race," Tony said calmly. "Let me remind you—ordinary orc civilians don’t need training. The moment they step onto the battlefield, they can be considered warriors."

  After finishing his words, Tony waved his hand.

  Instantly, two million well-equipped orc warriors marched onto the battlefield.

  But the flood of orcs didn’t stop there—more and more orcs continued pouring in from the teleportation passage.

  By the time the orc numbers exceeded five million, the reinforcements finally halted.

  Although three million of them were equipped with relatively simpler gear, they all had at least full-body leather armor and fine steel weapons. Their high morale made it clear that orcs were indeed a highly battle-hungry race.