The sound of Andreas’s body falling still echoed in the street.
No one had time to even look at his corpse.
No one had time to mourn. Hell was not over yet.
Bloodfang Hounds came out of the thick mist in the street. Their red eyes glowed in the darkness, and the sound of their howls echoed among the ruined buildings.
The smell of blood filled everything.
Claire lay on the ground. Her white clothes were completely red. She pressed her hand on the wound in her side, but blood still seeped through her fingers.
Her face was white from pain. Even sitting up was hard for her.
Marcus held his shield in front of her, breathing heavily. Three Gravehide Brutes stood in front of him.
Giants three meters tall, their stone-like skin shining under the twilight. Every time their massive fists hit the ground, the street shook.
Cassian was on one knee a few meters away.
Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth. His broken ribs made breathing hard.
But he had not let go of his sword. He struggled and managed to stand up. This was not a fight where he could lie on the ground because of a few injuries.
Even if it meant his death, he did not want to let the team lose more members. As a captain, he could not allow that!
The survivor sat behind them. His whole body trembled. Tears flowed down his face.
And he kept repeating the same sentence.
"She knows..."
"She knows..."
"She won’t let us escape..."
But no one was listening to him, because at that moment, a wild howl shook the street.
[Blood Rush activated]
The red eyes of the Bloodfang Hounds suddenly glowed.
Then... they disappeared. Or at least, that is how it seemed. Their speed had become so great that only gray lines could be seen moving through the street.
They had not used any skills until now, but they had come to the conclusion that they could not continue like this and had to use all their power.
BOOM!
One of them hit Marcus’s shield, and Marcus was thrown back several meters.
BOOM!
The second hit the wall.
BOOM!
The third jumped over an overturned car.
Everything turned into chaos.
"Damn it!"
Marcus shouted.
"They’re getting faster!"
At that moment, one of the Gravehide Brutes raised its massive fist.
[Earthbreaker]
Its heavy fist slammed into the ground.
CRRRRAAACK!
The asphalt split open. The shockwave moved like an explosion, and the windows of the buildings shattered.
Marcus was forced to kneel to keep his balance. The pressure of the impact reached Cassian and caused him to cough up blood.
"Hold on! Don’t lose hope! If you lose hope, this will be the end of all of us!" Even though he coughed blood, he struggled to stand up and shouted loudly.
He could see that hope was fading away, and he could not let that continue.
If hope disappeared, this might really be their end... Today might really be the day they die.
In the middle of that hell... Lian stood. Blue lightning still spun around his body. His massive ice claws released cold steam into the air.
But his face was more serious than ever.
He was beginning to understand. Their number was too many. For every monster he killed, two more appeared.
For every meter he advanced, three more meters of monsters filled the space. If he did not open a path right now...
Everyone would die.
Claire, Marcus, Cassian, the survivor, and everyone.
He even came to the conclusion that perhaps someone was controlling these monsters? Because such an ambush was too clever for monsters.
And why were there so many of these damn things? Hadn’t they been told that only a few remained? So what was happening here?
A Bloodfang attacked from the right. Lian did not even look at it. His ice claw moved, and the monster was cut in half.
Blood sprayed on the asphalt, but it was not over yet. Three more monsters took its place.
Thunder Calamity was active at full power.
Blue lightning danced on the buildings. Wherever it struck, explosions occurred... but it was still not enough.
He glanced at his remaining mana.
[9]
With this amount of mana, he did not have much time either. But that was not a problem. He could increase his mana whenever he wanted.
The issue was that with this amount of mana, he could increase the power of his skills. Put all of them into attack and take a risk.
Of course, he could also use his strongest skill, Frozen Apocalypse, but in the end, so what? Even if he killed all these monsters, it did not mean the monsters would end.
Suddenly, his ice claws grew larger than a normal human’s arms. He maximized the use of the Winter Child talent, and the cold aura around him lowered the temperature of the street.
Even breathing had become hard.
"He... what exactly is he?" Marcus unconsciously whispered.
Cassian had no answer, because he himself did not know.
At that moment, a movement occurred in the darkness. A slender shadow that had appeared on the rooftop where Andreas was killed was looking at Lian.
Red-Eyed Stalker.
All its attention was on Lian, as if it had realized who the real danger was.
And suddenly... it disappeared.
[Shadow Blink]
The air behind Lian trembled, but this time he was ready. The sound of metal hitting flesh was heard.
The Stalker had appeared behind him. Its long claws had torn part of Lian’s shoulder, and blood dripped on the ground.
But before the creature could retreat... Lian turned, and for a fraction of a second, their eyes met.
And at that moment, the Stalker understood that it had made a mistake.
Lian’s ice claw moved. Lightning exploded and...
BOOM!
The shockwave shook the entire street. The Stalker’s body stopped in the air, and terror appeared in its eyes, along with endless regret...
Then... it was split in half.
The two halves of its body fell to the ground. Black blood stained the asphalt.
It had never expected to be killed so easily... It did not even have a chance for a counterattack.
[You have killed a level 16 Red-Eyed Stalker]
And suddenly... everything fell silent.
The Bloodfang Hounds stopped. The Gravehide Brutes retreated. No attack was made.
No howls were heard... Just silence. And the monsters were not looking at the Stalker’s corpse... They were looking at Lian.
Like animals that had suddenly seen a larger predator.
A few seconds passed, and the first Bloodfang retreated... then the second... then the third. Then the entire pack began to retreat.
Even the Gravehide Brutes slowly pulled back.
Marcus watched in disbelief.
"They’re... running away?"
No one had an answer. But Lian did not waste the opportunity.
"Move now!" His shout echoed in the street.
Everyone snapped back to reality. Marcus immediately threw Claire over his shoulder. Claire was almost unconscious.
Cassian lifted the survivor, and the remaining members of the group began to retreat.
But Lian did not leave. He stayed behind, between the monsters and the group. Every Bloodfang that came close was killed. Every Gravehide that stepped forward was stopped by the ice claws.
The monsters still did not dare to launch a full-scale attack, but they also did not dare to come closer. The street behind Lian was slowly becoming a graveyard of monsters.
Torn corpses of Bloodfang Hounds, massive bodies of Gravehide Brutes, and among them all... the split corpse of the Red-Eyed Stalker.
It was not even clear how many monsters had died in this killing ground, and who the real monster had been...
As the last survivors of the group ran toward the base.
Lian slowly retreated, without taking his eyes off the monsters and without letting even one of them get close to the group.
And that day... it was really not clear which side the monster was on...