Chapter 79

For the live combat training, the children were not resistant.

Especially the older children.

They were over fifteen years old, and in some remote areas, they were considered adults and had to take on certain family responsibilities.

Other children over ten years old trained in age groups at the palace, learning a lot from those older than them.

Only the children under ten were a concern; the oldest among them was still about ten months away from turning ten.

This group was trained by Captain Narasha, who found experts to assist.

However, even with the experts, they wouldn't fight to the death, so the children lacked a sense of crisis.

At this final stage, they should be exposed to some bloodshed.

Therefore, Captain Valentin, seeing that the two team leaders had no objections, could only agree and arrange for people to protect them.

The fleet accelerated.

A day later, they found a stretch of sea.

After investigation, it was found that there were creatures in the sea below with moderate strength, capable of physical and magical attacks.

They were called Sea Reef Clam Beasts.

Each Sea Reef Clam Beast had an attack power equivalent to a third-level third-grade warrior, and their magic was at the level of a fifth-grade mage.

Their attack methods included grabbing with their feet, using water and earth magic, and ramming with their bodies.

They were social creatures, and when discovered, they appeared in large groups, living in areas with many reefs.

After learning about the Sea Reef Clam Beasts, the older group of participants showed a relaxed expression.

They all believed that the individual attack power of the Sea Reef Clam Beasts was too low, and if they were serious, they could kill a large number with one move.

Captain Harold, however, did not show a careless expression.

When the spacecraft lowered its altitude and they were about to disembark, he deliberately said to Gongsun Murong, "No messing around, no deliberately lagging behind."

"Understood! I will firmly follow the order," Gongsun Murong answered solemnly.

Harold was afraid that Gongsun Murong would cause trouble or do something underhanded.

But he didn't understand Gongsun Murong.

Gongsun Murong, regardless of the enemy, always took combat seriously.

He would also work hard to coordinate with the team, showing typical military discipline.

He had been trained this way from a young age.

The battlefield did not allow for play, and military orders were as heavy as mountains, with violators being executed.

Harold was still somewhat uneasy but didn't say anything more.

The group descended, with the older group fighting first to demonstrate to the younger group.

"Follow my orders: warriors in front, mages in the back. Mages provide support and healing to the warriors, and warriors protect the mages and attack."

Harold had fought in live combat and even killed people, but he had never commanded a group of geniuses against beasts.

He issued the order with a slight nervousness.

Eleven warriors immediately released their battle aura and charged forward.

The mages behind them quickly provided support and prepared their spells, waiting for orders to cast.

Thirty people rushed to the territory of the Sea Reef Clam Beasts. Before the beasts could react, the warriors' weapons landed on them.

The shells that the beasts used to defend against other creatures' attacks were no match for the weapons enhanced by battle aura.

Nearly a hundred Sea Reef Clam Beasts died instantly.

The other beasts received an alarm through their special communication method and immediately emerged from the sea bottom, the sea, and the reefs.

Within a dozen seconds, the entire sea was filled with the figures of Sea Reef Clam Beasts.

Numerous water and earth attacks fell on the area where the older group was.

Some Sea Reef Clam Beasts cast spells backward, using the recoil to fly out and attack the team members.

"Warriors to the outer perimeter, protect the mages. Water mages, counter the water attacks; earth mages, counter the earth attacks. Other mages, free to attack. Oh, and healers, stay focused."

Harold's orders came again, and the warriors began to coordinate their positions.

Eleven warriors trying to protect nineteen mages in this combat space was a daunting task.

Attacks came from all directions, above, below, and around.

At one point, Harold wanted to use his earth mage abilities to suppress the attacks.

However, he found that his earth mage mental power was not enough to suppress the entire group.

He could suppress hundreds or even thousands of Sea Reef Clam Beasts easily.

Suppressing tens of thousands was勉强 possible.

Facing an endless sea of Sea Reef Clam Beasts, it was impossible for him to suppress them all.

He could only suppress a smaller area.

One by one, the Sea Reef Clam Beasts were killed, but they kept charging forward, as their territory did not allow other creatures to invade.

The blue blood of the Sea Reef Clam Beasts mixed with the seawater, making the ocean bluer.

But the dominant color was the gray of the Sea Reef Clam Beasts.

Gray figures were everywhere, in the sky, underwater, and the water and earth spells became the main attacks.

"Ouch." A warrior, while attacking two Sea Reef Clam Beasts and dodging four, was hit in the waist by another one that flew up.

His battle aura wavered, and before he could adjust, thousands of water arrows hit him.

His battle aura finally disappeared after another wave.

He shouted, blocking and fleeing, with at least ten wounds on his body.

"Get a warrior to help him quickly." Harold's gaze fell on him, and he cast a large protective shield to protect the warrior.

Two healing spells followed.

But the gap was opened, and he had to give more orders.

Gongsun Murong threw a meteor made of reefs, adjusted his position, and appeared at the gap.

His single-handed sword swung, and he repelled all the Sea Reef Clam Beasts that were charging at him.

"Exactly like that, Gongsun Murong, you did well." Harold praised him after seeing this.

"There's too much water, I can't hold on." A fourth-grade grand mage, while countering the water attacks of the beasts, was overwhelmed by their numbers.

Harold pointed his staff there, finally resisting the group attack and forming a stalemate.

Then more beasts found a breakthrough and attacked fiercely.

The beasts in other positions also intensified their attacks.

Warriors were injured from time to time, and mages were struggling to hold on.

Gongsun Murong became the fireman, appearing wherever there was danger.

Harold kept shouting, urging one person to hold on and another to provide support.

But his words couldn't keep up with the situation.

If it weren't for Gongsun Murong quietly coordinating his position, the entire team would have been crippled.

When a giant Sea Reef Clam Beast appeared, the fleet's guards finally took action, casting a wave of battle aura and spells to kill the giant beast, giving the older group of children a temporary respite.

"Come back, summarize the experience." Valentin, unable to watch any longer, shouted at the children.

Without waiting for Harold's orders, the warriors and mages returned to the spacecraft, being escorted into the cabin.

When Harold returned, his face was grim.

He knew that Gongsun Murong had played a significant role in the battle.

He also knew that Gongsun Murong's coordination through his attacks was better than his verbal commands.

This could only mean one thing: Gongsun Murong was more suitable to be the team leader.

If it had been on the stage, and Gongsun Murong hadn't conceded, Harold wouldn't have been the team leader.

According to his plan, he would have hidden behind the team leader, waiting for the leader to attract the attention and lose control before secretly taking action.

But now, he was the team leader.

Yet he had not commanded well, and someone who wasn't the team leader had coordinated the team without taking over the command.

This made him very unhappy.

He didn't know if he could win Gongsun Murong in a fight, as they had never truly fought.

But from a command perspective, he seemed to be inferior.

Why? He had specifically studied command in the academy, though it was for commanding armies.

But it was still command.

Had Gongsun Murong studied it too?

Harold couldn't understand, and he felt a bit jealous.

What made him even more uncomfortable was the look in the returning team members' eyes.

Their eyes were clearly filled with doubt and distrust.

If the team members didn't trust the team leader, how could they fight?

Instead, they looked at Gongsun Murong with a glimmer of hope.

Without anyone saying it, Harold knew that the team members wanted to change the team leader.

Not wanting to be replaced was one thing, but being replaced was another.

The former was a matter of dignity, the latter a matter of incompetence.

Harold didn't care about others and returned to his cabin with a dejected mood.

Gongsun Murong also didn't speak, finding a seat by the window and looking outside, lost in thought.

******

Next, it should be the turn of the younger group of children.

But they couldn't go down to this place. The Sea Reef Clam Beasts were already enraged, and sending smaller children down would be sending them to their deaths.

The fleet could only continue searching for other places for the children to engage in live combat.

The spacecraft started, heading forward.

Captain Valentin, after giving instructions to the control room, wandered to Harold's cabin.

He knocked and entered, seeing Harold's blank expression, and asked, "Are you having trouble?"

"Yes, Captain Valentin, many of them must be mocking me, saying I'm not a competent team leader. What should I do?

And Gongsun Murong, I can imagine, is interacting with other team members, trying to get them to collectively remove me. I am not willing to accept this."

Harold said, his head lowered.

Captain Valentin, with a serious expression, scolded, "Harold, you are wrong. You just haven't adapted to this type of combat command. Fight a few more times, think of some strategies, and you will become an excellent team leader."

"Will they give me the chance? Will Gongsun Murong?"

Harold was still sad, clearly having been hit hard.

"Harold, don't look at Gongsun Murong like you would look at an ordinary person," Valentin said.

"He hasn't approached anyone. He is sitting in a corner, thinking about the battle.

When you were fighting, I watched from above. Gongsun Murong is a qualified, no, an excellent soldier.

He knows how to obey, he understands cooperation, and he doesn't question the commander.

Even if your orders were wrong, he would appear at the position and use his abilities to make up for it.

If he were a soldier, he would be the elite of the elite. If every soldier in the empire were like him, the empire would be invincible."

Valentin was very excited when he said this.