Archeron said in an unhappy tone, his voice cutting through the silence like a knife, "You're late! Didn't I tell you all to keep up with me?"

A Centaur warrior wiped the sweat from his brow and said hastily, "Sorry, Chief. We were following you, but a group of lone monsters appeared in our territory. The temptation was too great, so we followed them and attacked them."

Before Archeron could explode in anger, the few remaining Centaur warriors rushed to explain.

"Chief, don't get angry. The distance between that group of monsters and where we were before was not far."

"Yes, yes, yes. That distance was just enough for us to raise our bows and shoot at them, so we attacked them first!"

Seeing that the warriors under his command were so earnest and convinced, Archeron couldn't bring himself to put too much blame on them. After all, they weren't lazy; they were actively engaged in attacking their enemies.

"Good." Archeron nodded, his expression easing slightly. Then, his eyes gleaming with interest, he asked about the outcome of the previous battle, which these centaur warriors had made him wait for so long, thinking it must have been a resounding victory.

"How many monsters did you just kill?"

Faced with Archeron's question, these few extremely skilled warriors of the centaur tribe actually hesitated for a moment.

After half a day of hesitation, one of the Centaur warriors finally plucked up the courage to say.

"Two... Two."

Hearing this, Archeron's face turned crimson with rage, the veins at his temples bulging.

"Only two? Six of you and you only kill two? Are you kidding me? You shame the Centaur tribe! Those are bows and arrows on your backs, not toys for children!"

Archeron's voice boomed through the forest, sending flocks of birds scattering from the treetops. His eyes blazed with anger and the veins on his neck stood out like strings. The surrounding trees seemed to cower under his fury, their branches drooping.

"And for that, you've fallen out of sync, unable to keep up with me!"

The echo of his words reverberated through the ancient trunks, rebuking the shamefaced centaur warriors.

Hearing Archeron's words, the rest of the Centaur warriors blushed a deep crimson with shame. The sunlight filtering through the foliage stained their embarrassed faces.

Six Centaur warriors, six bows and arrows, and one round of archery, killed only two demons.

Such a battle record would be ridiculed and laughed at in any Centaur tribe.

"Chief, it's not our fault." Their voices mingled with the soft rustling of the leaves.

"It's really because the monsters were too cunning, even though they looked a hundred times uglier than the ugly lizard man. As soon as they realized that we were attacking them, they turned en masse and ran in the other direction.

Hearing this, Archeron was suddenly struck by a familiar feeling.

Why were these six Centaur warriors so similar to the ones he had just encountered? It seemed that something was really wrong!

At that moment, in the Dark Abyss.

Caelan, who had been observing this forest with the help of the Lord's Eye, looked at these Centaur warriors, who were in a state of confusion and revealed an incomparably evil smile. The darkness of the Abyss swirled around him, adding to the malevolence of his expression.

"Let's play a game, shall we?"

……

============================================

"Formation 7, move forward right position..."

"Formation 15, move forward 800 meters..."

"Formation 2, turn and move parallel to the side..."

......

=============================================

Caelan, clutching the Abyss Codex tightly in his hand, issued a single command to each demon team.

They were currently under Caelan's command, rampaging through the forest on routes that were utterly mysterious and incomprehensible to outsiders.

"Advance, turn, retreat ......"

Caelan's voice cut through the air, sharp and determined. At that moment, Caelan seemed like a madman, possessed by some otherworldly force as he commanded the demon teams.

This group of demon soldiers under Caelan's command were indeed seething with anger and discontent in their hearts. Their master had given them no orders to attack, a fact that chafed at their warrior spirit.

There were several times when these demon teams came dangerously close to the centaur warriors, coming within a hair's breadth of closing the gap with a single charge. Though their speed lagged behind that of the centaur warriors, it was not an insurmountable distance.

The demon soldiers weren't afraid of so-called casualties, nor were they deterred by the prospect of sacrifice. All they craved was to inflict pain and death upon their enemies.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Yet Caelan's command blatantly ignored their only and most primal demand. With his Abyss Heart, he forced all demon soldiers to toe the line and obey his orders without question...

Every time a demon team came into contact with centaur warriors, one or more demon corpses would fall to the ground. This kind of blatant and unnecessary sacrifice infuriated even the demons, who, despite their limited intelligence, felt the anger and resentment.

They were warriors too, not mere pawns to be chased around and slaughtered at will!

Caelan, sensing the simmering rage of the demon soldiers, remained unmoved. It seemed as if the deaths of the demon soldiers held no meaning for him.

In fact, Caelan had been watching the battle intently through the Lord's Eye.

At that moment, the centaur warriors had also split into a dozen teams, hunting down different demon teams in groups of 3-4.

As he watched the situation unfold before him, Caelan's eyes glittered with a predatory gleam and the corners of his mouth curled into a sinister smile.

"Every piece is vital on the chessboard of war."

"But often the pieces are sacrificed to win the game."

"It's time to go!"

After meticulous deduction and deep consideration, Caelan waited patiently to seize the one opportunity he had longed for, an opportunity to destroy all the Centaur warriors!

On the battlefield, a dozen or so teams of demons gradually formed two interlocking circles that encircled each other.

And in the area where the two circles intersected, there were those Centaur warriors who had tirelessly chased the demon teams for a long time and were now completely exhausted.

"All demon teams..." Caelan sneered maliciously as he gave his orders.

"Devour the weakest demon in your respective teams, replenish your strength, then turn around as a group and advance towards the circle, and finally..." His voice dripped with cold-blooded determination.

"Kill them all!"

At the intersection of the two circles, Archeron stared, his eyes wide with shock and disbelief.

All the centaur warriors, including himself, had unwittingly gathered in the middle of a murky swamp.

"You..."

"Why are you here?" The words escaped Archeron's lips in a confused stutter.

The rest of the centaur warriors were speechless when they heard this.

Each of their teams had arrived here in pursuit of another Demon team.

And their pursuit had been anything but smooth.

Even though they were able to meet one Demon team each time, and even managed to kill one Demon, when they tried to continue their pursuit, another Demon team would often come into view, neither too far away nor too close, in a position where they would only need to make a small effort to catch up.

So each time, they would leave the previous demon team, which had already fled far away, and focus their attention on this new one right in front of them...

As they pursued, the situation gradually changed.

Little by little, all of the Centaur Warriors were surprisingly following the same team of demons that had accidentally arrived in this treacherous swamp.

Even though they had killed all the demons in the demon team and left them to perish in this swamp, when they looked around, they were astonished to see that not only their own Centaur team had come here, but all the other Centaur teams had also gathered here!

"Ow ah!" "Aaaah!" "!!!"

Suddenly, a cacophony of different screams erupted from behind each of them.

They were the heartbreaking and pitiful cries of demons!

"Oh my God, they're actually cannibalizing their companions?"

A centaur warrior let out a horrified scream as he witnessed the demons' despicable behavior in the distance. The other centaur warriors also wore expressions of shock, unable to comprehend how these grotesque demons could be so brutally cruel!

The constant screaming of the demons was accompanied by the maniacal laughter, the disgusting chewing sounds, and the heavy breathing of the other demons.

"No good, these monsters have suddenly become stronger!"

Archeron shouted, his voice full of alarm.

As one lesser demon after another was turned into macabre fodder, the vast majority of the demons regained their long-depleted stamina.

The demons that had eaten, but were still not fully satiated, began to move towards the circle, step by menacing step.

For inside the circle formed by the demons, there was more 'food' waiting for them!

"Really? No way!"

Archeron turned his mighty body and looked in astonishment at the group of demons outside the swamp. They were charging towards the centaur warriors with evil grins, brimming with anger and resentment.