Is this really a Game?!

Reign tightened his grip on his swords as he stared at the incoming horde, as did the others. They all felt the weight of the battle that was coming to them, and the worst thing was the fact the timer had shown itself to them now.

12 minutes.

They had to withstand the attack of a seemingly endless horde for a total of 12 minutes, which might seem as little to some, but those were 12 minutes that would be filled with non-stop fighting, where they wouldn't have a moment to rest.

The horde wasn't coming from just one direction either, they were coming from all sides, and by coincidence, the castle had exactly 9 locations that could be used to defend it against the horde.

It was no coincidence, of course, they all knew that. The system had made it like that in order to test them, and now, they would indeed be tested.

"Guys, get to the position, this time, I'm afraid none of us will have the luxury of helping one another, perhaps only a bit when the pressure eases a bit." Reign stated as the others nodded.

"We'll have to rely on ourselves, and we can't use our marks right away, otherwise we will die for sure," Mia said as she took a deep breath before looking at the others.

"Good luck."

They all nodded at one another while Tank and Greenie glanced at each other.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"My beasts will be able to help out a bit, if I see that you guys are struggling, I'll send one to help you out."

"Same for my army, the top combatants of the army are all immortal now, it would be dumb not to use them to help us out."

They all nodded at one another before moving, taking their positions.

The rumbling grew louder and louder as the horde approached them, the ground shaking harder and harder with each passing moment as the seemingly berserk monsters charged with all of their might.

The fast ones arrived first, their agile bodies a blur as they jumped, scaled the wall or simply teleported a short distance to reach the walls, engaging in battle against Reign and the others, who were each standing on a large circular platform.

Nine such large platforms were present atop the castle walls, each one about 100 meters away from the next one.

The moment the fast monsters arrived, mayhem was unleashed as Reign and the others immediately started attacking, holding nothing back as they stood on their own platform, each one fighting alone against the monsters.

They were faced with a barrage of relentless attacks as the monsters arrived. Even though the fast monsters were a minority in the army and compared to the entire horde, they were but a tiny portion, the horde was seemingly endless and even a tiny part of it meant hundreds of monsters that were arriving from all directions at once.

As the monsters arrived on the walls, tens of them arriving each passing second, Reign and the others were fighting with everything they had, holding nothing back as they annihilated the monsters that dared approach their positions.

Reign unleashed his swords, both of them flashing as he cut through the wave of attackers that arrived. His strikes were precise and deadly, even more, compared to how they were before, even deadlier, more accurate, and more skillful than they were when they fought against the guardian.

Actually, each swing of the sword was a bit different. At first, Reign didn't even notice it while fighting, but Aethion and Jared, who were inside his consciousness, were quick to notice such a thing.

"A blessing in disguise," Jared said with a smile as Aethion nodded his head.

"Exactly."

"Fighting against an anomaly that was that man … even though the defeat was a bitter pill to swallow, it might have been the best thing that could have happened to them, especially to Reign, who had exchanged so many blows with the man."

Your journey continues on empire

"I agree, Master has, without even noticing it, learned a lot from that battle, and each time he fights now, each time he swings his swords, he adapts, improving himself during battle," Jared added as both of them could see how Reign was improving, how he was unintentionally copying the way Radagan had battled.

Each swing of the sword was different because Reign was trying his best to attack as Radagan had attacked, but it wasn't working.

Of course, it wasn't … he was still stuck in S+ in sword proficiency, even though he had reached that rank a long time ago.

In fact, his dual wielding had reached rank S, improving greatly in the recent months, and yet, he couldn't improve his swordsmanship.

Growing frustrated, Reign suddenly let go of one of his swords, allowing it to stab into the platform as he switched to using only one.

For some reason, he had a feeling that this was the way to go, at least in this moment.

At first, Reign was unable to fight as well as before, after all, he couldn't use his light and darkness separately now and was using them with one sword, swinging left and right, up and down, stabbing forward, from an angle, moving around, he did all of it, his movements turning into what seemed to be a dance.

Right now, he was not thinking.

He was merely fighting, using his sword to its fullest, copying what he saw from Radagan, and improving greatly in mere seconds as his figure turned into a blur. Right now, Reign was a swordsman, one that was devoid of any emotions, his thoughts gone, only the sword left in his mind.

"If he continues like this, he will finally break through to the SS rank today," Aethion said with a smirk as he watched Reign.

Meanwhile, on the other platforms, the others were waging their own battles.

Mia, positioned on a platform to Reign's left, summoned a massive wall of ice to slow the oncoming horde. The ice spread out from her like a glacier, freezing the ground and the creatures that touched it. She then unleashed a flurry of ice spears, each one piercing through multiple enemies, turning them into frozen statues before they shattered into pieces.

On another platform, Wolf was a whirlwind of fire and steel. His flaming sword carved through the abominations with ease, leaving a trail of scorched earth in its wake. The chaos energy in his flames amplified their destructive power, incinerating any monster that dared to come too close.

Despite the high numbers, Wolf held his ground, seemingly unbothered as his flames destroyed any monster that dared come close to him.

Tank and Greenie, positioned at opposite ends of the fortress, were like immovable walls. Tank's shield absorbed the brunt of the enemy's attacks, while his axe cut them down with ease. He was still not summoning his army as there was no need to do so this early in the battle.

Greenie was using his hammer, causing shockwaves to erupt with each swing, his physical might destroying all those who dared come close to him. If any monster got close, he would punch or kick them, as that was a faster way to kill them.

Aelrinder, with his wind-infused spear, was a blur of motion as he darted from one side of his platform to the other. His spear strikes were like lightning, quick and deadly, leaving deep gashes in the monsters' flesh. He used his wind magic to create whirlwinds that lifted the smaller creatures into the air, sending them crashing down to the ground below.

Jin, positioned near Aelrinder, unleashed a barrage of explosive punches. Each punch sent shockwaves rippling through the enemy ranks, blowing apart the monsters in a shower of gore. The ground around him was littered with the remains of his enemies, but Jin showed no signs of slowing down, his aura flaring with every strike.

Each time a monster tried to teleport near him in order to tear him apart, a punch would break its body, each time multiple monsters jumped to get on the platform, an explosion would shred them apart.

Shadow was the most elusive of them all, his form flickering in and out of the shadows as he moved across his platform. His daggers struck with lethal precision, targeting the weak points of the monsters and taking them down with minimal effort.

Laura, with her mastery of demonic energy, was a force to be reckoned with. She summoned dark tendrils that lashed out at the monsters, ensnaring them and draining their life force. The energy she absorbed from them only made her stronger, fueling her attacks as she unleashed waves of demonic power.

Her eyes glowed with a fierce purple light as she channeled her energy into massive blasts that obliterated entire groups of enemies.

Beast was launching arrow after arrow while also using his wind to create a fierce gale around the platform. Multiple arrows were stabbed into the platform, forming an array he could use at any time in order to destroy the enemies while Blackie sat next to him, awaiting the enemies that would dare attack him.