Book 2 - Chapter 85

I fucking knew that it was going to happen in the middle of the night. Good thing I was well rested when the bell started ringing. I'm sure Lily had already heard the commotions before then. The three of us grabbed our bags and out the door within seconds.

"East gate. Their favourite attack location due to its mountainous terrain. This is the first time they are attacking through a gate. We must hurry," explained Lily.

Lily's hearing had always been sharp, probably sharper than most elves that I knew. She must had heard it from the person announcing from the bell tower. Sounds like this round of attack is getting more serious.

We followed after Lily while ensuring that we were prepared for combat in a moment's notice. I instinctively moved my hand towards my back to check that my trusty dagger is with me, not that I really needed to but it gives me a peace of mind. Lily had already summoned her legendary gauntlets which glowed with a hint of blue in the dark.

"Rose, be ready to cast Holy Light," I told her.

"You don't need to tell me twice," she chuckled.

As we approached the gate, there was two soldiers with torches and swords fighting off a monster. Oh, that's not too bad. But.... where are the other soldiers? I doubt Peter would stationed so little soldiers guarding here if this location is known to being attacked by them. Rose casted Holy Light which brightens our surroundings.

Oh shit! There are… so many monsters around us hidden in the darkness and these were even larger than the one the soldiers are fighting now, or even those back in the West. Damn it, are they planning an all out assault on the city with these? We started hearing bells ringing even louder and more people shouting in the distance. They probably saw what we were seeing and calling more backup for us.

I nudged Rose with my elbow and she understood what I asked. She casted a brief moment of Mind Wall on herself.

"Zen.. these are real. It's not an illusion," she told me.

Several of the monsters were hanging from the walls of the cliff, munching on soldier's bodies. All of them were wearing chain armour but they were chewing on them as though it were paper. Lily shouted to those two soldiers to rush over to where we were as they managed to slain the monster they were fighting earlier.

"Rose, support us like you always do and cover our backs. Lily, we are going to need a lot of AOE attacks. Don't stray too far from one another," I said as I summoned my gauntlets and weapons with a flick of my wrists.

"Yes boss," both of them responded simultaneously.

I thought I can get away without using my gauntlet's charges but I guess I won't be that lucky. The remaining two soldiers were shivering to their knees at the sight of so many giant four-legged beasts glaring at us. I won't blame them, even I am concerned that we might not make it. Fighting one strong opponent doesn't give you the fear of being overwhelmed. When you have this many quantity with unknown strengths, it's just human nature to fear the unknown.

"Soldiers, hang back and protect White Angel. Lily and I will take the front. You've done well thus far. We will live to see another day," I assured them.

"So much for wanting to track them, Zen. Let us see how many we can kill first," said Lily with a terrified tone.

"Are you ready?" I asked her which she nodded.

Both of us raised our gauntlets and two lightnings struck where we stood. A blue and a white lightning powered both of our gauntlets but Lily had some cool looking armour on top of that. I guess that's why she didn't need to protect her stomach area when this ice lightning armour of hers covered all the vital points.

As though on cue, the monsters started attacking us. Many of them leaped at us from all directions but good thing they are not too fast for us to take on. Facing them is one thing, maintaining our speed to chase after them is another. I leaped at those within my vision and sliced through all of them with Inazuma and Tengu-kaze. No reason to use Lightning Strike now when I can still face them head-on.

After eliminating them, I leaped back to where our group was to ensure that I always have someone protecting my back. Legions of beast landed where I stood upon earlier. I guess they were not happy that I had slain their brethren. I made a quick glance behind to make sure everything is okay. To my surprise, Lily was using ranged attacks to fight. She was forming some sort of lightning that turned into ice spikes over her gauntlets and she tossed them at the monsters. Had no idea she could do that. But she went berserk when some monsters got too close to her. I can safely say she was holding her punches back when she was sparring with me or Rose. Such was the speed of her punches, yet it decimated those giant monsters with ease.

Things were going relatively well. Rose were buffing us with her spells and attacking any stray monsters that were foolish enough to attack alone. The two soldiers were sticking close to her which I do not blame them. Rose is an icon for the people and they trust her. It's a wonder how her reputation is on par with the four great powers in the first place.

More and more monsters were rushing towards us now. It was getting harder to dodge and attack the sheer amount of them charging at me. I will need to do more or I'll be overwhelmed. I released Lightning Strike which struck a couple of them that were foolish enough to be in close proximity. But many more were still leaping at my direction. I swung a strong wind pressure after charging Tengu-kaze, slicing cleanly through numerous monsters. Several monsters were starting to hesitate upon seeing so many of their brethren dead from just one swing of Tengu-kaze's wind pressure. I used Fear spell to scurry them towards the gate.

I thought I had a moment of peace but I was ambushed from behind which triggered me to instinctively swing my blade. The monster was sliced cleanly in half due to the wind pressure that I had gathered previously. Hang on, I shouldn't have done that! The wind pressure is heading towards Lily. I shouted to her to dodge my attack but she diverted the wind with a casual swing of her gauntlets.

"Watch where you're swinging, Zen!" she shouted.

I was stumped. Not by how easily she diverted my attack but what happens after. A few monsters that were caught in the wind pressure were all.. frozen. What's going on? Was it supercharged by Lily's gauntlet or something? Lily was confused as well when she noticed what I was looking at. She even inspected her gauntlets to be sure.

"Guys?! A little help here!" shouted Rose.

Lily and I answered the call and approached where Rose was. I was extremely shocked when both Kirin and Byakko shouted telepathically at me to "MOVE!"

Things went into slow-motion. My hands moved on instinct as though someone had taken over my body. My left hand swung Tengu-kaze which blew a massive wind towards Rose and the two soldiers. They were swept off their feet and flew to some other location. My right hand reached out to grab Lily's hip and my legs leaped as far away as possible.

BBBBOOOOMMMMM!!!!

Something massive landed which destroyed most of the surrounding buildings. What the fuck just happened? Did a meteor landed inside the city or something? As I regained my bearings, Lily, who I was still hugging by her hips, was staring directly into my eyes.

"Zen, your eyes," she pondered.

"Hm? What about them?" I asked.

"Oh, they're back to normal now. Both your pupils and eye colour were different to one another. I swear I wasn't seeing things," she said.

"I think we should focus on what just happened first, shall we? We can talk about my pupils later," I advised her.

We were on top of one of the buildings. Dust and debris were everywhere but a huge giant silhouette was all I needed to know as to what just happened. A tall monster was shrieking in the distance. Oh my lord, how are we going to fight that thing? I hope Rose is alright after getting blown away by Tengu-kaze. What in the world is this giant monster doing here? Is this the mastermind that is controlling all these monsters? If that is true, we need to bring it down once and for all.

"Is that…. a Bokushi no Kemono? But why? And how?" asked Lily without expecting an answer.

"Bokushi no Kemono? Chaplain Beast? Tell me more, Lily," I asked her.

"I've only read them in folklores from the elven library. It was said that a Chaplain Beast is a cursed being doomed to roam the world alone, forever in pain from the sins it had committed. When sighted, avoid it at all costs as it is extremely aggressive due to the constant pain that it is suffering. But.. why is it here? It's supposed to belong in another realm. Not here," she explained.

"If what you say is true, then this is not the one pulling the strings for these monster attacks. Perhaps it was guided here by the mastermind himself. And that means we have to kill it to prevent more damage to the city. Damn it, we were supposed to be on a tracking mission instead," I scratched my head.

"One step at a time, Zen. Let us focus on what's in front of us. I'm sure Peter and his soldiers is already on their way to help us. We just need to hold until reinforcements arrive," she reached into her pouch and released a flare into the sky.

Another giant being to fight right after Baku. Sheesh, is there no end to it? Good thing it is much much smaller than Baku so it is sort of doable I suppose. Will need fight seriously if I don't wish to get squished by it.

"Zen, I'm sure this is not a good time, but I don't wish to regret not telling you. I still love you, and I forever will," she smiled brightly at me.

I approached and hugged her. It might not be appropriate but I wanted her to have a reason to live for. Even if we're not together. I don't want her to feel alone just because she is not by my side.

"Me too, Lily. So don't you die on me," I whispered to her.

"Okay," she replied softly.

Something was flying at a distance. Oh no, please don't tell me they fly now? Oh good, it's just Rose using sacred wings flying towards our direction. You should slow down now, honey. Slow down.. why aren't you slowing down? Hey hey.. wait!

I fell backwards as she flew towards me attempting to hug me. What a reckless waifu I have.

"Superb thinking and reflex, onii-chan! You saved all of us in the nick of time!" she shouted while hugging me.

"What can I say? I told you that I'll do my best to keep you alive. I take it that the other two soldiers are alive as well?" I asked.

"Yeah, I've brought them to safety. Guess they won't be defending the city anytime soon as their morale are extremely low right now. Probably due to the fact that they had seen their colleagues or friends eaten alive," she replied.

The three of us turned our head towards the Chaplain Beast who started shrieking loudly again but had not moved an inch from where it fell. Here's hoping that it might had broke its legs from the impact earlier.

"Are we… really going to fight that thing? It seems to be in pain," asked Rose.

"Doubt we have much of a choice if we wish to prevent further destruction upon the city. Did you happened to see what happened to the other monsters when you were flying around?" I asked.

"A lot of them had died from the impact while some had exited the city, or is running rampant inside. The soldiers and adventurers are coming to help out. I couldn't see Peter anywhere though," she answered.

"I hope the monster I caught is still alive. But looking at the destruction, it might had been smashed to bits by the impact or from all the rubbles," sighed Lily.

"As you said, let us focus at the task at hand. We'll figure something out after this. Let's move out, our furry friend is on the move now," I said as the Chaplain Beast started walking.