The dust was slowly swept away by the blowing wind, revealing the final result of the battle.
Seeing the giant body of the two-headed Ogre collapse lifelessly to the ground, the tension that had tightly bound The Gilded Falcons instantly faded. A sense of relief flooded their chests.
"Yay! We won!" Nita cheered joyously, her shrill voice piercing through the noise of the remaining battle around them.
Without caring for the monster blood staining the dirt, Nita ran across the explosion crater. She hugged Lorien from behind, resting her face against his back while exhaling a sigh of relief.
Near them, Barton laughed until his shoulders shook.
"Bwahaha! Not bad, not bad at all!" the giant-sized man exclaimed with satisfaction.
He removed his helmet, resting his massive body against his tower shield, which was now dented in many places. He exchanged glances with Klei, who was just walking toward him.
Klei snorted in amusement. He twirled his twin daggers skillfully before sheathing them at his waist, then wiped a splatter of blood off his cheek using the back of his hand.
The two laughed softly together—a signature laugh belonging to adventurers who had just returned victorious from battle.
In the rear lines, Aeliana slowly lowered her staff. Her heart, which had been racing all this time, began to beat normally.
Seeing her barrage of magic bear fruit in killing the leader of the monster wave, an innocent smile bloomed on her face once more. Despite the horror of the war surrounding her, for a moment, she felt proud to have become a true hero.
However, not everyone was swept away in that momentary euphoria.
Lorien Caldwell maintained his focus. His ambition was not yet fulfilled. He released Nita's embrace gently.
"It is not over yet," Lorien spoke loudly, demanding the full attention of his celebrating party.
Taking a step forward, Lorien raised his sword, pointing toward the left and right flanks where the four Gold-Tier adventurer parties were still fighting desperately to hold back the remaining Ogres.
"The hundreds of other monsters out there are not finished, and they have not retreated," Lorien instructed sharply. "We must immediately move back and help the others clear the rest of the battlefield. Wealden's victory rests in our hands today."
High above that battlefield, a small group had become silent spectators since the battle began.
Hidden perfectly behind a layer of thin clouds and the ability of [Tier S - Perfect Concealment], the three leaders of the Pioneer Guild oversaw every movement of the humans and monsters below.
Alphonse crossed his arms over his chest. His sharp eyes behind his monocle stared intently at Lorien, who was moving back toward the battlefield.
"Quite an impressive display of teamwork," Alphonse praised calmly. "Lorien Caldwell proved himself to be more than just a spoiled noble boy. He knows exactly how to maximize his troops' abilities to pierce the enemy waves efficiently and execute his primary target with precision."
Beside him, Vrischil snorted softly. her beautiful face showed no admiration or emotion whatsoever.
"The teamwork might be good, but as a whole, it was still an incredibly foolish act," Vrischil refuted without hesitation. "She threw away their greatest tactical advantage for nothing."
Vrischil raised her hand and pointed toward the land below.
"Look," She said in a flat tone.
First, Vrischil's index finger pointed at the piles of amateur adventurers' corpses, charred and torn apart by Goblins across the battlefield. Entirely meaningless deaths, which could have been avoided had they obeyed and remained sheltered inside the defensive walls.
Second, Vrischil shifted her pointing toward the Wealden city walls.
"The Wealden soldiers have just finished bringing out the Magic Cannons," Vrischil stated.
"If only the adventurers were inside the walls... that line of cannons should have been enough to kill that two-headed Ogre with extreme ease without needing to sacrifice a single life."
Hearing that discussion, Arcus, who had been hovering while crossing his arms over his chest all this time, snorted cynically.
He stared at Lorien's battle earlier with an incredibly bored gaze.
"What is so great about killing a bug like that?" Arcus sneered, underestimating the victory of the Platinum-rank adventurer party. "They even nearly died to a suicide explosion."
"If you let me go down there, I could crush both of that creature's skulls with my bare hands."
However, Arcus's arrogance received no response from his friend. Alphonse's facial expression turned serious.
Alphonse turned his body, scanning his surroundings in the air. "Do the two of you feel that?" he asked in a low tone.
Arcus instantly stopped sneering. His previously relaxed shoulders immediately grew vigilant. His right hand reflexively gripped the handle of the bow on his back tightly.
His eyes narrowed, scanning the air and the cloud layers around them.
"Yes, Alphonse," Arcus answered in a serious tone. "The battlefield down there is being watched by long-distance observation magic."
Hearing that confirmation, Vrischil immediately raised her hand. She channeled extra mana to ensure the invisible protective glow around them remained stable.
"You need not worry," Vrischil said, affirming their security guarantee. "Our presence is hidden perfectly."
Alphonse did not doubt Vrischil's expertise, but he required information regarding the party observing them. He turned to look at Arcus.
"Can you track the position of that observer, Arcus?" Alphonse ordered.
"Give me a few seconds."
Arcus's eyes emitted an eye-blindingly bright blue light as he activated [Sagittarius Eye].
He swept his entire visual radius from the sky. His vision pierced cloud layers, penetrated fog, and combed the shadows of the forest trees.
A few seconds later, Arcus shook his head with a furrowed brow.
"There is not a single enemy within my visual radius," Arcus reported, his tone of voice implying confusion regarding the limits of his range. "Whoever is using this observation magic... they are outside my field of vision. Extremely far from this place."
Before Alphonse could issue a follow-up instruction, Arcus suddenly gasped. His eyes widened again.
He stared toward the west—the direction completely opposite of the forest where the monster wave originated.
"Wait, Alphonse," Arcus cut in quickly, his tone instantly radiating a warning. "Someone is flying through the air toward this battlefield from the west. The speed is incredibly fast."
Arcus shifted his gaze quickly once more. This time, his long-distance vision focus locked onto the deepest shadows in the Forest.
"And look toward the forest over there," Arcus added. "That giant Gargoyle statue... it has finally started moving."
The euphoria of victory still lingered within The Gilded Falcons. Aeliana jogged, stepping over monster corpses to catch up with her friends moving toward the Gold-Tier adventurer lines.
Gripping her wooden staff, the Elf girl stared at her comrades' backs one by one.
She saw Nita running beside her, looking at Lorien with eyes full of admiration. On the other side, Barton ran gallantly, completely ignoring his dented tower shield.
Near Barton, Klei smirked casually, twirling his daggers nimbly between his fingers as if he had just finished a light warm-up.
And at the very front, Lorien Caldwell led their steps. His facial expression appeared serious, yet there was a faint smile of pride etched in the corner of his lips.
Seeing the warmth of that party, Aeliana truly did not understand why her mother in the Silverleaf Forest was so opposed to her leaving the forest and making friends with the human race.
Aren't they good people?
Aeliana's memories flashed back to the events a few days ago. She remembered how patiently and politely Lorien had coaxed her stubborn mother, convincing her parent to allow her to see the vast world.
She also remembered her meeting with Master Zareth Caldris at the dinner banquet; the old man she had just met for the first time immediately gave her a protective pendant and a Magic Bag filled with magic scrolls simply because he worried for her safety.
Is it simply because the lifespan of the Elf race is much longer, that we shouldn't get attached to and close with short-lived humans? Aeliana thought innocently.
WUUUSSHH!
Aeliana's daydream was instantly shattered. Her long ears twitched as she heard a sound far behind her, her body trembling as her instincts screamed the word danger.
Aeliana looked back. Her eyes instantly widened in horror.
Her heart felt as if it had stopped beating. Deep from within the forest, a black dot was enlarging rapidly.
It was a giant winged stone monster flying straight toward them. Its speed was terrifying. In the air right above the monster's wings, four giant fireballs churned fiercely.
Fear gripped Aeliana's chest, choking her until she could barely breathe. However, she forced herself to open her mouth and scream with all her might.
"Lorien! Behind us!" Aeliana shrieked, her voice cracking from terror.
At the front position, Lorien turned around. His calm face instantly went deathly pale upon seeing the monster's speed. Realizing the distance still provided them a small window of time, his instincts immediately took over.
There was no time to panic.
"Barton, hold it! Nita, assist Barton!" Lorien shouted with a firm voice.
Without hesitation, Barton spun his massive body and sprinted toward the rear, passing Aeliana's position. He intentionally placed himself away from the party, creating a safe distance so his comrades would not be affected by the initial impact.
Barton stomped his shoes into the dirt and lowered his stance. The veins in his neck bulged as he forced [Tier C - Strength Enhancement] beyond the maximum limits of his muscles.
From a distance, Nita cast [Tier 2 - Protection], enveloping the shield bearer's body with a protective glow of light.
The Gargoyle arrived like a storm of death. The monster did not slow down in the slightest, but instead directly swung its giant stone sword from the air toward Barton blocking its path.
The stone blade descended like a guillotine.
CRACK!
Barton's prideful tower shield was cleaved as if it were made of wood. Nita's protective light shattered and scattered.
Without even having the chance to offer a single resistance or scream, Barton's massive body collapsed to the ground, separated into two pieces. Fresh blood spurted heavily, soaking the earth.
Without caring for the corpse it had just cleaved, the Gargoyle raised one of its stone hands.
The four fireballs on its back shot outwards, spreading, flying through the air above Aeliana, and plummeting straight toward the four Gold-Tier adventurer parties in the distance.
BOOM!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Consecutive massive explosions shook the land. Giant pillars of fire swallowed those adventurer parties. Flesh melted and bones evaporated into ash instantly within those lethal flames.
At the front line of The Gilded Falcons, realizing the chasm of power difference that was impossible to bridge, Lorien's ambition faded.
"Run! Save yourselves!" Lorien ordered, his voice trembling.
However, Klei was rooted to the ground. His usually serious face contorted as his eyes locked onto Barton's body, now split in two. His sanity shattered seeing the comrade who had protected him for years die so gruesomely. His teeth ground together hard as he held back his fury.
"You bastard!" Klei roared, consumed by rage.
Ignoring the order to retreat, Klei dashed forward to confront the monster. His form melted into shadows, pushing [Tier C - Shadow Step] to its maximum limit.
"Klei, no! Fall back!" Lorien shouted in panic.
Without hesitation, Lorien drew his sword and sprinted after his reckless comrade, desperate to pull him back from the jaws of death.
"Lorien, no!" Nita screamed hysterically. She refused to retreat, lunging from the side to grip Lorien's arm in desperation. "Please! Run with me!"
Lorien didn't look back. With a rough motion born of his protective instinct, he shoved her backward with all his might. Nita was thrown off, tumbling across the hard dirt, out of the immediate kill zone.
Up ahead, Klei's shadow emerged perfectly in the blind spot at the monster's side.
[Tier C - Swift Blade]
With a furious roar, Klei swung his twin daggers at full speed, aiming for the joints of the Gargoyle's wings. However, the giant creature responded with an agility that defied reason.
The Gargoyle spun its stone body in a full rotation. Before Klei's daggers could even graze its wing, the giant sword swept horizontally in a brutal arc.
Slaash!
The air split. Klei's upper and lower torso were thrown in opposite directions, spilling his innards onto the dirt.
The momentum of the stone sword didn't stop. The giant blade continued its sweeping arc, now heading straight for Lorien, who had just arrived a single step behind Klei.
Realizing that lethal slash was right before his eyes, Lorien crossed his swords. He burned all his remaining mana.
[Tier C - Cross Parry]
Two crossed swords of light formed in the air, clashing violently with the giant stone blade.
CLANG!
The collision was deafening. Cracks spread rapidly across Lorien's swords of light before they finally shattered to pieces. His sword broke.
The pushing force from the swing of the giant sword was unstoppable. Lorien tried to leap backward at the last second, but the blunt impact from the flat side of the stone blade still landed squarely on his chest.
CRACK!
His ribcage crushed inward. Lorien's body was launched far into the air like a dry leaf swept by a storm. He flew backward rapidly and landed with a loud thud, just a few paces from the position where Nita had just fallen.
Lorien was dragged across the dirt, then fell completely still. Silence. There was no breath remaining. His eyes were wide open, staring blankly at the gray sky.
Seeing the man she admired destroyed right in front of her, Nita's sanity snapped.
"Lorien! No... no!" she shrieked agonizingly.
Nita crawled desperately toward Lorien's body. Her trembling hands reached for the man's shoulders, ignoring the blood staining her palms.
"Lorien! Please, hold on!" she sobbed pitifully. Tears flowed heavily, wetting her face.
With her remaining energy, Nita raised her staff. [Tier 3 - Heal]
Sacred golden-white light glowed brightly, wrapping around Lorien's lethal wounds. The magic slowly knitted the torn flesh together, yet the man's eyes remained unblinking. No matter how beautiful the light was, it could not call back a soul that had departed.
Nita continued to cast her spell endlessly while sobbing, becoming the single small source of illumination amidst despair.
In the distance, the giant Gargoyle possessed absolutely no empathy for those cries. The monster flapped its wings and hovered up into the air.
The sun was suddenly eclipsed by a shadow.
The Gargoyle plunged down like a meteor from the sky, dropping itself right on top of Lorien and the wailing Nita.
With a heavy rumbling sound, the giant's two feet stomped on their bodies simultaneously. The wet sound of crushed flesh and bone blended sickeningly. That stomp crushed them both into formless meat paste, leaving a puddle of blood seeping into the dirt.
From her standing position in the rear lines, Aeliana had been a silent witness to that horrifying sequence of events.
The Elf girl's brain stopped processing reality. The Gilded Falcons—the formidable adventurers who had just protected her and laughed with her—were now erased without a trace.
Her body was completely paralyzed by terror. Aeliana fell to her knees. Her staff slipped from her grasp. Her face went deathly pale, staring blankly at the puddle of blood and bone fragments in the distance.
Then, a giant shadow once again enveloped the ground where she stood.
The Gargoyle had landed right in front of her.
There was no sound from the monster. No growl of anger. The stone creature merely stared at Aeliana in silence with the cold glow of its purple eyes.
Without mercy, the Gargoyle raised its giant stone sword high, cleaving the air, and then slashed it downward.