After all, the nearest island that had received news of their distress would need at least a month to arrive with reinforcements.
The movement of an army was nothing like a lone divine-level expert traveling alone.
Given their current condition, within three to five days, the weaker soldiers would exhaust too much divine power repairing their bodies and would no longer be able to serve as nodes within the magical formation.
At that point, once the formation collapsed, they wouldn't last even ten breaths against Mad Lord Harald.
There was no helping it—Seven-Star Fiends could casually tear open spatial rifts dozens of meters long.
Before such rifts, anyone lacking the power to break space would be wiped out in an instant.
Even Six-Star Fiends capable of shattering space would still be killed in a single move before a Seven-Star Fiend.
But now, knowing that reinforcements would arrive within five days, their will to survive was reignited.
As soldiers of Locke's Sovereign army, they all understood that rank corresponded to strength.
A Seven-Star Fiend in the army was merely a battalion commander.
A deputy commander, however, was undoubtedly a Commander-level powerhouse.
With that thought, morale surged throughout the unit.
Five days… might just be survivable.
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
In the sky, black-red light lashed out continuously at the hundred-meter-wide magical formation.
Each of Harald's strikes tore open long spatial rifts.
Yet Feldman's formation was no weaker.
Though their speed couldn't match Harald's—forcing them into a largely defensive stance—they were far from easy to break.
Especially after learning reinforcements would arrive in five days, the soldiers of Locke's army shifted their strategy.
They abandoned reckless offense and focused entirely on defense, seeking only to buy time.
Now, unless an injury impaired movement, they refused to waste divine power on healing.
"So strong!"
Outside Azure Peak Island, numerous pirates watched the battle intently.
For both the pirates and the Sovereign army, this was a battle that could reshape the balance of the Nether Sea.
Over the past tens of millions of years, pirates had been driven back from their former dominance, confined to the inner reaches of the sea.
On the surface, the Nether Sea was still their domain—but anyone with insight knew it had become their cage.
Mad Lord Harald's attempt to seize an island from Locke's Sovereign army, elevating himself from a "Lord" to a "King," had drawn the attention of every pirate faction.
If Harald succeeded in capturing Azure Peak Island and became a pirate "King" controlling two islands, it would signal weakness in Locke's army.
At that point, pirates who had been suppressed for tens of millions of years would undoubtedly launch a frenzy of attacks against the army's territories.
After all, the force Oakes had brought to suppress the pirates consisted of only five battalions—fifty thousand soldiers.
Among them, Figroa, Celes, and the first and third battalions each led five thousand men, keeping the four pirate kings pinned within their territories.
If any of the four kings attempted to expand, they would be immediately crushed.
The sixth battalion commander, meanwhile, led ten thousand troops patrolling the Nether Sea, stationing at least ten soldiers on every island.
The closer an island was to pirate-controlled territory, the more soldiers it had stationed, focusing on eliminating emerging pirate forces.
Even so, fewer than ten islands were defended by full thousand-man companies.
That said, every soldier in Locke's army was a Highgod. Ten Highgods were enough to suppress most pirate threats.
However, if a pirate force led by a Six-Star Fiend attacked, islands without company-level defenses would be in grave danger.
At that point, chaos would engulf the Nether Sea.
But after witnessing Harald's assault on Azure Peak Island, many pirate factions fell silent.
Who was Harald?
One of the twelve greatest pirate leaders—the "Mad Lord," among the One Emperor, Four Kings, and Seven Lords. A figure standing at the pinnacle of pirate power.
And what about the defenders?
After tens of millions of years of conflict, pirates had come to understand Locke's army well.
In their eyes, such a force shouldn't even exist.
Even the Sovereign armies they knew allowed Gods to join.
But this army? Every single soldier was an Highgod.
A hundred-man squad—its leader was at least a Five-Star Fiend, or capable of defeating one through formation.
A thousand-man company—its captain was a Six-Star Fiend, or could form a formation capable of defeating one.
A ten-thousand-man battalion—the commander could rival the twelve great pirate leaders, perhaps even defeat kings and lords through formations.
And yet, Azure Peak Island was defended by just a thousand-man company.
And that company… had actually held off Mad Lord Harald?
According to their understanding, the army had at least fifty such companies!
For a moment, every pirate observing the battle was stunned.
Were these soldiers really this strong?
If even Harald's crew had struggled against a single company, then what about lesser pirate forces?
Wouldn't they be walking straight into death?
At once, several pirate crews that had planned to follow Harald and attack other islands withdrew.
Only someone as powerful as Harald could suppress such a unit.
If it were them, they'd have been wiped out long ago.
The battle on Azure Peak Island lasted five days.
The glow of Harald's earlier berserk empowerment had faded.
Yet his attacks remained relentless. Every strike that slipped past Feldman's defenses injured more soldiers within the formation.
After five days, even Feldman's chest was soaked in blood, his face pale as death.
Still, he maintained focus, directing the formation's power to hold Harald at bay.
But whether it was the watching pirates or the soldiers themselves, all knew they had reached their limit.
In the early days, soldiers had refrained from healing to conserve divine power.
Now, most no longer had any divine power left to maintain the formation.
They had begun burning their own divine bodies, extracting every last trace of energy to sustain the formation.
"Has the deputy commander not arrived yet?"
More soldiers coughed up blood.
Some had already lost limbs.
Flames of divine power flickered across their bodies as they sacrificed their own flesh to fuel the battle.
Feldman could tell—within at most another hour, soldiers would begin to die from complete depletion of divine power.
Just as he wondered whether they could hold out until reinforcements arrived—
A powerful aura suddenly appeared within the perception of all beings around Azure Peak Island.
And it was approaching rapidly.
The moment they sensed this unrestrained presence, a refreshing clarity surged through Feldman and his men.
"Hold on! The deputy commander has arrived!"
Though they had never seen this deputy commander, there could be no mistake.
Only someone of that rank would approach so openly, so quickly.
The soldiers within the formation also sensed the incoming aura.
"Oh? That must be your reinforcements?"
Harald sensed it as well.
But based on his knowledge of the army, unless the one arriving was Commander Oakes himself, he had nothing to fear from any of the three Seven-Star Fiend–level battalion commanders.
If it came to a life-or-death struggle, he could push his Berserk ability to the limit—who lived and who died would still be uncertain.
"That's a shame," Harald sneered.
"What I enjoy most is crushing hope the moment it appears—plunging you into even deeper despair."
As he spoke, the phantom of the red-furred giant ape reappeared behind him.
But this time, the savage crimson glow in its eyes was five times more intense than before.
"ROAR!"
With a furious bellow, the phantom merged into Harald once more, igniting a blazing crimson aura around him.
"Die!"
Madness now filled Harald's eyes. His halberd unleashed a massive beam of Destruction energy hundreds of meters long, slamming into the magical formation.
"Boom!"
Though Feldman mobilized every last ounce of divine power within the formation, Harald's attack was seven to eight times stronger than before.
After barely holding for a few breaths—
The formation's defensive barrier shattered.
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