The previous two waves of invaders, after entering Les's divine realm, were gradually worn down by the endless harassment and ambushes. With their numbers thinning, they were eventually forced to retreat, losing over 2000 square kilometers of land to Les in the process.

  Recently, Les had made another major purchase in the Divine Realm Market on the Continent of the Gods, acquiring a large batch of equipment for his followers, thereby improving their combat capabilities. Les was confident that this time the outcome would not change—victory would ultimately belong to him.

  Then, he saw a wave of piercing wolf spiders pour out from the teleportation portal, a mass of them, black and dense, surging forward like a tidal wave into the wetland jungle. The sight made his scalp tingle in fear.

  “What... what are these things?” Les widened his eyes in disbelief and asked in a terrified voice.

  Yes, this was William's exploratory assault, sending in a fleet of 3 million piercing wolf spiders as the vanguard of the first wave. While drawing the enemy's attention, it also allowed the venomous dragonflies to infiltrate and buy time by mapping the enemy's divine realm. Of course, William also intended to expend some of the piercing wolf spiders. After all, they had already become auxiliary units, helping the rear-end spider ants in the divine realm, performing poorly in logistical tasks compared to the more professional spider ants.

  As the venomous dragonflies continued their reconnaissance, the range of the map expanded, and William, observing through their perspective, furrowed his brows in confusion.

  The enemy’s followers were a type of green-scaled lizardmen, living in family units within the jungle. The largest gathering they had discovered so far had fewer than 2000 members. Their armor was diverse—some wore chainmail, others plate armor, some leather armor, and even some with nothing but a strip of leather tied across their chest. Their weapons were equally varied—daggers, knives, short swords, bows, throwing spears, hand axes—giving them the appearance of mountain bandits.

  “Can an army made up of these followers even fight?” William silently wondered, feeling as if he had missed some important tactical knowledge in his training.

  As he watched the flood of piercing wolf spiders advance, drowning the lizardmen they encountered along the way, William fell into deep thought.

  “This doesn’t add up. Something’s off. Where is their main force? Could it be on the opposite side of the divine realm, exactly opposite from where I’m invading?” Faced with this baffling enemy, William went on high alert, forming one hypothesis after another while starting to develop a counter-strategy.

  The piercing wolf spider swarm paid no attention to William’s musings. They were simply following his orders, moving towards the center of the enemy's divine realm and killing every hostile target they encountered.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  As the venomous dragonflies advanced deeper, William finally discovered the largest gathering of lizardmen so far, close to the center of the enemy's divine realm. There were fewer than 100,000 lizardmen, and more were still trickling in. Upon further investigation, he quickly concluded that this was a group of ordinary lizardmen civilians, lacking any military discipline.

  The lizardmen were scattered about, some standing crookedly, some squatting idly, and some lying leisurely on the ground. A few were even relieving themselves right in front of William—an utterly disgusting sight.

  William’s mind was a mess. The current situation was far beyond his understanding. He couldn't make sense of the half-god's operation, and he wondered what the point of gathering these lizardmen was. Was it to facilitate a slaughter by the swarm?

  This group of undisciplined, disorganized lizardmen would collapse in morale at the mere sight of the approaching piercing wolf spiders. If they weren’t all fanatical followers, William was certain that they would scatter in panic without needing to make contact with the swarm.

  As time passed, when the number of lizardmen reached 120,000, the piercing wolf spider swarm, which had been advancing steadily, finally appeared before them. Just as William had predicted, upon seeing the tide of spiders, all but a handful of lizardmen charged at the swarm, while the rest turned and fled in terror, exposing their backs to the oncoming spiders.

  As more and more lizardmen saw the swarm approaching from a distance, they began to run, and the panic quickly escalated into a full-blown stampede.

  At that moment, a massive golden figure formed in the sky, and a mighty voice boomed across the land: “My followers, the God General watches over you. Those who die in battle shall gain eternal life, while those who flee shall face divine punishment.”

  Upon hearing the divine figure’s voice, the fleeing lizardmen gradually stopped.

  Seeing the half-god's divine figure appear in the sky, and hearing the divine's words of both grace and threat, William felt a tightening in his chest. “I knew it wouldn’t be this simple... ah…”

  The lizardmen, emboldened by the divine apparition, turned back to face the oncoming swarm. However, the piercing wolf spiders continued their relentless advance, the air filled with the shrill sound of their march and the desperate screams of the lizardmen being overwhelmed.

  The fear that had initially lifted the lizardmen's spirits soon crushed them again, and they fled even faster, trampling over those in front of them.

  The piercing wolf spider swarm continued onward, and with the information from the venomous dragonflies, William made slight adjustments to their path, aiming straight for the golden pyramid at the heart of the enemy’s divine realm.

  Les, watching his hard-gathered followers scatter in terror, with his divine intervention proving useless, felt a sense of despair overwhelm him.

  “Did I overestimate them? The enemy doesn’t even have a backup, they’re just weak…” Through constant reflection, William finally cleared the confusion from his mind and started piecing everything together.

  With mixed emotions, the piercing wolf spider swarm continued advancing, and soon reached the golden pyramid at the center of the enemy's divine realm. Along the way, the resistance they encountered was minimal, with the casualties sustained by the swarm almost negligible.

  Under William’s command, a venomous dragonfly landed atop the pyramid, and William immediately consumed divine power to extend his divine sense, scanning the pyramid.

  But he didn’t detect any sign of the core of the divine realm inside. Not willing to give up, William expanded his divine sense further.

  “No divine realm core here? Heh... they’re just playing tricks,” William muttered to himself as he realized the core wasn’t located in the center as he had expected, but rather hidden elsewhere.