Lucas watched in horror as the wolf-like creature's head rose up from the ground, a fierce light flashing across its one remaining eye as it snapped its jaw out at its hated foe, Eris.
Lucas tried to warn his big sister, but everything happened so fast that there was simply no time to react.
After instinctually leaping forward while swinging out her sword, Eris lost her balance and fell to the ground.
Turning back, the young girl stared in shock as the beast, which she had thought was dead, was now glaring at her menacingly.
It was obvious from all its grievous, bloody wounds that this creature was on its last legs, but it still managed to draw out a final burst of strength, seemingly determined to drag its enemy down with it.
Seeing the beast about to pounce again, Eris tried to scramble away, but for some reason, she couldn't seem to stand up, as if something was terribly off with her body, making her feel clumsy and uncoordinated.
With no other choice, she attempted to lift her sword to defend herself, but when she did, nothing happened.
Confused, Eris glanced down at herself and noticed that her sword was missing; or rather, everything from her right elbow down was missing!
Eris was dumbstruck, wondering if she was imagining things; but, no matter how many times she checked, there was simply nothing there other than a mangled stump that was spurting fresh blood.
It was a surreal experience, one Eris couldn't quite grasp; in fact, the only thought that came to her mind at that moment was, Shouldn't it hurt?
Time didn't stop, though, and while Eris was frozen in shock, the beast made its move.
Lucas tried to rush over, but he tripped over the 2 children he had been trying to protect and fell forward. Lifting his head, the only thing the boy could do was cry out, "NO!"
It was at that exact instant that something flickered past Lucas' vision.
Whatever it was, it moved so fast the boy couldn't even see what it was. The only reason he was able to sense it at all was because after the beast attack, he had constantly been extending his Soul Sense to monitor the situation around himself, and the fast-moving object just happened to pass through his scanning range.
Then, right before Lucas' eyes, the menacing beast exploded into a blood mist, with bits and pieces of its body flying out, leaving behind a scene of total carnage.
At the same time, a loud bang sounded as a small crater was opened up in the ground about a dozen metres away, at the centre of which appeared to be an arrow.
Under any other circumstances, Lucas would have had all his attention stolen by this inexplicable event and he would be trying his best to figure out where this arrow had suddenly appeared from; right now, however, the only thing he cared about was the young girl in front of him who was still just staring blankly at her missing arm.
Scrambling over on all fours, Lucas shouted in a near hysterical voice, "Big Sister Eris!"
Hearing her little brother's voice, Eris calmly turned her head towards him and asked in a confused tone, "Huh? Lucas? What's wrong?"
Lucas didn't know how to respond.
What was wrong?
Everything was wrong!
Quickly reaching Eris' side, Lucas grabbed the belt which his big sister normally hung her sword from and yanked it off her waist.
"What are you doing?!" Eris objected, seemingly embarrassed, even flailing about as she tried to stop Lucas who had gone crazy and was trying to strip off her pants!
"DON'T MOVE!" Lucas, of course, couldn't be bothered to explain right now and simply shouted at her, causing his big sister to stiffen in place as he hurriedly wrapped the belt around her arm and yanked it tight. He then lifted the stump above Eris' head, doing his best to slow the bleeding.
Once he was done with the emergency treatment, Lucas called out, "Help! We need help here!"
It was only after the young boy's pleas rang out that the surrounding adults came back to their senses and began rushing over.
As everyone was bustling around her, Eris found herself oddly calm, as if this all had nothing to do with her. She even had time to ask, "How are those kids? What about their mother?"
Only when prompted by his big sister did Lucas remember the reason he had rushed out in the first place. While not letting go of Eris' arm, Lucas glanced around and soon spotted two small figures sobbing over their mother's body.
Seeing the woman not respond at all, Lucas could only grimly look away, knowing that she was already gone.
Shaking his head, Lucas muttered in a low voice, "The kids are fine, but their mother…"
"Oh…" Eris said lightly, her voice devoid of any kind of sadness or grief.
Knowing how kind and caring his big sister normally was, Lucas found this response odd and took a harder look at Eris, noticing how her face had gone pale, her eyes were unfocused, and her breathing had become shallow.
Did she loose too much blood? Was Lucas' first thought, but forcing himself to calm down and think rationally, he dismissed this idea. While the wound looked, and really was terrible, it shouldn't have been possible for Eris to have lost enough blood to become delirious already.
Another odd point was Eris' unusually calm attitude.
When someone lost a limb, shock might dull their initial response, but it shouldn't take long before some signs of pain or panic appeared. Even now, though, all Lucas could see was a kind of lethargy on his sister's face, while the heavy sweat on her brow made it seem like she was seriously ill.
Her senses have been dulled, but her body is reacting like it's sick, Lucas quickly compiled all the symptoms he was seeing and soon had a terrible premonition, "Does anyone know what kind of beast attacked us just now!?"
"It was a Vile Coyote; its saliva contains some potent toxins!" An unfamiliar voice replied.
What was strange, however, was that this voice seemed to come from above.
Glancing up, Lucas was stunned to see an enormous shadow descending towards the Town Lord's Manor. This shadow was clearly not some kind of beast like the Great Oriyan he had seen yesterday, but rather a man-made objected built of metal and wood with glowing patterns all across its surface.
A Spirit Tool!
A flying Spirit Tool!
It was a shocking sight, and all of the townsfolk and villagers gathered around couldn't help but look up in awe, pointing and whispering to themselves. Lucas was also shocked by the appearance of such a vessel, but not for the same reasons as the people around him.
Thanks to his inherited memories, Lucas was very familiar with vehicles that could not only fly through the air, but also travel between the stars, so the mere existence of flying ships wasn't too surprising to him. What was surprising was that in such a technologically primitive civilization, someone had managed to create a flying ship in the first place.
What happened next, however, was quite possibly even more shocking.
Immediately after the voice called out, a dozen figures actually leapt off the ship and began falling towards the ground!
Although this flying ship was descending, it was still at least 75 metres above the ground!
If a Body Tempering Realm adult fell in an awkward position, even a drop of 2 or 3 metres could result in serious injuries, possibly even death if they landed badly. An 8 to 10 metres fall, even an intentional and controlled one, normally resulted in injuries for someone in the Vein Opening Realm, while an uncontrolled plummet from such a height was fatal more often than not.
The strongest Mortals, Sea Establishment Practitioners, could sometimes survive falling from up to 40 metres, but that was only if they were very, very lucky.
999 times out of 1,000, such a fall was a death sentence.
Yet, Lucas was now witnessing 12 people casually jumping down from nearly twice that height without any hesitation!
Either these people were suicidal fools, or their strength was phenomenal, and given that this group had just arrived on a massive flying ship Lucas never knew existed in this world, he felt the latter was far more likely.
Seeing people fall from the sky, the crowd down below scattered, not wanting to accidently be crushed.
Instantly, a wide space was opened up around Lucas and Eris, as well as the fallen mother and her children.
With a series of loud thuds, these 12 newcomers landed.
11 of them had their knees bent heavily in an attempt to cushion the impact of the fall. These 11 were all equipped with matching full-body armour made from extremely high-quality materials, and they were wielding a variety of dangerous looking weapons. The auras these people were releasing were also thick and oppressive, making each of them imposing in their own right, and even more so when they all stood together.
However, these 11 still paled in comparison to the 12th and final figure.
Shining silver, black, and crimson armour, an obsidian spear and azure longbow, a face with a mixture of youthful vigor and noble maturity, she was a woman who was equal parts beautiful and heroic.
After descending from the sky, although her knees also bent to cushion her fall, unlike the others of her group, this woman somehow landed softly, without even a sound, her long, fiery-red ponytail lightly fluttering behind her.
It was as if a legendary warrior had descended from the Heavens, making all those who witnessed her arrival instinctually want to kneel.
Standing before this figure, who he thought resembled the mythical Valkyries from his inherited memories, Lucas couldn't help feeling incredibly small and weak. It wasn't because this woman was actively trying to suppress him, but just because the innate pressure she gave off was so immense.
The aura Lucas felt coming from this woman was several times stronger than even that of the Great Oriyan he had faced yesterday; however, the boy strangely felt no fear. Instead, standing there, staring at her immaculate face, Lucas somehow found her to be familiar, even though he knew this was the first time they had met.