Bbtttooommm...

The blast waves hurled blocks of asphalts and building debris into the air.

A metal street lamp shot towards the Sanctuary like a helicopter's rotor blades.

Bam!

It collided into the invisible dome and rebounded into the air.

The ground rumbled. Down the streets, a cloud of grey vapour rose 40 meters into the air.

The soldiers on the wall waited in silence for the result. Beams of searchlight pointed in that direction.

Some murmured quietly in prayer. Some stared in that direction with clenched fists.

It took a moment for the cloud to clear up.

"Nooo..."

Through the clearing up cloud, people could see a figure inside now.

Standing inside that knee-deep hole, with his arms crossed, Lord Trample grumbled.

"Good try, humans." The monster took a step forward. The ground below him glistened. Under that heat, some sand in the soil had instantly turned into particles of glass.

"You have forced me into my, as you humans like to say, final form." The monster stepped out of that hole.

Looking closely, Lord Trample had grown to 5 meters tall now. Nose of a bull. Horns on its head. Hooves instead of feet. A long beard before its chest.

This was a minotaur.

Streams of mist was converging into its body. Gradually, the cracks on its body closed up. A new silver-colored armor started to appeared.

"Impossible!"

"Can we really harm it?"

"We couldn't kill it before... Now, it's bigger."

"God. What is this thing!"

Panic spread through the front lines like a plague. As if this was the last straw, this outcome broke the soldiers' morale.

Some tried to point their weapons at the monster. Yet, they couldn't. What's the point. It's futile anyways.

"Everyone, retreat to the second line of defense." Keyholder commanded.

Liam tapped his temple and nodded.

Receiving that order, without hesitation, the soldiers dropped their equipment and jumped off the wall.

In this instance, the sanctuary's command system collapsed. Follow orders? Who's giving orders? It's futile anyways...

In a moment, the walls were emptied out. Only stacks of firearms and crates of ammunitions were left.

Some soldiers ran towards the city hall. Others ran towards the exit on the other side. The horde of monsters had already left. Maybe the only chance to live is by leaving this place.

Some gritted their teeth and clenched their jaws. Regret filled their eyes. What if they trained harder. What if they pushed themselves harder to the limit.

No. Against that thing... Nothing would have worked... Was there still hope in Berrystone?

"I've offered peace humans."

"But you have chosen death."

Walking up to the invisible dome, Lord Tremple knocked on it. Sounded like glass.

Punch!

Lord Trample's fist pierced through that dome.

Like a bubble popping, the dome blasted into falling shards. As those shard fell down, they quickly disintegrated into glowing pixels.

"Ohhhmmm..."

The Lord of the mist tackled at the front gates.

BAM!

The metal gates hurled down the streets.

"Oh? You are not running?"

A squad of 20 knights was standing in Lord Trample's way. Some in grey. Most in colored armor.

"You are not passing us!" An agent readied his halbard towards the monster. 'Not until the keyholder is safe...'

"We will protect our home!"

"We'll stop you, right here, right now!"

"So be it." Wearing an expressionless face, Lord Trample stepped forward.

The knights looked like children to the monster. Their heights weren't even up to the minotaur's waist.

A-rank energy levels. Mostly B-rank energy levels. These guys were mere maggots in the eyes of Lord Trample.

Only the purple armor at the front was something. An S-rank.

The knights squad prepared their weapons. Their armors and weapons started to emit various colors of glows.

"Commander Magni. Of all people, you should be the one following the keyholder's command."

"They'll need you more at the second line of defense."

Standing at the front of the group, a dude in a purple armor chuckled. "Everyone here can leave. But I can't. My duty calls."

"Well fellas. Just wanted you to know, I'm proud of you..." Leaving a bitter smile, Magni charged at the towering monster.

"Charge!" The group of knights dashed in.

Lord Trample breathed out a black mist. It's faster than it appears.

Before the knights noticed, they'd already charged into that mist. However, no matter! They were determined to pass through this mist!

"Watch out!" Magni jumped back. Like a cannonball, this fella shot back out of the black cloud.

The black cloud was quickly clearing up.

Magni looked down at his armor. He was only in that mist for an instance. Yet, his armor and his spear was already starting to dissolve. And this was not stopping. They were still dissolving!

Jumping back, Magni pulled a strap. The back of his armor popped open. Throwing his spear away, stepping back out of his armor, Magni's heart sank.

The black mist was gone. The same for anything inside that mist. The ground sank an inch deeper.

Magni panted at the result in disbelief. "No... No!"

"Daniel... Sophia... No..."

Thump... Thump...

The towering monster approached at an even pace. The monster's shadow gradually covered Magni.

Looking at Trample with bloodshot eyes, Magni clenched his teeth. The man seemed to have lost it. The air surrounding this warrior expanded and contracted like a heart. His energy level steadily became denser.

"You'll pay for this!" Magni left an explosion of air.

Moving at a speed barely visible to S-ranks, Magni dashed in an arc path.

Bam!

The ground under Magni exploded. He shot towards the monster from the side.

"Die!" Magni threw a punch at the monster's head.

Bam!

Magni was swatted down like a fly. The knight shot right through a condo building and into the ground.

Lord Trample huffed like defeating an SS-rank was nothing to him.

Walking down the empty streets, in this well-lit area, Lord Trample could see the city hall up the hill now.

On the road to that 5 stories building, another line of knights had been set up. Some high-ranking hunters were in this group as well. However, these hunters didn't have the determined gazes of the knights.

Their eyes glinted, quickly glancing around. Theses hunters looked like they were looking for ways out.

Behind this line of defense, up the hill, fear and despair filled the air. Some wanted to ran. However, they couldn't make up their mind. What if it's a horde of monsters out there?

Also, it's packed like a can of sardines up here. Can't really get out even if they wanted to.

"Humans. My offer still holds. But my patience is limited. Now, Lord of the humans, make your choice."

"Your soldiers shall pay for what they've done to my children, by death. And the rest shall live."

"Or. I shall continue my attack, and none of you shall live."

"Choose."

Hearing these words, the gazes of the crowd turned to the soldiers.

Down the hill, the soldiers and knights heavily panted. They clenched their fists. Some looked around with widened eyes. They were struggling to make a decision.

"Choose? We choose your death." A solemn voice sounded down the streets.

A warrior in golden armor walked up the hill. Behind him, it's the smite squad made up of 7 S-ranks.

Atlas had returned!