The crocodile-type exotic beasts refused to leave the central islet of the lake.
The plan everyone agreed on earlier had to be scrapped. After much discussion, no better idea emerged—there was only one option left: a frontal assault. But everyone knew in their hearts that even if they managed to seize the Divine Shell Fruits by force, at least half the people here would likely die.
For a moment, quite a few people felt the urge to back out, but that thought only lasted briefly. After all, the lure of the Divine Shell Fruits was simply too strong—and besides, everyone secretly hoped: maybe I won't be the one to die!
So, how do we launch a frontal assault?
It was clear that a full-scale attack was out of the question. If everyone charged together, even all their combined strength wouldn’t be enough to take on the 108 crocodile-type exotic beasts.
After more discussion, they decided to split everyone into two groups.
One group would handle the main assault, while the other would focus on distracting some of the crocodile-type exotic beasts. All the members in the distraction team were those with speed or escape advantages.
Ian Song volunteered to lead Lynne Ward, Chloe Snow, Flora Thrall, Yanna Zhou, and the others as the distraction squad.
With the plan set, they moved into action right away. The longer they delayed, the more likely it was that other groups would show up—and with only 108 Divine Shell Fruits to go around, nobody wanted more competitors vying for a share.
The attack began!
The main assault team was further split into a primary attack force and two support squads.
The primary attack force was led by Byron and the elite Dragonfolk prodigies, plus five Blood Demon Race prodigies, another foreign god, and two top Human experts, totaling over fifty elite fighters.
The two support squads were made up of Prince Rowan Vance’s Scarlet-Scale Army and Princess Myra Vance’s Myriad-Phenomena Army, along with some of the weaker fighters from other teams.
Once the main assault team began their charge, Ian Song led Lynne Ward and the others from the opposite side, approaching the central islet and launching ranged attacks at the crocodile-type exotic beasts.
Bang!
Ian Song fired off several punches from a distance, sending several crocodile-type exotic beasts tumbling. He held back most of his strength—otherwise, he could have slaughtered all the crocodile beasts by himself.
As Ian pressed the attack, Lynne Ward and the others followed up with their own strikes.
Unfortunately, even though they’d all reached the Demigod Realm, their attacks were still too weak. At best, they managed to hurt the crocodile-type exotic beasts a little.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Blurs flashed by as more than ten crocodile-type exotic beasts roared and lunged straight at them.
Already prepared, Ian Song instantly teleported his group to another location.
He repeated the trick, provoking another dozen crocodile-type exotic beasts to chase after them.
This time, Ian Song led everyone outside the lake. The crocodile beasts just roared at them a few times before heading back to the islet.
Meanwhile, the main assault team had already worked together to kill three crocodile-type exotic beasts—and with no casualties. Everyone was thrilled.
Just as the crocodile-type exotic beasts that had returned to the islet were about to rejoin the fight, Ian Song and the others appeared again to harass them.
In the blink of an eye, half an hour had passed.
More than twenty crocodile-type exotic beasts had already been slain, but the main assault team finally suffered casualties: eight fighters were ripped to pieces by enraged crocodile beasts, including two elite warriors from the Myriad-Phenomena Army and one from the Scarlet-Scale Army.
Luckily, all those killed were among the weaker ranks—none of the Ninth-Rank Divine Generals had fallen yet.
But soon, things started to take a turn for the worse.
The crocodile-type exotic beasts saw through Ian Song’s scheme and stopped taking the bait. Instead, they joined the direct clash against the main assault team.
Heh, not falling for it, are you?
Ian Song let out a weird laugh, and suddenly the Azure Flood-Dragon Sword appeared in his hand.
Slash!
Several sword-lights swept down from the sky, instantly slicing five crocodile-type exotic beasts into pieces.
Seeing this, everyone in the main assault team was shocked—especially Byron and the foreign god, who stared at Ian Song in disbelief. Even with their strength, they couldn’t kill five crocodile beasts in a single move.
But they quickly realized that after killing the five crocodile beasts, Ian Song’s aura weakened sharply. It was obvious he’d used some kind of secret art.
Ian Song’s move was highly effective.
By killing five crocodile beasts, he successfully drew the attention of more than thirty others, so Ian switched back to harassment tactics, kiting those thirty-plus beasts around.
With Ian Song holding them off, the main assault team found things much easier and seized the opportunity to go all out. In just a few breaths, they killed eight crocodile beasts—Byron took down two, and the foreign god got one.
Now, only a little over sixty crocodile-type exotic beasts remained. Everyone could finally see hope for victory.
But after another quarter of an hour...
The thirty-plus crocodile-type exotic beasts that Ian Song had been kiting stubbornly regrouped with the main horde. No matter how much Ian provoked them, they refused to split up—clearly realizing that if they did, these pesky fighters would kill them all.
At the same time, the beasts grew even fiercer, launching a counterattack that killed more than ten people.
"Fall back to the lakeshore for now!"
Ian Song called out to Lynne Ward and the others, then suddenly appeared above the central islet. The Azure Flood-Dragon Sword erupted again, sending a long sword-light slashing down and cutting eight crocodile beasts in half.
"He can still unleash that power!"
Byron and the foreign god were both stunned—a single sword strike had killed eight crocodile beasts. That kind of power was on par with a mid-tier god! Even if it was just a brief burst, it was terrifying. Only Prince Rowan Vance and Princess Myra Vance remained calm; they didn’t know Ian Song’s true strength, but they understood he was already comparable to a god.
After this burst, Ian Song seemed completely drained and withdrew from the fight, only occasionally harassing a few crocodile beasts.
With thirteen crocodile beasts killed, Ian Song was sure to get at least ten Divine Shell Fruits when the spoils were divided.
An hour later, all the crocodile-type exotic beasts had been slain.
But the casualties were enormous. More than half of the elite warriors from both the Myriad-Phenomena Army and the Scarlet-Scale Army were lost, and the other teams didn’t fare much better. The total number of dead and wounded reached over two hundred—nearly half the entire group.
"Time to reap the rewards!"
Everyone landed together on the central islet.
But just then, disaster struck—a thousand armed fighters suddenly burst out of the surrounding forest, among them five gods!
In an instant, everyone’s face turned grim.
"You have ten breaths—get out of here now!"
One of the gods sneered arrogantly at Ian Song and the others.
"Why should we?"
Someone shouted angrily, "We paid a heavy price to wipe out those beasts!"
"Because we have more people and we’re stronger!" the god sneered, his eyes full of disdain.
Just then, a dazzling sword-light flashed—and the arrogant god was sliced clean in half by a single sword strike.
"Even a newborn god dares act so arrogant? Courting death!"
Ian Song slowly sheathed the Azure Flood-Dragon Sword and looked around at the stunned crowd.
Then, blood rain began to fall from the sky, and a wave of sorrow swept over everyone’s hearts.