Chapter 2095: Saving As Many As They Can
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"D-Damn it...!" the guild master groaned, his body twisting in agony. Though his high resistance prevented mutation, the curse was killing him from within.
"Guild master!!!" the adventurers cried, rushing toward him and abandoning the civilians they had been protecting.
The monsters roared and laughed with cruel intelligence. Their twisted, malformed faces contorted into grotesque smiles, eyes glowing with malicious glee as they closed in on the defenseless civilians.
"Protect the people!" the guild master roared one final time. Forcing his failing body to obey, he swung a desperate punch that cracked the jaw of a charging Death Walker. His legs buckled beneath him as the curse devoured him from the inside.
A massive Abyssal Goo surged forward like a tidal wave of living sludge. Its gelatinous body was already digesting three screaming adventurers who had been too slow to escape. Dozens of half-dissolved skeletons rattled inside its translucent mass.
"Die, vermin!" it gurgled in a wet, distorted voice.
Then—
BOOOOM!
A blazing golden thunderbolt crashed down from above, vaporizing the front half of the Goo in an instant. The creature shrieked as emerald winds followed, slicing the rest of its body into burning chunks that rained across the blood-soaked street.
Zack landed heavily, his axe still humming with power, his muscular frame coated in monster ichor. Beside him, Luck dropped like a comet, white fur blazing with golden spiritual flames, tiger ears twitching as he snarled.
"Took us long enough," Zack growled, scanning the wounded guild master and the terrified families huddled behind him.
"You two...!" The guild master coughed, black blood dripping from his lips. "Thank the gods..."
"Don’t thank them yet," Luck said, cracking his knuckles. His golden aura flared brighter. "We’re just getting started."
The remaining monsters—more than thirty of them—howled in unison and charged. Miasmic Crystal Golem Warriors raised jagged arms, firing barrages of cursed shards. Nether Wyverns dove from above, spewing soul-burning flames. Death Walkers skittered forward on elongated limbs, claws extended like spears.
Zack spun his axe in a wide arc.
"Emerald Gale Judgment!"
Six massive phantom bear arms manifested around him, each wielding a roaring axe of wind and thunder. The weapons slashed outward in a storm of green and gold, shredding crystal golems into sparkling dust and bisecting wyverns mid-dive. Thunder exploded with every impact, lighting up the dark alley like daylight.
Luck leapt skyward, his body shifting fluidly.
"Beast Spirit Ascension: White Tiger Sovereign!"
His form swelled larger, muscles rippling beneath white-and-gold fur as spectral tigers, phoenixes, and dragons erupted from his aura. He descended like a living catastrophe, claws tearing through Death Walkers with such force that their bodies exploded into purple mist. A blazing spiritual dragon coiled around him, incinerating an entire group of monsters in holy flames.
The civilians watched in stunned silence as the two warriors carved through the horde like reapers through wheat. Where despair had reigned moments earlier, a fragile spark of hope now flickered in their eyes.
"Mommy... are we saved?" a small child whispered, clutching her father’s torn shirt.
"I-I don’t know..." the mother replied, voice trembling. "I... I think so..."
After the last monster fell, Zack and Luck rushed to the civilians. The guild master lay unconscious.
"He’s unconscious, but I’ll heal him—and everyone else who’s wounded. Come to me!" Luck called. He shifted forms once more. "Beast Spirit Ascension: Vermillion Bird Sovereign!"
His body transformed into a blazing, mystical bird from ancient legend. Holy flames washed over the survivors, rapidly expelling the curse that had entered their bodies through wounds or miasma exposure. Thick black fog poured out of them.
"I cannot destroy the curse once it has fully settled, but while it’s still fresh, I can at least do this," he muttered. "Now, back to the castle—hurry!"
Zack nodded. He manifested a giant bear paw, gently gathered everyone within it, and raced toward the castle at full speed. Luck guarded their rear, slaughtering the giant monsters that surged in from every side. They finally reached the castle, set the people down safely, and departed without another word.
A young dwarf boy watched the heroes leave, his eyes shining with a small but precious glimmer of hope amid the surrounding despair.
And their arrival was not limited to this district alone.
On the opposite side of the city, far from the castle’s heavily guarded barriers and dwarven-piloted golems, the Southern District faced even greater horror. With no shelter and the exterior sealed by a cursed divine barrier, the people had nowhere to run. They would die in droves.
"No! That cursed divine barrier! Where did it come from?!"
"It wasn’t there a minute ago—it just appeared!"
"I saw some people escape on airships and others arrive... but who would be crazy enough to enter the city after seeing this?!"
As the crowd fled through the alleys, a mutated chimeric monster resembling a Death Walker, its body armored in miasmic crystals, charged at them. Three heads laughed maniacally, long tongues lolling.
"GAAAHAHAHAH! EHEHEH! HUMANSSSSS...! FRESH... MEAT!"
Its giant claws reached forward. The people screamed, certain they were finished—until a flash of emerald winds surged from nowhere and severed the monster’s arm.
"{Melody of Tempest}: {Act I: Storming Butterflies}"
A beautiful melody filled the air. The people looked up to see a single elf floating in the sky, playing his flute and commanding the heavens themselves.
The divine barrier shattered and exploded instantly. Winds surged like endless green butterflies, each one transforming into a devastating storm. The monster and every creature behind it were shredded into pieces and utterly vaporized. And that was only Act One.
"Everyone! The barrier is gone but it may return—run as fast as you can!" he shouted. "Outside the mountain, several airships await refugees! Go, now! I have created a Wind Path to guide you to safety."
"Yes, it’s him! The Hero of Celestial Winds and Songs, Arafunn Delfaina! The younger brother of the Elven King is here!!!"
"We’re saved!"
"Run, quickly!"
The people leapt from the elevated district, carried safely through the skies by guiding winds. They stared in awe at the overwhelming power of the Hero of Celestial Winds and Songs.
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