Selphira and Sirius had descended at full speed when Ren had warned that if Dragarion used too much energy he would die.

Her water lance was already crystallized when she materialized with Sirius outside the King’s shadow.

Selphira’s most powerful weapon cracked upon receiving the whip’s impact but ultimately managed to resist by a hair, and the white ice purification broke a section of the corrupt threads.

The collision was spectacular. Crystal met corruption in a clash that sent shockwaves through the chamber’s air, each force trying to overwhelm the other through pure concentrated will.

But the impact sent the corrupted girl flying with force that created shock waves in the air, saving Dragarion by milliseconds.

The timing had been perfect. One moment later and the arrival would have been meaningless, there would have been nothing left to save.

But now that he had support…

Selphira gave Dragarion minimal body healing, enough so he could move a little, but avoiding circulating too much mana in him so as not to damage his system more than it already was.

Selphira and Sirius didn’t arrive alone. Julius entered immediately after with his fusion activated, followed by high-level doubles who had been unlocked by Ren.

All moved like a perfectly coordinated unit, eliminating the monsters emerging from the veins with efficiency that would have been impossible without the advantages they had received.

Even Zhao appeared emerging from his camouflage and silent flight, with Ren not far behind holding Larissa’s hand, who contributed rapid spatial jumps to the duo.

The boy’s new enhancements put him at the rank of being capable of making one or two beasts retreat with his purifying light.

Around their King, everyone began to dance in a protective tune.

It wasn’t a metaphor; they literally moved in circles that created a defensive perimeter of monster elimination, each combatant covering the others’ blind spots while maintaining constant rotation that prevented any enemy attack from finding an opening.

Ren’s fungus mana roots immediately extended to analyze the enemy, its ultra thin jade and golden filaments contrasting dramatically with the purple veins covering the walls.

Selthia, struck but not defeated, melted into the veins to escape Selphira’s relentless attack.

Her form dispersed like corrupt liquid flowing through abyssal arteries. The transformation was both a retreat and a demonstration of how thoroughly she had integrated with the corruption system.

“Don’t let her escape!” Selphira shouted, pursuing the fluid form with ice lances that sought to cut the venous connections.

But the cadence of monsters increased dramatically, since they were no longer under threat of being erased on a large scale by Dragarion’s light, which was completely spent…

The beasts showed the true monstrosity of their numbers.

For seconds that felt like hours, everyone fought against tireless hordes of monsters generated from all angles.

It was like being in the center of a hurricane of nightmares, where each defeated creature was immediately replaced by two more. The corruption had been holding back, conserving its forces while Dragarion remained an unknown level of threat. Now it unleashed everything.

Julius coordinated the defense, his natural ability in management evident in how he directed the doubles.

Sirius used his mobility to eliminate threats that tried to flank the group.

Selphira maintained the offensive while trying to keep her cool to avoid using the overflowing dragon power Ren had passed to her.

♢♢♢♢

Victor and his group managed to touch ground just as the first waves of corrupt beasts began their massive assault against the defensive lines.

But the defense of the army of tens of thousands proved competent.

Not only had the reliable armies of the Dravenholm and Ashenway contributed…

The opportunists, those nobles who had hesitated and calculated during the entire war, had finally served some purpose too.

Thousands of soldiers extended defensive formations that had been perfected during generations of border conflict. Their hesitation during the political crisis may have been cowardice, but their military training was genuine.

“Earth formation!” shouted a veteran commander, his voice cutting through the roar of the approaching beasts. “Double walls! Wood at the joints!”

The response was immediate.

Tamers specialized in earth element positioned themselves on the front line, their beasts manifesting massive defensive constructions. Walls of mana-reinforced stone sprouted from the ground like gigantic domes that received attacks from the flying enemies.

Wood tamers complemented the system, their constructions intertwining with the earth constructions to create a flexible defensive network that could absorb massive impacts without completely collapsing.

Water specialists took positions on the flanks, where their beasts created controlled torrents that fed the growth of wood techniques.

The scale was impressive. What had once been open ground became a fortress city in seconds, shaped by the coordinated will of thousands of specialized tamers. The synergy was the product of decades of development.

Victor observed with growing respect how tens of thousands of soldiers worked in perfect coordination.

The sight was humbling. He had spent so much time focusing on individual power, on personal achievement, that he had forgotten the strength that came from unity of purpose.

The beasts launched against the defenses with fury.

But they crashed against walls that had been designed to resist natural disasters.

“Hold the line!” shouted a sergeant, his earth beast continuously reinforcing points where impact had been most intense.

“Defense rotation!” another responded.

The assault continued for what seemed like hours but were probably only minutes.

Then, as abruptly as it had begun, the attack stopped.

The beasts simply stopped attacking. They remained motionless for a moment, as if listening to something humans couldn’t perceive.

The silence was more unnerving than the assault had been.

“What’s happening?” Victor murmured, watching how the sextuples seemed to receive silent orders.

Then, in a coordinated movement, all the horrible enormous beasts turned and began flying toward the hole that had been left by what had once been a whirlpool of corrupt beasts.

“They’re retreating,” observed one of the commanders, but his tone didn’t suggest relief. “Why are they retreating?”

Victor watched as the beasts headed toward the hole in the landscape, and a cold understanding settled in his stomach.

♢♢♢♢

Meanwhile, Ren concentrated on analyzing the enemy, his fungus was working desperately to understand the weakness of the structure they were facing and incidentally the situation of the human King.

The damage to Dragarion was enormous.

Ren could feel it through his connection, how each passing second brought the King closer to complete collapse. His systems weren’t just damaged; they were fundamentally rewritten in crystal.

Soon it would reach critical systems that couldn’t be replaced or bypassed, and then even his legendary constitution wouldn’t be enough to sustain his life.

Larissa noticed the concern on Ren’s face and followed his gaze toward where her father remained standing through pure willpower.

Her expression was complex… pride at his determination, fear for his condition, and growing understanding that their time was running out.

But before she could say anything, Dragarion spoke.

“I apologize,” he murmured, his voice hoarse but loaded with a humility none of them had heard from him before. “For my arrogance… For believing I could carry more than I really could.”

The admission was devastating in its honesty.

He turned toward Ren, the “little genius” who had proven to understand forces he had completely underestimated.

“Before anything,” he continued, “since you entered you’ve been concentrating… have you already analyzed the enemy completely?”