Chapter 8

Welcome the Abomination

The soldiers pulled back their bows and arrows as they frantically searched for the enemy that shot the arrow, but they could not find anyone present.

So far, no other arrows flew toward us. Instead, dead silence followed after, making everyone tense. It was as if the arrow was just an illusion, and the person that died wasn’t even real. Still, my comrades' death was a definite proof as red blood glistened underneath the sunlight, making it shine as if it was one of the most beautiful jewels.

I was taken by surprise that the enemy was able to find us. If I remember correctly, it should be challenging to find this place because of a dense mist covering a good mile away from the city wall. The city walls using the plant magic were one ability; the second was the mist that was cast around the city.

Looking up, I saw Crow and Raven, fluttering around on their black wings. From tip to her black wings to her toes, she and her brother were covered in full black. Only a slight peach color of their skin can be seen through the slit of her half-covered mask.

The magic around them was strange, it had a shimmer that made them sparkle. I looked around to see if the others saw Raven and Crow, but it seemed no one could see them flying above them. The only answer was that they had magical enchantment that hid them from the enemy view.

What happened next completely startled me. Raven and Crow raised their hands together, and a large black magical ball was forming in their hands.

“Hell, Fire!” They both shouted, Crow a bit more enthusiastic than his sister.

Quickly, out of reflex, I raised my hands and summoned magic to throw back at them at the same time. But before I could fire my magic, their magic hit against an invisible barrier that I didn't expect at all.

Crow’s and Raven’s magic was dispersed by the magical barrier. It didn’t take long for them to throw another.

“Hell, Fire!”

Multiple black magic shot outwards, leaving not even a scratch behind. I was relieved that they couldn’t do anything to harm the barrier with their level of strength, but the strange thing was that the barrier was shimmering. Everyone could tell that something weird was happening to the barrier in front of them, but didn’t exactly understand what. The pulse-like energy barrier shivered and even rippled outwards.

In between the casting of their magic, thousands of humans appeared out from the trees, shooting their arrows up towards us.

“Enemy sighted!” Seth yelled. “Fire!”

Thousands upon thousands of arrows rained down upon the invaders. Every time an arrow struck a soldier, another took its place, firing back at them. Trees and plants caught on fire as hundreds of fireballs fell downward like meteorites, howls of pain and anguish could be heard on impact.

Even I joined the cast, though my fireball was exponentially more significant, causing more destruction and devastation. Every time, I aimed at the two siblings that were flapping around in the air, they quickly dodged it. Their wings sent out a powerful gust of wind, completely quelling the fire in the forest. Everyone was confused at the sudden wind that doused the flames.

I finally noticed why the siblings were casting their magical energy. The constant shimmering of magical energy around the city distorted the surrounding, flickering between what was real and illusion. This was giving the enemy where they needed to hit and showed where we were hiding.

I ran back down towards the stairs and took a spare bow and arrows lying around. Picking it up, I ran back up. Steadying myself, I shot towards the flying duo. Out of all the arrows and magic cast, none of them were aimed at the crow except me, making it easy for the siblings to pick me out among the crowd.

“I got this brother.” Raven held up her hand, stopping him from moving forward.

“Are you sure? I would like to have a simple bout with her.”

“No. All you do is play with your prey.”

“I do not.” Crow pouted at Raven’s words.

Raven dove forward, the moment she passed through the barrier, her full body came into light. Everyone could now see her. Her magic is completely gone. Anyone who caught a glimpse of her stopped momentarily to stare. She was like a beautiful angel of death that had descended down upon the walls, and some actually stumbled back, thinking she was the angel of death to take their souls.

“An angel?”

“Is it real?”

“Come on, it isn’t right?”

A couple people fell on their knees and prayed. Others didn’t really know what to do with the sudden intrusion of an angelic being.

“Have you come to watch over us?”

“Please bless us with victory!”

People yelled in hopes to gain favor from Raven, but Raven didn’t even budge from their words. Instead, her sharp gaze fluttered around the people and eventually landed on me.

On the other hand, I didn’t give Raven a chance to make her entrance spectacular, knocking another arrow, I fired. One thing that I noticed about myself was that I had a knack with bows and arrows, a lot better than swords. My aim flew true, and it aimed towards her chest.

Raven waved her hand in front of her, brushing away the arrow effortlessly. She hovered in the air, glaring menacingly at me. “So, you were here.”

I fired another arrow, and it flew true. She brushed it aside once again, making me annoyed that she could easily stop it.

“Did you crawl out of your haven to die by my hands like a rat?”

I didn’t listen to her gibberish and kept firing. This was a battle, not a conversation time. Every time I fired, I interrupted her conversation, making her annoyed from being stopped.

“Are you listening to me, Great Magician Berry?” Raven shrilled in frustration. Her wings were picking up a current of air. “Quick running around and facing me!”

I didn’t comply with her wishes and did quick guerrilla tactics: hit and run. Stop, reload, and fire again. Even though they weren’t much covered, it was enough to get her annoyed. “Come on. Come on. Fire.” Grumbling under my breath, I waited for her to hit the wall to activate the defensive spell on the wall.

“Stay still!” Raven angrily glared, watching me run around like a squirrel. “Dark Arrow!”

Multiple arrows flew out of her hands and flew towards me. The majority of the arrows hit the side of the city wall, while only a couple were aimed correctly. The remaining flew and hit the cold floor with a boom, causing the ground to shake. Suddenly, the wall started to groan. The vines on the wall that the enemy was using to try to climb started to move noisily. Birds, animals, and even monsters began to run away in panic for fear of what's to come. People who were using it to try to climb were suddenly wrapped up by the vine, twisting into their bodies.

“Gah!”

“What the heck is this?”

“Someone help me!”

People screamed for mercy, but the plant didn’t listen and still relentlessly shredded them apart. Others were dragged towards the wall by their heels. Beautiful white flowers started to bloom all over the city walls, and when the vine brought in their prey like a venus fly trap, it swallowed them whole. Bones breaking, blood seeping out of the white flower dying them red.

The soldiers on the wall gulped at the monstrous display of the plant magic that was activated. The grotesque sight of the carnivorous plants wasn't something that happened often, and it's been a while since it activated. While in the past, the Adventurers did a great job of keeping the monsters back. The plant magic is rarely activated at all.

I furrowed at the horrible sound of the dying, but I was still relieved that the special plant magic has activated. For a moment, I thought we had already used up the defensive magic that the wall had.

A vine shot up straight towards Raven in an attempt to wrap her in its embrace. Raven dodged the vines that shot towards her in rapid succession. She twirled, avoided, and even did a perfect backflip in midair, but not once did the vine touch her body. With a strong flap of her wings, she shot upwards into the sky, leaving the vines entirely behind.

The plant magic stopped chasing after her and redirected its attack at the oncoming enemies. With scampering feet, the enemies cried out in horror at the monstrous plant that seemed to come alive.

“Fall back! Don’t let the vines entangle you!” A man in his later forties with brown hair was on a brown horse. His silver and green military uniform with three stars on his shoulders gleamed with gold. Using the sword in his hand, he sliced apart the vines that wrapped itself around his fallen soldier.

“General Gravion!” The soldier quickly rose to his feet, relieved that he was saved.

“Move! This is no time to dawdle!”

“Yes, sir!”

Both of them retreated backward from the thorny vines that continued to entangle its enemy relentlessly.

General Gravion pushed his horse forward towards oncoming danger to help his soldiers free. His sword flashed around him wildly, cutting down as many vines as possible. “Damn it, where are the magicians when we need it?!”

“General!” An arrow cuts through the air and lodges itself into a vine that crept up from behind. Luckily for him, the archer was able to pin the vine before it latched onto the horse’s leg. “Please pull back! Your life is important!”

“My life is equivalent to my soldiers. I am no better. Quickly help the others and help them fall back!” General Gravion spurred his horse forward and continued to help as many of his soldiers escaped. He was like a beacon that sparked the soldiers to rally together to help their comrades.

I couldn’t help but watch with fascination at the power of defensive magic. The living carnivorous plant kept on eating and eating until their white petals were scarlet. When one was wholly dyed in red, the leaves shuddered and died. A large bulbous seed burst out from the flower, spilling onto the ground. A humanoid plant creature stood up from its sticky cocoon. The same white and red color petals and design glowed on its green body.

A hauntingly beautiful face opened up from the plant creature as it beamed up at the humans with a smile.

“A-A-A Blood Dryad!” Someone screamed out in horror.

The Dryad raised its hand and pierced the man in his guts, retracting its arm the Dryad munched on its intestine. More and more Blood Dryad blossomed out from the flowers, creating a small deadly force that decimated hundreds of soldiers before them.

Every time a piece of the Dryad’s body was cut, a new one grew. This was the worst nightmare for the soldiers that were on the ground. They never expected such an abomination to appear before them that ate their kind. Everyone knew that the Forgotten Forest was filled with monsters, but nobody knew much about it, especially to hear about the Blood Dryad that's been heard in horror stories.

Fear filled everyone's heart the moment they stepped into the Forgotten Forest. What was unexpected was the swarm of high-level monsters that seem to spring out of nowhere and dive back into the forest. Half of the army was mysteriously lulled into the Forgotten Forest, alarming General Gravion. He had initiated a retrieval task to find and save their lost comrades.

They stormed in for a quick retrieval, but who knew that they ended up in front of an outside wall entangled with vines. Luckily, an angel of death had visited them and guided them towards them here, telling them that the enemy was here. What awaited them was the bloodbath, while the Blood Dryads happily ate the fresh food that seemed to endlessly come at them.

“Quickly cut them down! Don’t let them regenerate!” General Gravion struck multiple times, causing the Blood Dryad's legs and arms to be cut off. The other soldiers came rushing in with pikes drawn as they impaled it.

With a shudder, the Blood Dryad wilted and died.

“This is it! Don’t be afraid! They're not immortal!”

The soldiers cheered in unison and started to work together to take down the Blood Dryad.

“Don’t let them kill the Dryads!” Seth shouted. “Aim and fire!”

Another volley of arrows flew up in the air and came pelting down. Some pierced through their open spots of the armor, while the others were deflected. Fire, Water, Earth, and Air arrow magic came raining down, piercing the heavy armor that the normal arrows could not.

We were able to eliminate about three thousand soldiers that unknowingly came upon the wall with the assistance of our magic and arrow. Not only that, but it also kept Raven and Crow back from entering our range and destroying our allies.

Even still, I could tell that they were still over forty thousand soldiers still waiting for their turn to siege our walls. My eyes scanned through the forest floor and saw many hidden underneath the trees.

The range of the vines still persisted in pushing forward, creeping towards the unsuspecting soldiers. Even though they had all retreated backward, the vines didn’t stop advancing. I didn’t know how far the vines could go and wished that it wouldn’t stop.

Glancing ahead, I saw the trees shake off in the distance as screams still spilled out from the forest. A sinister grin appeared on my face. I could tell that the cry was a good mile out. More and more Blood Dryads formed, continuing to suck away at the living. I was glad that I was upon this wall and not on the ground, fighting for my life against a carnivorous plant.

Seth fluidly took command of his mercenary and the common folks without much difficulty. I glanced towards him with admiration on how easily he took command of his group. They listened to every word that he said without question. Even our soldiers gaze up towards him in admiration.

I heard that Seth was seen quite favorably throughout the whole city. I was proud that they were someone like Seth fighting for the survival of our home.

“Silver Moonlight!” Raven’s voice cut through the air. She flew downwards with her hands burning black. With one slash, she cut through the vines as if they were nothing.

“Stop her!” Seth shouted. He threw a spear with all of his force, clipping her wings in one fell swoop.

Raven staggered and came crashing down onto the wall. Seth brought up his metal knuckle and rushed towards where Raven fell. He ran in full burst, appearing above her. A gust of wind picked up around Seth’s fist as his knuckle came crashing down towards Raven’s skull. Alarmed, Raven opened up her wings, and a powerful gust of wind shot out, stopping Seth’s attack in midair.

With a twirl of her body, she did a perfect whirlwind with her feet, sweeping Seth unexpectedly off his feet. Raven took this chance to dive forward and attempted to slit his throat with the small hidden knife that she had in her sleeves.

Seth blocked the knife from slitting his throat and dodged backward into a handspring. “Who are you?” He glared towards Raven, while his muscles tensed.

“None of your concern.” She haughtily replied.

“It actually is. What do you want with our city? Why are you attacking us?” He growled.

Raven raised up her finger and pointed towards my direction. “I want the monster that hides behind a false skin.”

“A monster? How dare you state such rude words toward our savior!”Seth angrily replied. He rushed forward and threw in a heavy punch, followed by a roundhouse kick.

Raven dodged it barely. Seth’s sharp kick left a cut on her skin, leaving behind a trail of blood. She raised up her hands and wiped it off.

“Great Magician Berry,” Raven called out towards me with a disgusted voice. “Why are you hiding behind these scums and fighting me in your true form!”

“Silence!” Seth attacked again, this time connecting his hit on Raven’s chest.

Raven flew across the wall and slid in a straight line. The soldiers on the wall rushed in to skewer her alive.

“Get away from her!”Seth yelled, warning the soldiers, but he was too late. Raven wing’s bristled, and a large amount of black feathers shot outward, cutting through the thick armor. Some had a couple of feathers stuck onto their bodies, others had their heads sliced off, while most of them had a large number of their legs or arms cut off.

“This is so pathetic.” Raven got up, unfazed by Seth’s attack. She brushed off the dirt on her clothes.

Seth gave out a mighty roar, causing the surrounding people to turn their heads towards him. The ground trembled from his voice, and his muscles bulged. His cat ears and tail pointed straight up like aboard. Powerful energy swirled around his body, he enhanced his body with body enhancement, giving him an extra boost of strength, defense, and speed.

His feet dug into the floor, leaving behind a large gash in the ground. Like a bullet, they sprung forward towards Raven, and once again, they exchanged furious blows. Seth had the upper hand in experience and technique, while Raven had sheer power. One could tell that Seth was tripping and making Raven stumble around like a fool, but every time Raven hits, the sound of something breaking could be heard.

All I could do was watch as the two furiously fought. They were both fighting on even grounds, fighting among each other. It was truly extraordinary to see how powerful Seth was as a Beast-kin. Even though he was considered number one Beast-kin in the city, it was still awe-inspiring. I knew I would do more harm to Seth than helping him. My level in martial arts and sword fighting was not on the expert level.

“Stand down, Grand Magician Berry! Let me take care of this!” Seth yelled towards me. I nodded, leaving my full trust in him. I turned back to what I was doing, shooting my arrows along with the archers.

General Gravion was able to pull back his army a bit further away from the wall. Our arrows were now unable to reach towards them as much as possible, and the only one that was causing any damage was the Blood Dryads and magicians.

“Cease fire!”I yelled. I didn’t want the Soldiers to waste their arrows anymore and instead save it for the next attack. Lifting up my wrist, I checked the time. This simple but rough shaped watch was one of my newest designs using magic stone that I had made at the last minute. I counted down the time to make sure when the defensive magic would end. So far, we had less than twenty minutes before it expired.

From my calculation, we probably cut down at least ten thousand soldiers from the first hour. This wasn’t as bad as I hoped.

From the left, a loud crashing sound could be heard. The trees broke apart as streams of soldiers escaping could be seen, running away from a giant furry ape looking monster. I knew that the ape was not one of my own, but a residence of the Forgotten Forest.

“Quickly, regroup!” Hundreds of soldiers fleeing for their lives, changed direction as the squad leader called, directed the flow and regrouped around the giant ape.

“Gah!”

“What the heck?”

Soldiers were being picked off by the vines and dragged towards the bloodied flower. More and more screams of horror could be heard, while the giant ape bulldozed through the soldiers with its massive set of arms, knocking them back, while the vines snuck upon them.

It didn’t take long for the flower to blossom another Bloody Dryad. The Dryad came hungrily over towards the group. With a thumping of giant ape chest, it roared at the Blood Dryad in anger. Seeing a powerful opponent in front of him, it changed its target towards the Blood Dryad.

When I saw this, I gritted my teeth. An unsuspecting variable had appeared before us. It was now the ape who was attacking the Blood Dryad. I knew that this could go bad if it goes around killing the Blood Dryad.

“Quickly! Change your aim towards the Giant Ape!” I yelled. “Don’t let the Blood Dryad die!” I ran past the soldiers and got into a more favorable position.

It was a complete three-way slugfest between the Ape, Blood Dryad, and the humans. The humans took this chance to counter against the Giant Ape first because it was more of a nuisance from its powerful, stunning effect from its roar. It took a while for the soldiers to unfreeze and retaliate back.

This time, I wrapped multiple magic stones around the arrows in a hurry. Tightening it as best as I can, I raised up my bow and took a steady aim. With a twang, the arrow flew across the sky. Firing another right behind it, I yelled. “Activate!”

Boom!

Crackle!

Bzzzt-!

The cacophony of magic all simultaneously went off at once, creating quite a spectacular magic show.

The Giant ape was stunned temporarily, giving the Blood Dryad a chance to strike with its arm that had warped into a spear. A large gaping hole appeared in its chest, leaving behind a dead ape. Transforming its hands, it shifted and changed into an alligator jaw, completely swallowing it up in multiple bites.

Soldiers who were once fighting with the Blood Dryad shifted their aim at it instead, but before they could even kill it, arrows flew downwards and pierced them. The Blood Dryad took this chance to gobble up the injured soldiers completely, cleaning out the remaining squads that survived.

“It makes me shudder every time I see the Dryad eat them up.” The archer right next to me voiced his opinion in a shudder.

“Yea. I am glad that we have that monster’s on our side.” Another archer spoke with a nod. “Without these Identity Cards, who knows what would’ve happened if we were down there.” Patting his chest where his pocket laid, he stared down towards the Blood Dryad with relief.

It finally hit me. I completely forgot that the people were issued two kinds of Identity Cards embedded with magic that Duke Jeremy has. The Identity cards are unique cards made from the magic inside my castle. A piece of the Eternal Flame that sleeps in the middle of the castle was brought to the Town Hall.

The Eternal Flame isn’t like any other fire, supposedly it never has gone out and can record information. Especially in controlling the magic around the city. Sending out a small flame towards the City Hall was to deviate the people from entering into the castle and hiding the main fire from everyone else. Coco stated that the Eternal Flame was like the heart of the city, and I needed to take care of it well.

Plus, every time someone new comes into the city, a temporary card is created the moment they pass through the gates. From the Eternal Flame’s fire, an origami bird appears and flies towards them. It will then magically unfold itself, absorbing their signature energy as it turns into a flat card.

The neat thing about the temporary card was that it has a countdown, issuing how long they could stay. It’s always a month. When the month passes, the card will change into a red color, bursting into a flaming bird as it flies up into the air, marking the person as ineligible to stay for too long.

That person wouldn’t be able to trade or live in the city any longer, and they would have to go to the nearest Civil Building to renew for another month or apply for citizenship. If three days pass without any change, the card will alert Duke Jeremy and his guards to find them.

The soldiers will arrive and ask the person if they want to stay longer or apply for citizenship. If they don’t apply, the person will be forcefully kicked out of the city. One of its benefits of the temporary card was that it also has a “safe” feature, in which it tells the Main Eternal Flames that they are someone not to harm, especially getting eaten by the plant defensive magic.

It has become a solid rule that one needs to keep their ID on them at all times because, without it, getting ‘eaten’ by the plant was very high. No one wanted to take that chance. Also, the card's main feature was that it would show the owner the safest way through the Forgotten Forest without getting lost or eaten by a monster.

Luckily, the citizenship card can only be used by the individual, so it becomes pointless if another has it. Not only that, both cards have a ‘safety’ features imbued on the card itself, where the moment ‘murder’ is committed the card is flagged down and informs the local army.

Murder inside the city wall is an all-time low, one does happen a couple of times a year, but they are quickly dealt with even then. How could I forget such a simple solution that was right in front of my nose? Maybe it’s because I don’t have an ID card nor need one, so it didn’t matter.

So far, nobody had questioned me about one, during my whole stay inside the city walls.

Plus, without my consent, living inside the city without my knowledge was impossible. This whole city was my space where no one could enter without an ID card, which could also be exploited by issuing out Temporary ID cards by the dozens. The problem lies in when the enemy soldiers pass the wall. The Eternal Flame has a few important jobs: one was to issue out the cards and create new IDs. Other than that, if it’s not turned off, then we have a serious problem.

The ID maker will continually make cards if the enemy soldier passes through the walls and enters the city, allowing them to be immune from magic unless they kill someone. Luckily right now, the ID doesn’t flag the citizens as murder when facing enemies outside the wall. Enemies attacking the city walls are automatically labeled as enemies and don't count, only when a citizen or a temporary citizen is killed inside the walls are a different story. I was already getting a headache just thinking about it.

I quickly ran down the stairs and towards the castle. My goal was the Eternal Flame at the castle, not the one at the City Hall. The reason is that the Eternal Flame in the City Hall can only do certain things. I knew that turning it off was impossible, but creating a new rule was not. The only problem was that I had to manually override such a rule. I felt stupid for not realizing this sooner. With frustration, I ran until I saw a man pulling on his horse.

“Sir! Let me borrow your horse for a bit! I promise to send it back!” I jumped up onto the horse, snatching the reins out of his hands. “I’m really sorry!”

Spurring the horse forward, we blazed through the open fields and eventually made it into the city. The distance to cover from the wall to even the Southern district's tip was no joke that lasted a while. Though cutting straight through the middle and going up through the northern district was done half the time.

Jumping off the horse, I ran into the castle. The doors automatically open, letting me through without much worry. Running past the lobby, the hundreds of rooms, the garden, and finally down a flight of stairs. I came upon a large, heavy door decorated with intricate design. No one was able to enter into this room except me, not even the maids.

With a groan, the doors shook open, letting me in. In the middle, the giant room was a bright blue and white fire that flickered powerfully with life. One could say that the Eternal Flame was a part of my heart and where magical energy freely connected to me. The closer I got, the more powerful and complete I felt. Even the blue flames became bigger, welcoming me back home.

Small fire origami birds were flying around the room. My instinct told me what I needed to do. I raised up my hands in front of the giant fire, connecting together with the flames and eventually, a numerous amount of rules and codes passed through my head. Everything made sense, and I knew what to do. I had to think about the new rule that needed to be inputted into the Eternal Flame.

The first was during massive invasions and war times that no new temporary IDs will be created. A second rule was not to allow any new cards given to possible legendary monster descendants without going through me first. Right now, I searched through the memory bank of all the citizens that were living here in the city.

“I found you,” I smirked. I eventually found Crow and Raven’s card and revoked their privilege to stay. This allowed them to be found, even if they were invisible. “Now that’s done.”

I pulled my hand away from the fire and rushed back out the castle ground. Hopped onto the horse and sped my way back towards the city wall. Missing a single moment of the war was bad enough; I wanted to stop the enemy from breaking through.

The streets were busy with people, rushing back and forth, getting the supplies ready as they sent it towards the front lines. Even the children were helping out during the wartime, doing miscellaneous tasks that they could handle.

“Berry!” Siva’s voice shouted as I rushed past.

I stalled the horse just in time before I completely blew past her. The horse reared and eventually calmed down.

“Siva?”

Siva rushed over. “Berry, please take this to my husband!” She had a charm in her hands.

I quickly took it from her. “Where is he?”

“He’s near the east wall.”

“Okay. Is there anything else?”

“None, please tell David to come back alive!” She worriedly stated. “You as well, my lady.”

“Thanks.”

The horse rushed forward into the crowded streets; the people split ways allowing us to run through. I knew what Siva had given me. It was a costly and rare necklace with a pure sapphire crystal in the middle. It cast a high-level magical barrier when the holder of life was on the line.

The effect lasted about five minutes before it needed to be recharged.

Having one of these cost a fortune and rivaled my high tier magic stones that I can create. I didn’t mind doing this errand. Seeing her happy brought delight into my heart. Still, it has been a long time since I saw David and his four friends.

I know that they have made quite a reputation in this city. Sun was the guild master of the Adventurer Guild, and Sara was the vice-captain. Anna worked in the treasury department, while Hiroto took the task of teaching the new Adventurers. Other than that, I honestly don’t know much about them.

I never really got the chance to even interact with them, nor had the need too. As a dragon who installed a blessing upon them, they were really not doing much to do with them. They never came back to talk with me or ask any kind of favor and kept to themselves.

Up in the sky, a streak of black light flew across towards where I was heading. At that moment, I knew who it was: Crow. I completely forgot about him still flying around in the air, causing disturbance to the illusion magic, but other than that, it seems that he left his sister.

Boom!

A loud explosion went off on the wall by Crow’s magical attack.

“Gah!” Screams of the Adventurers that occupied most of the east side were pushed back by the mighty blow from Crow, while many were killed. Flashes of light and magic could be seen going off from a distance.

“Damn it!” I cursed under my breath. Looking at my watch, I knew exactly what was happening. The time for the plant magic was completely over, and now it was charging for the next use.

The Adventurers were fighting among enemy soldiers on the wall at the same time Crow, casting his dark energy ball.

“Kaha!” Crow laughed with glee. “Die!”

More and more dark energy balls came crashing down, knocking people back. Some perished under the blazing inferno of Crow’s magic, while the others were skewered by the enemy soldiers.

I knew that the enemy would eventually climb up the wall and come into battle. I was at least relieved that the Eternal Flame was no longer spewing out any ID cards to the enemy. Even still, when one problem was over, another still took its place.

The horse jumped up onto the stairs. I didn’t care anymore and changed my right arm into dragon claws with white scales. Slashing downwards towards the enemy, I used that chance to kick the enemy off the wall.

While the horse continued to gallop up the stairs, I hacked and slashed any nearby enemies. Their armor was effortlessly cut through by my claws, making it easier for me to fight. I jumped off the horse and onto the enemies back. My left arm also changed into my dragon form, skewering the enemy with one hit.

I pushed forward, jumping, dodging, and even rolling out of harm’s way. Before me was David, Anna, Hiroto, Sun, and Sara in high-quality armor and swords, fighting against Crow head-to-head.

David slashed downwards from behind Crow, while Anna sent a fireball. Crow flapped his wings once, blowing out the fireball without much effort. He twisted around and stopped David’s sword attack. Instead, he broke the sword with his bare hands, and he kicked David in the guts.

“David!” Sara yelled in fear that he could be hurt. “Heal!” A soft green light surrounded David’s body, allowing him to recuperate.

Sun, Hiroto, and Anna simultaneously attacked. They pushed back Crow before he could even attempt to kill David. For a five-man team, they were doing great in keeping Crow back from taking the lead.

“Thanks.” David wobbled up, he glanced down at his broken sword and frowned. He cast aside his broken sword and pulled another one on his hip that he carried.

“David!” I shouted, cutting my way towards them. “Catch!” Throwing it over my head, it flew in a perfect arch.

David ran forward and jumped to catch the necklace that I threw at him, and when he opened his palm, he was surprised at what he had.

“Siva said to stay alive!” I yelled. I punched a soldier in the face, causing the soldier to be flung backward.

David nodded, and he wore the necklace around his neck. He then dashed forward to join his teammates in fending off Crow in a head-to-head battle.

When Crow saw me, he swiveled out of harm's way in the air. “Oh?! If it isn’t Berry.” He said with glee. “I got tired of waiting, and I was searching for you. You disappeared so suddenly from my sister. Instead, you left her with some beefed-up Beast-kin. I’m actually quite surprised that he can hold his own against my sister, but eventually, he’s going to die. You left him there to fend for yourself so you can live another day.”

“I believe in my comrades and right now. You shouldn’t worry about me, but them.” I pointed with my claws.

“Damn, monster die!” Sun swung forward and slashed against Crow’s back. A small line was able to cut through his leather armor and onto his skin. Crow was able to dodge out of harm's way before his wing could be cut off.

Crow throttled with delight. “You know they’re not half bad. I did hear about the Fearsome five from the Adventurer’s guild, though it’s slightly disappointing.

“We'll see about that,” David growled. “Silver Slash!” A crescent moon energy attack flew towards Crow, clipping a bit of his feathers.

“Fireball!” Anna yelled. A fireball flew from her wand and into Crow. Crow again brushed it aside, but he didn’t see Sun or Hiroto attacking simultaneously.

“Wolf’s Fang!” Sun rushed forward and lunged in a powerful attack.

“Tiger Claw!” Hiroto did the same thing from the opposite side as they both crisscrossed each other.

Their attack landed, causing a large gaping wound to appear on Crow’s chest.

“Y-you actually harmed me,” Crow stated in disbelief. He then started to chuckle and burst into a full laugh. “This is awesome!” A burning rage of power burst forth from his body. Black armor wrapped around him from head to toe at the same time healing his wounds.

The five carefully watched with weary, wondering what Crow would do next.

“Let’s play.” Crow cried out in glee. He flew towards them in a blink of an eye, knocking them out one-by-one. It wasn’t until David stalled Crow’s attack and bounced him backward.

“Group Heal!” Sara cried out; she cast out multiple lights around her group, healing them from the wound that Crow has created.

“Leave Berry! We’ll take care of this brat!” David shouted.

“I’ll leave him to you!” I shouted back and turned towards the Forgotten Forest. I knew that the five could hold their grounds against Crow, and it was better not to be caught up in their fight. The problem was the number of enemy soldiers who were still out there that needed to be pushed back.

Thousands of soldiers were climbing up on the wall. Every time our soldiers pushed back, another three to four took their place, making it difficult to fight back. Our forces were quickly dwindling. I could tell that they were still over 30,000 more out there ready to storm up the walls.

I knew that staying up on the walls was not going to cut it any longer. There was only one thing to do: fight. Jumping off the wall, I slid down the vines and made my way down.

Upon landing on all four, I blew out a torrent of fire at the enemy in front of me. They frantically ran away, trying not to get doused in flames, but most of them couldn’t escape.

Arrows came flying towards my direction, I raised up my hand to deflect the arrows. I didn’t need to keep my powers in check. There were no allies around me that I needed to worry about, so my control over my magical power was no longer needed.

The arrows harmlessly bounced off my scales, leaving quite a bit stunned.

“Is that all you got?!” My eyes glowed dangerously red and had changed into serpentine slits. The soldiers that were nearest to me stepped back in fear at the unusual appearance that I had. Anyone who had seen me right now would’ve thought that my form was strange, but my allies were too busy staying alive to care.

“Kill the monster!” The soldiers were scrambling around, trying to get a hit in.

I didn’t let them and instead blew fire in front of me. My claws shredded through bodies, and I even willed my tail to appear behind me.

Every time I turned, I would use my tail to strike them or trip them. Sometimes even using it to curl around it to flung them away. A sickening thud could be heard from behind the metal armor. More arrows flew downwards from the sky, and I didn’t have time to cast a magical barrier. I hardened my skin as white scales decorated my whole body. Underneath the sunlight, the scales glistened like snow.

The arrows bounced off my skin, and I even snapped at some from the air in half. I rushed forward, bulldozing my way through. Each slash cut through countless bodies, the ground broke apart, causing the soldiers to slip and fall. This gave me a chance to dispatch more around me, exterminating a hundred by myself.

Just as quickly as soldiers fell from my claws, five more took their place, making it a bit more challenging to deal with. I pushed, destroyed, blew fire, slashed, jumped, and dodged as best as possible.

My legs started to shift into dragon feet, but I was still in my human form. Horns began to appear out of my forehead, making me look diabolic. The sudden change gave me an extra boost of speed, allowing me to cut through the soldiers faster.

“A demon!” The soldiers cried out in fear. Some started to run the other way but were stopped by their general’s call.

“Fight! We will stop the demon here!” General Gravion was on a horse, pointing his sword at me.

The word demon actually stung. It did more damage to my heart than the soldier’s sword. I frowned at their words.

“Demon?” I unconsciously spoke out loud. “I’m not a demon.”

“Shut up, demon! Go back to oblivion where you came from!” General Gravion roared. The soldiers pushed forward and surrounded me on all sides. The archers pulled back their arrows and fired.

Fine. I’ll show them demons. My heart twisted in anger at their words. Squinting towards them, I inhaled a deep breath.

A roar erupted out of my mouth, and they froze in complete fear. Even the allies on the wall temporarily stopped to look down towards me. Everyone felt it, the power of my draconic self.

“Fine,” I grumbled to myself. “A demon I shall be!” I roared again, spitting fire.