Whoooong!
As the magnetic force released, the steel plates attached to her armor detached, transforming the heavy armor into light armor.
The thick steel plates with sharp edges spun around her.
Helen swung her Dragon Buster and let out a spirited shout.
"Haaah!"
As she extended her hand, the steel plates flew forward on their own, piercing through the charging monsters.
The approaching monsters shattered upon impact with her Dragon Buster.
The knights guarded her back.
"Iʼll help too!"
The tiger beastman, who was the assault captain, also aided Helen in blocking the monsters.
Thud thud thud thud!
While Helen and the assault captain held off the monsters, Song of the Crouched Flame guided the others inside.
Once everyone had entered the gate, Song of the Crouched Flame shouted to Helen.
"Hurry inside!"
Helen swung her sword at the monsters until the very end, then slipped through the gate last.
Thud!
The charging monsters were crushed beneath the thick iron gate.
*
While Helen's group headed toward the main gate, Zeke moved toward the west gate with the barbarians, where monsters and magical beasts swarmed.
Zeke summoned Bucephalus and mounted it.
"Letʼs go, Bucephalus!" Hiiing!
Riding atop Bucephalus amid its spirited cry, Zeke charged toward the magical beasts alongside the barbarians.
As he unleashed the sacred radiance technique, a massive light rose into the air.
The light burst outward in all directions, attacking the magical beasts.
Boom!
Dozens of maces of light struck the magical beasts.
At the same time, lightning shot from Bucephalus's horn.
Crackle crackle crackle!
Startled by the sacred radiance technique and lightning attacks, the magical beasts tried to flee, but the barbarians seized the opportunity. They grabbed the escaping beasts, twisted their necks, ripped off limbs, and swung them around.
Kreeee!
The barbarians' war cries echoed across the entire battlefield.
At that moment, the phoenix perched on Zeke's shoulder spread its wings and flew up, unleashing a phoenix cry toward the magical beasts.
Whoooooo—
The mystical phoenix cry filled the battlefield.
The charging magical beasts clutched their heads in agony, staggering about.
'That guy has this kind of ability?ʼ
Zeke was struck anew by the fact that the phoenix was a divine beast.
He fired arrows of light continuously at the faltering magical beasts.
Swoosh swoosh swoosh swoosh—
The magical beasts pierced by the arrows of light let out agonized screams as they collapsed.
Zeke urged Bucephalus onward, charging toward the magical beasts attempting to leap over the iron fence.
As he activated the sacred radiance technique, Roland glowed white, concentrating the power of light.
Whoooong!
In that state, he slammed a mace of light down on the magical beasts.
Boom boom boom boom boom!
The magical beasts struck by the lightning of light disintegrated into ash.
With each magical beast slain by the sacred radiance technique, he earned a large amount of karma points.
'This is pretty lucrative.ʼ
But then.
Whoosh!
New magical beasts appeared in the sky, flapping their wings.
Caaaaw!
The magical beasts flew over the autonomous district, spewing something from their mouths.
Whoooong!
What they spat was none other than acidic fluid.
Sizzle!
The iron fence and outpost began to melt where the acidic fluid touched.
The sudden aerial assault by the airborne magical beasts triggered an alarm across the entire autonomous district.
Zeke watched this with a frown, scanned the sky, and spotted more magical beasts approaching.
'These donʼt seem to be from the ice. They must be monsters transformed into magical beasts by opening dimensional rifts with the power of the harbinger of blood and madness.ʼ
The empire had been excavating ancient monsters from across the continent, brainwashing them for use in invasion wars.
They had even devised a method to artificially widen dimensional rifts using relics of fallen constellations to harness the power to control monsters.
The ghetto was the first testing ground for that invasion war.
Zeke shouted to the barbarians.
"Take out the magical beasts while heading toward the west gate!"
Seeing the barbarians nod, Zeke immediately mounted Bucephalus and soared into the sky.
From above, he saw that the number of airborne magical beasts was greater than expected.
They were heading toward the west gate, the site of fierce combat. 'I canʼt let that happen.ʼ
At that moment, a few magical beasts flew toward Zeke.
Caaaaw!
Up close, they resembled harpies. Zeke raised Roland toward the charging magical beasts.
Lightning poured from his sword.
Crackle crackle crackle!
The airborne magical beasts screamed as they were struck by the lightning Zeke unleashed.
Grrrk!
The beasts turned to ash and scattered in the air.
As Zeke scanned the surroundings again, he spotted a horde of monsters charging toward the main gate.
'They just keep coming endlessly.ʼ
It seemed they intended to settle things here, mobilizing every monster they had.
Zeke gripped Roland and flew back toward the main gate.
The magical beasts shattered the melted iron fence, leaped over the moat, and clung to the earthen wall.
He could see Zoin tribe guards on the earthen wall swinging iron clubs and shooting arrows at the magical beasts.
'First, I need to put out the urgent fire.ʼ He raised Roland.
As the sacred radiance technique concentrated on the sword, an even brighter light than before spread in all directions.
"Haaaah!"
Zeke swung Roland, unleashing the power of light toward the magical beasts.
Heavenly thunder, the highest-tier light magic that Arina had used, rained down on the magical beasts.
Crackle crackle crackle!
Reacting to Zeke's glowing sword, massive lightning bolts from the sky struck down.
Boom boom boom boom boom!
Dozens of spears of light poured from the heavens, exploding in a wave of light where the monsters charging the main gate had been.
The radiant light that pierced the darkness scattered everywhere, annihilating the magical beasts.
Seeing this, the Zoin tribe guards pointed at Zeke hovering in the sky.
"A, a divine messenger has come to save us!"
After dealing with the magical beasts at the main gate, Zeke urged Bucephalus toward the west gate.
*
"What the hell is that...?"
William Siemens gaped as he watched the heavenly thunder Zeke had unleashed sweep through the magical beasts from afar.
The Narak wizard beside him gritted his teeth.
"Itʼs the cursed magic of the Rubern bastards!"
Confused by the wizard's words, William asked.
"Rubernʼs light is magic? Does that mean that guy, Zeke Draker... Zeke Draker isnʼt injured?"
William turned and glared at the man beside him.
The bespectacled man in a suit sweated profusely.
"What exactly happened? I remember you saying it was certain that Six inflicted serious injuries on Zeke."
Rahim, the leader of Six and a key executive in the Nostra Family, waved his hands in panic.
"W-well... Based on the reports from the escaped intelligence agents, those two definitely couldnʼt have been killed, but they should have suffered major injuries..." William yelled at Rahimʼs vague response.
"Do you know what kind of monster Zeke Draker is? How dare you base it on your own assumptions!"
William ground his teeth, glaring at Rahim.
He wanted to cut his throat right then, but killing him, one of the Nostra Familyʼs main forces, was impossible.
'If it werenʼt for that spatial teleportation ability user, Iʼd just kill him.ʼ Suppressing his rage, he assessed the situation again.
William said to the wizard.
"Send the signal to the snipers. Prioritize killing Zeke Draker first. If we miss him, even if we raze the autonomous district, this plan will only be half successful." William felt a twinge of fear toward Zeke Draker.
If they failed to capture him here, irreversible events would unfold.
The wizard sent signals to the special snipers positioned everywhere.
But the responses were too few.
The wizard turned pale and said to William.
"Half of the snipers have lost contact!"
"What?"
Cold sweat trickled down Williamʼs back at the wizardʼs words.
'No response signals... Could it be...?ʼ
The Knight Killers whose positions were exposed had already been taken out by the ghost troopers Zeke had dispatched.
He had prioritized eliminating the Knight Killers, the natural enemies of knights.
William urgently shouted to the wizard beside him.
"Find out what happened immediately! We need to kill Zeke Draker as soon as possible..."
But at that moment, a massive bolt of lightning struck the west gate.
William was startled by the sight.
"W-what is that?"
As another massive halo of light spread, the fear rooted in Williamʼs heart began to creep up.
William clenched his teeth, steeling himself.
'I canʼt back down here!ʼ
He said to the wizard beside him.
"...Deploy them."
The wizardʼs eyes wavered at his words.
"A-are you serious? The adjustments arenʼt fully complete yet..."
"Damn it! If Zeke Draker isnʼt injured, this wonʼt be enough! Deploy them and throw in all the remaining snipers!"
Under Williamʼs bellowing, the wizard nodded with an uneasy expression.
"Y-yes, sir. Iʼll deploy them right away."
*
Boom boom boom boom!
The west gate was a cacophony of ceaselessly charging magical beasts and monstersʼ roars, explosions, and the knightsʼ shouts.
In that moment where losing focus even briefly could mean losing oneʼs head, something rammed into the thick stone wall Jason had erected.
Boom boom boom boom!
The knights watching from behind gasped in horror.
"Crazy, what is that thing?"
Klone stuck out her tongue in disbelief, and Felix shouted.
"Vice Captain! Thatʼs a barbarian! Nothing short of an aura blade will wound it!"
Five brainwashed barbarians from the empire madly slammed their bodies against the stone wall.
At Felixʼs words, Klone spun her mace.
"Even a barbarianʼs head will crack if hit hard enough. Letʼs see if this doesnʼt do it." But then.
Boom boom boom!
Unable to withstand the barbariansʼ brute strength, the stone wall crumbled.
Seeing this, Xeros unleashed lightning magic on the charging barbarians.
At the same time, he shouted to Jason. "Jason! Double the stone wall!"
Jason made a deathly face and wailed.
"Argh! Iʼm not some monster like you seniors!"
Despite his complaints, Jason cast a spell to erect another stone wall.
The five barbarians charged at Jasonʼs new stone wall to shatter it.
In the meantime, Claire led the archer unit up to the wall and fired arrows at the barbarians.
Swoosh!
The barbarians hit by the arrows looked up at the stone wall.
"Kreeee!"
The barbarians let out war cries.
The stone wall couldnʼt endure the brute force of the barbarians slamming their bodies while roaring.
The five barbarians charged at the next stone wall.
Boom boom boom boom!
Xeros poured fire magic on the charging barbarians.
But the barbariansʼ sturdy bodies shrugged off Xerosʼs magic as if it were nothing.
Then, one barbarian punched through the wall without breaking it and began climbing up.
The others followed, scaling the stone.
Decker, commanding the Black Sword Knight Order, led his knights and said.
"Blue Knights, step forward and block the barbarians! Archers and mages, attack from above to keep the monsters from scaling the wall!"
Decker himself charged at the barbarians with his aura blade activated.
An advanced form of the dragon slaying technique unfolded from his sword.
Whoosh!
The aura blade flew toward the barbarian.
Clang!
The barbarianʼs sturdy arm acted as a shield, blocking Deckerʼs sword.
But Decker was no ordinary foe.
He bashed the barbarian with the shield on his arm, then retreated while slashing at the barbarianʼs leg with his aura blade.
Crack!
The barbarian knelt, wounded in the thigh.
But the brainwashed barbarians, intoxicated by the awakening drug, forgot even pain and charged again.
Then, from behind, Klone swung her mace, infused with the power of light, at the barbarianʼs head.
Thwack!
Even Kloneʼs powerful mace couldnʼt split the barbarianʼs skull in one blow.
The barbarianʼs elastic muscles allowed it to rise immediately and thrust a fist forward.
"Eek!"
Klone thrust her mace to block the barbarianʼs fist.
Boom!
But the barbarianʼs attack was heavy and solid.
Unable to hold, Kloneʼs body flew back.
Felix rushed toward Klone, shouting.
"Vice Captain!"