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Mason blinked. "?"
He had no idea why Chen Muyun was staring at him like some god had just descended from the heavens, but he snapped her back to reality anyway.
"Get a grip."
He looked at her helplessly. In his memory, Chen Muyun had never lost her composure like this.
Then again… he understood.
The two-star badge on her uniform said it all. She was just a regular two-star squad member. For a two-star Awakener to stand face-to-face with the pressure of a level-six mutant beast and not mentally collapse on the spot? That already meant she had nerves of steel.
"Ah— Mason… you…"
She finally came back to herself, shock written all over her face. She was about to bombard him with questions when he cut her off coldly.
Around them, the surviving low-level Awakeners were gasping for air, soaked in blood. Escaping alive from a level-six beast was already a miracle.
And now every single pair of eyes was fixed on Mason.
This young man had wiped out a monster that could've slaughtered them all… just like that.
A savior.
"Chen Muyun,"Mason said, his expression darkening, "tell me what's going on. Why are level-six mutants already in the city center? And where the hell is the backup?"
He lived half an hour away by car.
If a level-six beast had made it here… then the area around his home—
His heart sank.
"Right! I'll contact headquarters immediately!"
Only now did Chen Muyun realize what mattered. This wasn't the time to question Mason's identity. Her hands shook as she pulled out her communicator and frantically contacted the Awakener Association.
After about a minute, a hoarse voice finally came through.
"This is the Awakener Association. What's happening on your end?!"
The operator sounded overwhelmed, like everything was already on fire over there.
"Hello! I'm a Demon-Slaying Guard from the patrol unit at Haicheng Shopping Center! We were just attacked by a level-six mutant! Our patrol captain has been killed!"
She spoke fast—too fast.
All she got in response was the operator swearing.
"Shit! Another fucking level six?!"
Chen Muyun froze.
Mason's eyes sharpened. He snatched the communicator from her hand.
"What do you mean, another one?" His voice was cold, heavy with pressure.
The operator didn't even notice the change in speaker.
"Withdraw immediately! Abandon Haicheng Shopping Center! We don't have a single person available to reinforce you!"
"What do you mean, another one?" Mason repeated, ignoring the order.
"Damn it, can't you understand human language? Including yours, Haicheng has five level-six Awakened creatures right now! There's a full-blown beast tide at the city wall!
"That's how so many broke through the defenses!
"Level six in the east and north have been taken down, but the ones in the south, west, and your location are still active!"
Chen Muyun's face went pale.
Five level-six beasts.
That number alone was enough to collapse the entire city. Haicheng only had three six-star Awakeners.
"One six-star is holding the city wall! The other two are rushing to the west side! So you need to evacuate immediately!"
The call ended.
Mason tossed the communicator back to Chen Muyun. His eyes were ice-cold, killing intent flickering within.
"Keep contacting them. Tell them the level six here is dead."
He turned.
"I'm heading to the south."
"W-What?"
Before she could finish, thunder exploded beneath his feet.
Mason shot into the sky like a cannonball.
He flew.
A pair of purple wings formed entirely from lightning unfurled behind him. In a flash, he was gone, tearing through the air at supersonic speed toward the southern district.
He knew.
The southern side was under the greatest pressure.
That was where the steel city wall stood—the barrier against the endless hordes of beasts. If it fell, the south would be the first to burn.
And worst of all—
His cozy little apartment was in the south.
Lightning rained down as he flew, obliterating low-level mutants on the streets below in passing.
Then he saw it.
A massive red-skinned toad rampaging through the southern district, fending off a desperate swarm of Awakeners.
Mason's lips twitched.
Because beneath that enormous, disgusting foot—
Was his apartment building.
"…You've got to be kidding me."
Rage detonated inside him.
He had stepped out for a bit and come back to find his home gone?
"Lightning Dragon Slayer Magic — Thunder Dragon Halberd!"
A massive purple magic circle spun to life in his palm. A halberd radiating pure destruction materialized in his hand.
"Go."
With a flick of his wrist, the halberd transformed into a roaring lightning dragon and shot downward.
The red toad was having the time of its life. The Awakeners' attacks barely scratched it.
It felt invincible.
Then—
Its body stiffened.
A suffocating pressure locked onto it, soaked in killing intent.
The toad trembled and looked up.
All it saw was a streak of purple light.
Pain ripped through its skull.
Its body crashed toward the ground.
"Secret Art of Dragon Slaying — Roaring Thunder!"
Mason raised his hand midair. A greater magic circle spun wildly, and a colossal lightning dragon burst forth.
The dragon's roar shook the entire southern battlefield.
Every Awakener looked up in shock.
A man with purple lightning wings stood in the sky, wrapped in a tangible, purple-gold dragon.
"What… is that?"
A rookie Awakener, on his first day of duty, stood frozen. He'd thought he was going to die here.
Instead—
That descending strike had pierced the level-six beast in one blow.
Then he saw something he would never forget.
A man bathed in lightning, wings crackling behind him, a dragon coiling at his side. The aura he radiated was overwhelming, almost tyrannical.
"Kill."
Mason pointed.
The lightning dragon roared and dove.
Thunder detonated.
The red toad didn't even get to scream before its body disintegrated into ash.
Mason didn't spare it another glance.
He scanned the wounded Awakeners below.
"If you're alive and can still move, start treating the injured! Search for survivors nearby. Don't miss anyone!"
He wasn't putting on a cold face on purpose.
He was just really pissed.
Then he shot toward the outskirts of the city.
He needed to vent.
—
Five kilometers beyond the city wall.
A colossal structure of steel and composite metal stood like an immortal titan.
Inside the wall: bright lights, peace, prosperity.
Outside—
A hellscape.
Mutant beasts charged in endless waves, slamming themselves against humanity's final line of defense.
Even though the forward defense line couldn't be breached.
Even though they couldn't leave a scratch on the city barrier.
Even though Awakeners atop the wall shredded them mercilessly.
Even though the wall's engraved restrictions would turn any intruder to dust—
They didn't retreat.
The corpses below had already piled into a sea of blood.
But the assault continued.
Above the wall floated a middle-aged man riding a flying sword, face dark as iron.
His gaze was locked onto a monstrous mutated eagle that blotted out the sky.
"You're openly trampling the Species Peace Accord?!" he demanded, voice cold with fury.
In the past, minor beast tides were simply population control for low-level mutants. Ecological balance.
But this?
This suicidal, coordinated assault was far beyond "normal."
Worse—because the attack was so sudden, the defense system had lagged for several crucial minutes.
Five level-six creatures had broken through and infiltrated the city.
This wasn't a border skirmish.
This was a blatant provocation.
The six-star Awakener guarding the wall—known as Blade Lord Nanami—was livid.
"Peace Accord?" the giant eagle screeched, its voice like grinding metal. "Who said we had to follow that trash?"
Its beak curled in disdain.
To it, treaties were paper. Power tore paper apart.
"You're not afraid we'll launch a full-scale extermination in retaliation?!" Nanami roared.
He was a six-star powerhouse.
But this—
This was the undisputed Sky Tyrant of the wildlands beyond Haicheng.
A true level-seven Awakened beast.
"Retaliate? With you weak little insects?"
The eagle laughed coldly.
In its eyes, humans were frogs in a well who had gained scraps of power and thought themselves gods.
Ants were still ants.
No matter how strong they became.
"Then we fight."
Nanami's patience snapped. He unslung his heavy saber, veins bulging, killing intent erupting.
"Get the hell out of my way—!"
A furious roar cut him off from behind.
A streak of blinding purple lightning shot past him, so fast he couldn't even see it clearly.
It slammed straight into the eagle's chest.
Nanami's pupils shrank.
The purple light didn't vanish after impact.
It froze in place—
And punched a nearly one-meter-wide bloody hole straight through the level-seven eagle's torso.
The eagle screamed.
"Bastard! Who dared sneak attack me?!"
The wound wasn't fatal—level sevens had monstrous regeneration—but the humiliation burned.
Someone had ambushed it?
Unforgivable.
"Lightning Dragon Slayer Magic — Thunderclap Fangs!"
A young figure wreathed in lightning tore past Nanami, racing toward the massive eagle without hesitation.
"Fall back!" Nanami shouted in horror. "That's a level seven!"
Was this kid insane?!
But the next moment—
He froze.
The youth slammed into the eagle, fist crackling with violent lightning. The explosion of electricity swallowed the enormous body whole.
Then purple light flashed again.
A massive halberd condensed in his hand, brimming with apocalyptic force.
It drove straight through the eagle's chest.
"Die."
"....."