"Is it the area that changes the beasts into their most feral state, or are they simply different? I can't put my hands on it."

Noah squinted while asking.

They passed hundreds of beasts that tried to attack them, and each were more ferocious and vicious than he was used to.

Orion was also fairly shaken by the powerful feeling in his chest, as if the corruption stifled his movements to stop him.

"They're as dangerous as they were in my time. This is the reason for humans building the high walls that separated the two regions."

"If not contained, these corrupt beasts would have ravaged the continent one way or another, even without Miasma to control them."

*Whoosh*

The two continued in a straight line and entered the meadow.

Instantly, they felt the disgusting smell of corruption wafting in the air. The atmosphere was dark and damp, with even the snow acting unusual.

Not melting but not solid, the snow formed a dangerous bog where each enemy traversed with ease toward their prey.

More and more red eyes appeared all around them, staring further into the bog, where the origin of their sudden departure was.

"I don't like this."

"Me neither."

Before their feet could be entangled in the unstable ground, they continued at a tremendous pace, avoiding whatever was on their path, be it obstacles of nature or corrupt beasts.

But then, their destination suddenly appeared in front of them.

Inside the black expanse of foul air and resentful feeling, a spot of light that appeared to fight the darkness brought by the corruption still lit their way.

'We're not too late?'

'Seems like it.'

Tetra asked, truly surprised by their timing. From one look, she knew that the protective shell wouldn't hold any longer.

'We don't know what's inside. Be careful.'

'I will.'

Both men jumped out of the bog made of muddy snow and entered through the small patch of trees.

"Are we going to force our way inside that dome of light?"

"I see no other way. Either we will go through without resistance, or we'll make a way in."

The instant they entered the thicket at the center of the meadow, a sense of relief appeased their worries as they bypassed the protective shell.

*HOWL*

Feeling intruders entering its domain, the wolf that they came to look for called for them.

"This way!"

They finally arrived at the location.

"GRRR!"

*SPLIT*

A revolting sight of dismembered beasts and ripped apart 'Corrupted Lords' laid in front of the two Heroes, who watched in disbelief.

"What?!"

Noah's mind blanked for a moment. In the center of it all, a bipedal wolf grabbed a massive gray bear and split it in half effortlessly, throwing its chunks to the side.

Its white fur, which should have been pure originally, had black red spots everywhere.

Blood dripped from every wound onto the ground, but it relentlessly stood its ground.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

This beautiful, yet suffering creature had a white mane flowing backward onto its back, similar to human hair.

But it was a wolf. A member of a faction Orion had never seen in his life.

'Bipedal wolves... Is this being what I think it is?!'

Orion ignored his feeling of pressure and dread emanating from the area and rushed forward.

Noah turned around and pulled a rock from his breast pocket.

"I'll hold this entire area. Can you deal with defending that kobold?"

With one word, Noah confirmed what Orion was thinking.

'I found one! I finally found one!'

Grinning from ear to ear, Orion punched a boar in the head, shattering its tusks and skull in one move.

Slowly, he made his way to the kobold.

Two spiders, which were pretty rare to see as an enemy, jumped at him from above.

They went for his throat, but Orion stretched his arms to the side and grabbed their fangs as they fell upon him.

The small corrupt creatures were unable to do much as Orion slammed one on the ground and launched the other with the 'Overdrive' state into a bigger enemy.

Chunks of flesh and bits of organs flew in every direction.

While Noah cut through waves of incoming enemies breaching into the dome of light, Orion destroyed everything in his path with overwhelming strength.

'Aren't you becoming a barbarian by the day?'

Tetra managed to keep his focus straight by joking.

'I don't have a weapon right now, if you weren't aware.'

'With Alcyone and Taygeta, it would've been a piece of cake, but we do with what we have.'

As he avoided a charging deer that tried to impale him with its dangerous antlers, Orion kicked a large gray wolf that hid behind it.

When the deer returned, Orion stood his ground and prepared to counter the incoming enemy, while also carefully keeping an eye on everything around him.

*BAM*

He took a step to the side and grabbed the left antler.

With one swift and powerful drop of his hand, he shattered the sharp bone's base, picked up the antler before it fell with his other hand, and stabbed it into the deer's head from below.

As the beast reared from the sudden pain, Orion grabbed the fur on its stomach and used it as a shield.

Sharp wind blades dissected the squirming beast until its body was cut to pieces. But Orion had already left.

'Not yet?'

'I have someone's help.'

'At last!'

Screaming from relief, Tetra focused on helping Orion keep his cool.

'What in the-'

'Orion?'

His feet sank into the ground, as if gravity had increased tenfold.

"Gh!"

He clenched his teeth and glared forward.

Two giant-sized rats jumped at him to rip off his legs and arms, but were impaled by large spikes of rocks.

"Lilith, you could have warned me!"

Cursing the name of the demon that decided to help him, Orion punched through the rock formation in front of him.

Instead of breaking the hard surface, his hands sank into them effortlessly. Out of the rocks, Orion pulled a curved blade out of the rock.

The image of a browned-skinned woman with exotic features flashed in his head, grinning from ear to ear while giving him a thumbs up.

'That weapon? What is it?'

Seeing the blade in Orion's hand, Tetra felt intrigued.

'I heard it's called a Khopesh. I can already understand everything I need to master it. As usual, I will gladly depend on them.'

Orion's gaze sharpened.

"We are one. We are legions."

The rocks shattered into thousands of pieces and began to revolve around Orion.

Suddenly, out of seemingly nowhere, a two-legged tiger, similar to a bear in size, appeared behind him.

"..."

With one glance, a large shield of rocks blocked the attack before shattering back into particles.

Orion used the tiger's attack against it, and as it recoiled from the impact, felt its lower body split from the rest of its body.

The sharp blade sliced through its entire body like a knife in butter.

As it fell forward, Orion stabbed the curved part of the blade into the chest of the tiger and dragged it in front of him.

Throwing the beast forward, Orion crushed a few beasts trying to attack the kobold from behind.

'I'm right there.'

His eyes stared at the kobold, and the kobold stared at him.

'Aren't you in luck? It's a female.'

The joke made Orion snort as he stabbed the sword at the ground, piercing a cockroach the size of a horse.

'Stop that. It's like hearing Amelia speaking.'

'I'm your emotional support, aren't I?'

Between dodging another wind blade attack and slicing cleanly in half another bear, Orion began to carefully look for the 'Corrupted Lord' firing magic at him and the kobold.

Tetra giggled lightly after joking for an instant, but she still searched alongside Orion all the while.

'Found you.'

Hidden in the shadow of a tree and perched on a branch, an owl with red eyes pulsing provokingly stretched its wing to attack.

'You wish. Orion isn't going to let you breathe another breath.'

Orion smiled briefly before aiming the Khopesh at the large owl.

The shards of rocks covered his entire body, as if he stood in the center of a sandstorm.

Like a mirage, tens of similar Khopesh formed around Orion.

*HOWL*

The kobold leaned forward while aggressively roaring toward him.

With an incredible swiftness for a wounded creature, it killed everything in its path and closed in on Orion with its claws aimed at him.

Wind blades came crashing on the two, but the kobold was about to get hit first.

Releasing the weapons floating around him, he ignored the kobold and destroyed the magic that was about to kill the being he came to protect.

Its claws were aimed for his head, but they only scratched him as the kobold ripped apart a large pheasant that was about to pierce Orion with its beak.

Then, after killing the enemy, it settled behind Orion, protecting his back.

"I like smart people. My back is in your hands."

With a smile that showed a great interest in the being, he glanced behind him.

'There's a large amount of magic inside this kobold.'

Analyzing the creature with one glance, Orion turned forward, still in the process of defending against the wind blade.

'This is just a speculation on my part...'

Immediately, Orion frowned. The same conclusion came to mind. He let Tetra finish her sentence to see if she thought like him.

'But I believe this is a Remnant. The progenitor of the kobold's faction.'

Orion smiled once again.

'I like it when we are on the same wavelength. You'll have to ask Henrietta to apologize for calling you dumb, don't you think?'

Tetra trembled at the sudden compliment and quietly whimpered in delight.

"Alright. Let's end this battle."

Grabbing the sword with two hands, Orion lifted it above his left shoulder in a striking pose.

'I haven't used void magic since rescuing Mia and Nia, but I shouldn't suffer any internal injuries this time around.'

In the instant the kobold Remnant attacked an enemy, Orion vanished.

*Slice*

One starry line appeared on the owl's body, cutting in half.

Then, another appeared. In less time than a breath could be exhaled, thousands of cuts ravaged the 'Corrupted Lord'.

*BURST*

Not even a second later, every single corrupt beast in the surrounding thicket was cut into pieces, exploding in blobs of blood that exploded upward before raining down.

Orion reappeared in the same spot, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

'Revolting corruption...'

The weapon in his hand, for the first time since holding one of the weapons shared by the angels and demons inside the bracelet, shattered and vanished.

Actually, he could hear the woman called Lilith scream from the shock of what he did.

'...'

Even Tetra was left speechless.

'Heal your body! Quick!'

Feeling his knees give in under his body, Orion immediately pulled some magic from Alyssia's light magic.

'What would happen to you if I wasn't here? Seriously...'

There were still plenty of corrupt beasts coming their way from the meadow, but for a minute, they were able to breathe.

Even the kobold, who appeared shocked at first, dropped to the ground when no enemies were felt in the vicinity.

"Noah! We're pulling back!"

"Good! I was done on my side anyway!"

Rapidly joining Orion and the Remnant, they waited.

"Bring us back, Tetra!"

"Already doing that."

The pink-haired woman warped behind Noah and grabbed their shoulders.

Without a single wasted thought, Orion extended his hand to the kobold, who stared for a brief second.

She grabbed it instinctively after staring inside his eyes.

The moment she did, the four of them disappeared from the meadow, leaving the beasts unable to feast on the flesh of a Remnant.