Many fell down either on the claws and jaws of monsters, or deep into deadly fall towards the lowest abyss. But most of the masters survived in the end.
Most of the Winged Crocs were taken down in the middle of all this, but the remaining few were now fighting it hard against Zin and other high-end masters, while trying to buy enough time for masters to reform their lines and defences.
For a reason, the remaining Crocs looked quite strong, actually hurting Zin and others during the next half an hour. But the moment the masters laid lots of arrays on the ground, these monsters began to fall like flies.
Even if they were strong, they were few. And with the cooperation of everyone, they managed to take down the rest of these monsters in the next ten hours.
During which, William gave his team and the other one a rest period, giving them time to recuperate and heal, catch their breaths and such. William didn't have any clear idea about what to do next. As he had to wait for others to get rid of the monsters, he decided to give everyone a moment of peace and enjoy rare moments of rest in the middle of all this.
The other team leaders also agreed to do the same. In fact, there was a new terrain out there, new circumstances that they had to thoroughly study and talk about before deciding what to do next.
William kept studying the entire terrain. After one hour, the leaders of the other team started to speak with William about what they thought about.
They gave a viable solution to this new development. They'd wait for the masters outside to get rid of the monsters and recuperate, then they'd gather all the earth-based masters and let them build a road for them towards the academy.
Around that academy they'd start changing the terrain and form a grander platform for their army to stand upon and manoeuvre freely. William liked that, but there was a catch to all this.
The ground down below wasn't stable. It wasn't that solid to take all the heavy weight of rocks, sustain damage and hit during the upcoming battle. The last thing William or others would love to see was for the ground to fall in the middle of the hectic battle.
"Let me go down there and test it first," William knew they had to wait for hours before the masters outside to get rid of the monsters.
[But… Do you have a way to come back or what?] one of the leaders asked in doubt.
"I got earth elements, but who said I have to go down there in the flesh to run these tests? Just give me a few hours and I'll keep you posted."
William didn't intend to go down there in person. He didn't know what the current situation below that ragged, rocky surface down below was.
So, he intended to send Charley. And if it got destroyed, it wouldn't be the first time to suffer that fate. "Sorry pal, you are going down there and getting sacrificed for us," William patted on Charley's broad shoulders before controlling it to go down below.
In fact, William could bring it back if it was close by. Yet William planned to go all out, and let it scan lots of areas around.
If the ground was stable, if there were no more traps hidden there, then it'd be great. But if there was any of that, then it was better to know it beforehand.
The path to the bottom wasn't smooth, but Charley used earth techniques under William's control to step down without an issue even with its huge body.
The moment it arrived down below, William didn't hold it back anymore. Just like when he attacked freely to detonate the blue ores, he let Charley go all out.
The only drawback was for it to need recharging once every half an hour like this. William decided to scan an area first, then call it back, recharge, and send it again to check another area.
Yet that would greatly limit its area of activity. William didn't mind that. He estimated that Charley could check an area of around thirty up to fifty kilometres around this pillar. And if things proved safe, he'd think about using his earth techniques to build a path forward, to scan further areas.
The moment Charley started to attack; the ground that was filled with tons of rocks started to change again. Deep holes appeared, and lots of noises started to appear from down below.
Most of it came from the damage Charley was doing and the technique it was releasing, but there was a different sound coming from below.
It looked as if something metallic was clashing against Charley's attacks. William reassured his team when they got startled by these noises, before returning to scan the areas Charley attacked.
"From my experience, the ground down there looks a bit sturdier than usual…" William had lots of experience when assessing the leftover damage by his techniques.
The usual findings would be deep holes and craters. Yet what he saw right now were shallow holes and depressions in the ground.
That rarely happened, and always happened at places with fortified grounds.
"It made sure the ground was supported with arrays or perhaps a grand formation… But why?" William realised this was intentionally done by that monster. And that made him quite vigilant.
He tried to spy using his spirit sense but couldn't get a clue. The holes that Charley did weren't deep enough to expose anything. Besides, any formation or array would follow a pattern where materials would be placed in certain order.
He wanted to get any clue about this grand formation or many arrays. But when he considered the grand space of the Blue Hills, he couldn't help but sigh. He knew there was little chance in him finding out about anything of value out there.
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