The kill took mere instants. The windriders were close to each other, and Shen swiftly jumped from one to the next. He killed a few dozen before they got far enough to escape if he tried to approach. His aerial speed couldn't compete with theirs.

Still, he created an opening. His squad took advantage of it to get closer to the teleportation circle. He changed into a defensive role and kept moving around the drow, easily destroying incoming spells. They soon arrived at their destination.

Although Shen had wanted to be surrounded midair to attack the enemy in all directions, not having to worry about attacks from below made protecting the squad easier. The only issue was the rules of conquest. He couldn't just defend forever.

"Keep defending," he ordered. "I'll clear every windrider within 900 yards. Help me only if you feel confident."

That distance was negligible to him. He made short work of every enemy. Even those who tried to sneakily enter the range by air had no chance; now that Shen could propel himself from the ground, he got to them too quickly.

In the end, he returned to his squad, and they only had to defend 300 yards for one Standard minute.

The cultivator was surprised at how powerful he was.

He only used two-thirds of his power after giving up 20% in the drop of blood essence. In other words, this was about half his power at his absolute peak. Even so, those D-ranks couldn't compete with him.

Was it all the drow training? Was it his merit? Or were these enemies just too weak?

Shen guessed the latter was the most likely. There was no sense in keeping elite Guardians stationed at a D-rank Area meant for training. Maybe one or another strong D-rank would be around if a race valued that world more than others.

That meant that instead of a continuous increase in his foe's power, Shen should expect a stronger-than-average local to come, then a huge bump in power—the real reinforcements.

His guess was spot on.

A dozen Standard seconds later, nine orcs came, all green and wearing metal armor. The equipment's designs was crude, but a single glance told Shen that it was at least D-rank, maybe D+ or even C-.

They didn't step into the 300-yard range. In fact, they kept about a mile away from the teleportation circle.

"More watchdogs waiting for us to leave," Lighty commented.

Shen sighed and said, "Rather, they want to arrive at the last second, so they waste more of our time."

The conclusion was obvious. He couldn't predict whether his squad or these ogres would win in a clash if he himself didn't participate. So, why would such strong enemies just wait for the drow to leave instead of attacking when it was most inconvenient?

"Icy, go check their strength," he ordered.

Sending a defensive unit was obviously safer, and if he found out the ogres weren't so strong after all, he would send the drow to gain some experience.

The mage obeyed without hesitation. However, a few dozen steps after leaving Soundy's control zone, she suddenly froze and stepped back in a hurry. "Aura user!" she informed.

At D-rank, discovering auras without feeling them or using the right tools was basically impossible. So, these guards were both strong and cunning. They had stayed further away to prevent the drow from finding out about the aura until the last second unless they investigated. If Shen had been as arrogant as Lighty, disregarding them as mere dogs, he would've been caught off guard.

Auras were also overwhelmingly powerful at D-rank. Even True Path Walkers couldn't stop an aura from affecting their bodies. Only specialized equipment or another aura user could withstand an enemy's aura, and the latter would be forced into an aura-willpower battle anyway.

Shen didn't want to reveal his aura yet, but he didn't need to.

"Icy, come back and keep protecting the 300-yard range with the others," he ordered as he clenched his spear and rushed at the ogres.

All ogres, without a single exception, wielded huge sabers. They didn't dare to be lax despite their supposed aura advantage; they got in formation and prepared for the incoming threat at once. They also spread mana throughout the area to force him into a willpower battle if he tried to use energy to deny the aura's effect.

Shen smiled. It was nice to have efficient opponents for a change.

He had almost instantly pushed his speed to the peak, yet the ogres already had their weapons in hand before he even got to the aura.

And then, he stopped and swung his spear like a madman.

His blade attacks just kept going without stopping. He didn't even stop at two-thirds of his power; he gave his all. Hiding his aura was more important than his agility. He also started running around the enemy aura's limits.

The ogres defended themselves with difficulty. One of them had inferior armor that was cut down and lost a leg. The aura user felt lost; their aura couldn't stop a weak Law attack. Moments later, he stepped ran at Shen, so their aura would suppress the cultivator.

Shen had been waiting for that; he deployed his aura and also ran toward the enemy aura user.

Aura met aura, and their wills clashed. Shen's willpower slammed against the orc like a comet against an ant. It let his aura swiftly gain a hold over all ogres. It was so fast that even to Shen, it felt instantaneous.

His aura assisted his still ongoing long-rage blade attacks. Eight orcs immediately became dismembered corpses. The aura user's armor cracked but resisted, and the orc survived—for a moment.

Shen had already gotten close to the enemy.

The willpower impact made the foe unable to raise a defense. Shen was also betting that it had made the orc incapable of sending word about finding an enemy aura user.

Therefore, while he had used his own aura, he hadn't actually revealed it, had he?

Dead men tell no tales.

His spear cut through armor and orc, and an instant later, only eight piles of five-inch meat cubes remained.

Surprisingly, Shen found two spatial rings among the corpses—those things were expensive for D-ranks!—and took them before returning to the circle.

The windriders were properly intimidated, and there was no trouble on that circle or the next two. Shen's squad left the mountains unhindered.

This time, Shen didn't go straight to the next area. He returned to the drow zone and sent a command.

"Whoever wasn't ordered to defend this zone to the death, gather at the forest's borders and prepare to advance at my command."

He never expected the last leg of his mission to be simple, but now that a local aura user was dead, the enemy would send more local troops even before elite reinforcements arrived. Shen's squad had taken a while to come from Tar'Shalon, but how long did it take to teleport troops from the same pre-war planet? Certainly not as long.

Shen still needed to stay in that world for at least three minutes. The aura user had arrived about three minutes after he struck for the first time and died over two minutes ago. He wouldn't be able to avoid fighting whichever sub-elite enemies were coming to delay him until the true elites arrived.

To be honest, Shen didn't feel like he needed help. As soon as any local reinforcement arrived, he would display his full power to finish this mission as fast as possible. However, he couldn't just kill an aura user and keep going as if it was nothing. He had to show he had been intimidated to a degree.

In other words, the drow in the zone would become cannon fodder—or so the enemy would believe.

That would win him precious seconds, and the following mess he wanted to create using hundreds of drow might be the difference between accomplishing or failing his mission.

Fiery was still unconscious, and Shen left her close to the drow teleportation circle with the two hundred drow who would stay behind. Another two hundred were getting to the forest's borders under his command.

"The plan is simple," he told everyone. "When I give the word, advance fast and spread chaos, but don't needlessly risk your life. In fact, retreat as soon as you feel remotely threatened. I want to make it harder for the enemy to tell what is going on, but my squad's mission isn't vital to you all."

None of the two races in the three forest zones—thunderlords and swamp trolls—had come to protect their zones' borders. Whatever they were plotting was hidden by the tall vegetation.

"Go all out from the beginning," Shen ordered his squad as they also approached the zone's boundary. "No need to hide anything. The time for secrecy has passed. We'll start with the troll's single circle, then attack the thunderlords."

The cultivator felt the thunderlords were the strongest of the bunch. The trolls would be a flash course in fighting in the forest.

Shen didn't need to wait for anything. As soon as they were close enough, he gave the order.

"Attack!"

He rushed into the forest with his squad and hundreds of other drow.

Two drow with standard armor with red lights floated invisibly above the volcano.

"The kid is not ruthless enough," the male said. "It's almost like he wants to fail his mission."

The female made a denial gesture with her armored pinky finger. "Drow lives aren't to be wasted."

"This is war," he countered. "Deaths are expected."

"There are multiple fights in this greater war," she insisted. "His fight is a minor one with a clear short-term goal. Why needlessly risk the lives of nearby drow who are already fighting their own different wars? He was ruthless enough to temporarily pull them into his battle; at least a few will die."

The male expressed derision with a shake of his toe. "Will they? The order is clear: retreat even if remotely threatened. Whoever dies can only blame themselves for not obeying orders."

"And since when have all drow been mindless machines that obey every order to the letter?" she asked amusedly. "Tiny deviations are expected. Not everyone is like you and your master."

The male didn't reply to the provocation. Instead, he returned to the previous topic. "The kid is above all the other D-rank drow here. His struggles are more significant. It's only expected for those hierarchically under anyone to be pulled into the troubles of greater beings."

"Ah, that was what you were getting to." She used an exasperated accent. "I heard your master beat you for expressing such opinions the last time you dared. Your fellow disciple's success without truly risking any lives would prove you wrong."

The man didn't even try to deny it. "Of course. Master told me to prevent enemy C-rank interference, and the kid is drow. As the stronger drow here, I must be prepared to die for us all, him included. Isn't that the same as her saying she values his life more than mine? It's normal to feel jealous."

The woman chuckled. "You're so stupid. You need emotions to develop a domain, but it doesn't mean you must verbally expose them to everyone around you. That's not the drow way. You're even still C-rank. Do you think you're a genius like your master and can develop a domain at C-rank?"

"Shut up! I can try!" he said in a way that made clear how embarrassed and angry he was at her remark. Seeing as how he consciously had to reveal those emotions when using the drow language, it only made it even more evident how right she was.

"Your passionate behavior is against everything the drow believe in," she provoked.

"Shut up!" he repeated. "Didn't you say no drow are equal? I might die! I want to vent a little before that!"

She shook her head. "Dumb. But cute. If you want, we can send a message to the Cradle so they can unite our genes. I wonder if our spawn would inherit my wisdom or your stupidity."

"I told you to shut up!" he insisted, once more revealing his embarrassment. Yet, his next words went completely against the mood he showed. "Don't go back on your word; I'll send the Cradle a message now. Make sure to get to B-rank quickly so you're told who our child is and can tell me if they are dumb like me. Then I'll be able to blame one of my parents for having dumb but strong genes."

She froze for an instant before revealing absolute shock with a twist of her waist. "Are you really that stupid?"

"What do you mean?!"

"I obviously developed feelings for you, idiot. I suppressed them already, but my words were the same as saying I want to copulate with you after we both reach B-rank! You're not allowed to die here!"

"Shut up!" he replied. "I'll die if I need to!"

"Of course," she said, both exasperated and greatly amused. "I would expect nothing less of the one I chose."