A sudden wave of frantic whispering broke out among the rows. The boys looked at each other, their faces twisting with a mix of shame, relief, and deeper terror.
Slowly, a young boy in the second row dropped his wooden spear into the mud, his shoulders shaking as he stepped backward out of the line.
Then another followed.
Then another group from the rear.
This continued for quite some time.
Sol watched them silently, his expression entirely unyielding. In a webnovel universe, sending unrefined mortals into a clash between Layer 2 and Layer 3 powerhouses wasn't bravery… it was just wasting resources. Within ten minutes, about forty boys had filtered themselves out of the clearing, leaving exactly two hundred and sixty men standing in the dirt.
