Van - who had been pummelling the demonic bats as if they were dough to make bread with -suddenly stopped his movements. His dark eyes scanned the horizon. The hair on the back of his neck rose.

"Not good! " He barked out.

"Brace yourselves!"

Just as Van spoke this warning, the bats coalesced into the shape of a giant demon bat several hundred metres wide and filled with screeching darkness. While they were weak individually, this combined being had enough power to send fear into the base of everyone's spine. The giant combined form lifted its wings menacingly and pushed forwards with the might of hundreds of thousands of demonic bats.

FWOOMMMM!

A giant twister tore through the crowds. Screams were heard as other battalions were wrenched apart and scattered over the battlefield. The unlucky, the unprepared and the unwitting who were pulled away from their battalions were immediately descended on by the angered demonic bats.

Bright flashes told Van all he needed to know – several disciples in the 5th rank were eliminated just like that.

[This is insane. How can the difficulty of the first round be so high?]

Van's face tightened.

[I must protect the battalion!]

Van's first priority was to protect his battalion from the attack. While he knew would sustain little injury, the same could not be said for the disciples in the 5th rank. The twister would fling them several hundreds of metres and immediately break their bones.

Just as Van was preparing to take action, a brilliant green glow erupted around the Cedar Sect disciples.

Weng!

Their bodies lit up with a green aura.

Van's eyes widened. His feet suddenly felt weighed down by steel ingots. He had the strange feeling that he was an ancient tree, old and gnarled, but rooted so deeply and firmly into the earth that nothing could ever shake it. Was this the effect of the 'earth' tile that they were standing on?

FWOOM!

The vortex finally reached the five Cedar Sect Battalions.

But then a mysterious thing happened. It was as if it was buffeting uselessly against immovable objects. The strong winds had no choice but to blow uselessly through the Cedar Sect disciples who stood firmly with both feet on the ground while their robes fluttered in the wind.

It had to be noted that the other sects had people screaming as they were pulled away by the demonic bat's combined attack! Meanwhile, these green-tinged disciples were standing there safe and sound.

The Cedar Sect battalions were astonished. The terrifying cyclone had pa.s.sed just like that? Could it be... it had something to do with the tile they were standing on?

Samuel turned to his battalion captain and stared at him, eyes agog. His jaw open wide enough to catch a small bird. Finally, his lips moved up and down.

"C-captain! You are brilliant! Too smart!"

The other four battalion captains were similarly amazed. While they had let Van lead without too much jostling – due to his cultivation being the highest, and his good reputation as the 'Sentinel' of the outer sect – they still had not antic.i.p.ated that Van was also incredibly intelligent and a good leader. They felt admiration bud in their hearts. Even if they didn't get the Last Standing Medallion, they were sure to gain many points in this battlefield!

Van saw their admiration but didn't let it faze him. He suddenly understood something: The first round seemed to already have immense difficulty, but in actuality the Mausoleum lets you decide how hard you want to make it for yourself!

Van rallied his troops.

 "The bats use a lot of energy to create this combined attack. They should be briefly weakened in this state. Take advantage! Kill!"

"Yes, Captain!"

The battalions leapt forwards and cut swathes through the weakened bats, which had now dispersed from their formation to recharge their batteries.

In this way, the Cedar Sect quickly racked up points. Van himself was responsible for more than 30,000 demonic bats over the last eight hours. Of course, the benefit of the location Van had chosen was that it was in the outer reaches of the light provided by the giant crystal. The rest of the sects were too busy fighting and dealing with the situation to pay attention to them.

Of course, Van and company weren't the only ones to benefit from the protection provided by standing on the earth tiles. There was one other battalion who happened to have half their members standing on an earth tile, however, on their part it was purely accidental.

However, as they stood quite close to the Zephyr Sect and Star-Cutting Sword Sect, the other two sects noticed the effect and quietly began to send scouts over to investigate. Of course, they didn't manage to find the cause before the demonic bats coalesced for the second time!

FWOOM!

The results were just as devastating as the first time.

Weng! Weng! Weng!

Several low-leveled disciples were eliminated from the battlefield just like that.

Van and the rest continued to rack up the kills with smiles on their faces. Quietly and smoothly they eliminated demonic bats with minimal energy expended. Their morale was high and so the disciples' fighting and coordination skills improved quickly. They capitalized on each of their opportunities, slowly and surely increasing their kill margin.

By the time the third combined attack happened, the other sects had caught on. The number of disciples being eliminated lessened.

The tenth hour ended.

Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

______

"The first wave... has ended!"

The broadcaster's booming voice roused the crowd.

The spectators sitting on the coliseum's benches jumped to their feet and started applauding and cheering. Their faces were flushed with excitement and the adrenaline in their veins high. The giant coliseum echoed with the sounds of their approval.

"Incredible!"

"What an exciting round. When those demonic bats combined I nearly fell out of my seat!"

"The combined attack was incredibly strong. What a diabolical twister!"

"I saw disciples being teleported out in every battlefield when that happened."

"See? I told you that buying better seats to view the Mausoleum of Monsters wouldn't be a waste of time! The waves and types of monsters change each year, but stay just as exciting!"

The crowds eventually settled back into their seats. The giant mirages in the air showed the disciples in the five battlefields were having a brief rest between the waves.

"And now, what you have all been waiting for – the current scoreboard!" The MC's voice boomed over the crowd.

A fervent discussion was raised once more.

"Were you watching the first battlefield? I couldn't take my eyes off of Yun Hai – he was like a holy knight, whatever demonic bat he touched simply vanished. It was a spectacle!"

"The score of the Star-Cutting Sword sect in the first battlefield is going to be crazy – I bet they're going to outcla.s.s the next highest score by at least double the number of points."

"Yun Hai was good, but did you see the Zephyr Sect's twins? Their focused attack literally blew everything away. I don't think a single demonic bat touched them. They simply overpowered the wind element in the bats' combined attack with their own, superior version. I'd never seen anything like it."

"d.a.m.n. I wish I saw that."

"Me too. I was too busy staring at Yun Hai."

"Tsk. Open your mind brother, there are so many more interesting things to see than Yun Hai. He's going to utterly dominate the first battlefield, I'd much rather watch something less predictable!"

"The Star-Cutting Sword Sect's power is undeniable. I was watching the fourth battlefield, Tetsuya's illusions allowed him to control hundreds of bats at a time. He used his confusion attacks to prevent the demonic bats from actually coalescing into the combined monster!"

"Guys. Look, the individual scoreboards have appeared!"

Above each gate, a brilliant white light flashed. A s.h.i.+mmering scoreboard appeared above them.

The audience pored over the scoreboards. Some pulled out their binoculars so they could read as accurately as possible.

Oh yes, yes. The Star-Cutting Sword Sect is doing well, as expected.

...

Hm? That was an unusual result for that battlefield.

Maybe it was a fluke. Check the next one.

It's the same...

...

What about that one?

...

A bizarre quiet descended over the coliseum. Everyone's faces were white with shock. It was a result they couldn't have predicted in their wildest dreams!

"I can't believe my eyes. But it's true - !"

Upon the MC's announcement, the crowd descended into chaos.

It was the upset of the century!