Chapter 87: The City Cleansed
Chapter 87: The City Cleansed
The doors of the city hall building closed behind Lian.
The air outside was different. The half-destroyed buildings could still be seen in the distance.
But something had changed. Something fundamental. That strange feeling was no longer there.
That feeling that thousands of eyes were watching him from the darkness. That the whole city was a single living being. Now that feeling was gone.
Of course, the reason for this was clear. The sense of the unknown was gone. Now he knew the truth behind this city. He knew the truth behind these monsters.
With the disappearance of the sense of the unknown, there was nothing left to make him cautious. And now this entire city seemed as clear as day to him.
Lian stood in silence for a few seconds. His gaze moved across the streets in front of him. A few Bloodfang Hounds could be seen in the distance.
But their behavior was strange. One of them was circling aimlessly around itself. Another was clawing at the wall of a building.
Two other monsters were even fighting each other. Roaring, biting, and attacking each other for no reason.
Lian quietly let out his breath.
"So it really is over..." The masterpiece was stopped. The clone was destroyed. And the Broodmother was dead.
The army still existed, but its brain was no longer there. More precisely, there was no longer a dictator ruling over this army of monsters.
Now that he thought about it, how had that man managed to rule over these monsters? Through fear? Because the monsters were afraid of the Stalkers?
So this proves that for monsters too, the law of the jungle is their fundamental law.
He smiled and began the attack. And this time, the battle was completely different.
There was no longer that feeling of pressure. No more coordinated ambushes. No more planned attacks.
This time... it was a hunt. And there was only one hunter.
Thunder Calamity came alive in Lian’s hands.
Blue lightning lines ran across his skin. A moment later... a powerful thunder split the street.
A Bloodfang did not even have time to raise its head. Its body was torn apart in the lightning explosion.
A few meters away, two Gravehide Brutes noticed his presence.
They roared and ran toward him. But Cataclysm Pulse shook the ground, and a massive shockwave passed through the street.
The ground broke.
The bodies of both monsters were crushed from the inside and collapsed on the asphalt.
Lian did not even stop. His steps were calm and steady.
Like someone cleaning their own house, not someone moving through a city infested with monsters.
In one of the side streets, several Red-Eyed Stalkers suddenly appeared.
Four of them. Their red eyes still glowed. But something was wrong. Their movements were erratic. One suddenly stopped mid-run. Another slammed its head against the wall.
And a third stared at the sky aimlessly for a few seconds. As if part of their minds had been cut off. As if the commander guiding them no longer existed.
Glacial Reaper Claw activated.
The ice claws split the air. Four heads were severed from their bodies at the same time. The bodies fell to the ground.
And they did not get up again.
The further he went into the city... the more signs of change he found.
The humans who had been moving in a circular path, empty and hollow, had now completely stopped. The emptiness could still be seen in their eyes.
But at least they were no longer walking. And it was clear that the process had been stopped. Now they just needed to be awakened. But that was not his job either.
"So he really ran away." And this made him understand that the white-eyed man had truly left the city.
While he was killing one of the Bloodfang Hounds, he suddenly paused for a moment, and his eyebrows came together.
Fatigue had finally shown itself. The battle with the masterpiece. The use of Eternal Frozen Apocalypse.
Clearing the city. And fighting this army of monsters twice over... Everything had piled up.
He had consumed a lot of mana. Much more than he had realized. And his skills had been constantly active during this time.
He was still strong. He could still fight. But he was no longer at his peak. Still, it was not a problem. He had a lot of stat points he could use whenever he wanted.
Besides, even though he was not at his peak, he still had enough power to massacre all the remaining monsters. And looking around, there was nothing left.
He had killed so many that even his level had gone from 12 to 13. The number of monsters he had killed was beyond his count.
The amount of Fragments and stat points he had gained was unbelievable. So much so that even Awakened below level 20—no, even Awakened who had gone through their first evolution—do not have this much.
Near the central square, the last gathering of monsters was there. More than ten Bloodfang Hounds, several Gravehide Brutes, and three Red-Eyed Stalkers. The last survivors of the army.
When they sensed his presence, their roars filled the sky. The monsters looked scared... whoever it was, they were afraid.
They had witnessed an entire generation of their kind being massacred by this human. They wanted to run, but they did not know where. They had nowhere to run.
And they knew that wherever they ran, this human would follow them.
So they had no choice. All of them attacked him at once.
Thunder Calamity lit up the sky. And Cataclysm Pulse split the ground.
The battle lasted less than ten minutes. But when it was over... no monster remained alive.
The central square was filled with corpses. Blood covered the street. And Lian stood among them.
Alone.
Then... for the first time since he had entered the city, true and complete silence took over.
There was nothing left to make noise and break this silence. They were all dead.
Lian looked around. At the buildings. At the streets. At the city.
"Is it over?"
WHOOOM... A faint sound came from a distance.
He raised his head.
WHOOOM...
This time louder.
WHOOOOM...
A few seconds later, the sky began to tremble. And then he saw them. Black dots among the clouds. Dots that grew larger by the moment.
Helicopters.
Not one.
Not two.
Dozens of military helicopters. Mana-powered aircraft. Flying machines with magical runes glowing on their bodies.
Awakened moving on flying equipment. Mages floating in the air. Archers monitoring the city from dozens of meters high.
For the first time, he was seeing the true power of the Federation.
Not instructors. Not training teams. Not students. But a real army.
A few seconds later, several red targeting markers appeared on his body.
Lian easily sensed them. Weapons, snipers, and targeting spells. All locked onto him.
And from their perspective... they were right to do so.
He was standing in the middle of the city. Covered in blood. Surrounded by hundreds of monster corpses.
And no one knew what had happened.
But suddenly, something changed. One of the commanders said something through the comms. A few seconds of silence passed.
And then... all the targeting locks turned off.
One of the helicopters descended quietly. A strong wind swept through the street. Dust scattered in the air.
The helicopter door opened. And a man stepped out.
Gareth.
He did not say anything for a few moments. He just looked. At the street. At the city. At the hundreds of monster corpses. At the destruction around him. And finally... at Lian.
A few seconds of silence passed. Then he let out a long sigh and shook his head.
And he said.
"I didn’t expect..." He paused for a few moments, his gaze still fixed on Lian.
"Among all your group members... you’d be the most stubborn one."