Chapter 62: Wave of Beasts (5)
Old Wang, after defeating the thorn beast, wasted no time.
He immediately ran toward the nearest beast of the Qi Liberation Realm.
The old man didn’t look tired, only angrier than usual. His hammer was now stained with blood, but it still couldn’t hide the faint glow.
He didn’t even look at Master Liu, who was still struggling with the Shadow Serpent. His target was clear.
The serpent seemed to be enjoying itself, vanishing and reappearing in the shadows of the night. Until Old Wang arrived with a leap.
This time, there was no trick. The old man’s hammer seemed to strike the air near the wall. But the crash was so loud it seemed like iron had been hammered.
The Shadow Serpent screamed. A sharp sound of pain and despair. Its body was struck even as it tried to hide, sent flying. Smashing into a house, destroying the walls in its path.
And then, going limp on the ground. It was dead.
Liu froze for a second, gasping.
He couldn’t believe it at first, but when he saw who had done it, he sighed.
"Thank you! Old Wang!" he shouted, but the old man had already turned his back.
"To the Bear. Now!" the old man bellowed, impatient. And then the two of them ran together.
Patriarch Mu was holding back the Stone Bear, but he was struggling. Each punch made the beast stagger slightly, but it was far from injuring it.
When Wang and Liu arrived, finally things changed.
The old man’s hammer chipped the bear’s shell like a crust. Liu’s sword, shining with flaming Qi, came down, cutting into its flesh right after.
The bear roared one last time and fell, the ground trembling slightly under its weight.
The news spread quickly.
"TWO MORE HAVE FALLEN!" someone shouted from afar.
On the front line, where Kyrian and Mu Yanyu fought, the mood shifted instantly. The mercenaries completely gave up on fleeing. They returned to fight with all their strength.
’Hope and greed really are a crazy thing,’ Kyrian thought, analyzing the whole situation.
He, unlike the others, was not that excited. His blue eyes kept moving, scanning everything around him.
He cut the leg of a boar that tried to attack Yanyu from the side.
"Pay more attention," Kyrian said, his voice dry.
"The number of beasts is decreasing," Yanyu nodded, panting, completing.
The smaller beasts were still coming. But it seemed the wave was gradually lessening.
At that moment, the roar of the Great Steel-Horned Deer came from the forest. The beast had sensed the others die and grew even angrier.
And for some reason, even feeling the danger, it decided not to run.
Patriarch Li, already bleeding heavily, wouldn’t last alone. The deer attacked with all it had. Its antlers shone, and the patriarch was thrown back again, almost fainting.
Old Wang, who was running toward it, shouted.
"Take care of the other beast!" he ordered Liu, then rushed straight at the deer.
The beast was extremely fast. It fired Qi projectiles from its antlers that pierced stone with ease.
Old Wang dodged a beam that hit where he had been, causing a small explosion. But Wang showed no sign of stopping.
He advanced toward the deer with his hammer raised.
The deer lowered its head for a charge.
That was when Old Wang leapt.
Passing over the beast, his hammer came down with brutality, smashing directly into the deer’s nape.
The deer dropped its front legs to its knees and then collapsed. Motionless.
Four were down, only the Six-Armed Monkey remained.
On the left side of the city, outside the wall, Patriarch Chen had fallen, coughing blood.
His already broken bones couldn’t withstand another blow.
The Six-Armed Monkey advanced. Each step lifted stones from the ground.
But before the beast could finish the job, Liu’s flaming blade cut the air, forcing the monkey to retreat. Its six arms locked together, sparks flew. But Liu didn’t back down.
He gained just enough time until.
"Old man! Your turn!" Liu bellowed.
Old Wang was already mid-sprint. His hammer swung from the side, charged with Qi and rage. The impact struck the monkey’s waist.
The sound was bones and flesh being crushed. The creature roared, a terrible cry of pain, and launched against the wall, cracking it entirely and bringing down more rubble.
The monkey thrashed for a few seconds until going still, limp on the ground.
Five.
The five beasts of the Qi Liberation Realm were dead.
On the defense line, the effect was immediate. Mercenaries, family cultivators, they shouted in unison.
Some laughed nervously, while others raised their blood-covered weapons.
Kyrian was drenched in blood, with no time to wipe his face, constantly stained with beast blood.
He looked around. Yanyu behind him was breathless. Her hands trembled, but she didn’t let go of her sword. The girl still blocked strikes, still threw herself forward to cover others’ defenses.
Kyrian instinctively pulled her by the shoulder, pushing her a step behind him when a black-fanged wolf appeared from the side.
His blade slashed, splitting the beast in two.
"I already told you. Pay more attention around!" Kyrian said, his voice low and cold.
Mu Yanyu only nodded, biting her lips as she tried to breathe deeply.
Kyrian didn’t think about why, but his body simply acted. If a beast appeared near him, he killed it. If someone to his right was about to be torn apart, he warned or intervened.
He simply didn’t help those too far away.
It was simple, he didn’t feel it was heroism or anything else. Just what he thought he should do.
His sword moved with brutal precision. Cutting the throat of an armored lizard before it got close. He shot an ice stake into the eyes of another beast trying to leap on two wounded mercenaries.
Behind Kyrian, several young members of the Mu family, covered in cuts, still managed to fight because he intercepted most of the beasts, and the ones that got through were wounded enough for them to kill.
Kyrian alone stopped countless beasts trying to break through the defense line’s gaps.
Many didn’t realize it, but they were only alive because Kyrian stood in front of them.
But some did realize it and were extremely grateful. One of those people was Yanyu.
She saw the way he moved, always calculated, always protecting her and those she wanted to protect in silence. Without saying a word.
When he spoke, it was only to make her focus more. That only made her grip her sword tighter, even when her body screamed to stop.
In the center of the city, the chaos began to shift. Without the five forest kings, the smaller beasts grew confused. Some ran aimlessly, others retreated in fear and despair.
"NOW! FINISH THEM ALL!" Liu shouted, raising his sword.
Old Wang said nothing, only advanced, crushing any beast that dared stand in his way.
The city’s defense line moved. Mercenaries, wounded cultivators, all advanced like a wave.
Kyrian led from the front, cutting down beasts.
He cleared the path, his icy sword slicing throats, legs, and eyes. Yanyu followed, not leaving his side. Exhausted. She could no longer swing her sword properly, but she was determined to stay close to him.
"We’re pushing them back!" someone shouted with joy.
"We’re winning! Keep going!" another added when they saw the beasts beginning to flee.
Kyrian ignored the excitement and just kept cutting. His strikes grew sharper each time. His comfort holding a sword increased rapidly.
Fighting was the best way to learn and grow stronger.
Kyrian’s blue eyes swept tirelessly until he saw, near the city gate, five men moving in the opposite direction.
Every beast that tried to flee was killed by them like ants.
In a few minutes, finally, almost all the beasts had been killed. Except for a few that managed to hide in the city.
The defense line reached the fallen gate. Everyone breathed heavily, exhausted. Several felt their bodies collapse to the ground, gasping.
Yanyu was one of them. Every part of her body trembled, she had truly gone past her limit.
Kyrian, on the other hand, also felt tired. He now had only a small amount of Qi left. His calm breathing was already quickening.
His brow furrowed. In the end, it seemed too simple. He advanced while the others celebrated victory.
Approaching the elders, who were weary and wounded from fighting the five beasts.
Kyrian had a bad feeling for some reason. So he decided to ask the elders. But the instant he stepped beside them, he saw it.
The expressions of the five, frowning, gripping their weapons, worried about something.
Suddenly, a cry came again from the forest. A cry filled with hatred, hostility, and killing intent.
The same guttural, grotesque sound, yet too shrill. It wasn’t natural. It sounded like the fusion of everything vile.
The effect was immediate.
The remaining beasts outside the city stopped. Some dropped dead instantly, blood streaming from their eyes and mouths.
Others ran in desperation toward the city, only to die. Their fear of whatever was in the forest was greater than of those who had slain the five forest king beasts.
The silence that fell after the beast’s scream was strange. The kind of silence that only comes with fear.
Kyrian raised his gaze. Focused. The bad feeling came from that.
From the depths of the forest, something moved. This time, whatever was in the forest would no longer rely on the beasts.
Finally, it had decided to act personally.