But the slaughter had not stopped.
At the edge of the forest, sword winds swept up monster remains. Paul's figure darted across the ground like a meat grinder plowing through snowdrifts.
"The net's been smashed!!"
"Same over here!"
"The monsters are gnawing on the tree trunks!!"
An hour earlier, the monsters had stopped charging the net to avoid Paul's slaughter and instead began chewing through the trees anchoring the protective net. As the thick trees collapsed, naturally the net itself fell.
Fortunately, many monsters still attacked each other, their instincts driving them to make chaotic, small-scale choices.
Even so, Paul was already at his limit.
On the far end of the net, he fought alone. Unlike his adventuring days when Ghislaine would handle the assault, Elinalise the defense, and his wife providing support, now he had to hold the entire line by himself.
Paul ripped apart a snowbank around the net with one sword swing, monster screams rising — but already more villagers were screaming behind him!
He turned, ready to assist, only to see the snowbank he'd smashed crawling again with red eyes.
"Damn it…"
He stopped his feet and cleaved the next wave of monsters, but staggered. Nearly fell.
His touki was exhausted!
Paul grimaced, feeling his body crying for rest after three straight hours of waves upon waves of monsters.
He truly started to miss Ghislaine and Zenith.
Then, a long creaking sound and panicked villager cries hit his ears. His pupils shrank as he looked to where they'd called for help.
That moment burned into his eyes.
The adult-thick tree trunk was covered in giant rats and sawtooth rabbits, snapping from the base and toppling southward with the net. The monsters leaped down in a rain of gnawing beasts.
Below them were the shocked villagers' faces.
"Get out of the way!!"
Paul roared and twisted his blade to charge in Kenshin-ryuu (Sword God Style) — but then suddenly halted. His face broke into a relieved smile. He turned his blade to cut down nearby monsters instead.
Even as he turned, the trunk hadn't yet hit the ground. The monsters were still midair.
A figure seemed to press itself out of thin air between the villagers and the falling trunk.
Allen stood there, hand on his blade, eyes narrowing at the raining monsters. Their teeth flashed cold under his gaze. The wind roared from all sides. The stench of their saliva lingered in the air. In his ears was only the ringing hum of disturbed airwaves not yet reaching him.
The snowflakes spread their six-pointed wings before his pupils, welcoming his arrival.
Though his event participation points hadn't risen this past year, Allen's own strength had never stopped growing.
One of the five great secrets of Suijin-ryuu (Water God Style) — Kanryuu Ougi (Sense the Flow Secret).
In this heightened perception —
Allen made the most precise choice.
His lazy, soft voice sounded, slowly.
"Nijuuzan (Twenty Slashes)."
But the instant his voice fell, with a dense buzzing sound, the rain of monsters seemed to dissolve into thin frost swept away by the dull but flashing sunlight after the snowfall —
Melting midair, splashing into misty waterdrops. The blocked view suddenly cleared.
Allen saw the blood-spattered tree trunk above.
'Kanryuu' was still active. The world moved like slow motion, the trunk still falling, monsters still climbing toward them.
His eyes shifted to the trunk. He shot upward through the blood rain and climbed onto it.
"Shisoku no Kata (Four-Limbed Form)."
The battle plan was already mapped. Allen disengaged from Kanryuu.
His hands blurred into afterimages. As he brushed the side of the falling trunk, he clung to it like a squirrel on all fours.
Before the trunk hit the ground, he shot forward like a savage leopard, blasting off the splintered wood! As he swept through, monsters burst like pricked balloons into bloody mist.
Boom! The broken trunk finally fell. But not a single monster remained on it.
Allen did not fall with it. He sprang high, leopard-like, into the air —
And crashed straight into the monster tide near the tree roots.
"Ryuu Seidouki Zoufuku — Yukikuzure Ochi (Dragon Saint Touki Amplification — Avalanche Crash)!"
The pressure of his touki burst outward from him! Snow rippled outward like wind through wheat fields.
Where Allen landed, the snowy field turned into a bloody lake as blood waves surged out from his center.
At the lake's heart, Allen stood. Blood streamed down his arms and shoulders.
He glanced around, kicked the snow by his feet.
A few limp, deflated rats and rabbits rolled out, their skins leaking blood, flopping into the bloody snow.
The Avalanche Crash had shattered their bones completely.
And from the moment Allen appeared to the massacre's end — less than ten seconds had passed.
This was Saint-level.
As though announcing his arrival, the smell of blood spread like a solid thing through the snow, carried by the monster burrows like vents to the depths of the forest.
If a little blood drives monsters berserk — then this much blood, all from their kin, could only strike fear.
Instinct made them think of a natural disaster.
And how can you resist a disaster?
In one breath, the monsters decided. Before the stunned eyes of the humans, the snowbanks surged away toward the forest depths.
Disaster cannot be resisted.
The monsters fled.
Far off, Paul watched the monsters suddenly scatter. He froze, then smelled the thick blood in the air and instantly understood.
He let out a long breath and leaned wearily against a tree.
Then looked to the center of the 'bloody lake.'
Allen met his gaze.
They exchanged smiles.
The crowd cheered.
Through the press of bloodstained bodies, Allen was lifted from the lake and tossed into the air.
He did not resist. As he hung in the air, he glanced back.
At the lake's edge, the other three finally arrived, panting.
Roruji wore a helpless face.
Sylphy puffed out her cheeks.
And Rudy looked downright resentful.
"Allen!!"
The called name was tossed into the air again, the lake's blood and snow spraying, crimson spinning.
The whole bloody scene was like cultists worshiping their Demon Lord.
The Demon Lord in the air brushed his cold sweat, quickly turning his gaze away from Sylphy's glare, looking quite flustered.
"...Why did I even run just now? My body just moved on instinct. Weird. I admit I miss Roxy — I think of her every time I write — so Rudy's face I get. Even Sylphy makes sense, probably jealous I write Roxy more. But Roruji? What's with that look? Why does it feel like he wants to kill me? What did I ever do to him??"
"Makes no sense."
"Good thing I ran fast."
(End of Chapter)
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