*****
Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught.
( John 7 : 14 )
*****
"RETREAT!" the chief shouted.
They didn't have much time until the monsters crossed the plain and arrived at the village. When they arrive, the people in the village would become their food. It would be all you can eat buffet.
All the hunters in the village had gathered here, the strongest individuals, but now all of them were running for their lives. Even if they were the strongest, stopping the monster tide was nearly impossible for them.
Adding to the despair was the drake, a legendary-class monster.
The chief ran with the hunters to get away from the monsters. He knew that there would be a time when they would have to fight the monster waves as the monsters moved out, but fighting would be suicide.
"Dad," the chief turned his head at the call.
He knew who it was. How could he forget his daughter's voice? He saw Siena running toward him, and Mary was following her with Hula on her back.
"COME FASTER!" he shouted.
Siena could feel the worry in his voice, and the chief felt dread clutch his heart. Death was nearing by the second.
Siena, seeing her father's worried expression, increased her speed. She reached the chief, who was waiting for them to arrive.
The chief followed as he, too, started to sprint.
"What happened?" Mary asked.
"It's a monster wave," the chief said.
"Why?" Mary asked.
She, too, was a hunter. A monster wave couldn't happen without a reason. Monsters are instinctive creatures; they don't plan an attack unless they have a commander.
"What is leading them?" she asked.
"A drake," the chief answered with extreme seriousness.
Mary's eyes widened at the information.
"What is a drake doing out of the mountain?"
"I don't know."
As they talked, they also sensed the vibration of the ground. They were near. Death was at their door, and they couldn't do anything but run for their lives.
"But," Hula said in a soft voice.
Mary also had a weird expression on her face as Hula began to talk.
The chief also noticed it.
"What is it?"
"Zeru was not in the house," Mary replied.
The chief wanted to ask about his whereabouts, but he couldn't afford to waste time searching for him when the lives of many people, the people he was supposed to take care of, were in danger.
"We don't have time to waste."
Without further discussion, they ran. Even while they were talking, they didn't stop running. Fear had taken hold of them.
"Fu¢k Everything And Run," Only that thought was present in their heads.
*BOOM*
A crashing sound boomed behind them. They turned to look back at the walls, but they had not been breached. The monsters hadn't broken through.
*BOOM*
The thunder clapped.
Unknowingly, they stopped as they heard the sound. The cold air washed over them. Their fear slowly returned to calm. For some reason, when they gazed out at the wall, they felt as if it were just a normal day and there were no monster waves. They felt a sense of relief.
*BOOM*
A booming sound was heard again.
The fleeting hope slowly returned. They could feel that something or someone was protecting them, as if they were standing behind an unbreakable wall that no harm could pass through.
"What is this feeling?" the chief unconsciously muttered.
"This?" Mary answered in confusion.
"This is like when the light exploded," Siena said.
They had already experienced it, a sense of relief and hope. They felt the same sensation when they were baptized by the light.
"What happened?" the chief asked. He didn't know what they were talking about.
"A light flashed when we opened the door to the room where Zeru was staying. We felt the same sensation then," Siena answered.
***
Ze stood before the gate.
He could see the wave of monsters approaching at high speed. The monsters in the wave were nothing to scoff at. They could level a kingdom with no problem. Even if the kingdom had a sword master, it could not stop their destruction. And he also knew why they were attracted.
Ze moved towards the rushing monsters, each step firm. He looked down at his body. He had grown taller, nearing 5 feet. His well-developed muscles were visible through his torn, bloodied clothes. He had finished his recovery. He was able to survive with the help of the archangel by sacrificing 50 years of his life. Even in Arzon, where knights could live up to 200 years, 50 years of one lifespan is not a small price to pay, but it was worth it. His body had become stronger and more durable. In the process of recovery, his body had fully absorbed the Alpha's mana core for nutrients, and he didn't have a mana core.
"What are you going to do? (°^°)?"
Ze, who was affected by the painful process, also recovered his senses. He had felt like his mind would break.
Ze looked forward. The monsters were moving slowly, or rather, time had slowed down as if it were crawling.
"We are going to keep the end of our deal," Ze gripped his bloody shirt and ripped it. His chiseled body became completely visible, resembling a Greek sculpture of a god.
[Shadow Stitch]
Ze activated his skill. The shadows underneath his feet moved, crawling up his legs and fully enveloped his body. The darkness that covered him moved like a living flame, spreading out from his body and taking shape. His shadow took the form of a t-shirt and trousers. He looked at his new attire, dark as the night sky.
"Cool, isn't it? (¢-¢)" Ze asked
"Yeah yeah, (-_-) ~," Zeru replied.
"Are you sulking? I am sorry, okay." Ze apologized for the pain.
"(-_-)" Zeru shrugged. He didn't have time to argue now. He had a more serious matter to attend to.
The sun was still high, and his shadow was still deep. Ze squatted down and knocked on his shadow. His shadow twisted, revealing endless darkness within. The shadow moved, and a head formed, resembling Zeru's head but made of darkness. The head looked up at Ze, and he smiled.
"I need your help a bit," he pointed to the rushing monsters.
The shadow's head turned and looked at the rushing monsters, then turned back to the smiling Ze.
*sigh*
The shadow sighed, even though it was neither alive nor dead. Ze smiled at the sighing shadow, knowing that it had agreed to help. The shadow pulled its head back, and Zeru saw his shadow deepen. His shadow moved, stretching across the plain land. Multiple... No, a thousand heads popped out of the shadows, like rabbits coming out of their holes, or should I say hamsters?
They all looked at the rushing monsters and sighed at the same time, as if this was a troublesome work that couldn't be ignored. Their hands popped out of the shadow, pulling themselves out of their holes. They stood up, all resembling Zeru, all his shadows.
[Parade of the Thousand Shadows]
They covered the plain land in darkness, as if the night sky had fallen to the ground. They all looked at the monsters and sighed again. A thousand shadows sighing was a spectacle to watch. Their electric blue eyes opened. The static energy moved through their bodies like lightning branches.
Time slowly sped up, and the flow returned to normal.
The night descended.
The shadows moved toward the rushing monsters, crashing into them like a tidal wave. The shadows leaped at the monsters, crackling with lightning energy that melted to form weapons. They cut and stabbed the rushing monsters.
The sighing shadows were slaughtering the monsters near them, as the monsters couldn't attack the shadows since they just phased through them. The shadows were not invincible, but their passive ability made them intangible.
*Roar*
A roar came from the middle; it was the drake. The shadows took a glance at it and continued their job. The drake looked at the shadows that were stopping it from advancing, and it opened its mouth, gathering mana to fire its beam.
The blue energy condensed, forming a ball in its mouth. It fired its beam, freezing everything in its path, including monsters and shadows alike.
A lightning panther rushed, partially turning into lightning and jumping over the shadows. A white snake twisted its body and broke through the frozen monsters. And a falcon that was flying high in the sky noticed that the drake was occupied, so it spread its 3-meter-long crystal wings.
Taking advantage of the gap created by the drake's attack, strong monsters broke through the shadows and rushed towards the village. The falcon, which had a clear path, flew towards the village where the light had come from, but it noticed a black spot in its sight. The black spot cracked, resembling a digital glitch, and vanished from its sight.
*BOOM*
With a booming sound, its vision blurred, and its body crashed to the ground, causing the ground to cave in upon impact. Seeing the fallen Blizzard falcon, the panther and the snake stopped to look up. They saw a black spot high in the air.
The panther and the snake moved, sensing the danger, and tried to reach the source of the energy they felt. The panther transformed into lightning and rushed.
*BOOM*
Thunder clapped, and the panther froze in place, its lightning transformation canceled. But electricity sparked around its body. The snake looked at it; the panther was dead. Its head was impaled by a black spear made of lightning.
The snake abandoned its goal of obtaining the energy of life and focused on preserving its own life. It felt, with its beastly instinct, that it would die if it didn't escape. The snake moved its huge body fiercely, trying to run away.
*BOOM*
Snow blasted up as the snake's moving body abruptly stopped. The lifted body fell with a thud. The cold wind blew, dispersing the snow, revealing the snake's crushed head. The land around it had cracked due to the impact. Ze jumped out from the smashed snake's head. He saw the shadows fighting, having killed most of the small fries, with only the strong ones left.
*ROAR*
The drake roared, angered by the annoyance of the shadows. Its hide was tough, and the shadows couldn't even put a scratch on it. The drake shook its body, throwing the shadows off its back. It opened its mouth, gathering mana to use its breath again. The mana converged and took form, and the drake released its breath.
The drake's breath froze everything that stood in its path, but this time it pushed forward, breaking through the shadow's defense. It crushed its fellow frozen monsters and rushed towards the energy. Other monsters might not have sensed it, but the drake sensed the energy, or the one who possessed it, moving.
It rushed toward the energy, and Ze saw the drake rushing at him.
*sigh*
He sighed..
*****