As soon as Nathan disappeared into the sky, countless terrifying roars echoed throughout the air, and the ground trembled as if an earthquake was about to occur.
Everyone's heads quickly jerked in that direction, and they saw the furious tide of monsters pouring out from several directions. Their aura smashed through everything in their path.
The air suddenly became suffocating, and a strong gust of wind howled throughout, signaling the advent of destruction upon the Cromwell Barony.
"The second wave!" Elvin's breath hitched as he saw the thousands of glowing red eyes locked on him.
"Over 10 King-tier beasts and hundreds of intermediate tiers," Elvin deduced with a grim look on his face. Even with the reinforcements, he didn't know if they could survive this. The tide approaching was several times larger and contained more powerful creatures than the horde they had encountered before leaving the barony.
Elvin tightened his grip on his bow as an arrow materialized in his grasp. As if knowing that something would occur one day, Elvin had stocked his spatial storage—accessible to all Awakened—with dozens of arrows.
In fact, it could be argued that the majority of his spatial storage was occupied by these arrows.
'This should be enough,' he thought, sweeping his gaze through the stash of arrows. Then his gaze fell on a slot containing three specially crafted arrows. These arrows were black with golden runes etched across them, and their tips gleamed softly with a blue light.
"I hope we won't have to use these," he muttered as he held his weapon. On the walls, the Awakened were tense, weapons at the ready. The fear they had displayed before Doombringer's arrival was gone.
Now their eyes were those of cold-blooded killing machines.
Beside Elvin stood Hans, Gordon, Serena, and a few brave Awakened.
Elvin's gaze lingered on Serena for a while. The little girl held her head high, her grip on her bow firm, her arrow carefully nocked, and her eyes burning with fierce determination.
"Is it okay for her to be here?" Elvin asked Hans. "I think it'd be better if she stays on the walls."
"No!" Serena voiced out. "I'm staying here, and I'll fight beside you. If I die here, then so be it... at least I died for a good cause. Nox would be proud of me."
Elvin looked at Gordon as if asking for his consent. The latter just shook his head with a helpless expression on his face.
But of course, Gordon wasn't planning on letting his daughter die here. He knew she was strong, but if things got out of hand, he'd make sure to get her off the battlefield.
The beasts closed the final 400 meters, and everyone became tense.
"Archers, aim!" an Awakened shouted at the top of his voice, and all the archers, including Serena, aimed their arrows skyward.
The sound of roars and howling wind grew louder.
Arms trembled, not out of fear but out of anticipation and the resolve to fight to the bitter end.
"Everyone, get rea—" Elvin was about to give the order to attack, but before he could finish his sentence, hundreds of reddish figures appeared on the battlefield.
"What are those?" The appearance of the reddish figures caused the intense desire to fight to die down instantly.
Due to their sudden arrival, a mini dust storm swirled through the air, shrouding the battlefield. The thick veil of dust made it hard for the Awakened to see the entities brimming with power. Their numbers were staggering, ranging from hundreds to thousands.
'Reddish figures...' Elvin and Hans simultaneously thought, their eyes widening in realization as they exchanged a glance.
"D-did they finally decide to show up?" Gordon's voice trembled, a hopeful gleam in his eyes.
At that moment, the dust storm settled.
Right in front of them stood the entire ant colony, their red-and-black scales gleaming dangerously under the sky. Their yellow eyes brimmed with hostility. Some hovered in the air, their mandibles dripping with poison, their wings emitting a disorienting buzzing sound.
Elvin sucked in a sharp breath, his hands trembling slightly as he tightened his grip on his bow. "So it's true," he whispered. "It was them all along… the beasts who've been protecting us."
Even Hans wore a complicated look in his eyes.
Atop the walls, the Awakened subconsciously loosened their grip on their weapons. From their position, they could clearly see that this new party was somehow on their side… because their hostility was directed at the beast horde.
"Can someone please tell me what the hell is happening?" one of the guards shouted, his voice filled with disbelief. "Are those creatures the ones who've been protecting us?"
An Awakened pointed with trembling hands. "It's very difficult to believe, but it seems so."
"Are you fucking kidding me... how is something even possible?"
Before anyone could answer, Serena's voice suddenly rang out: "Wait! I know her!" She pointed directly at the majestic, towering figure of the ant queen.
"You do?" Elvin and the others inquired, surprised.
"Yes... I do." She nodded firmly. "She was with Nox during the tournament."
As she said this, the beautiful ant queen turned gracefully toward Serena, displaying a warm smile that filled the air with gasps. That beautiful smile sent a wave of murmurs through the ranks of the Awakened and caused the men's faces to turn beet red with embarrassment, their hearts pounding for reasons they didn't fully understand.
"Serena is right," one of the Awakened muttered. "I remember her now... she was definitely with Nox."
Another chimed in: "If she's here, does this mean she's little Nox's pet as well? Are the others also—"
"Nox's pets?" The crowd was stunned silent, unwilling to believe that Nox had amassed an army of ants!
Seeing their doubts, the ant queen smiled and nodded at a tall figure dressed in an oversized black overcoat, a pair of green orbs gleaming where its eyes should have been.
The strange figure looked toward the Awakened and spoke in a booming voice:
"Fret not, humans!" the figure declared, its tone commanding yet oddly casual. "We are the private force of that pipe—I mean, young master Nox. We are the Scourge Colony!"