Kirish's velocity scaled up to a staggering one hundred and fifty meters per second.
At this terrifying speed, his movements felt like a buzzing fly hovering persistently around a human.
Spotting another Manto Beast blocking his path, Kirish changed his tactics.
This time, he didn't go for an immediate kill. He simply paralyzed it with a swift strike and bypassed it.
Moving seamlessly down the avenue, he immobilized four Manto Beasts one after another.
However, doing this took an immense physical toll on him.
Every single strike he executed sent a torturous wave of pain through him, making his skin feel as if it was twisting and tearing apart.
In the end, he gathered all four paralyzed Manto Beasts into one spot and finished them off together.
But the heavy exertion caused his speed to drop drastically once again.
The moment the final Manto Beast gasped its last breath, the System interface flashed directly in front of his eyes.
["Congratulations! You have successfully obtained a Manto Beast Core. The choice is yours now. How do you wish to utilize it?"]
Kirish remembered the System's previous description—this core could suppress the severe side effects of the temporary medicines.
Weak and in pain, he immediately commanded the System to use it to heal his current condition.
Instantly, a crimson core vanished from the heart of the dead Manto Beast and appeared in the System inventory.
["System Note: I require certain medicinal herbs to refine this core into a proper remedy. Shall I proceed?"]
Kirish was in no condition to argue or barter with the greedy machine, so he simply nodded his head.
A soft light emanated from the System interface, and a small green pill materialized in his hand. He swallowed it without a second thought.
The efficacy of the medicine was incredibly fast.
Within a few seconds, the violent tugging in his veins began to subside, and the burning sensation cooled down to a bearable level.
Looking ahead, Kirish saw that there were still several Manto and Tatoa Beasts lurking in the distance. He had been fighting continuously for about eight minutes now, yet there was still no sign of the city's military backup or rescue teams arriving to save the citizens.
It was true that Kirish had originally jumped into this slaughter for his own selfish survival and profit. But looking around, he knew that if he fell here, the hundreds of innocent people trapped behind him would be mercilessly slaughtered.
Every single second he bought by standing his ground was saving human lives.
Therefore, despite the catastrophic heat that had already melted his cheap shoes—leaving the ground acting like a hot griddle trying to roast his bare feet—Kirish stood firm.
Fortunately, his newly advanced aura and dense Qi energy shielded him from being entirely consumed by this abnormal atmospheric heat.
Taking a deep breath, he braced his grip on the hilt. 'Let's do this one last time. Life or death!' Taking a final, desperate stance that bridged the gap between life and death, Kirish made his choice.
As a single bead of sweat rolled down his cheek and hit the boiling ground, Kirish charged straight toward the advancing Beast Tide.
This time, the Beast Tide wasn't coming in scattered waves. It moved as a singular, massive collective swarm, a chaotic stampede dragging each other forward and ruthlessly trampling the weaker monsters under their heavy hooves.
Kirish had only taken a few steps forward when suddenly, hundreds of blazing fire spikes erupted from his flank, tearing through the air and slamming violently into the frontline of the Beast Tide.
Kirish skidded to a halt, turning his head sharply toward the source of the attack.
Behind him, a fleet of heavily armored military vehicles was rapidly plowing through the blocked highway, aggressively ramming abandoned cars out of the way to clear a path.
Leading the vanguard were fierce Howling Beasts and armored cavalry riders.
At the absolute front of the convoy rode a massive white wolf. Astride the majestic beast stood a man clad in a pitch-black military mage uniform.
The sheer intensity of rage burning in his eyes made him look far more terrifying than the monstrous wolf beneath him.
In the sky above, massive bows made of pure fire materialized, raining down a continuous barrage of devastating flame spikes onto the larger variant monsters. Following closely behind, the rest of the mounted mages surged forward, bypassing Kirish to engage the horde.
While passing by, several military mages turned their eyes toward Kirish. Their expressions were filled with profound shock and deep respect for the lone cultivator who had held the line.
'Finally... backup is here,' Kirish thought, wiping the sweat from his brow as a profound wave of relief washed over him.
In that exact moment of relief, Kirish felt a violent tremor within his dantian. Another bottleneck was shattering. With a sudden internal explosion of energy, his cultivation forcibly broke through, thrusting him straight into Level 2.
However, the abrupt, violent surge of this breakthrough energy delivered a heavy physical backlash to his already exhausted body.
The shockwave launched him backward through the air, sending him hurtling toward the jagged metal of a scrapped car.
Completely drained, weakened, and lacking the reflexes to recover, Kirish had no way to dodge the impact.
'Even with all this power... I guess this life was short. But I'm glad I fought with everything I had,' Kirish thought grimly, tightly closing his eyes as he braced for the crash.
But the violent impact never came.
Instead, he felt a firm, controlled catch. Opening his eyes, Kirish realized someone had caught him mid-air right before he could smash into the wreckage.
It was the leading military mage who was commanding the vanguard convoy. The insignia on his black
uniform read:
[Captain Arjun Khanna]
Arjun looked down at the battered young man in his arms and spoke in a calm, grounding tone, ensuring his words reached Kirish's ears through the
chaos:
"Thank you for buying us precious time, for stepping forward, and for showing no fear in the face of death. You can rest now. Leave the rest to us."
Hearing those reassuring words, Kirish's mind finally relaxed. Knowing the danger had passed, his eyes drifted shut, and he plunged into absolute unconsciousness.
"Meena, take this boy to the hospital immediately!" Arjun barked, handing Kirish over to a female officer.
He knew Kirish's physical state was critical and required urgent medical intervention.
Meena pulled Kirish up onto her black wolf, gave a sharp nod, and wheeled her mount around.
Within a matter of seconds, they vanished from the intersection.
Meanwhile, the real counter-offensive began.
The entire lower district echoed with thunderous explosions as the military systematically tore through the vanguard, leaving behind a trail of shattered monster carcasses.
The two primary high-tier variants driving this disaster—the Dimon Hand and the Ant Queen—were successfully hunted down and terminated.
As the dust settled, the defensive Magic Array was successfully recalibrated and restored, allowing the authorities to calculate the grim casualties of the surprise breach.
Approximately fifteen thousand ordinary civilians and four thousand beasts lay dead across the sector. On the side of the defenders, despite their tactical response, one hundred and forty-five common mages and two powerful Level 4 mages lost their lives while locked in mortal combat against the Dimon Hand.
The attack had been meticulously timed to strike exactly when the Magic Array system was at its weakest, undergoing scheduled maintenance.
Preliminary investigations revealed a chilling reality: the confidential maintenance schedule had somehow been leaked directly into the hands of the highly intelligent Dimon Hand monster.
This disaster was no natural occurrence; it was the calculated conspiracy of a sinister underground organization, a shadow faction that built its dark reputation through these catastrophic acts of terror.
[To Be Continued...]