The sound of chains rattling continued as the sickle tore through the air, heading in the opposite direction of the mist and crossing a distance unimaginable given the previous length of the chain

Just when everyone was wondering how much longer it could become YuJu tugged with great force, sending a ripple through the long chain until it reached the sickle

Like a bullet it whizzed through the sky, bearing a force so great one could imagine a building being sliced in half

It wasn't even a second before the chains plunged into that dark mist, out of sight

What was he doing? Was he about to pull something out? They believed, but were deceived by their own expectation, for nothing was pulled from the mist, instead, it was the mist itself that was sliced apart

Yes, this Haunting Mist which everyone could only try and keep at bay, was sliced, exposing the ghastly dwellers underneath

Both sides were shocked, the wraiths since their indestructible mist got sliced and the humans for the same reason and much more

Just seeing the behemoth revealed from under the dark blanket had many shaking in their boots, that thing was massive, and they had seen enough huge beasts to not be scared by a few story height monster, which this was far beyond

Apart from its there were many other intimidating wraiths, from weapon welders to wraith beast riders to mage like wraiths, the hidden army could perhaps wipe the human race indeed

"....FIRE!!!!"

Strength from god knows where filled up Sofia's hand as a shaky spear of light managed to form, which she jumped while commanding, wings of light forming on her back assisting her ascent, giving enough height to throw the now stable and large spear into the heart of enemy formation

It wasn't a riding sound, but jingles, jingles of bells echoed as one third of those invaders went up in smoke with not a chance to scream

Be it the sight or motivating shout, those archers and mages took from it courage, enough to lift their weapons and smite those vile wraiths with every ounce of energy they had

It was under this barrage that the wraiths awoke from their stupor, one clad in heavy robes commanding them to stop the retreat and retaliate, not willing to take such losses or such insults

The massive behemoth was first to plunge into action, sending a rather slow fist at the forest with every intention of clearing a path through it, willing to incur whatever injury the beams of fire might bestow upon it

"Easy there fellow"

Seeing the incoming fist YuJu tugged once more at the sickle now lodged far into enemy territory, this time since it was so deeply stuck in the earth the tug reinforced back to his hand, sending him shooting through the air at the arm

Letting go of the sickles he unscathed two swords from his back, rolling in the sky with them as he approached the big hand

Like a chainsaw he sawed his way up the arm creating two trails in his wake, only stopping the mad spinning when his speed slowed at the shoulders, going above it and diving toward that robed wraith

The giant took its eyes off the forest and onto him for merely a moment, enough for the eyes to shoot their deadly flames right into the two trails, separating the once whole arm into three parts, still, the thing managed to crash that mangled mess into the forest and create a path for the smaller bunch to charge in

"Take it out"

YuJu's command came from the other side prompting her to charge headlong into battle with that behemoth, not on her own however as a flying saber speed to tear apart that big body before her

"Hup!"

An upward swing and the sword in hand increased in size threefold, still small in comparison but better than that wood splinter size from before

Taking after her attack style the man had the energy surrounding his saber spread out to cover as much area as possible

The behemoth only responded after the two were at it for a bit, taking a step forward under their combined effort and the fire rays, almost crushing Ellis who dodged just in time

"Can't do much harm"

"Too much to do harm to"

The two attackers finally relented, realizing they were helpless before something of this size, perhaps if it had a physical form that Ellis could injure and poison then it would be possible to kill it before the thing reached the settlement, as things stood however...

Crash!

Something hit the forward stepping leg from the back, sending the big fellow crashing forward, ruining the forest with its fall

Now that their target was on the ground they could perhaps shave off more of its size, or at least keep it from getting back up

Some time before, while the two had been locked in a battle with the behemoth's leg, YuJu arrived before the leading wraith with a crashing blow, one intercepted by its high level followers

"Kehemso ga sha"

Spoke the robed leader, a language YuJu couldn't make sense of, but he got the gist of it seeing the followers surround him to bar any escape

Finding their attempt at keeping him laughable he ran straight toward the leader with blades glinting

"Huaaa!"

A dragon visage came to be with a wave of the leader's hand, spewing wrathful flames in his direction

Putting the two hilts together YuJu started spinning the blades in front of him while he activated the wind energy using his aura, generating a current strong enough to keep the flames at bay while he advanced

Out from the flames came a tanky orc like wraith clad in red shadows keeping him from dying under the flames as he raised his axe for a cleaving blow

"Slow"

Sensing his approach even through the flames YuJu was more than ready to kick the fellow right into the open maw spewing flamed, ending that anointing fountain of fire

As if knowing the attempt of that orc would turn futile two lanky figures jumped at him from the side with daggers at the ready, only to be parried by the twin swords, right before YuJu jumped to perform a split kick sending the two tumbling away

Before his feet touched the ground he dove into a roll, deftly avoiding several arrows before sliding under the swing of a giant sword and climbing the body of its wielder, using that as a stepping stone to jump down at the last figure between him and the robed person with a dropkick

Now eye to eye with the leader YuJu gave a sneering smile, mocking their supposed siege on him

"Mikashu na-"

Before being allowed to spew whatever jibberish and buy time for its followers the leader was surprised to see him throw the swords at it causing it to duck, just in time for YuJu who kneed a sneaking wraith to kick away and backflip into landing on the leader's back, swords caught from midair

"Without the mist your nothing"

He remarked, plunging the swords into the leader's back ensuing a scream of agony as he siphoned off its power

Shrrreeeeeiiiiii

The shadows surrounding this robed wraith were quickly drained, to the point of it bursting apart as the structure of its body could hold no more

With his feet landing once more on the ground YuJu took a look around, noting all the wraiths in the immediate vicinity lurching at him with vengeance as their goal, meanwhile, the wraiths a bit further were escaping into the condensing mist, except for the few following behind the stepping giant

"Go down that thing"

He commanded his shadow while pouring power into it, causing the boar to come out of hiding and rush at the leg of the behemoth, causing its downfall just before the mist covered his vision

Not at all worried by getting trapped inside he brandished the swords in a taunting manner, ready to face all these foes and more on his own

Getting back to the situation on the battlefield one would clearly notice the scales tilted toward the human side, while it wasn't as flawless of a fight as when the second line of defense took action they were still holding the upper hand

"It's dangerous, go back inside"

Even though they were winning Mia still suggested to Sofia from the shadows, the woman was drained to a powerless degree, having glided down off the high platform she also became defenseless without her guards

"Okay…"

Sofia struggled to get up, making Mia think hard whether she should exit her stealth and carry her to safety

Quick steps came from the front, attracting her gaze to the sudden appearance of an elite wraith waving its halberd around with menace, forgoing the need to think about keeping herself in stealth

Rushing out from the shadows Mia barely made it in time to push Sofia out of harm's way, forced then to engage in battle with this elite for a few more seconds

Luck wasn't on the jinx's side today it seemed for a short figure exited their own stealth from Sofia's side, jumping onto the woman's top and pulling her hair back for a good stab in the eye

"Sofia!"

"Leader!"

Psh!

A blade tore through a head under everyone's horror filled gaze