CHAPTER 382: A HYBRID FORMATION

Shera’s eyes widened a little as she watched the Karmen soldiers take their positions. "She actually pulled out a tough one... perfect for this mess, though."

Cassian glanced at her, brows pulling together. He wasn’t the only one—his team and a few nearby soldiers who’d never fought in high-level formations were giving her the same confused look.

Shera didn’t take her eyes off the field as she added, "That’s the Linked Arrowhead Formation. Looks defensive, yeah, but it’s a hybrid. You won’t really get it if I just explain... watch and you’ll see."

She said no more, and then the monsters were on them. The front line slammed their tower shields together, forming an unbroken wall. When the impact came, it was like a wave hitting stone—there was no gap, no give, nowhere for the monsters to push through.

Behind them, the mages finished their chant, a shimmer of light washing over the shields as a layer of magic reinforced the steel. Just past that line, the spearmen crouched low, long weapons angled and ready to strike at anything that tried to vault over.

Not every soldier in that wall was a Circle Warrior. Cassian spotted a few scattered among the ranks, but most were ordinary men and women equipped with enchanted gear and heavy armor. Even so, when the monsters hit, the formation didn’t buckle. Blades and claws slammed into steel, teeth scraped over runed metal, and every bit of damage was soaked up like the wall had been built for exactly this.

The monsters crashed into the shield wall like a flood hitting a dam. The sound of impact boomed across the field, metal groaning under the sheer weight. The first line didn’t move an inch, their tower shields digging into the dirt like rooted stone. Behind them, the second line’s raised shields caught the stray claws and snapping jaws of beasts trying to leap over, the metallic roof keeping the formation sealed tight.

The third line of mages didn’t flinch. Their chants rose in perfect rhythm, weaving together until the air itself vibrated with energy. A second shimmering barrier flared into life over the shield wall, soaking the monster’s assault with rippling waves of light. Claws screeched against it. Teeth cracked on impact. Even the trolls’ crushing fists left nothing more than ripples across the glowing shield.

But it wasn’t just defense. Cassian’s attention shifted further back, to the scattered fifth-line mages at every connection point of the formation. There weren’t many of them, but each one radiated power thick enough to make the hair on his arms stand. They didn’t chant — they were holding their spells, waiting.

The moment the monster wave stalled against the wall, they struck.

A single command cut through the chaos, though Cassian couldn’t tell who barked it. Dozens of runes flared to life, bright enough to burn his vision. Then the ground shook as magic slammed into the field. Fire ripped forward in a rolling wave, incinerating wolves and ogres in an instant. Lightning cracked, spearing through trolls and giant centipedes, leaving charred husks where they stood. Sheets of ice erupted under the boars, freezing them in place before the spearmen drove their weapons through their skulls.

The sound was deafening. Roars turned to shrieks, shrieks to silence. The entire front rank of the monster army had been obliterated in a single coordinated strike.

And still, at the very center, Aria didn’t move. She stood among her soldiers, silver spear planted into the dirt, her free hand raised as glowing runes began to spiral beneath her feet. The mana gathering around her was so dense it was almost visible, a pale shimmer in the air that even Cassian could feel from this distance. It wasn’t raw and wild like the fifth-line mages — hers was controlled, coiled tight like a blade being drawn from a sheath.

The crescent-shaped blade at the tip of Aria’s spear lit up in a cold, blue glow, and the ground itself seemed to hum as her attack reached its peak. A surge of mana rippled outward, and in an instant, the front ranks of the monster horde were shredded apart. Flesh and bone tore like wet paper under the wave of power, leaving only broken bodies scattered across the field.

But even as the dust settled, the sheer number of beasts still looming in the distance made Cassian’s stomach tighten. There were hundreds more pouring through the treeline, and every one of them radiated strength he knew too well. These weren’t the kind of creatures common soldiers should have been able to hold back.

And yet... not a single monster had managed to breach the shield wall.

Cassian stared, slack-jawed, watching the first line of soldiers brace as another wave slammed into them. The tower shields didn’t so much as shift an inch. Not a single ripple. No cracks. No gaps.

He’d fought these things before. He knew what they were capable of. Even as a first-circle warrior with enchanted gear, it would take everything he had just to hold off one of those trolls, and even then it would be a gamble. But here? Ordinary men and women — not even circle warriors, just disciplined soldiers with heavy shields and good gear — were stopping the tide like it was nothing.

And then there was Aria. Every swing of her crescent-tipped spear carved swathes of destruction, the blue glow flaring as another spell detonated.

Cassian’s eyes widened when he realized what she was cutting down. Those weren’t common beasts—they were seven-star monsters, the kind that could wipe out an unprepared squad in minutes. And she was tearing through them like they were nothing, holding the center of the formation as if the entire army’s weight rested on her shoulders.

He couldn’t make sense of it. If someone at fifth circle could butcher that many seventh-star monsters alone... why the hell were there so many casualties under her command?

The thought stuck like a splinter in the back of his mind, no matter how hard he tried to focus on the battle in front of him.