The horde slammed into their defensive line with primal fury that tested every person's training and resolve. Expert rank beasts led the charge, razor-clawed predators moving with coordinated aggression that spoke to either intelligence or Academy programming designed to stress defensive capabilities.

Helena's eastern line took the heaviest initial impact, ten defenders suddenly facing over a hundred beasts trying to break through the forest border. Her spear flashed in rapid succession, Expert Peak cultivation letting her match the assault through superior technique rather than overwhelming force.

"Hold formation!" she shouted, voice carrying over the chaos. "Don't let them separate us!"

The defenders clustered tight, creating overlapping fields of attack that forced beasts to fight through concentrated resistance. It was working, but barely. The sheer numbers threatened to overwhelm through attrition what skill was holding back temporarily.

Garrett's rapid response unit was already moving, five warriors hitting the eastern line's weak point where a Master Low rank beast was threatening breakthrough. Their coordinated assault brought it down before it could exploit the gap, Garrett's blade finding the creature's spine while his team controlled its limbs.

Raze watched from the southern perimeter for approximately ten seconds, tactical assessment showing him exactly where the real danger lay. The beasts weren't just attacking the borders. They were probing for weaknesses, testing multiple entry points simultaneously to find wherever resistance was thinnest.

"Fedora, battlefield command is yours," he said calmly. "I'm going into the horde."

"What?" She turned to look at him with alarm. "Raze, that's suicide."

"That's aggressive forward defense." He triggered Void Step, reality bending around him as space displaced. One moment he stood beside his Queen, the next he materialized thirty meters beyond their defensive line, directly in the middle of the approaching beast wave.

The creatures nearest his arrival point reacted with confusion rather than immediate attack, their predator instincts momentarily disrupted by prey appearing where none had been.

Raze didn't give them time to adjust.

His katana flashed through the neck of the nearest Expert rank beast before it could process his presence. Blood sprayed but never touched him, perfect positioning keeping him clean despite the violence. Combat Reflex showed him the next three attack vectors simultaneously, perception enhanced enough to track multiple threats.

Void Step activated again, displacing him four meters left where his blade carved through another beast's exposed flank. The spatial teleportation made his combat style unpredictable, appearing and striking before enemies could mount coordinated response.

"Bephe!" Raze called to his companion. "Hunt!"

The prehistoric predator had been waiting for exactly this command. Bephe exploded forward from the defensive line, expanding mid-charge until he matched the largest beasts in size. His first collision with a Master Low rank creature sent both tumbling, jaws clamping down on its throat with force that crushed vertebrae.

"Slith!" Raze shouted toward where Fedora stood coordinating. "Clear the eastern pressure!"

The Alpha Slither uncoiled from Fedora's shoulders, expanding to his full three-meter length as he flowed down from the Watchtower. His movement was liquid grace, serpentine body covering ground faster than running humans. When he struck the first beast threatening Helena's position, his fangs delivered venom designed to drop Master rank prey.

The creature collapsed within seconds, nervous system shutting down as paralytic compounds flooded its bloodstream.

Raze continued his aggressive assault, Void Step carrying him deeper into the horde while his katana found vital points with surgical precision. Expert rank beasts fell in steady rhythm, each kill adding to his point accumulation while reducing pressure on his defensive line.

A Master Mid rank beast locked onto him, recognizing a threat that needed elimination. It charged with speed that would have caught most Expert rank cultivators unprepared.

Raze's Void Step activated on pure instinct, displacing him clear of the charge. He reappeared behind the creature, his katana already moving in a strike calculated to sever its spine. The blade bit deep but didn't penetrate completely, Master rank durability proving resistant to single strike even from mana-enhanced edge.

The beast twisted faster than its bulk suggested possible, claws sweeping toward his position in attack that would eviscerate if it connected.

Scarlet Leap carried him backward explosively, creating distance before the strike could land. His katana came up in a defensive position while Combat Reflex processed a new threat assessment. This one required sustained engagement rather than quick kill.

But he didn't have time for sustained engagement. Three hundred beasts were trying to breach his kingdom's perimeter, and every second he spent on a single target was a second where multiple threats could slip through gaps in coverage.

"Bephe!" Raze called out. "Master Mid, my position!"

The prehistoric predator responded immediately, disengaging from his current target to charge toward his master's location. Bephe's Demigod potential showed clearly as he collided with the Master Mid rank beast, prehistoric fury matched against the Academy beast in a contest that shook the ground.

Raze left them to it, trusting Bephe to handle the stronger threat while he returned to systematic elimination of Expert rank creatures that formed the bulk of the horde.

Void Step, strike, reposition. Void Step, strike, reposition. The rhythm became almost meditative, consciousness falling into a flow state where thought and action merged into seamless execution. His katana sang through flesh and bone, each cut precise enough to kill without wasting motion on unnecessary flourishes.

Behind him, his kingdom's defensive line was holding better now that he'd drawn significant attention into the horde's center. Helena's eastern position had stabilized, Slith's venom dropping beasts faster than they could organize breakthrough attempts. The scattered Master rank threats were being handled by Garrett's rapid response team, their coordination preventing any single strong beast from overwhelming isolated defenders.

Fedora's voice crackled through the Communication Hub. "The northern border is getting pressure! Twelve beasts trying to flank around the main assault!"

"Garrett, redirect!" Raze commanded while his katana opened another beast's throat. "Helena holds east, you take north!"

"Moving!" Garrett's response was immediate, his team disengaging from their current position to sprint toward the northern border.

Darius's voice joined the communication network. "Two injured on the eastern line, neither critical. I'm pulling them back for Medical Bay treatment."

"Approved," Raze confirmed. "Keep tracking casualty status."

He triggered Void Step again, materializing in a cluster of five Expert Peak beasts that had grouped together. His blade flashed in rapid succession, opening arteries and puncturing organs with strikes that dropped them before they could scatter.

The point notifications were streaming past his peripheral vision now, too fast to track individual accumulation but clearly adding up substantially. Every beast he killed was Academy Points for himself plus Kingdom Points for collective success. The aggressive forward position was risky but generating returns that passive defense couldn't match.

A Master Low rank beast lunged from his blind side, jaws wide enough to remove his head.

Raze's Void Step activated faster than conscious thought, pure reflex honed through months of Asura's training in his mind space. He displaced three meters vertically, appearing above the beast's trajectory. His katana plunged down through its skull as gravity pulled him back to earth, the strike achieving instant kill through brain destruction.

He landed in crouch, already scanning for the next threat while extracting his blade from the corpse.

"Raze, you need to see this!" Julian's voice carried urgency through the Communication Hub. "The horde composition is changing. Something big is coming from the eastern forest. Really big."

Raze triggered another Void Step, teleporting back to his defensive line where he could get a clear view of the eastern approach. What he saw made his instincts scream warning.

The trees were bending aside, something massive forcing its way through vegetation that normal beasts navigated around. The ambient mana radiating from that direction was orders of magnitude stronger than anything the horde had shown so far.

Grandmaster Low rank.

The cultivation pressure washed over the battlefield like physical force, making every fighter pause unconsciously as their instincts recognized predator that transcended their capabilities entirely. Expert rank beasts in the horde actually backed away from the approaching presence, survival instinct overriding whatever programming drove them to attack the kingdom.

Raze's bracelet pulsed with new notification:

[Horde Composition Update]

[Elite Threat Detected]

[Grandmaster Low Rank Beast Approaching]

[Objective Modified: Survive Elite Encounter]

[Bonus Rewards Available For Elite Elimination]

The massive shape emerged from the forest line, and Raze felt his jaw tighten despite his poker face.

It resembled a lion crossed with something draconic, scales covering portions of its hide while mane of actual flames wreathed its head. Grandmaster Low rank cultivation made the air shimmer around its body, heat radiating with intensity that suggested fire affinity rather than simple mana enhancement.

Four meters tall at the shoulder. Eight meters long from nose to tail tip. Eyes that gleamed with intelligence far exceeding the mindless beasts forming the horde's bulk.

This wasn't just a bigger threat. This was a different category entirely.

"Everyone tighten defensive positions!" Fedora's command crackled through the Communication Hub, her Precognition clearly showing her exactly how dangerous this had become. "Do not engage the elite unless absolutely necessary!"

Around the battlefield, Raze's kingdom members were pulling back from aggressive forward positions to consolidated defensive lines. The remaining horde beasts were still attacking, but everyone's attention was splitting between immediate threats and the massive predator that had just entered the fight.

Bephe returned to Raze's position, the prehistoric predator's instincts clearly recognizing that his master needed support for what was coming. Blood covered his scales, evidence of the carnage he'd inflicted, but his attention was locked on the Grandmaster beast with focus that suggested genuine respect for a worthy opponent.

Slith flowed back toward Fedora, the Alpha Slither's survival instincts apparently suggesting that positioning near his master was wiser than staying exposed when something that powerful had entered the battlefield.

The Grandmaster beast surveyed the chaos with those intelligent eyes, clearly assessing the situation before deciding how to proceed. Its gaze swept across the defensive lines, the scattered corpses of lesser beasts, and finally settled directly on Raze standing at the center of the defensive formation.

Recognition passed between them. The beast understood that this human was the primary threat, the one who'd been killing its lesser kin with devastating efficiency. And Raze understood that the creature had intelligence enough to prioritize targets based on danger rather than just attacking whatever was closest.

The flames around its mane intensified, heat distortion making its outline shimmer.

Then it roared, a sound that shook the air and sent ripples of pressure across the battlefield.

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