Chapter 489: Monsters, Might, And Mayhem [Part 2]

A few minutes before disaster struck...

Magnus prepared to sleep for the night.

Just like his men, he had been on full alert for the past few days, expecting the barbarians to attack them under the cover of darkness.

As the Supreme Commander, he wanted to set a good example for everyone. He had slept shallowly for the past few days, preparing himself to rise for any emergency.

But he had finally hit his limit. He wanted to sleep properly, even if it was just for one night.

’I should trust my soldiers more,’ Magnus thought with a faint smile on his face.

And with those thoughts, he went to sleep.

He didn’t know how long he slept.

It could be a few hours.

It could be a few minutes.

But to him, it only felt like he had closed his eyes for a few seconds before his sixth sense kicked in, warning him of danger.

When Magnus’ eyes snapped open, the first thing he saw was the ceiling falling toward him.

He immediately activated his defensive artifact, creating a magical dome of protection that surrounded his body.

Soon, the sound of stones crashing over his shield reached his ears. But aside from that, Magnus was fine.

That was until something exploded a few meters away from him, blowing him away.

The smell of something burning stung his eyes and made his throat itchy.

Multiple explosions reverberated all around him, letting him understand what was happening.

"Enemy attack!" Magnus shouted as loud as he could.

But his words were drowned out by the explosions and screams coming from the soldiers around him.

Mixed alongside those screams were the war cries of the barbarians.

The Supreme Commander’s blood turned cold.

High above the city of Eden, the screeches of the Black and Red Hawks reached his ears.

The Aerial Battalion of the Aurelion Army, which resided outside of Eden, had finally come to their aid.

Magnus looked up at the sky to see hundreds of these mighty beasts flying past his head. But before he could even rejoice, an equal, and perhaps more dominating, screech spread across the surroundings.

"Gryphon Battalion... go for the kill!" Dominic shouted as he unsheathed his sword and made a slashing motion.

A blue crescent blade manifested from it and then flew toward one of the Black Hawks that had come to meet them in combat.

Soon, the sky was filled with the sounds of battle that wouldn’t lose to the skirmishes that were happening on the ground.

"Damn it!" Magnus pressed his hand over the pendant on his chest. Within seconds, his entire body was covered in silver full-plate armor.

He knew that not everyone had a magical artifact that could be activated during a state of emergency.

Most of the soldiers didn’t even have their armor on when they rested for the night. And now that their belongings were buried under the rubble, even their weapons were out of reach.

However, the barbarians didn’t care for such things. Every time they saw an enemy right in front of them, they would let their swords, spears, and axes do all the talking!

"Bastaaaaaaaaaaaards!"

A roar filled with fury boomed throughout the entire city as Zepharion took flight.

He was just about to blow the barbarians away when something flashed before his eyes, forcing him to take out his sword.

Sparks flew as Zepharion’s sword and Gundar’s staff clashed against each other.

"Hello, Zepharion," Gundar said with a smile. "Missed me?"

"Screw you, Gundar!" Zepharion roared back in anger. "Why don’t you just die already?!"

The two powerhouses exchanged several blows in the sky. Gundar wasn’t riding on his Giant Hawk but was instead stepping on air as if he was stepping on even ground.

Zepharion distanced himself from the Great Shaman of the Borderlands and took a quick glance at the ground.

The city was covered in flames, while the sounds of explosions continued to echo through the night like a requiem of death.

That single glance was enough to tell him that whatever advantage they believed they had earlier had now become non-existent.

The walls of the city were nowhere in sight. All that remained were crumbled ruins, which made Zepharion wonder what kind of sorcery was used to achieve such a thing.

Even the houses in the city were all destroyed, trapping countless soldiers under the rubble.

Those who managed to escape their stony prison were either the powerhouses of the Aurelion Army or those who were lucky enough to sense danger at the very last second.

It was complete pandemonium.

Fortunately, he saw hope.

Amidst the chaotic battlefield, a knight wearing silver armor had started to give out commands to the survivors, preparing them to launch a counterattack.

Zepharion recognized Magnus right away. Only the Supreme Commander of the Army was allowed to wear silver armor in battle, which stood out in the sea of soldiers wearing black armor.

Gundar noticed where his enemy was looking, but he didn’t make any move to attack Magnus.

The reason was simple.

He didn’t want to lose sight of Zepharion, knowing how troublesome he was.

After seeing that the Aurelion Army was slowly but surely gathering under Magnus’ banner, Zepharion shifted his attention toward the fireballs that were raining down on the city from a distance.

The loud explosions and the destructive power behind those attacks were hindering Magnus from gathering the survivors.

’There!’ Zepharion thought as he locked onto the location of the Fireshard Catapults.

He then attempted to fly past Gundar using a burst of speed. He succeeded... or at least that was what he thought before something suddenly hit him on the back, sending him crashing toward the city.

"Where do you think you’re going?" Gundar asked as he flew down to attack the downed Guardian of the Aurelion Empire.

The Great Shaman’s goal was to pin down Zepharion inside the city and prevent him from getting close to the Fireshard Catapults.

Leone was there, and the last thing he wanted to happen was for the Guardian to accidentally kill the person leading this battle from the shadows.

Somewhere in this chaotic battlefield, Evander and his Blue Wolves were desperately trying to gather their surviving members in order to properly form some kind of resistance.

Suddenly, the payload of a Fireshard Catapult fell a few meters away from him, forcing him to roll over the ground out of instinct.

Due to the suddenness of the situation, he had dropped his sword by accident.

But just as he was about to reach it, something stepped on his hand.

It looked like the leg of a beast, prompting Evander to slowly look up.

What he saw looked like a werewolf standing up on two legs. However, this werewolf looked a bit different from the Werewolves that he had seen in the past.

Its fur was red. There were also glowing red stripes in its fur, as well as on its arms, that glowed in the darkness.

"Fancy meeting you here, Evander," the Fenrirkin said in an amused tone.

"Y-You... You’re Hagen!" Evander gasped.

Although the voice was a little different from what he was familiar with, his instincts were telling him that the creature in front of him was none other than Hagen himself.

"That’s right," Hagen replied, putting more pressure on his foot to trample Evander’s hand, which made the latter grimace in pain. "If only you had cooperated with me back then, this wouldn’t be happening to you right now."

"W-Wait! We can still cooperate!" Evander said in desperation. "Leone Frontera, right?! The Chieftain of the Aslan Tribe! Just tell me where he is, and I’ll send all the soldiers to kill him!"

"Oh?" Hagen smirked. "What a tempting offer. Unfortunately... It’s already too late. You no longer have the power nor the ability to negotiate with me."

"Shut up, you mongrel!" Evander finally snapped from the humiliation he felt. "You’re just a savage! How dare you try to step on me! You should be begging on your knees for mercy! You should have begged me like the dog you are! You should have bowed your head and become my subordinate! It’s all your fault, you stupid weakling!"

Hagen listened quietly to Evander’s desperate shouts, while the rest of the Blue Wolf Squadron were being massacred by the Fenrirs of the Grimhowl Tribe.

These red wolves stood two meters tall and were very savage creatures. Some of them even wondered if Hagen was playing with its prey based on how he let the enemy commander talk smack about him.

"You’re right." Hagen nodded. "As much as I hate to admit it, I have become a dog. Fortunately, my Master is a naive and merciful idiot. If I were in his place, I would have already killed the source of future trouble. However, he is a naive young man. There might come a time he will regret his decision in sparing my life. But it won’t be now."

"You mongre—arghhh!" Evander cried out in pain as Hagen finally exerted enough force to crush the hand beneath his foot.

He then used his claws to tear off parts of Evander’s body, making sure his target would die a very painful and horrifying death.

When the Commander of the Blue Wolves finally let out his last dying scream, Hagen stepped on Evander’s head and crushed it completely.

The Fernrirkin then turned to look behind him, where Troy, who was holding a battleaxe, stood with a sneer plastered on his face.

"I hope you’re not all talk," Troy said in a teasing tone. "I want to see if you can really make Leone regret the day he spared your life."

Hagen stared at the Lionkin for a few seconds before heading deeper into the city alongside the Fenrirs by his side.

His eyes were tinged with so much bloodlust and death that the pitiful soldiers in his path weren’t even able to scream as his claws cut off their heads from their bodies, leaving fountains of blood in his wake.