Kang Oh used several skills against Ridgeley, including Ring of Frost, Dragon's Fury, Abyss Predator, etc.

These skills had a cooldown of 10 minutes.

In his next fight, he may have to use Gluttony or even Resurrection, which had a cooldown of 12 hours and 30 days respectively.

That was exactly what Dukeram was hoping for.

'But Dukeram doesn't know about this belt.'

Kang Oh examined his belt.

[Dragon's Treasure Belt]

A belt that contains Akite's heart.

Akite, a dragon who sought immortality, extensively studied the legendary Time Magic. Remnants of that research still remain within this heart.

Hoffman, Dink, and Risela worked together to craft this work of art.

Dink worked on the leather. His ability to cut leather has reached the realm of the gods. Risela created the mysterious alloy, Oradium. The Jeweler secret technique, Ultimate Craftsmanship, was used to refine the Dragon's Heart.

Somehow, the three Masters' superhuman skills harmonized perfectly to create this work of art. The Blacksmith God, Orgon, is extremely pleased, and has blessed the item.

It is so valuable that it could be a national treasure. It is an item worthy of a dragon's greed.

+ Three Person Masterpiece: The user's leather, metal, or jewels will never rip or break, and will always remain in tip-top condition. The stat bonus of any equipment made of leather, metal, or jewels increases by 10%.

+ Eternal Spring: The user's maximum MP is tripled. MP always replenishes very quickly. At this time, any effect that blocks MP regeneration is nullified.

+ Dragon's Hourglass: Summon an hourglass that speeds up or slows the flow of time.

You may choose one of these two options:

(1) Speeds up time, reducing the cooldown of all skills, spells, and item effects.

(2) Slows down time, increasing the duration of all buffs affecting the user.

Cooldown: 1 week.

MP Cost: Consumes all of the user's MP.

Time goes by quicker or slower based on the amount of MP consumed.

Rank: SS.

Abilities: None.

Minimum Requirements: None. However, if a player possesses a Dragon's Heart without the acknowledgement of a dragon, then they will be attacked by an enraged dragon.

It was so amazing that it'd make you gape.

Due to 'Three Person Masterpiece', Kang Oh's equipment gave him an extra 10% in stat bonuses.

'Eternal Spring' was a tremendous ability. Just this ability alone would make the belt extremely valuable. After all, classes that consumed a ton of MP like Mages would come running for something like this.

'Dragon's Hourglass' was the most ridiculous ability though. It allowed him to control an aspect of time at the cost of his MP bar!

Using this ability would either reduce his cooldowns significantly, or increase the duration of his buffs like Gluttony or Blood Emperor.

It was amazing!

Although he'd need to save skills like Gluttony or Resurrection, he could use his other skills (10 minute cooldown) without worrying about Dukeram.

That's why he'd used Ring of Frost, Dragon's Fury, and Abyss Predator against Ridgeley.

He was disappointed that it didn't give him any stat bonuses, but it made sense when he thought about how amazing its abilities were.

The minimum requirements didn't affect him at all. After all, he was acknowledged by both Gainus and Akite.

Anyhow, Kang Oh continued to search for the Empire Guild's captains with the belt around his waist.

It wasn't that hard to find them. All he needed to do was go to where the Alliance was being pushed back, and lo and behold, a captain would be there.

"Hoh."

The Glacier Squad Captain, Irene.

She was Kang Oh's next target.

* * *

The Battle of the Nazkrak Plains had quickly become an all-out war.

As soon as the western and eastern airships arrived, Gheor ordered all of his reserve troops to join the battle.

Jegal did the same. He sent all of the 1st Corps' reserve troops into the frontlines.

A group of wyverns and Death Eagles were battling in the air for supremacy.

Normally, wyverns couldn't match up to Death Eagles. However, things were different when Sephiro and Waryong were involved.

They had enough power to finish the job!

The wyverns were willing to sacrifice themselves if it meant grouping the Death Eagles together. Once they were clumped together, Sephiro and Waryong would finish them off.

However, that didn't change the fact that they were facing Death Eagles. The wyverns took significant losses.

Black Wolf repeatedly used his secret move, 'Combination Attack: Thunder Bomb', and showed why he was a Master Tamer.

Ultimately, it wasn't easy for either side to control the skies. They would have to keep fighting till the bitter end.

Breaker's Beast Squad was in the worst possible situation. They fought against the sand soldiers, the Giant Soldier Squad, and the Moby Dick Squad, significantly reducing their numbers.

Fortunately, their most powerful members (Snow Flower, Schaal, Magma, and Raon) were still alive and fighting hard.

The Storm Squad was in a similar predicament. They had managed to overcome the loss of their leader, Hernandez, and were fighting intensely. However, that didn't change the fact that they had taken significant losses.

None of them could stop the Ghost Spear. His spear had killed Kim Ma Boo, the leader of the Magic Emperor Squad.

If Ould and Sir Olando weren't fighting the Ghost Spear, and the Elephant Corps weren't assisting the Storm Squad, then they would have been annihilated by now.

The Invincible Gladiator, Burkan, as well as Dion and the 100 Fighters, fought against the Empire Guild's most powerful squad, Yellow Dragon.

Eric, who hadn't found anyone who could challenge him, was having a tough fight against Burkan. However, he was managing to hold his own.

On the other hand, the 100 Fighters were slightly weaker than the Yellow Dragon Squad.

Bart, his Giants, and the Eagle Corps' elites were battling against Dukeram's sand generals/soldiers and Empire's Red King Squad.

Most of the Red King Squad was made up of Assassins. Those who weren't Assassins had leaned towards that direction anyway.

Their captain, Kuskal, had done the same. He was an Archer, but he specialized in sniping his opponents from afar.

Kuskal kept shooting long-range arrows at Bart, and Bart responded with all kinds of Creator combination skills.

Helena encountered her worst nightmare.

It was none other than Dukeram!

She was surrounded by Dukeram's sand soldiers. What's worse, she had Dukeram to worry about too.

Her guild's high rankers (Wind Tracker Dambi and Druid Yericka) were by her side. They fought to the best of their ability, but the situation was difficult to overcome.

The Blue Knight, Plum, had already met her end via Dukeram's blade, and Dambi barely had any HP left. If not for Dambi's healing spells, she would've died long ago.

Worst of all, Helena wasn't able to cast her magic properly. Whenever she tried to cast a spell, Dukeram would immediately use Space-Time Slash.

It was a secret move that distorted the laws of both time and space!

Thus, she would always have to reserve one of her two spells (Dual Casting) for defense.

Of course, Helena was a top-tier player for a reason.

She would always attack Dukeram with one offensive spell. However, she didn't have enough firepower to take him down.

The more time passed, the worse the trio's faces became.

The Eagle Corps tried to help them, but they were stopped by the sand soldiers.

Ultimately...

Dukeram and the sand soldiers closed in. After that, the trio fell like dominos.

Yericka died first, followed closely by Dambi.

Once Dukeram's sword pierced her body, Helena used her trump card, Self-Destruct.

Unfortunately, glittering sand surrounded Dukeram's body, minimizing the damage he took from her spell.

With this, the Witch of Annihilation, Helena, left the stage.

* * *

Irene's Glacier Squad had the highest kill count of all the squads.

Why?

The Glacier Squad only aimed for the Alliance's troops. Jegal had ordered her to do so.

Irene's superb leadership abilities, coupled with the Glacier Squad's skill and excellent teamwork, allowed them to completely overwhelm ordinary soldiers.

The Alliance's soldiers were swept away like tree leaves on an autumn day.

Kang Oh and Tasha rushed towards the Glacier Squad.

"Kang Oh." Irene, who immediately ascertained his identity, looked at him coldly.

She was completely different from that fool, Ridgeley. Irene always remained calm, regardless of the situation.

Plus, she valued the strength of the organization more than her own personal strength.

'You're weak by yourself. But if you're with others, you're strong.'

That's the motto she lived by.

Moreover, she had excellent decision making, and she didn't hesitate either.

"Everyone get off your horses. Assume defensive positions!" Irene ordered, and the Glacier Squad immediately assumed a circular formation.

The shield bearers raised their shields in the front, while swords, spears, etc. were positioned behind them. The priests and the horses were in the middle.

Most of the churches had remained neutral in the war. However, there were some churches that joined the Empire's cause early on.

Their priests were fighting on the Empire's behalf in the Battle of the Nazrak Plains.

The Alliance had no priests that could heal them, but the Empire did. It was a bigger difference than you might expect.

In any case, even Kang Oh was surprised by the Glacier Squad's formation. He felt a shiver run down his spine too.

It felt like he was looking at a bee's nest.

'She's not called the Queen Bee for nothing.'

It seemed like she had earned her title.

"Hmph. It doesn't matter how many of you there are. You're still just small fry to me."

Tasha, who was drunk off the battle, couldn't help herself and attacked the Glacier Squad.

Fresh Blood Wave!

Annihilating Spike!

An undulating blood red wave came flying at them, and red thorn vines surged from the ground.

"Castle Wall!" Irene yelled, and the Glacier Squad's shields glowed. Then, the light encompassed the rest of their squad as well.

Bam! Bam!

Tasha's attacks were stopped completely in their tracks.

"Spear Strike!"

'Spear Strike' was a term that Irene had made up.

The spear-wielding troops unleashed sharp energy at Tasha all at once. Because they hadn't physically thrown their spears, it didn't count as a projectile attack. They focused their energy in one part of the spear and then released it. That was a Spear Strike.

Tasha's dress formed into a blood shield.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

The Spear Strikes almost made contact at exactly the same time.

A Spear Strike wasn't just pointing in a direction and shooting energy at it. It relied on its users to time it exactly right, and delicately control the power output.

It was something that required long and intense training.

The power of their Spear Strikes was surprising. They pierced through Tasha's blood shield, pushed her back, and made her slam into the ground.

"Mm."

It seemed like it would be harder to break through their defensive formation than he thought.

'They'll probably launch Spear Strikes at me even if I fly in from above.'

"Move!" Irene yelled.

The Glacier Squad slowly approached Kang Oh. Their defense might be extremely high, but that also meant that they moved extremely slowly.

If he retreated, then they wouldn't be able to catch him. However, he had no intention of running away.

'Yeah, I choose you.' Kang Oh pulled out a scroll from his inventory.

Rip!

A giant magic circle appeared on the ground. Then... a giant monster turtle appeared in its place! He had summoned Moss Cave's final guardian, Slowpoke Teynos.

[You have used the Teynos Summoning Scroll.]

[Duration Time: 30 minutes.]

This was the first time he'd ever used a guardian summoning scroll.

"Master! Why did you call me?" Teynos asked.

Kang Oh pointed at the Glacier Squad. "Push through!"

"Got it!"

Teynos slowly made its way to the Glacier Squad.

Bulldozer Teynos is in the building. Everyone, get out of the way!

Although Teynos had appeared out of nowhere, Irene remained calm.

"Spear Strike!"

The Glacier Squad's spear-wielders simultaneously unleashed blasts of energy at Teynos.

Bam, bam, bam!

The blasts hit Teynos simultaneously. They had enough power to leave marks on Teyno's shell.

However, it wasn't enough to stop Teyno's advance. Left with no other choice, Irene ordered her troops to scatter.

"Scatter. Reorganize into small groups! Group leaders, lead your teams!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

As expected of the elite Glacier Squad.

They quickly reorganized themselves into small groups.

At that moment...

'Now!'

Kang Oh rushed forward like the wind. He needed to get as close to Irene and her small group as possible!