“You filthy bastards, disgusting, dirty beastmen! I swear I’ll kill every last one of you!!”
A young soldier roared in fury as he watched a little girl running toward him get hacked down by a beastman’s blade. Blood spilled across the ground, and rage overwhelmed him.
From the corner of his eye, he saw over a hundred beastmen flooding in from the other end of the street. His expression turned vicious.
“Kerry, fall back!! Those bastards have already taken the Sixteenth District, we have no reinforcements left!!”
A middle-aged warrior with shattered armor and a face smeared with black and red grime urgently pulled at the furious young man who was ready to charge into the enemy.
“No, Captain Kassel! I have to kill that damned mongrel, I swear it!!”
The young warrior’s black eyes were filled with blazing rage. Staring at a lone beastman on the far end of the street, he raised his cross-shaped longsword with both hands and charged in a fury.
He knew full well that this charge might be his last. But…
“For Risel City! Charge!!”
His tragic battle cry rang through the street.
In that moment, it felt as though all the city’s noise had been silenced.
Kerry could suddenly hear his own ragged breathing clearly, hear the pounding of his heart, thump-thump, thump-thump.
Huff, huff~
He entered a unique state, nothing else mattered anymore. In his eyes, there was only that damned beastman.
Ten blades. Seven. Three.
By now, Kerry could clearly see the mocking sneer on the beastman’s face and the disdain in his eyes. To the beastman, the sight of a puny 1.75-blade-tall human raising a sword at him was a joke.
The beastman raised a massive blade stolen from a human and brought it crashing down, already picturing this weakling being split clean in half.
But, Szzzt! A sharp pain bloomed in the beastman’s gut. Then, a coldness at his neck.
In the next moment, his head spun through the air.
In the final second before he lost consciousness, he experienced, for the first time, the sensation of flying.
“Level 10.”
Kerry felt the power erupting from within him. A flash of surprise lit up his eyes. He hadn’t expected to break through at this final moment.
But after slaying the beastman, more beastmen surged from the other end of the street.
“Kill!!”
If there was no escape, then let him sleep forever alongside the glory of Risel City.
Risel City, its glory shall endure!
Once more, he raised his cross-shaped longsword with both hands and charged. His black eyes radiated unwavering resolve, his young face full of courage. His faith carried him into battle.
---
“Lady Andabella! The last group of civilians is here, we must go!”
The hook-nosed officer, face full of stubble, looked at the pale-faced girl before him, eyes full of anxiety.
They had only just managed to escape from the Behemoth. He couldn’t bear to see his city lord fight that terrifying monster again.
“You can’t stop that Behemoth! Not even with the Blood Cloak! Until you reach Transcendent level, using that legendary item is dangerous, it will consume your entire lifespan!!”
Legendary-tier equipment usually required reaching the Transcendent level to truly unleash its power, but the Blood Cloak’s most terrifying trait was that, even if the user hadn’t met the requirements, it could still exhibit the full might of a legendary item.
The condition for its use was blood. If the user lacked sufficient blood, the Blood Cloak would devour their life force as a substitute.
This was the only reason why Andabella could withstand a Level 19 Behemoth while being only Level 14.
After all, the Behemoth was a near-Transcendent monster, the ultimate war power and hidden trump card of the Beastmen Empire.
A true golden-ranked lifeform, with golden blood flowing in its veins, blood capable of contending with dragons.
To stand against such a beast for so long, Andabella had sacrificed ten years of her lifespan.
Pale-faced, her body trembling just to remain standing, Andabella nevertheless shook her head firmly.
Though her body was utterly exhausted, the pride on her face showed no sign of fading.
“I will defend my city with my life. If the honor of House Risel is to end, then let it end only when my heart stops beating.”
She lifted her chin high, her spirit unshaken.
Silver hair fluttered in the wind, silver eyes reflecting a city half-consumed in crimson flames, and the Blood Cloak behind her howled in the air.
The shattered street was her backdrop.
The stubbled officer nodded solemnly. “City Lord Andabella, I will fight at your side until the very end. Let the honor of Risel City be our burial shroud.
Risel City, its glory shall endure!”
Behind him, more than a thousand battered soldiers slowly adopted solemn expressions.
They raised their swords with their right hands, the cross-shaped hilts pressed to their chests, blades pointed toward the sky.
“Risel City, its glory shall endure!”
The slogan, spoken in Continental Common Script, rang with sacred solemnity, heavy with indescribable reverence.
Andabella’s eyes rose slightly to the grinding-stone-sized Bright Moon above her. She, too, raised her sword.
In her trembling voice was a will that could not be shaken.
“Risel City, its glory shall endure!”
This sacred oath, which had once echoed across the Risel Empire thousands of years ago, rang once again on this land.
In the most desperate, hopeless battles, the warriors of the ancient Risel Empire would always raise their blades and cry out this sacred vow.
For the people of Risel believed that these words had been passed down from their ancestors. When they shouted them aloud, they would receive the blessings of those forebears. In life, they would be invincible in battle; in death, they would be honored by future generations.
And in this moment.
Roar~
At the end of the street, a thirty-blade-high mage tower exploded from its base with a thunderous roar.
Rumble~
Like a mountain collapsing, the mage tower, into which countless years of dedication had been poured, came crashing down.
Magic arrays and alchemical traps detonated in unison as the tower fell, turning into a dazzling rain of arcane light.
But to the long-haired beast of nightmare, such low-tier magic wasn’t enough to even slow its steps.
The Behemoth.
That terrifying creature had returned.
And along with it came thousands of shrieking wyverns overhead.
From the alleys on either side of the gate, the low growls of wolfs erupted as well.
In just an instant, the fewer than one thousand remaining guards within the city gate had been completely surrounded by beastmen.
A tragic resolve surged in every heart.
They would face death without fear.
“Attack!!”
Without hesitation, the moment the beastmen closed in, the defenders launched their final assault.
Andabella stood with sword in hand, silver hair flying in the wind, her voice proud and solemn.
“Warriors of Risel City, draw your blades!
For Risel City, charge!!”
“Kill!!”
On that ruined street, humans and beastmen collided in a most brutal and tragic clash.