The battle continued on the northern front. The two groups of mages and archers rained volley after volley of projectiles at the jumping fish. Several swordsmen were tasked with retrieving the arrows, and a couple of them ended in the fish’s jaws.

“Make sure they’re dead before you approach!” said the one-armed mercenary. He was the leader of the first group of twenty.

Finn, the leader of group four, had reunited with his teammates and they now took on some approaching turtles. These bastards moved slowly, but their necks could extend by up to 30 feet and they had a thick beak instead of jaws.

“I’ll keep the head busy,” said Natalie as she charged at the creature from the front. The turtle’s beak burst out of the carapace and almost chopped her in half.

Natalie dodged by a hair’s breadth and left a long gash on the creature’s neck. Purple puss poured out of it with such a foul stench, even Finn could smell it from afar.

“Now!” shouted the boy and the other melee warriors rushed towards the shell.

“Wait!” Natalie jumped back with all her strength. However, she failed to keep her balance mid-air and tripped on the landing, falling on her back. “It’s poisonous,” she muttered while struggling to get back on her feet.

“Retreat!” shouted Finn while shooting arrows at the beast to distract it. Michael and Tommy escaped in time, but the monster turned its neck and aimed for Natalie.

The girl pulled out her sword, but her vision was blurry. The creature’s beak grazed her arm right as Annie swooped in and saved her.

“It’s just a dream. It’s just a dream,” the girl chanted as if in a trance. She ran towards Finn and Luca who were shooting from afar.

“Ranged teams, move your asses over here!” shouted Luca. “Hey, we need to finish the job while everyone’s still distracted,” he whispered to Finn.

Indeed, the moment was ripe. Nobody saw the tiny crystal flying in the sky. However, although it was a purple crystal, keeping it going for so long would soon exhaust its energy.

“Finn!” Annie arrived and laid Natalie down.

The girl was breathing heavily with her eyes closed. As her veins bulged, purple sweat escaped through her pores in unusual quantities.

“She’ll be fine,” Finn reassured Annie. “She just needs time to breathe.”

“We don’t have that,” Annie grabbed his shoulders. “Something is wrong. Something is terribly wrong.”

The girl was pale and irate. She shook Finn’s shoulders while continuously talking. “We need to leave! Remember the bat? It’s happening again. Please...”

Finn hugged her trying to calm her down. Up ahead, the long-ranged groups had arrived and were pushing back the turtles. Michael and Tommy were running towards Natalie while the other melee warriors were rushing towards the flying fish. Junior was busy wreaking havoc on some snakes, and the entire battlefield was in an overall frenzy.

While holding Annie and processing her words, Finn finally had time to take in this image.

“Hey Finn, what’s your girlfriend talking about?” asked Luca.

The sudden increase in monsters, Annie’s panic, weird new species with dangerous powers... ‘How could I have been so slow?’

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“Luca, tell your team to retreat.”

“What?” the elf raised an eyebrow.

“Do it! This place is about to become like the south.”

[Trident’s southern battlefront.]

Three days ago, the beach in the south was filled with monsters; yesterday, there were fewer, but there were still more than enough for everyone. However, now the southern front was almost deserted.

Less than 300 monsters had charged the beach all day, trying to get past the 1500 elite soldiers. It was such a ridiculous imbalance that not a single arrow was shot during the entire day. High level mages were summoning popsicles to keep themselves cool, and a good chunk of the swordsmen were snoring on their backs.

Count Dominic Acker received word of this, but he could only shake his head. Ever since he got deployed at Trident, the monsters had focused their attacks on the middle of the front. Then, the south got invaded, and a few days ago, a giant octopus appeared in the north.

‘And now both fronts are silent.’ Count Acker tapped his finger on the map in front of him.

“Sir?” his second in command asked for an order.

“Send a messenger to the middle battlefront,” said Acker. “See if they require reinforcements.”

Unbeknownst to him, the middle part of the huge beach was equally deserted of monsters. For the first time in the past two decades, there was a lull in the attacks.

[Trident’s northern battlefront]

Dominic Acker Junior loved the chaos all around him. More and more enemies appeared from every direction like moths drawn to a flame, and he was ecstatic to burn them.

His crystal released endless amounts of flames as if it was a bottomless pit. Of course, it was merely a conduit. The boy’s real power came from within.

“Sir, we should retreat,” his second in command advised. It was becoming harder and harder to protect the boy’s back.

Unfortunately, Junior cared little about her words and even less about his safety. He grinned at the thought of danger, revealing teeth that were now slightly sharp.

His eyes became dark red as if his blood had caught on fire. Even his skin was turning red, and his veins bulged.

“Sir, are you alright?” the woman gently grabbed his shoulder and Junior turned around. “Sir? What is happening to you?”

The man did not answer and simply laughed out loud.

A pillar of flames erupted out his crystal all but disintegrated a clownfish that was trying to ambush them. A giant fireball flew to the left and roasted three mutated snakes before it was finally extinguished.

The dwarf did not even need to look at them anymore. He could feel the mana. He could feel everything.

“Sir, we need to get you to your father,” the blonde swordswoman pleaded. “It’s not too late.”

“How would you know?” Junior’s laughter instantly disappeared and a deep scowl took its place. “Do you think I don’t know the stories? Do you think I don’t know what the church does to people like me?”

He spit as he talked, perhaps due to the dog-like teeth, and froth started gathering around the edges of his mouth.

“But don’t you worry Silvia,” the dwarf resumed his unnatural grin. “I will kill them: the church, my father, anyone who stands in my way. I’ll kill all those bastards who never listened to me, all those who looked down on me when I was skinny and weak.”

The crystal ball reacted to his feelings and released so many flames it half-engulfed the dwarf within them. The woman could not bear the heat and had to take a step back.

“Sir, you’re not thinking straight. “We can still save you.”

“Why would I want to be saved!?” Junior’s laughter intensified as did the flames. “I am finally powerful!” The flames obliterated every monster in the vicinity leaving only Silvia unharmed. “I am unbeatable!” So much fire erupted out of the dwarf’s feet that he started slowly levitating. “I am...”

He did not finish his sentence. Junior’s lips slowly dropped from a grin into a hideous expression. It was as if his face had melted as his lips fell all the way to the bottom of his chin.

The flames underneath him subsided and he fell like a log into the sand.

While the remaining flames cremated his body, a hole could be seen at the back of his head. A purple liquid poured out of it, and it immediately ignited as if it were gasoline.

“Sir?...” Silvia tried to approach but there was nothing but fire all around her. The sand itself had melted into glass and now looked like a boiling puddle. “You’re fine, right?” The woman fell on her knees. Junior too was now melting inside the boiling glass.

“This is just a joke, right?” Silvia's palms reached for her face. “Talk to me... Sir?... Sir, please... Sir!!”