Nim was hurled against the tower wall connected to the western rampart by the massive abomination.
"Ouch… ouch…" Nim groaned, feeling every bone in his body crack. If he hadn't shifted his form into Iceform, his bones would've burst through his skin like shrapnel. Now he had no choice but to wait for them to realign and heal themselves.
("Master! Are you alright?") Ira called out, even though she could sense his condition clearly.
"I'm fine," Nim replied, though his eyes were fixed ahead. There stood the colossal wolf, mauling two of the expert Bound. They weren't his match in strength or speed, but experience helped them hold their ground. Nim tried to rise but collapsed again as his leg buckled beneath him—
Crunch.
The sound of snapping bone echoed alongside the sick thud of flesh on stone. A Bound was hurled to Nim's right, lifeless. Nim shuddered at the repulsive sight. Gritting his teeth, he repositioned his injured leg and forced himself up.
"Ira, get out there and help the other Bound—I'll catch up soon."
He needed a moment to breathe, to process the sheer force with which the monster had flung him.
Apparently, it had swatted him aside like an insect.
"I don't like that… it's humiliating."
Ira slid off his body and emerged before him—a fox now standing over two meters tall. The transformation caught the monster's eye, diverting its attention to a new challenger.
She dashed forward and slashed at the creature's left leg with her claws. A crack sounded through the air. Both the beast and the fox howled in pain simultaneously.
It was Nim's chance.
Five ice swords materialized behind the creature, lined up in formation. What followed was a swift, brutal strike:
The first sword pierced its back.
The second drove deeper into the same wound.
Then came the third, the fourth, and the fifth.
All within two seconds.
The beast didn't even have time to scream. Ira, despite her injured paw, slammed the creature's gut with the same paw—this time leaving deep gashes. She spun, and her body burst into a blizzard, slamming into the same spot.
From above the creature's head, Nim appeared—his hand cleaving the monster's horn in half. Blood gushed from the severed base.
Enraged, the creature lashed out at the blizzard, sending a small fox flying from within it, crashing to the ground.
When the giant wolf had first arrived with its pack, it was already disfigured—but now, it could barely be distinguished from a corpse.
Over half the horde had been slain.
Among the Bound, only six remained—fourteen had fallen.
Rage boiled in Nim's mind. Ira had been hurt. He crystallized his body once more, summoned five more ice swords to hover, and leapt into the air—no, he flew.
He landed on the monster's back, slashing again and again.
"Die! Die, you filth! How dare you touch my servant?!"
He carved into the creature's shoulder, then its pelvis, and once more into the previous deep gash. The airborne swords struck relentlessly—each time one shattered, another took its place.
"This… this is madness!"
The soldiers and monsters alike watched in awe as their pack leader was brutally beaten by what appeared to be a human child.
A cursed beast, a pack commander, reduced to a battered pulp by an unseasoned Bound.
But even more terrifying were Nim's abilities—those flying swords, and the aura of frost that froze one's soul.
"My God… when was a monster like this born in our city?" cried one guard, hoping his shout would rally his comrades and shake the morale of the frenzied monsters.
Nim's final strike exposed the beast's blackened spine.
"You're corrupted… foul creature!"
He drove his blade into the exposed vertebrae, severing the brain's connection to the body, and left the beast to die slowly.
Hooowl! HOOOWL!
A pair of guttural, grief-filled howls tore through the battle. The remaining monsters charged at the six remaining Bound like rabid beasts.
But Nim only grinned and ran a hand across his blood-covered face.
"Hahaha… we've won, you wretched fiends."
As his final word fell, a beam of unnatural world-essence split the air—its pressure forcing all who saw it into silence. It surged past Nim and into the midst of the abominations.
And then…
The world turned white.
Nim's vision faded. His senses withdrew.
The last thing he saw before darkness took him was a blinding snow-white light—
And the shreds of broken monsters swirling in its brilliance.
"Ohh… so beautiful…"