In the Northwest Area, specifically on Ethan's and Jose's camp.

Ethan was standing above a tower made of magic, so he could oversee the entire battlefield. Jose furrowed her eyebrows while approaching Ethan. Looking at his serious expression, she asked, "Ethan… Do you think you can handle these beasts with half of our soldiers? I know about your reputation, but this is still far too difficult. Besides, there is also—"

"Jose," Ethan called her name and smiled. "You don't understand the principle of defense. Do you think I can defend this area alone? No. If I don't have my subordinates, I won't be able to withstand these many monsters.

"I have divided our twenty soldiers into twenty groups. I extract the two groups so they can rest for a bit. While the remaining eighteen were divided into two again. With five hundred people knowing what to do… It's enough to hold back five to ten times their number for a few hours because the chain of command is not that high with that number.

"The group army can also move quickly and accurately. With those thirty-six groups, I should be able to withstand one hundred eighty thousand magical beasts. Of course, even if it's reduced to ten thousand, I can still hold about a hundred thousand. That's why I am confident in dealing with them.

"Besides, the moment the spider dies, they will be scattered and unorganized. Defending it will be much easier."

"I see… I don't really understand the concept of your defense formation, but since you are confident, I shall leave it to you. Just inform me if you need anything, and I will accomplish the task."

"Haha! Your role is somewhere else, right?" Ethan grinned.

"…" Jose closed her eyes and let out a long sigh. "Yes. Still, do you think he will succeed? I don't doubt Ria Ross's power, but I don't know if it's alright to trust him that much… I know that his power and his talent is extraordinary. Even though I have said I treat him as my equal, it doesn't mean I trust him one hundred percent."

"The main factor of this plan is the death of that spider. If we manage to kill the spider during the expected time, we have the chance to win the war. And I don't want to think what will happen if we fail…" Ethan sighed. "As for Kai Carter himself, I have an opinion regarding him."

"Mind sharing it with me?"

"As far as his intelligence is concerned, he might be one of the smartest people in warfare." Ethan narrowed his eyes. "Of course, it's only regarding warfare. His battle sense and fighting ability are top-notch, but I can't trust those two more than I trust his war plan. Do you understand?"

Jose fell into silence, remembering Kai's original plan. She let out a long sigh again. "Never mind. The gamble is on, and we can only hope that the group can kill the spider. I will rest for now."

Ethan nodded, watching Jose walk away.

"Who will grasp the tide of the battle, and who will be swallowed by it? I wonder." Ethan shook his head and focused back on the battlefield.

At the same time, the situation in the south wasn't that good. Their situation might be the best of all armies, but they lacked something. They lack a person that could pierce through the enemy rank like an arrow.

Erica was watching the battlefield and furrowed her eyebrows.

'Husband has been stopped by two failed zodiacs. It seems they are fighters since they can hold my husband for a long time. And the power granted by protector blood is really extraordinary… Other than these two, his left-hand and right-hand men were occupied with another two.

'If only one of them is able to pierce through, we can gain a huge advantage. It seems we can't do anything for the time being. I should wait until the battlefield moves.' Erica thought while looking on her left. Her eyes didn't seem to be watching the left flank. Instead, it was far beyond that.

It was Ardus. He was still glaring at the Sea Urchin from behind his army. Although he needed to face the enemies five times of his number, he still didn't have any plan in conceding.

After fighting under Nathan for a long time, he was able to recreate a few of Nathan's strategies. In fact, he was the second brain on Nathan's former army, the only person that succeeded his position. That was why he could handle this situation without panicking.

Even Unsi, the protector, didn't manage to break through his first line of defense that easily. And the latter also knew it.

Unsi then decided not to get heated up and play along with his strategy because he knew the first to crumble was not Ardus or Nathan, but the farthest one, Nadia.

Nathan was pinching the bridge of his nose as he got too many thoughts at the moment. "How is our condition?"

"Their middle army has yet to make a movement."

"Don't worry about them. They are most likely to move when one of our wings gets broken through. As long as we keep an eye on them, they won't move." Nathan brushed it off with a nonchalant attitude.

Yet, one of the commanders asked. "Should we send reinforcement to our wings in that case?"

"No. Three thousand is a minimum for us to watch their twenty thousand." Nathan thought for a moment and asked. "How about Nadia's army?"

"They are struggling as Sir has expected. Commander Nadia has been able to stop their relentless attack while going around the battlefield, but they will be broken through sooner or later."

Nathan clicked his tongue and commanded. "Send a messenger to Nadia. Tell her that she ought to stop going around for a few minutes before clashing with that protector. It doesn't need to be serious. Just use some trick to buy time and retreat."

"I understand. I shall convey it to her."

Nathan clenched his fist, never expecting that the situation became so bad because they miscalculated the number of protectors coming. They thought it would only be two people, so he planned to intercept the leader himself while leaving the other one to Adrus and Nadia. But it seemed they were more careful even though they had that much power with them. It might be due to the two deaths not long ago, but it certainly affected his situation greatly.

He turned around and whispered. "I hope you can win soon."

Of course, Kai could hear this voice, but also couldn't at the same time. He knew there was a voice coming around this area, but because too many people were talking at once, he couldn't pinpoint it just like usual.

Still, Kai himself had no time to bother with that kind of message because he was about to enter a great fight with the spider.

"Tasha, back me up."

"Roger!" Tasha smiled and pulled her bow again.

Kai, on the other hand, slowly walked toward the spider. The latter also did the same. And when the distance between them remained a few meters, both of them leaped.

"Scree!" The spider roared and spat out the thread from his mouth.

Kai activated his Sound Blast to launch him diagonally to the right, going around its legs. He then spun his body and used his swords like a chainsaw, hitting the legs multiple times.

When the last strike hit, Michelle sent a Shadow Slash, running through the spider's body. The spider tilted to the right, pointing its bloodied butt toward Kai.

"Nasty." Kai twitched his eyebrows and used his Sound Blast to launch him to the top of the spider.

At first, he was planning to use another one to leap to another side, but Michelle suddenly extended his legs with the shadow, making a special footing that would last for three seconds before the poison on its body touched Kai's feet.

Because of that, he landed right on his back, sending as many slashes as possible along with the Shadow Slash.

Those black waves covered almost all of the spider's body before Kai leaped to the other side and used his Sound Blast to help him maneuver again while hitting the spider's legs.

Still, the spider expected Kai to come from that direction, so it tilted its head, trying to headbutt him.

"Lightning Piercer!"

It was at this moment Tasha released its arrow toward the eyes. And to everyone's surprise, the spider leaped to the side again.

"Again?" Kai muttered to himself before creating a bit of distance between them.

Meanwhile, Jacob and the others were pretty shocked.

'What the hell is that youngster? How can he move like that? Even war veterans don't dare to use such a pattern because they are unable to do that. What kind of reaction speed needed to do that?' Jacob frowned, never expecting that he had underestimated Kai this whole time.

'No. This must be because of our Supreme Commander's guidance. He is her student, so she must have honed him to the highest degree. I wonder if I should anticipate his growth or fear it? Nonetheless, it's good as long as these skills are directed at the magical beasts, not humans.' Drey also had her thoughts.

The same as her, Xin halted her step. Are we even needed here? If he keeps that up, he will be able to cut the spider sooner or later… Albeit, the guy might not have enough magic power and stamina in order to fight like that for a long time. Hence, he needs us…'

While many had their own thoughts, Kai suddenly shouted. "Tasha! The spider seems to be afraid of your lightning. Hit him hard with that, will you?"

"With pleasure."