As he stared at the mayhem unfolding before his eyes, Elvin had never been happier to see this wyvern!
"Hahahaha, feel the wrath of the mighty Doombringer," Elvin laughed heartily as he heard the painful shrieks of the beast, which sounded very pleasing to hear now.
Similarly, even the Awakened on the walls had wide eyes as soon as they set their gaze on Doombringer's massive form. With such terrifying creatures on their side, the situation didn't look so bleak anymore.
"Hahahaha! Kill all of them!" one of them shouted and immediately notched an arrow, firing at the beast.
He was not the only one; the others followed as well. Surprisingly, even their aim had become perfect.
As Elvin saw this, he couldn't help but feel a surge of anger! When all hope was lost, they were shaking in their boots and making terrible shots. Then suddenly, when they were winning, their aim became perfect.
Simply put, They were useless when things got tough. Now that Doombringer's here, they act like heroes. He clenched his fists. In battle, these people were very unreliable. Shaking his head, Elvin redirected his gaze to the distance.
There, Doombringer was continuing to breathe fire on the beasts like an evil tyrant terrorizing a village. The wyvern's flaming breath was incredibly powerful! Upon contact, it obliterated two or more beasts at once. The only proof they once existed was the ash and beast cores left in the wake of destruction.
Elvin's gaze swept back to Doombringer. For a moment, he thought he saw the wyvern stagger slightly, as if thrown off balance, but he dismissed it without much thought.
Gradually, the ranks of the beasts were reducing at such an alarming pace that it frightened Elvin slightly. For a split moment, he even thought he was experiencing some sort of hallucination, that perhaps this was just a near-death vision brought on by exhaustion and terror—but the smell of burnt flesh was vivid, eradicating all doubts from his mind.
Inside Cromwell Barony, Eve Manor.
On the top floor, Skully, the Scourge Ant Queen, and the Ant King were watching the one-sided massacre.
"I guess our help will no longer be needed," Skully said. "That overgrown lizard is here."
The Ant Queen didn't respond, her yellow eyes simply fixed on the wyvern outside, her antennae twitching.
'Hmmm, why does it look a bit strange?' the Ant Queen thought absentmindedly. She could sense that something was wrong with the beast; however, no matter how hard she looked, she couldn't seem to pinpoint what it was.
The Ant Queen wanted to ask her mate and the skeleton butler if they found anything weird, but she decided against it, thinking she was just being too paranoid.
Similarly, to the Armstrong Duchy, the streets of the Cromwell Barony were void of any life as everyone was indoors. The citizens were trembling and shaking inwardly, praying for the Awakened to emerge victorious in this fight. From time to time, reddish figures would dash past the road, leaving a red trail in their wake.
Of course, these reddish figures were the Ant Queen's special force. Because of the limited Awakened present in the barony at the moment, some parts of the walls were not properly guarded.
These reddish figures dashed past, heading straight for the unguarded sections of the walls. Their only objective was to fortify any weak spots where beasts might break through, and so far, they had eliminated a handful of such monsters.
Outside the walls, while Doombringer was carving fiery lines through the beast horde, a certain figure carrying a young boy in a princess carry materialized in the air.
'So this is where you came to,' Nathan thought with a soft smile on his face as he gradually descended.
"Look, isn't that the Baron?" a soldier suddenly cried out, pointing at the sky.
"Yes, it's truly him...but I thought he was back with the beasts."
Hearing the loud whispers of the guards behind him, Elvin also glanced up and saw Nathan coming his way.
"It seems we were not the only ones attacked?" Elvin asked bitterly as he saw his friend.
Nathan landed on the solid ground with a low thud, gently putting down Cole, who breathed a sigh of relief. He then turned to Elvin and said in a solemn voice:
"Yes...the entire region is now overrun by these stupid low-life beasts," Nathan cursed.
"Damn it, the same thing that happened in the southern region."
"Yes." Nathan's face grew slightly dark as he added, "But more."
"What do you mean there are more?" Elvin asked, his eyes narrowing.
"While I was coming back, I saw thousands of these beasts charging from the hills and valleys!" Nathan spoke, frustration evident on his face. "It's as if these damned beasts have come from every nook and cranny of the western region."
"Then...this is just the first wave. Shit!" Elvin rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on.
"What's the current situation?" Calming himself, Nathan asked afterward, his eyes sweeping across the battlefield and the walls, seeing that no damage had been made.
He had arrived just in time.
"Everything is fine for now," Elvin said. "But if Doombringer had arrived any later, the walls would have been breached."
"Was it really that bad?" Nathan whispered as he stared at the massive wyvern. If someone like Elvin, a war veteran, was saying so, then it was very bad. He couldn't even begin to imagine what would have happened—the countless lives that would have been lost.
At that moment, the powerful wyvern obliterated the last of the beasts and began to head toward Nathan.
Inside Cromwell Barony, Skully continued to watch with a grim sense of satisfaction.
"It seems you no longer need to worry about revealing your forces to the others." He muttered, a dry chuckle escaping his bony frame. He shifted his gaze to the ant queen.
One of the reasons they had not acted was because of this! How would they convince the people of the barony that they were on their side? The only one able to communicate and understand beasts was Nox.
The Ant King nodded and said in a voice filled with disdain and contempt, "It's for the better...who knows what these puny, disgusting humans would do if they saw our forces."
Skully only spared the Ant King a glance before looking away. He had long learned that the black humanoid ant had some terrible history with humans and disliked them with a passion. The only one he seemed to like was a certain pipsqueak Skully hadn't seen for years now.
As he thought about that silly boy, Skully soon noticed the Ant Queen's intense gaze. She seemed lost, as if deep in thought.
'Something is off,' the Ant Queen thought; at first, she hadn't thought much of it, but the more she watched Doombringer, the more uneasy she felt.
The wyvern's movements seemed...off. For a creature of its size, Doombringer was moving erratically, as if struggling with some unseen force. And its eyes—glowing with an unusual intensity—almost seemed to lack the clarity and purpose she would have expected from a beast of its caliber.
"Skully, are you noticing anything...strange about Doombringer?" she finally asked, keeping her voice low.
Skully tilted his head, taking a closer look. After some time, he noticed it as well. "Now that you mention it…" He trailed off, studying the wyvern's movements. "It's almost as if the lizard is fighting…something inside?"
"Exactly," the Ant Queen said, her antennae twitching in discomfort. Now that Skully had confirmed it, she became even more uneasy. She clenched her fist, pondering if she should warn the others or not. Nathan and the others had seen her before during the mock tournament, after all... The only people they should be scared of should be the others. But what if she was wrong and just being paranoid? Narrowing her eyes, she took one closer look at the wyvern. "It's as if..."
However, before she could investigate further, they witnessed a shocking sight.