*SWISH!*
*PANG!*
*ROAR!!!*
Despite not putting her full weight behind her thrust, it was still shocking that Celestina was unable to finish her opponent off. This marked the first time the veteran warrior had been unable to deal with her opponent in under a minute since arriving in Redwood Town 2 days ago.
Not pausing for even a second, however, Celestina used the rebound force from her failed attack to adjust her stance and deliver a hard stomp to the dirt road. Unleashing an upward sweep of her obsidian spear that blew away the Low Sixth Order Zocam's defences, she stepped in and delivered a series of three sharp thrusts, piercing the bipedal Wild Beast's heart, lungs, and stomach.
The Zocam, which was more than twice as tall as Celestina, appeared somewhat stunned that it had been defeated so swiftly as it collapsed to the ground, bleeding profusely from the wounds on its arms and chest.
This dangerous predator was now splayed out on the ground, groaning in pain, trying to struggle to its feet. Whether it wanted to escape or continuing fighting was unclear, but Celestina wasn't planning to give it an opportunity to choose.
With a flicker, the High-Rank Adept flashed forward, her fiery-red hair trailing behind her like a falling star as she delivered a swift slash to the neck of the Zocam, decapitating it in one clean stroke.
Flicking the blood from her spear, Celestina turned around just in time to see her subordinates taking down the 2 weaker Zocams, eliminating the immediate threat.
Thankfully, this particular type of Wild Beast wasn't a particularly social one, so they mostly moved alone or in a very small group.
This family unit had a Mature Stage male in the Low Sixth Order, which Celestina dealt with, a Mature Stage female in the High Fifth Order, and a Youth Stage offspring in the High Fourth Order.
Such a group of aggressive Wild Beasts would have been enough to devastate an entire human village and could even cause serious damage to a settlement the size of Redwood Town with impunity, but it was no match for the Balfour Marquess and the Spirit Initiates that were still present to defend the town.
…..
Although the arrival of an elite group of Cultivators, led by a Complete High-Rank Adept, had temporarily scared off the Wild Beasts coming from the Great Western Forest, that peace had not lasted long.
Having sent Vanessa to the capital, Allina to Misty City, 4 other Commanders to the major cities of the South-West Province, and with 3 more Spirit Initiates out scouring the surroundings, Celestina was left with just herself and 4 Spirit Initiates to guard Redwood Town.
Originally, she felt that such a number would be more than sufficient, especially with her remaining personally, but in an unexpected twist, Celestina found herself having to take to the field personally the very first night she arrived when a swarm of Scythe Beasts emerged from the darkness.
Scythe Beasts were insectoid Wild Beasts that resembled praying mantises with sharp, blade-like claws, piercing jaws, and hard carapaces.
The difference, however, was that adult individuals were nearly 70 cm in height and they moved in large swarms, often numbering in the hundreds.
Although each individual Scythe Beast wasn't particularly strong, reaching the Mature Stage at just High Third Order, they were extremely fast and agile, making them dangerous opponents even for humans in the Sea Establishment Realm.
When the Spirit Initiate on duty at the main barricade in Redwood Town had heard the distinctive buzzing of wings coming from the forest just as the sun was going down, he had immediately sent out a request for assistance.
Although the bulk of Redwood Town's militia had now been equipped with proper armour and weapons from the Sunchaser's hold, expecting these untrained peasants to engage a swarm of Scythe Beasts was a recipe for disaster, so the instant Celestina arrived and determined what their enemy was, she ordered all the Redwood Town volunteer defenders to fall back while she and her subordinates handled the matter.
3 Spirit Initiates and 3 Sea Establishment Practitioners, together with Celestina, were able to make short work of this swarm, but that had only been the opening skirmish in a far larger war.
It seemed the chaos going on inside the Great Western Forest was only getting worse as time went on, causing Wild Beasts to come flooding out in both increasing numbers and strength.
During the first day of the incident, before Celestina had arrived, Redwood Town had to deal with mostly First and Second Order Wild Beasts, with only 20 or so in the Third and Fourth Order combined.
Of course, that was not counting the Sixth Order Great Oriyan.
The second day, for most the daylight hours, the mere presence of powerful human Cultivators had warded off all but a few beasts, with the ones emerging being desperate and rabid, making them easy targets to take down.
When evening fell, though, the swarm of Scythe Beasts was like the beginning of a flood, with packs of wolves, herds of deer, and all manner of other Wild Beasts ranging from First Order all the way up to Fifth Order stampeding out of the woods.
The third day saw much of the same, with many beasts escaping from the forest, often bloodied, burned, or injured in some way. Almost all of them were in a rampant, nearly feral state, desperate to get away even if it meant confronting powerful enemies like Celestina and the Spirit Initiates in Redwood Town.
The number of Fifth Order Wild Beasts also continued to increase until, finally, just before dusk, the family of Zocams appeared, heralding the arrival of the first Sixth Order Beast since the Great Oriyan flew over the town.
Having now personally fought over a dozen times, Celestina was beginning to doubt if just hunkering down in Redwood Town was a viable strategy.
Originally, when plans were being made to defend Redwood Town, everyone, including the General herself, had thought that the threat from the Great Western Forest would simply be a large volume of weak Wild Beasts with a handful of powerful entities mixed in.
The First through Third Order Wild Beasts could be handled by the volunteer defenders and the Sea Establishment Practitioners from Celestina's Family Guard, while the occasional Fourth or Fifth Order creature would be taken down by the Spirit Initiates.
Even if in subsequent days the number of Third and Fourth Order Beasts emerging had tripled from the first day, it would still not pose much of a threat to the elite warriors which Celestina had brought with her as there was a massive leap in strength between the Sea Establishment Realm and the Spirit Initiate Realm, which was equivalent to the beasts' Fourth and Fifth Order respectively.
However, reality had played out very differently than expected, with large numbers of Fourth and Fifth Order Wild Beasts rushing out of the Great Western Forest.
When she first heard about the situation in Redwood Town, Celestina had anticipated needing to fight perhaps once or twice a day at most when real threats showed up while the rest of the time, she would simply have to act as a deterrent by releasing her aura.
Now, though, she was having to engage in battle almost every 2 to 3 hours just to ensure that the town's defences weren't breached.
Clearly, they had all greatly underestimated how disruptive the explosion had been to the overall ecosystem, or just how many powerful beasts lived in the depths of the Great Western Forest.
That, or something else was going on that they didn't yet understand.
Glancing around and seeing that the current crisis had been resolved, Celestina strictly ordered, "Return to your positions and maintain high alert."
After her subordinates acknowledged the order and dispersed, Celestina turned around and dashed back to the Town Lord's Manor, arriving shortly after thanks to her incredible speed.
Upon returning to the Manor, Celestina was greeted by Charles and Sasha, both of whom wore grave looks on their faces, ones that didn't fade even after the General informed them that the threat had been dealt with.
Motioning for the Town Lord and Lady to follow her, Celestina made her way over to the now familiar office where she found her two new Disciples, one of them looking over a bunch of documents, while the other was just sitting around looking bored.
It was an odd sight to say the least, with one child seemingly handling paperwork while the other, missing her forearm, was casually munching on a hard biscuit.
Hearing footsteps, Lucas turned his head to the door before immediately getting up and bowing, "Welcome back, Master."
Seeing this, Eris hurriedly swallowed down what she was chewing before getting up and bowing as well, crumbs still on her lips.
Over the past day or so, Eris had slowly begun to adapt to her new circumstances. Although she was far from being able to run around swinging a sword, she was at least mobile and could somewhat feed herself.
It was still quite obvious that the young girl wasn't happy about her disability, and was struggling to adapt, but she was also doing her best to persevere and not show any discomfort on her face, probably to not worry the others around her who were busy.
Out of respect for Eris' efforts, everyone had tacitly decided not to mention her injury and only offer to help her when she asked for assistance. It might seem somewhat cold, but it also appeared to be what Eris wanted at the moment.
Waving her hand, Celestina had her Disciples get up before declaring, "We need to adjust our plans."