Edward saw the state the royal knights were in, and he exchanged a glance with Ignis and Adotinus. “We can’t continue like this. We barely left our hideout and already we have dead and heavily injured among the guards,” he told them.

“We can still go on! For the emperor!” said one of the guards who had been relatively spared from injuries.

Ignis sighed. “I’m sorry but Edward is right. Some of you may be fit for battle, but we will only encounter monsters at or above the predator level. You won’t be of much help. Besides, the injured will need your strength, they need protection and we can’t forsake them. It is for the best if you retreat. Go to Sorrente, deliver them the news of what happened here, and let them know that their emperor is still alive and fighting.”

The guard thumped his chest. “Your wish is our command!”

“Let’s accompany them to the outskirts. We are in Pescara’s center, and the streets are teeming with monsters. In their state I doubt they will even be able to leave the capital,” Adotinus added.

Thus, the group marched to leave the city, placing the wounded royal knights in the center of their formation. With such a large group of people, they weren’t exactly discreet, and even while they were able to monitor the surroundings with their aura, they couldn’t avoid all of the monsters.

While they left a street that led to an open plaza, a group of flying monsters spotted them. It was a flock of flying eyes with a bigger specimen accompanying them, small tentacles rested under them and their flight appeared to be magical in nature. As soon as the monsters saw them, they fired a volley of energy beams from their eyes.

Edward avoided the attacks easily, the missing beams digging holes in the ground. He shot a cloud of aura needles at them, for such weak enemies, numerous small attacks were more effective than a single big one. Two-thirds of the monster flock was killed with this one attack. A blue spear of fire left from Edward’s left and impaled the bigger eye, making it fall from the sky, its corpse burning on the ground. Bolts of lightning finished the last surviving ones.

After that panther I was expecting stronger enemies, I guess they vary greatly in strength. For those flying eyes, even the royal knights could have dealt with them.

However, no sooner had they dealt with them that they sensed movements from the monsters a few streets away. Several packs of them were coming their way. From what Edward’s aura was telling him they were the same kind of flying eyes, except other monsters were following them as well.

Of course, it would have been too simple. It seems they can communicate among themselves. Or are they a single entity in the first place?

“Accelerate! We have to leave right now!” Ignis urged them, it seemed he had sensed the same thing as Edward.

Very quickly it became apparent that they wouldn’t be able to escape their pursuers. The injured ones were slowing them down, and it was hard to outrun flying enemies while running through streets that weren’t always straight lines. We won’t be able to make it like this. Someone has to hold the rear. Edward sensed the enemies closing on them from behind while the path forward wasn’t clear either.

“I’ll hold them back at the rear!! Ignis and Adotinus you open the way! Don’t worry about me I’ll catch up to you.” Edward shouted.

In terms of displacement speed, Edward was unmatched thanks to his teleportation, he was the most suited to delay enemies at the rear. As for Adotinus and Ignis, they had good offensive powers and would be able to open a way for the group.

Edward didn’t wait for the enemies to catch up to him, and he took the initiative. He teleported in midair right in front of a flying eyes flock and he sprayed them with aura needles before they could react, decimating their group. This immediately draw the attention of the monsters that had been following them.

Tentacles from a giant snail thrust at him, Edward deflected the blows while letting the force push him backward. He wanted the monsters’ attention and he got it. Two Manticores were flying swiftly toward him while a five-meter-tall cyclops was picking up a car-sized stone from the wreckage to throw at him. A group of centipedes was roaming on the street below but they had no way to reach him, they would have normally continued forward to pursue their prey, except that they had lost the flying eyes guiding them.

With so many strong monsters in the same place, it will be hard for me to absorb their essence. It’s better to delay them for now, I can come back later to kill them one by one.

Edward formed clones leaving in different directions, confusing the monsters, unsure of which they should pursue. They made different choices and small groups of monsters separated to follow the different clones. This left Edward alone with only a Manticore and a group of centipedes to deal with.

Perfect. “Rèng khwāmrĕw”, he used his acceleration. In a blur he had already reached the beast, drawing first blood. Manticores had strong firepower and tough bodies but they were far slower compared to Edward when he was in an accelerated state. Edward left a trail of cuts behind him as the Manticore was only hitting empty air, sending powerful blades of energy that only managed to damage the nearby buildings without reaching Edward.

Before long it fell to its death, Edward stabbing it right where he had inflicted a cut beforehand. With his main focus on this fight, his clones weren’t faring well, one after the other was extinguished. This didn’t bother Edward, they had only been distractions in the first place and had achieved their purpose. He quickly absorbed the Manticore’s essence before more monsters could reach him. It’s much better now that they don’t dissolve into mist anymore. Killing them feels much more useful and rewarding.

Edward turned around, the escaping royal knights and two patriarchs were still within his aura range spanning one kilometer away. Within two teleportations he was back to them. They had made good progress, Ignis was forming a firewall to prevent flanking from adjacent streets while Adotinus was physically pushing the strongest monsters away. As for the flying monsters, there were only flying eyes for now, and the royal knights were able to deal with them by themselves, sending aura blades that cut them in two.

They had left the city center and were now entering the suburbs, the initial monsters pursuing them from the back had lost their guides and had been delayed enough by Edward that they had lost the group’s trail. Now they only had to deal with the monsters in front of them and those on the sides that were fast enough to catch up to them. The giant snails were too slow and could only deliver passing attacks with their tentacles that Edward was able to deflect away. A Manticore caught up to them but Adotinus sent a thick bolt of lightning that made its muscles spasm, sending it crashing to the ground. It didn’t kill the monster but it stunned him long enough for them to escape in another street.

Now on the outskirts of the capital, the monster density thinned and it was easier to move around. They even had the leisure to stop and absorb the essence of the monsters they were slaying. In this region, the monsters they encountered were mostly centipedes which represented the most common type of monster. Stronger creatures like Manticores, giant snails, or even that six-legged panther were nowhere to be seen.

Finally, they reached the city walls, ironically, they were perfectly intact. The monsters had invaded through the mist which had easily bypassed the walls themselves, it was the center of the city that had been the most impacted while the outskirts were relatively spared. They circumvented the walls until they reached one of the city doors, they were already opened proof that some people had managed to escape.

“I hope ordinary citizens made it, and the opened doors are not a sign of that Potentia coward fleeing the fight,” Adotinus spit.

“What happened won’t be forgotten. Once this is over everyone will get what they deserved,” Ignis declared calmly, making Edward remember that the man next to him wasn’t only a Patriarch but also someone with considerable political power.

The royal knights were free to go and it was time to part ways. All the guards formed a line, drop to one knee, and proclaimed “LONG LIVE THE EMPIRE!!” with a single voice, before departing on their way.

“It’s impressive how much they trust you. I’m basically a legend within Gobéliard and yet nobody behaves like that toward me.” Edward told the emperor.

The corner of his lips curved upwards. “It is because you are relatively new. I have been alive for a long time. Their fathers were already serving under my orders. To them, I am living history.” Ignis explained.

He is that old?! He doesn’t appear to be judging from his appearance. Does increasing in level also slow aging? I have already reached the Patriarch stage and yet there are still so many things that are unknown to me.

“So, what do we do now?” Adotinus interrupted them. “Do we hunt those monsters now that they aren’t turning into mist anymore, or do we directly hunt for the monster responsible for all of this?”

Edward was indecisive. Hunting for monsters first will let us grow in strength and eliminate variables. The one responsible for all of this will be easier to deal with if we are able to focus wholeheartedly on him without getting distracted by his minions. Dealing with the monsters first is the safest choice.

But at the same time, he is the one responsible for setting those runes. He is not a mindless monster, giving him a respite means he will be able to do what he wants within that time and that could come back to bite us later.

Before they could answer they noticed that the fragmented rune in the sky started to glow. It extended all the way to the city outskirt, and it was actually less damaged in those parts of the city. The explosions that had been targeting it specifically happened right in the capital center. Here there were cracks within the design but it was mostly whole. The glow increased before stabilizing and they could see the material the runes were made of flow from one part to another and slowly repair the different cracks.

Ignis chuckled darkly. “That guy robbed us of a choice. We can’t let him do as he wishes. We don’t know exactly what those runes are doing but we at least know they are responsible for the mist. We have used up all of our bombs at disposition, we won’t be able to disperse the mist a second time. If we let him repair the runes it is game over for us.”