These golems, once created, immediately moved to the forefront of the knightly army, gradually forming a defensive line made up entirely of golems.

  Under William's watchful eye, the 500,000 mage subordinates spent over half an hour painstakingly creating an army of earth element golems numbering over five million.

  On average, each mage had summoned ten combat golems.

  For a moment, William was utterly stunned, his mouth watering as he couldn't help but marvel,

  "No wonder this female classmate is so confident—she was hiding such a trump card all along!"

  After expressing his amazement, William turned his gaze toward the distant horizon.

  There, a surging tide of purple was beginning to emerge, gradually expanding as it spread in this direction.

  "They've finally arrived… Looks like as the battlefield expands, the swarm's mobility needs to improve."

  With that thought, William silently noted this new discovery in his mind, planning to record it in his notebook later to avoid forgetting.

  The reason why this army of over 300 million swarm units had taken so long to arrive was entirely due to the Hydralisks slowing down the entire force's advance.

  Otherwise, with the Zerglings' mobility, they should have arrived long ago.

  Shaking his head, William chose not to directly command this swarm army in real-time.

  Instead, he remained attached to the Flying Zergling, waiting for the battle to begin.

  This would be the first large-scale battle involving a mixed swarm army since the entire swarm achieved supernatural strength.

  William had already devised an attack strategy specifically for the combination of Zerglings and Hydralisks.

  Now, he was refraining from intervening in order to test the strategy’s effectiveness in real combat.

  As the Zerg tide drew closer, the first to enter the vision of the magic army was the overwhelming swarm of Flying Zerglings.

  They blanketed the sky in dense numbers, forming a dark cloud that bore down from the distance.

  The buzzing of their wings created tremors in the air, as if making the entire world quake.

  Next, on the horizon, a boundless tide of Zerglings and Hydralisks appeared in the magic army's field of view.

  Like a rolling wave of purple and red, they engulfed the ochre earth beneath them as they surged forward.

  As the swarm army rapidly approached, the magic army, numbering over 13 million, suddenly seemed insignificant in comparison.

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  The sheer terror of being outnumbered so overwhelmingly gnawed at their psyche in real time.

  Aside from the emotionless earth golems at the front, the mages and knights behind them were already drenched in cold sweat.

  The composed expressions they had worn moments ago had now been replaced by fear, as an atmosphere of despair began to spread through the entire army.

  Faced with the exponentially growing swarm—a sight that would make anyone with trypophobia shudder and break down—a young knight in the rear ranks finally reached his breaking point.

  As if completely losing it, he burst into tears and screamed,

  "This is unwinnable! Let's run! I just became a knight—I don't want to die!"

  Saying this, he threw down his lance, turned his horse around, and sprinted toward the open pathway between the mage formations in the rear.

  This act was like lighting a fuse—many knights who had already entertained the same thoughts saw this and, despite their comrades' attempts to stop them, followed suit.

  They, too, abandoned their lances and turned to flee.

  Unfortunately for them, the moment they broke formation, dozens of light-blue energy blades swept through the open space between the mage and knight ranks.

  The deserters were instantly sliced apart.

  "Retreat in battle, and you will be executed without mercy!"

  A cold voice, amplified by magic, spread across the entire army.

  From within the mage ranks, the leader of this force—a white-robed mage wielding a lavish staff—slowly floated into the air.

  A powerful magical aura emanated from his body.

  The dozens of energy blades that had executed the deserters did not dissipate but instead returned to orbit around him, spinning slowly.

  "To offer everything for the gods is our fate. Those who retreat and betray their faith, whether their families or their souls, shall suffer the consequences."

  Watching from the sky, William tensed the moment this leader appeared.

  "No way…"

  His gaze immediately locked onto the figure, carefully analyzing his energy fluctuations.

  After confirming that this leader, while stronger than ordinary elite-level subordinates, was still far from true hero-level strength, William finally relaxed.

  He stopped himself from pulling the trigger on summoning 100,000 Thunder Wyverns as reinforcements.

  "Jesus, what a scare. No hero-level power, yet he dares to put on this show? Who's he trying to intimidate?"

  "I mean, there's no way I'd be that unlucky. It makes no sense that, right at the start of the competition, I'd randomly run into a student with hero-level subordinates."

  "That kind of unit isn’t something a student who's only been developing their divine domain for less than a year could possibly raise… Chill, chill."

  After calming his racing heart, William let out a slow breath.

  He turned his attention back to the battlefield, watching as the Zerg tide continued its relentless approach.

  William was filled with anticipation.

  Just then, above the army, Mary's demigod projection reappeared.

  She still maintained her goddess-like appearance, but the arrogance on her face was gone—now, she looked deathly pale.

  "Classmate, I accept your proposal. I will voluntarily forfeit this match. Please, call off your attack," she said, her words fast and grandly projected across the battlefield.

  Hearing this, William maneuvered his Flying Zergling into a dive, stopping before her projection.

  This time, he didn’t even bother to manifest his own demigod projection.

  Instead, he simply sent his thoughts to her.

  "I spent immense effort assembling my subordinates here. Do you think war is something that can just stop at your whim?"

  William’s voice was as cold as ice, and Mary’s heart instantly sank into despair.

  She had poured nearly all her time and effort since opening her divine domain into raising this army to its current strength.

  If it were to be wiped out here, the pain she would experience would be indescribable—like having decades of work erased in an instant with no returns.

  For any newly ascended demigod, such a loss would be a catastrophic blow to their spirit.

  Suddenly, William’s thoughts transmitted again, finishing his previous statement.

  "Unless… you pay extra."