Chapter 71: New Mission!

[Emerald City, Mountain Range]

Meanwhile, just as Marcus was still in shock by what he had just seen, heading rapidly toward the direction of the Smith family shelter was a monster horde of untold proportions.

Under the cover of the red sky, the ground trembled as each of their steps shook the very earth.

Their screeches, caws, and raw roars replaced the singing of birds in the sky, as if to announce their presence to the world.

And leading this army of beasts was a monstrosity like no other.

Doubling in size, Lucian’s body had changed after completing his evolution.

His claws had become sharper, his beak longer, and he had even grown a snake on his tail.

Feeling his current strength, Lucian felt like no one would be his match.

"Haha, System! What do you think of my army? Impressive, isn’t it?"

"With these forces, I don’t think I myself will even need to step in at any point!" smirked Lucian, his beak curling sideways.

However, as always, the System just seemed to sneer at him.

[Host, I advise you not to be so confident.]

[Although the apocalypse just started, the Smith family you’re about to face is one of the major forces on this planet.]

[Had it not been that they were still regular people and hadn’t had the opportunity to grow stronger, I wouldn’t have issued you this mission at all.]

Hearing the System say this, Lucian couldn’t help but stop for a bit.

"Wait a minute, didn’t you transfer me from my former world to this one?"

"In that case, why do you know so much about this world?" he asked.

Unfortunately, the System didn’t answer him.

[Insufficient permissions!]

[Please complete more evolutions to unblock more permissions.]

Looking at the prompt, Lucian just sneered. From this, he was even more certain that this System of his was hiding something.

’Damn System, once I have the opportunity, I’m ripping you out instantly.’

Shaking his head, Lucian then turned toward his army.

Affected by the surge of mana in the atmosphere, all kinds of animals and insects had mutated.

Because of that, his army looked exceptionally weird.

Ants bigger than cars, a two-headed lion from a nearby zoo, and a bear whose slams created spikes through the earth.

Under his overwhelming power, it had taken him a long time to form this army.

And this was only the beginning; Lucian had already begun to daydream about how he would lead an unstoppable monster army to slaughter and rule the world.

"Hahaha! Go, my monsters! Destroy th—"

Boom!

Just before he could finish his words, accompanied by a streak of white light, a bullet suddenly descended from the sky, scraping past his face and destroying a group of monsters right behind him.

"Haha! Nice shot, Lauren!"

Turning in the direction of the voice, Lucian couldn’t believe what he saw.

Above him, a faint silhouette appeared to be standing in the sky.

"This is!"

Ignoring his bleeding cheek, his pupils suddenly dilated.

"One! Two! Three!" Counting one by one, more and more shooters began to appear in the sky.

However, as if that wasn’t enough, just before he could make sense of what was going on, his spine suddenly began to tingle as his blood went cold.

In an instant, his body began to scream for him to run.

It was telling him that if he didn’t escape right now, he would undoubtedly die at this very moment.

"System, what is this?" he asked.

Unfortunately, the System was also in shock.

[Impossible! These energy levels! How could there be any Awakener this strong at this moment?!]

Going hysterical, the System was paralyzed by disbelief.

Until they saw it, descending from the sky, with long silver hair trailing behind him, his signature white suit, and his hands behind his back.

Ethan descended from the sky, his Mana Sight active as he stared at the monster army and Lucian.

"Interesting! Interesting!"

"Although not a Lord-level monster, this is quite unexpected," said Ethan.

Hearing him mutter this, both Lucian and the System felt completely seen through at that moment.

.....

Time goes back a few minutes. After following Marcus, Ethan and the veteran legion had made their way toward the direction of the monster army.

Using Air Walk, their speed and stealth were unmatched, so much so that within a few minutes, they were able to arrive at the march site while hiding in the clouds.

"Amazing! Just look at the number of them. If we don’t take them out now, there’s no way the shelter can survive," muttered Thomas, to which everyone agreed.

"Alright, everyone, take your positions and remember the plan."

"Twenty of you will fall to the head of the army, and another twenty to the tail."

"The rest of us will focus on the leader itself, trying to kill it as fast as possible."

"Without their leader, the remaining monsters should disperse out of fear,"

said Ethan, explaining the plan.

It was a simple one: attack both sides using a pincer movement to stop reinforcements while they attacked the general.

However, although simple, if not executed well, they could all end up dying today, especially since they were grossly outnumbered, about two to one.

Even then, despite the overwhelming numerical gap, not one person faltered.

Rather, hearing Ethan’s words, they all responded with a crisp salute.

"Yes, Patriarch!"

Saying this, Lauren took her position.

Lying down mid-air with a sniper rifle in hand, she carefully coated the inner bullet with her mana.

"Alright then! I’ll create the diversion! Teams A and B, use that opportunity to attack both sides."

"Once the bullet lands, the rest go down with the Patriarch while I provide aerial support," she said, her mana circle churning with anticipation.

The only thing they needed now was Ethan’s permission to act, as everyone was raring to go.

However, Ethan at this moment was currently shocked.

The moment his eyes landed on the head of the monster, his system panel instantly popped up:

[Detecting Otherworldly Demon]

[Mission: Exterminate the Otherworldly Demon]

[Rewards: Title: Earth’s Protector, System Authority +5%, One Blind Box, Apocalypse Codex (Partial)]