Seeing this, William immediately reduced the movement speed of his divine domain, allowing Cedric’s divine domain to take the lead and reach the competition field first, securing a light circle.

  Once Cedric’s position was confirmed, the area where his divine domain would connect to the arena was also determined. William then adjusted the direction of his divine domain slightly, deviating from his original course to bypass Cedric’s location. He stopped his divine domain at the light circle farthest from Cedric’s position, forming a diagonal line between them.

  As a demigod who had entered resource-scarce wells multiple times and grown through plundering other divine domains, William was cautious when facing an unknown opponent—especially after receiving a prior warning from Zous. He decided to position his invasion channel connection far from Cedric’s area.

  William’s primary goal was to maintain a safe distance from Cedric in the early stages of the match. This approach would allow him to avoid direct confrontation and unnecessary losses of his swarm while giving him time to send out scouting units to observe Cedric’s followers and devise a strategy in advance. Even with absolute confidence in his ability to control the swarm in battle, caution was a habit he had long developed.

  Moreover, the match was a free-for-all. There was no need to immediately clash with the strongest-looking competitor. The correct strategy was to eliminate weaker opponents first. William had no intention of fighting to the death with Cedric right away—especially when the overall situation was still unclear.

  After William secured his position, other contestants began rushing to claim their own preferred light circles. The fastest competitors mostly chose positions far from both William and Cedric.

  Based on the average distance between the light circles, any contestant who positioned their divine domain next to William or Cedric would have their invasion channel entrance within 100 kilometers of either one of them. This meant they would likely be the first to engage in battle with the two strongest-looking competitors—a risk few were willing to take.

  As a result, the remaining contestants hurried to claim the remaining spots. Before long, all light circles surrounding the central divine arena were occupied. The slowest competitors had no choice but to settle for positions closest to William or Cedric.

  “I’ll emphasize this one more time: All contestants must use their Divine Sense Blocking Cards immediately after establishing their invasion channels,” the chief referee reminded.

  “Do not activate them before establishing the connection. Otherwise, the disturbance from the divine domain barrier fluctuations will cause the block to fail, resulting in disqualification.”

  After a brief pause, the referee scanned the contestants, ensuring everyone was ready. Without wasting more words, he sent out a divine message across the battlefield:

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  “The match begins.”

  As soon as the announcement was made, over 600 contestants activated their transparent invasion channels simultaneously, connecting their divine domains to the central battlefield.

  The moment William’s connection was established, he immediately activated his Divine Sense Blocking Card. A faint gray glow spread across his divine domain’s barrier, preventing him from perceiving anything outside.

  Once he confirmed the block was effective, he pulled on the thread of faith.

  Billions of swarm units, already gathered at the edge of his divine domain, surged into the invasion channel like a tidal wave.

  Since all participants entered the battlefield simultaneously, there was no need to worry about an ambush at the invasion channel entrance. As a result, William’s choice of initial swarm units differed from his usual probing attack strategy.

  The first wave of units included the ever-reliable Poison Stinger Dragonflies, which remained highly cost-effective and had never been phased out of his swarm.

  Additionally, more than one million Transcendent Flying Jumpers and 1,000 Thunder Wyverns joined the first wave.

  Their mission was not combat but rapid reconnaissance. They would provide coordinates for William’s direct possession and gather intelligence as quickly as possible.

  Once the Poison Stinger Dragonflies entered the unfamiliar divine domain, they spread out in low-altitude flight like a swarm of buzzing mosquitoes, scanning the terrain below.

  The faster Transcendent Flying Jumpers ascended to nearly 1,000 meters before dispersing in all directions at speeds exceeding 350 kilometers per hour.

  Meanwhile, the 1,000 Thunder Wyverns, the fastest among them, soared to an altitude of 8,000 meters and spread out in a fan-shaped formation, flying toward the distance.

  Their specific task was long-range reconnaissance—particularly towards Cedric’s invasion channel entrance. With a cruising speed of 600 kilometers per hour and a burst speed exceeding 1,500 kilometers per hour when using Thunder Dash, they could gather intelligence on the farthest regions within hours.

  With a fully established high-, mid-, and low-altitude reconnaissance system, all William had to do now was patiently wait for intelligence reports and ensure his swarm’s complete entry into the battlefield.

  As his reconnaissance units spread rapidly, the geography of the divine domain arena gradually became clear.

  His invasion channel was located in the outermost barren mountains, where the terrain was stark and desolate.

  Moving inward, the terrain became gentler, transitioning into an expansive plain with a few rivers and scattered large lakes—an almost endless open field.

  Based on the revealed topography, William deduced that this battlefield was designed for large-scale army confrontations.

  The divine domain likely formed a basin-like terrain, with mountains and hills on the outer edges and an increasingly flat landscape toward the center, providing minimal cover.

  Such vast open space would allow enormous armies to spread out and engage in full-scale warfare.

  Taking in this realization, William silently mused:

  "A flat plain... So they want to see us engage in a full-scale head-on war. In the end, it’s still about raw power."

  With that thought, he lowered his gaze to the ever-growing swarm pouring into the invasion channel, preparing for the inevitable battle ahead.