"Mr. Edman," Sai called out as he and nine others moved together in search of an old man named Edman.
Edman was a well-known commander in Anvil.
That day, he and his sons was helping to hunt some deers and animal preparing for the winter, so they left Anvil on Wednesday morning
However, Edman had been missing for an entire day, which raised suspicions in his wife, Samantha. She went to the military center on Thursday morning to report his disappearance.
Sai was the best person to rely on in such harsh conditions to search for Edman due to his abilities. He had excellent vision, even in dark places.
" Edman, if you can hear us," Sai called out as he moved.
One of the soldiers asked Sai, "This is strange sir, We've already moved away from the city. Do you think something might have happened to them?"
Sai, who was moving between the trees with one hand resting behind his back, replied, "I hope they're okay."
He paused for a moment before continuing, "Listen, I think we should split into three groups."
"Each group will consist of three people, I'll head east over the hills and the rest of you spread out between the west and the south ... but don't go too far."
"If anything happens, don't hesitate to retreat back to the city immediately."
"And you, Sadreth, return to the base and inform the other commanders of the positions we'll be taking—just in case the worst happens."
"At your command, sir," the soldiers responded, then quickly dispersed to intensify their search for Edman.
Sai's team, consisting of Ragnar and Sophie, moved toward the top of the hill.
This hill was never safe not because of Chaos creatures, but because of its rugged terrain.
As they advanced, Sophie caught the scent of blood nearby, she possessed a unique ability that allowed her to detect smells from great distances.
"Sir," Sophie said, "I smell blood ahead about 400 meters away."
Ragnar frowned. "Isn't that toward the slope at the end of the hill?"
Sai tensed slightly. "Let's head there but carefully."
Suddenly, they all froze when they saw the bodies of Edman and his three sons.
Their bodies were cut in half, their entrails spilling out in a gruesome and horrifying scene.
Ragnar dropped to his knees looking as he was about to vomit, then he examined the bodies. "My God… what happened here?"
Meanwhile, Sophie rushed toward the edge of the slope to see if the creature that had killed them was still there.
Sai's expression darkened "This doesn't look good, We need to go back and inform Morgan immediately."
Suddenly, Sai and Ragnar heard Sophie's hysterical scream and rushed toward her.
"What happened, Sophie? Are you alright?" Sai asked urgently.
Sophie pointed down toward the city below.
Sai and Ragnar followed her gesture, what they saw was pure madness… dozens ... no, hundreds of Golem creatures moving through the forest toward Anvil!
"What the hell !" Sai cursed as he lifted the terrified Sophie onto his shoulder.
Then he and Ragnar dashed down the hill at full speed.
"Sir," Ragnar said, "Surrin, Aryan, and Saru are searching in the direction of those creatures."
"We must leave them," Sai gritted his teeth. "Those creatures are already heading to the city ."
Sophie, still shaken but slowly regaining her composure, spoke in a trembling voice. "There's a powerful creature… no, a very powerful one leading them... Everyone is in danger!"
Sai looked at her sharply. "Did you catch its scent? Or anything like that?"
"No," Sophie gasped, "I couldn't smell it, but the lingering stench on the hill was enough to choke me."
Ragnar stopped and gently lowered Sophie to the ground. "Can you move on your own now?"
She nodded. "Yes… thank you."
"Run as fast as you can," Sai ordered, and they all ran as fast as they could.
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Meanwhile, Elena, who had been reading a book in her room, suddenly sensed the presence of Chaos creatures.
Without a second thought, she leapt from her bed and rushed toward the city, heading straight for the military base.
Morgan, who had also sensed the approaching creatures, had already set out with Anvil's fighters.
His eyes were dark and stern as he ordered the city's mercenary team, "Head south, inform all the cities you pass through, and tell them that a Demonic creature is approaching."
"A demonic creature ? Are you serious, sir?" the mercenaries asked in shock.
"Move quickly and stop wasting my fucking time," He handed them a message sealed with the city seal of Anvil.
The mercenary squads were the fastest on the continent. Every city in Marta had a number of mercenaries whose tasks included reconnaissance and delivering urgent messages.
The four-man mercenary team received the message and looked at Morgan anxiously "Stay safe..."
Then they moved with lightning speed out of the base and headed south.
Then Morgan grabbed his sword from the shelf that was in his office and went to the front gate, where he found Elena and some other leaders waiting.
"Morgan, did you sense it?" Elena asked anxiously.
"My instincts tells me it's a demonic creature," he replied.
"Demonic ... that's bad !" Elena muttered, annoyed and flustered.
"We need to evacuate the civilians. Move quickly knock on every door and warn everyone to flee," Morgan ordered the soldiers of the city.
Everyone moved quickly, and the news spread like wildfire through the city.
People rushed in panic toward the back gate, while the soldiers did their best to load the citizens onto carriages to leave the city.
"Don't push, please!"
"Ladies first, please!"
"Hey, don't push me, you old fool!"
The soldiers struggled to organize the civilians. The number of carriages was limited, and there wasn't enough space for everyone. Each horse-drawn wagon could barely carry five people.
And there were two million people in Anvil trying to escape every one of them in a state of panic !
One of the commanders sighed. "What madness…"
While the civilians tried desperately to flee, Elena and the other commanders put on their armor and prepared their equipment for the coming battle.
One anxious soldier asked, "How far away is that thing?"
At that moment, Sadreth returned to the city.
Shocked by what he saw, he asked, "What the hell is going on here?"
Morgan shouted at him, "Are you fucking blind? A demonic creature is approaching us right now!"
Sadreth replied in shock, "A demonic—? Commander, Sai and the others are still outside!"
Morgan spat angrily. "Fuck! Why the hell were you out there in the first place?"
Sadrith answered, staring at the seen in front of him, "We were searching for Edman…"
"fuck you Edman and your stupid timing!" Morgan cursed.
Elena interrupted them, saying, "The situation at the gate doesn't look good at all. The civilians are pushing the soldiers, and there are already many injuries."
Morgan shouted angrily, "What? Those bastards… I'll deal with it myself."
He headed toward the rear gate and climbed to the top of the watchtower.
Then he activated his unique ability called "Rising Thunder."
He swung his sword through the air, and a tremendous thunderous boom echoed across the area.
Morgan roared, "You fucking stray dogs! If you cause any more trouble, I'll kill you myself!"
The commander had just called the citizens of his own city a stray dogs.
In any other city, such words would have caused even more panic—but everyone in Anvil knew Morgan was crazy enough to carry out his threats so they all shut their mouth.
After all, his title was "The Thunder Hound."
Silence spread through the crowd as Morgan descended to continue directing the soldiers.
"Is that what you call handling them?" Elena sighed as she looked at him.
Morgan cursed under his breath. "Those bastards never give me a single peaceful day!"...
The Chaos creatures were rapidly approaching the city, while Sai ran at full speed, hoping to reach Anvil before them.
Meanwhile, Morgan and the other soldiers were preparing for battle.
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At the same time, about many kilometers away from Anvil, eleven Saints were moving fast among them Saruman and Leonard's team, which included Park, Lamar, and Orosawa, along with several other Awakened and teachers from Lucaria.
"It's too late," said one of the Saints, Victor, as he clasped his hands together.
Jennifer, another Saint, spoke with a smug face. "Yeah thanks to Leonard and his late information."
Park replied seriously, "Without that information, we wouldn't have known about the gate appearing in the first place."
Another Saint named Sumo asked, "How did Leonard predict that a gate would appear in Anvil?"
Orosawa laughed. "It's his ability. He can sense the appearance of powerful gates."
Lamar asked leonard as she was cleaning her scythe while running "So what is Saruman doing here, Leonard?"
Leonard, who was watching Saruman rushing ahead at a high speed far beyond everyone else replied, "My instincts told me that this gate was dangerous, and I couldn't find any available strong Saint than him these days."
"Besides, Lucaria is the closest to Anvil."
Lamar sighed. "So you're saying we're about to face a creature that requires eleven Saints… in addition to Saruman?"
Leonard smiled coldly "Yes…"