The defenders in each country continued with the same method. They gave the demons a fierce fight supported by defensive structures, traps, and siege weapons. When those supports were almost exhausted, they made a tactical retreat.

This way, they cut down the demons' number while they kept their losses to the minimum. However, after retreating several times, the underworld forces still appeared as overwhelming as when the defenders first laid eyes on them. These demons didn't seem to decrease.

A lot of the prepared defensive lines had been destroyed. This included some of the country's forts, which the defenders utilized for their defensive stands. In the end, they still had to retreat and let these forts crumble.

Several cities close to the border had become wastelands. The demons didn't let the settlements go. Luckily, the inhabitants had been evacuated. They evacuated to the Eastern part of the three countries as the defenders held the demons' march. But judging by how the war was proceeding, they might need to brave the borders and run to the Eastern countries like Themisphere and Verremor.

After almost one month since the underworld forces crossed into Hydrurond's territory, they almost covered half the country. They were nearing the capital, Messephyria, which still had visible scars from previous wars. The defenders were halting the demons' advance not far from this capital, but it wouldn't be long before they had to retreat again.

Aldryth issued the command to evacuate the capital. She was unwilling, but she had no choice. She also issued a nationwide evacuation order. The remaining land in Hydrurond would turn into battlefields. The non-combat league factions continued to busy themselves constructing defensive lines along the remaining half of the country.

Hydrurond's commoners crossed the border into Themisphere. Luckily, they had the support from the Trade Association. This league faction had many large trading caravans with enchantments that warded most monsters. They also knew the safest paths to take when crossing the border. Hence, Aldryth didn't need to spare her troops to guard these commoners during the evacuation.

The situation in Palgrost and Aurebor was roughly the same. Palgrost's commoners started evacuating towards Sangrod, while Aurebor's commoners moved toward Verremor. All the while, they continued to train new soldiers to send to the battlefield to replace the ones who died.

Everyone's morale was low. They felt like they were only delaying the inevitable. When the demons reached the Eastern countries, where would they flee then?

Despite the low morale, no soldiers fled. This was because they knew there was no point in fleeing. They would still die if the defenders lost. There was nowhere to run to.

Chris let Jack and Four Winds use his Anywhere Portal to return to their respective capitals. The two returned to use their monarch powers to perform another round of heavy recruitment. They also sent the previous month's recruits to the frontlines. The ancient champions who died and returned to life in the Ancient Beacon Tower followed these recruits back to the battlefield.

After doing the recruitment, they contacted Chris via the trial discs, and Chris teleported them back to his secret garden. They then resumed their training.

*

It had been two months since the players arrived at Chris' secret garden. Jack was currently inside Chris' training dungeon. He was in supreme dragon form. He was the only player here. Chris' training portal sent everyone to different dungeons for solo training to maximize the exp gain.

Jack watched the incoming wave of goblin knights. Their number was alarming. He was as if a single person facing an army. Each of the goblin knights was level 94. Their grades ranged from special elites to mythical grades. But even against such an army, there was no worry on his face. On his left hand was the War God's Shield.

The goblin knights threw the javelins in their hands. The massive number of javelins covered the sky as they flew in an arc toward Jack. The mass of javelins covered a large area. There was no place to flee unless Jack used Teleportation.

But Jack didn't cast the spell. He put his War God's Shield to his front. Although the War God's Shield was larger than Magic Shield, it was still not large enough to cover his entire body. Before the javelins arrived, his War God's Shield suddenly expanded. The javelins struck the golden shield but were unable to penetrate it.

"You are getting better at manipulating the skill's form,

" Peniel said.

While Jack trained here to increase his levels, he also practiced the next phase of mana manipulation.

The first or the beginner phase of mana manipulation was controlling the skills' movements. This was mostly done to range skills. By influencing the skill's trajectory, the user could move the skill differently than it normally would. This ability helped the skills to become more accurate, or in certain cases, intentionally missing the target.

The second phase of mana manipulation was empowering the skills, making them inflict higher damage than they normally would. In the case of defensive skills like the War God's Shield, the ability made the shield sturdier to withstand more punishments.

The third and seemingly final phase was modifying the skills' form. This was foreign to regular mana manipulation practitioners. Even Domon wasn't aware of this phase. This phase was not an ability that was attainable in the real world.

Jack came to know about this phase because he had experienced it when he was in the mana awakening state. During that state, he could manipulate all his skills at will. He couldn't do it again when he was back to normal. But through these two months of training, he had slowly practiced and tried to do what he did during the mana awakening state. He was thrilled when he found out he could, but he needed a lot of practice, and the results were also limited.

This ability to modify a skill's form was also the one Satan used to modify his Soul and Chaos Chain Reaction into a seemingly different skill, the Soul and Chaos Extinguishing Cannon.

"It is a far cry from when I was in the mana awakening state,

" Jack said.

"The shield becomes weaker. If I don't empower it using mana manipulation, it won't be able to perfectly block these javelins.

"

"That mana awakening was abnormal, to begin with. You can't expect to get the same result,

" Peniel said.

While the War God's Shield became large and could cover his whole body, it also weakened. The originally thick War God's Shield became thinner in its enlarged form. What happened here was similar to the Law of Conservation of Mass. The mass of an element at the beginning of a reaction would have an equal mass at the end of the reaction. In other words, the mass of the War God's Shield remained the same when it was enlarged. Thus, it became weaker.

As opposed to the time when Jack was in the mana awakening state, his magic shield was enlarged way beyond its natural size. Even then, its power was not only not weakened, it was much more powerful than normal. This meant he could break the natural rules while he was under mana awakening.

"I feel like I have only brushed the surface when I first used mana awakening,

" Jack said.

"I felt it better when I entered that state the second time. Unfortunately, I was in a civilian's office. I couldn't do any tests. I think if I can enter mana awakening again, I can win against Azzarilth all by myself, even if I'm still on the same level as when I fought her.

"

"You can think about it later. Those goblins have arrived,

" Peniel informed.

"I know,

" Jack said. He activated the War God Manifestation.

A brilliant golden glow covered his body. The golden glow on his two claws lengthened outward, making them look like two very long swords. This glow suddenly retracted until it was the same length as his normal sword. In exchange, the glow became so dense that his claws appeared as if they were holding two shining swords.

What he did was the opposite of what he did to the War God's Shield. Instead of enlarging, he shrunk the energy from the War God Manifestation that powered his weapons. He no longer had the extra reach. But in exchange, the power became focused.

He swung his shining swords at the first goblin knights that arrived. His swords moved in perfect arcs. They accurately sliced where the goblins' necks were. After his swords passed those necks, the heads detached, and the goblins' HP zeroed in an instant.

Jack's slash just now was a normal attack. It was not even done using a martial art. The focused power within his swords had become so dense that they could cause wounds even from standard attacks.

Jack's swords continued to dance. He was now using his Formless Flowing Sword Style. With his advanced Sword's Heart, each of his slashes hit the goblins' fatal parts. He killed one goblin with one slash. The massive goblin troops fell one by one when he went past them.

The ten golden orbs in the aureole on his back didn't stay idle. They flew out and turned into ten swords. They then shrunk into dagger-size, but their golden shine became brighter as they did. These ten golden daggers flew around him. They pierced the goblins' weak points and killed them with one hit.