Natsu bent his legs slightly, took another deep breath, his chest puffed out, and then cupped his hands around his mouth, a crimson pillar of fire, like a cannon, spewing forth from his mouth.
It was like a horizontally placed volcano, erupting flames with all its might.
The thick pillar of fire was not only incredibly hot but also astonishingly fast.
In just an instant, the pillar of fire traversed nearly two hundred meters, clearing a large open space in front of Natsu.
"Natsu, reinforcements haven't arrived yet, conserve your magic! I only have one fire-type card left. We need to hold on for at least half an hour!" Cana shouted loudly from above.
Natsu heard her and raised a hand, giving an OK gesture upwards, then sharply closed his teeth, his upper and lower teeth clashing, creating a burst of sparks.
Immediately after, the still-lingering fiery breath suddenly exploded, a violent shockwave carrying flames spreading outwards, forming a vast sea of fire.
The powerful shockwave threw hundreds of Magical Beasts high into the air, while the Magical Beasts instantly engulfed by the sea of fire were burned to ashes before they could even scream, scattering with the shockwave.
Natsu rubbed his cheeks, but suddenly felt a fierce gaze fall upon him, making him shiver. He instinctively looked up and forward.
He saw a cloud of black smoke not far from Natsu coalesce into a Raven-man with two wings on its back and a body as black as pitch.
Black smoke billowed from the Raven-man, and its blood-red eyes glared angrily at Natsu.
The dense black smoke wasn't it releasing magic, but rather repairing its injuries.
That breath attack just now was too fast. The Evil Crow King was protecting Natsu from being surrounded, transforming into a ghost-like entity, grunting and killing all approaching Magical Beasts, but it didn't expect Natsu to breathe fire from behind him.
If it hadn't dodged in time, only getting grazed, even with its ghost form, it would have been severely injured.
Natsu clearly realized what he had done, his face stiffened, and he immediately bowed in apology, "Sumimasen!"
The Evil Crow King glared at Natsu, its pitch-black wings suddenly spread wide, its body spun, and it transformed back into a dense cloud of black smoke, rushing into the sky.
The black smoke was like a dark cloud, flying about ten meters above the ground, from which half-meter long, pitch-black feather-arrows continuously rained down.
The speed of the black cloud was astonishing; wherever it passed, large numbers of Magical Beasts fell like harvested wheat.
This group of Magical Beasts, unable to fly and generally weak in strength, posed no threat to the few people present, apart from their vast numbers.
In terms of combat power alone, Gray Rats and black lizards, these two types of Magical Beasts, were absolutely at the bottom of Rank C Magical Beasts. If categorized by the food chain, they were within the range of being eaten.
Although Swamp Crocodiles were also Rank C, the ones Cana had, judging by their length, were close to Rank B level, and being ancient species, their combat power was somewhat over the top and couldn't be compared.
The Treant Warriors created by the War Ancient Tree were of standard Rank C level; any Treant Warrior could easily defeat at least two or three Gray Rats.
Natsu stomped his foot, flames ignited all over his body with a whoosh, and in a flash of fire, he had already charged into the beast tide.
Extreme high-temperature flames covered his entire body. Natsu's fists, legs, head, knees, and elbows constantly switched, his movements primal and full of wild beauty.
As Natsu fought, he shouted, "Happy probably just reached the guild. Has he contacted Ezreal yet?"
Cana's response came from the sky, "Not yet. Something might have happened on his end; his positioning card hasn't moved for a long time."
Cana freed a hand and took out a card from her pocket, which had a chibi portrait of Ezreal on it, her brows slightly furrowed.
Although the card glowed faintly, the light didn't flicker.
Judging by the brightness, Cana determined that Ezreal was at least fifty kilometers away from them.
Within this range, Ezreal was likely in the distant suburbs of Jinkadi City's railway section.
"Cana-chan, another wave of Magical Beasts has arrived on the outer perimeter!"
Just as Cana put away her card, the Frost Spirit beside her, who was casting a spell to bring down an extreme blizzard, shouted at her.
Cana was slightly startled and instinctively looked down.
She saw another large group of beast tide surging towards their direction like a black wave in the distance.
Cana roughly counted at least ten thousand, possibly over fifteen thousand.
Such a massive number made her face turn grim.
"Natsu, grab the Evil Crow King and ascend, leave the battlefield!"
"These Magical Beasts must have some kind of communication method we don't know about. Another beast tide of about ten thousand has arrived."
"Ezreal can't be contacted, and Happy's gone to call for reinforcements, but we don't know if they can arrive in time!"
"Five or six thousand, we could barely fight, but with this many, they'll pile up and kill us. Let's retreat first!" Cana shouted without hesitation.
Although Natsu, in the midst of the battlefield below, couldn't see the exact situation, he chose to trust his companions unconditionally.
"Okay!"
After Natsu responded, he violently punched, clearing the beast tide in front of him, then quickly retreated backward.
Behind him, the black cloud-like Evil Crow King was rapidly approaching him.
Just at this moment, a somewhat effeminate and hoarse voice suddenly sounded behind Cana.
"You can't leave."
Cana's gaze was originally fixed on Natsu below, and the voice from behind startled her, cold sweat instantly trickling down.
Without turning her head, Cana flicked her fingers, and a card was flung backward.
As the card left her hand, golden light bloomed, transforming into a gleaming golden light spear that flew out with a whistling sound.
And behind Cana, a bald man in a white kimono was actually standing in mid-air behind her.
This bald man in white was tall and slender, estimated to be at least 1.9 meters, with eerie golden vertical pupils, frighteningly pale and bloodless skin, and an expressionless face.
An extremely uncomfortable sensation emanated from him.
Seeing the golden light spear approaching, the bald man in white neither dodged nor flinched. He suddenly opened his mouth, which expanded to a terrifying angle, and a massive white-scaled snake was spat out from his mouth.
The white-scaled snake writhed its body, its gaping maw open, two large, bone-white fangs like two short swords.
The golden light spear was swallowed by this large snake, and then the white-scaled snake rapidly retracted, being swallowed back into the bald man's mouth.
Cana turned her head the moment she threw the card, just in time to see the white-scaled snake swallow the light spear and then be swallowed back into the bald man's mouth.
The bald man was about ten meters from Cana. After swallowing the large snake, he extended his black, forked tongue, like a snake's, and licked around his mouth.
"Quite the reaction, little girl."
The bald man's voice was effeminate and hoarse, completely devoid of emotional fluctuation.
Cana's face turned grim, her hairs stood on end. She felt an exceptionally uncomfortable aura emanating from the person in front of her.
That was an aura that humans should never possess.
Cana's eyes were wary, and with a shake of her hands, ten cards were clutched in her grasp, "Who are you?"
The bald man grinned, his mouth opening to a dislocated degree, his long, thin, black forked tongue flicking with sticky saliva, "White Snake, Hydra."
-------------------------------
I've already uploaded over 40 chapters of this story on Patreon.
If you're enjoying it and want to read ahead, feel free to check them out here:
[patreon.com/TripleCrown07]
Thanks a lot for your support, it really helps me keep going.