Above the crushed bedrock and dry ground, the air turned dangerously hot. Thorne and the other Mages completely abandoned their cautious pacing, so they pushed their Mana Cores to the absolute limit.
They pulled raw Mana from their chests to form dense energy in the empty air. While the veterans wove invisible Aura Threads through the dark trees to securely lock onto their targets, they ignited violent Aura Tails at the back of every single spell to push the payload forward. Lumina stood beside them, but she entirely ignored the threads, relying on pure calculation to fire her condensed magic straight into the chaos.
FWOOSH-BOOM!
Blue exhaust flared brightly, pushing the elemental magic straight into the upper back of the twenty-meter-tall monster. A storm of fireballs and heavy blocks of ice shot forward to strike the petrified wood.
KRR-CRACK-SHATTER!
Upon the heavy impact, four dark blurs shot across the forest. Vance, Korinn, Chris, and the other Thief did not wait for the armor to fully break. They vaulted directly onto the monster's middle body.
Normally, a Thief's Aura lacks the heavy weight, so their job during regular formations is to attack the exact spots the Mages and vanguard already damaged to conserve energy.
But this time was entirely different. They unleashed their full power, flooding their short blades with brilliant yellow light. The sharp steel bit deep into the timber, tearing through the hardened sludge and actually dealing heavy damage.
SHLICK-SHLACK!
They ripped their blades out and vanished into the gray fog before the giant wood could even snap back to crush them. They evaded the swinging vines, disappeared into the shadows, and stabbed relentlessly from new angles.
Down on the dry ground, the heavy vanguard formed a wall of iron. Kaelen and the Light Swordsmen swung their glowing weapons non-stop against the lower body of the Titan. They did not retreat behind shields to pace their stamina.
CLANG-THUD-CRACK!
They hacked fiercely like wild animals, so thick black sap sprayed all over their iron chestplates. They attacked the beast without a single pause.
At the rear of the chaotic battlefield, Nia stood firmly in the cold wind. The four Healers gripped their wooden staves and kept their eyes locked on the twisting formation. They scanned the entire field to find any bleeding flesh, ready to shoot warm green light without a single delay. They tracked the clock perfectly. One of their roles was to cast the required Flush spell every fifteen minutes, making sure the toxic air did not melt their comrades' lungs.
The towering beast groaned loudly under the brutal bombardment. It slowly twisted its heavy spine and turned around to face the Adventurers. But the humans did not fall back. They pushed their attacks even harder, swinging their weapons with wild, reckless strength.
The strict battle strategy from the last thirteen days completely dissolved into a messy, chaotic brawl. There was zero tactic left. The Mages rained explosives like a storm of artillery, while the melee fighters tore into the bark without mercy. They were not retreating.
With its Mana pool finally dropping below fifty percent, the Miasma-Titan changed its rhythm. For almost two weeks, the beast just sat perfectly still in its crater and relied on a swarm of Mud Crawlers to bite the intruders. It threw toxic sludge and swung its two huge arm logs because it was too lazy to move around.
GRRR-GROAAAN!
It stopped creating Mud Crawlers because it no longer needed cheap distractions to do the work. It became actively violent. The giant monster pulled its deep roots out of the soil and took a heavy, earth-shaking step forward. It used its own humongous body to attack, constantly moving across the whole battlefield.
To the Adventurers, the shift was entirely obvious. Kaelen wiped toxic black sap from his iron visor. He looked up at the towering shadow and a rough smirk cracked his dirty face.
"So you are finally taking this seriously," Kaelen shouted over the grinding timber.
He gripped the hilt of his broadsword and forced his dense Aura to flare. He attacked relentlessly, entirely refusing to back down from the advancing roots.
"Give everything!" Kaelen roared, his voice tearing through the toxic fog. "Let's kill this bastard!"
"UWOOOOH!"
The Adventurers screamed a deafening battle cry. They became incredibly fired up, throwing themselves right back into the meat grinder. Kaelen drove his broadsword straight into the Titan's descending knee.
---
It had already been an entire hour since the fierce battle against the Miasma-Titan erupted deep inside the dry forest. But far away from that chaotic frontline, a heavy silence settled over the edge of the Murkwater Swamp.
Eight unconscious Adventurers lay perfectly still on the damp ground. Celia was fast asleep among them. She rested quietly on the ground, and a big Tanker snored loudly on her left side. A huge, heavy iron Battle Axe lay discarded in the grass directly between Celia and the big man.
The murky water bubbled. Three wandering Mud Crawlers dragged themselves out of the swamp. The Miasma-Titan had created these beasts hours ago, so they were mindlessly hunting for an easy meal. The monsters hissed softly while they crept toward the eight helpless bodies.
They reached the unconscious Adventurers without stopping. The first Mud Crawler opened its ugly mouth to bite a sleeping Healer on the far left side. The second beast aimed its dripping fangs right at an unconscious Mage in the middle of the group. The target of the very last monster was the big Tanker sleeping right beside Celia.
The monsters lunged forward to take a bite.
10 centimeters.
5 centimeters.
3 centimeters.
2 centimeters.
1 centimeter.
SWISH-SHHHK!
A terrifying, blinding flash of movement violently shattered the quiet night.
The exact moment the monsters were closing in, the Healer on the far left barely woke up. Her vision was incredibly blurry. She could not see very well, but she witnessed something completely strange. She saw three monsters lunge downward, their jaws snapping at the them. A split second later, three distinct horizontal lines appeared across their scaly necks.
THUD-SPLAT!
The heads of the Mud Crawlers slid off their shoulders and hit the ground simultaneously.
The exhausted Healer tried to focus her eyes. She saw someone standing in the dark. Her sight remained fuzzy, but she knew the figure was definitely not a monster. The person stood silently while holding the heavy Battle Axe with a single hand.
"Yellow Green," the Healer muttered.
Her heavy eyelids dropped shut, and the Healer completely lost consciousness again.
The mysterious figure looked down at the huge iron weapon gripped tightly in her hand.
"Heavy," the mysterious figure whispered.
CLANG!
She simply dropped the heavy battle axe. The iron slammed onto the ground, and the mysterious figure instantly collapsed flat. She closed her eyes and fell right back to sleep.
---
In the Capital of Voragale, the cold night air carried a heavy sense of dread. The cobblestone streets were usually quiet at this hour, so the current noise outside felt entirely wrong.
From the second-story window of his cramped study, Ragnion looked down at the frantic citizens. People hurried past the glowing streetlamps with heavy wooden carts, while others desperately strapped leather saddles onto nervous horses. The local knight order had tripled their patrols. Armored men marched down the main avenues in tight formations to maintain order among the terrified crowd.
Everyone was simply waiting for the worst to happen.
If the raid team from the Imperial Capital of Vireldria failed, the entire country was doomed. Ragnion swallowed the dry lump in his throat. He was a Royal Scholar, so he understood the grim reality better than anyone.
He knew the local guards were currently stationed at the East Gate with strict orders. The very second those watchmen saw the Calamity-class monster breach the tree line, they would ring the giant bronze bell.
Once that alarm echoed across the city, the evacuation would begin. Every single citizen would run straight toward the West Gate to escape into the neighboring mountain range.
Ragnion had already packed three large leather bags with dry food, warm clothes, and his most valuable research notes. The bags sat near the front door, completely ready to be thrown onto a carriage at a moment's notice.
"Big brother."
Ragnion turned away from the window. His seven-year-old sister, Leifa, stood in the doorway of the study. She wore a thick woolen nightgown, but her small shoulders trembled violently. Despite her young age, she fully understood why their bags were packed and why the streets were so loud tonight.
"Is everything going to be alright?" Leifa asked, her voice cracking with fear.
He walked across the room and knelt down to her eye level. He hated lying to her, though he knew the truth would only make her cry. He needed a distraction.
"Everything will be fine, Leifa," Ragnion said softly. He forced a confident smile onto his tired face. "Even if the worst happens, we have nothing to worry about. I am very sure Thrudora will come and save us."
The instant he said that specific name, a wave of deep relief washed over the little girl's pale face. Her trembling completely stopped.
Leifa was a huge fan of the comic book series, and she genuinely believed the Great Wizard was a real person walking the earth. She trusted her hero would always arrive just in time to defeat the monsters.
Ragnion used this trick whenever Leifa panicked. When he was a little kid, he also believed the tales of Thrudora with all his heart. But as he grew older, he realized the stories were not real.
The original text storybook had concluded decades ago, but the comic book adaptation was still releasing new issues in the local markets to this very day.
"You really think she will come?" Leifa asked as she wiped a stray tear from her cheek.
"I know she will," Ragnion nodded. He grabbed her hand and led her toward the small wooden desk in the corner. "Why don't we read the newest volume while we wait?"
Leifa's eyes lit up. She hurried to the desk and pulled the thin, ink-smudged comic book from under a stack of blank parchment. She climbed onto the wooden chair, so Ragnion pulled up a stool to sit right beside her.
They opened the cover together. The pages showed Thrudora traveling across a high mountain pass, fighting off a swarm of winged beasts.
Leifa pointed eagerly at the drawings, completely forgetting the terrifying reality outside their walls. Ragnion read the dialogue bubbles aloud, altering his voice to mimic the different characters.
They read for almost an hour. The chaotic noise of the panicked city drifted through the glass window, but the small study felt warm and safe.
By the time they reached the final page of the volume, Leifa's head slowly drooped. Her breathing turned slow and steady. She slumped sideways, resting her head against Ragnion's arm as she fell fast asleep.
Ragnion closed the comic book and gently picked his sister up. He carried her across the hall, laid her down on the soft bed, and pulled a thick quilt up to her chin. He stared at her peaceful face for a long moment.
GONNNG!
Suddenly, the deafening, metallic toll of the giant bronze bell at the East Gate violently shattered the quiet night.