Esmeria

“Monsters! Monsters are charging straight toward us!” With the removal of the barrier, the lethargic drakes surrounding the village suddenly perked up, their eyes brightening as they surged toward Daw’ Al-Qamar.

The barrier had a unique effect that induced fatigue in any creatures approaching it from either direction. This meant that beings outside would feel sluggish and unmotivated, halting their approach towards the village. Conversely, villagers near the barrier would experience the same lethargy, dissuading them from venturing beyond its bounds and inadvertently trapping them within.

This protective enchantment effectively concealed the village from unsuspecting beings, both human and monster alike. Only those with heightened senses or magical capabilities could detect its presence, while others might simply perceive it as an area to avoid.

“So the monsters killing our comrades from the edge of the barriers were the drakes…”

Khalid’s emotions were mixed with relief and despair. He was relieved that the barrier itself hadn’t weakened, realizing instead that their adversaries were formidable monsters capable of sensing and navigating around the barrier’s effects. This revelation added a layer of urgency and danger to their already precarious situation.

Drakes have a certain level of magic resistance, hence they could feel something was there, Their keener sense of smell let them sense beastmen were inside when the village guard patrols the parameter of the barriers. But they couldn’t get near it because it would make them lazy, so they surrounded the ‘something’ instead, waiting for beastmen to get outside.

“Guards, quickly defeat these monsters!” The villagers clamored for protection as the drakes closed in.

“Master, please escape this place with the village chief!” The guards rallied together, determined to buy Khalid and the village chief time to flee.

“No! Don’t go…!” Khalid’s heart wrenched with conflict. He saw the guards not just as soldiers but as his own children, raised and trained under his care after being orphaned. Yet, duty bound him to command them to defend the village, even as he feared for the villagers’ lives against the overwhelming drake threat.

The village guards fought valiantly against the monstrous drakes, their injuries and fatigue proving insurmountable against the relentless onslaught.

Khalid swiftly hoisted the unconscious village chief, seeking refuge in the trees as the drakes wreaked havoc below, demolishing homes and threatening lives.

“How could there be monsters this big?!” Zafir’s voice trembled with fear as he fled at the sight of the massive drakes descending upon Daw’ Al-Qamar.

The drakes were each around one meter tall and stretched a daunting eight meters in length, with thick, muscular tails capable of crushing anything in their path with a single swipe.

“Why did this happen…? I just wanted to get out of this village…” Zafir muttered in confusion, his senses overwhelmed by the chaos around him.

Seeing a drake closing in on Zafir from behind, Khalid made a split-second decision and leaped down to intervene.

Zafir felt a sudden wetness on his back and turned, only to see Khalid’s arm in the drake’s jaws, blood pouring from the wound.

“Why…why did you save me…?” Zafir choked out, disbelief and guilt warring within him.

“It is my duty as the guard leader,” Khalid repeated firmly, despite the pain coursing through him.

“Now run. I hope you make it out safely and get to explore the outside world as you’ve always wanted. Just make sure the village chief gets out of here too; he’s up in the trees.”

“Are you mocking me?!” Zafir snapped, his voice thick with disbelief and frustration.

“Just go!” Khalid shouted over his shoulder, sensing the drake readying itself to strike. With grim determination, he positioned himself between Zafir and the incoming drake, bracing for impact.

Zafir heeded Khalid’s command without looking back. He scrambled up the nearest tree, swiftly retrieved the unconscious village chief, and hurried away from the village, carrying the elder on his back. The weight of responsibility and fear pushing him forward, he ignored the gruesome scenes left by the drakes' rampage, focusing only on escape and survival.

Suddenly, Zafir was sent flying through the air, the weight of the unconscious village chief on his back dragging him down. The drake’s tail had struck him hard in the abdomen, causing him to cough up blood. Despite the intense pain coursing through his body, Zafir struggled to his feet and attempted to flee with the village chief still slung over his back.

“Huurgh… It’s my fault all of this happened… I have to save him…” Zafir muttered through gritted teeth, determination mixing with agony as he staggered forward.

With a sudden 'bang', the drake lunged at Zafir, its mouth gaping wide open, ready to tear into him. In that terrifying moment, a radiant light began to glow from deep within the drake's throat.

“Please, God, if you’re there,” Zafir whispered desperately, his voice barely audible over the roar of the approaching monster,

“please let the village chief survive... I can’t bear any more guilt…”

Exhausted and on the brink of collapse, Zafir had no more strength left to evade or defend himself. He instinctively shielded the unconscious village chief with his own body, preparing for what he thought would be a devastating breath attack.

As the seconds stretched into eternity, Zafir closed his eyes, bracing himself for the inevitable.

“What happened here?!” Zafir heard a female voice, initially thinking it was his mind playing tricks on him in his final moments.

“Hey, are you okay?” The voice persisted, drawing his attention. He opened his eyes and saw three humans standing before him. Beside them lay the drake, now motionless, and one of the humans, a male, held a strange device in his hand.

“Pleash save him! I beg you! Pleashhse save him!” Zafir pleaded, tears streaming down his face as he released his tight embrace on the village chief.

“Farid!” The girl called out the elder’s name with urgency, indicating a familiarity with him. She gently placed the village chief on her lap and cast a spell, [Minor Recover], channeling healing magic into him. After a tense moment, the village chief stirred, his eyes fluttering open. As he saw the girl’s face, a wave of relief washed over him, and tears welled up in his eyes.

“Mama Milli…I miss you…!” The village chief could not stop calling out Milli’s name as he held her hands tightly while crying.

“Fueh? You have a son?!” The other girl standing at the side was surprised.

Zafir had the same reaction, feeling something strange about the girl. She had the scent of a beastmen, yet she didn’t look like one.

The man standing with her seemed unfazed, likely understanding the situation.

“I will explain later, what happened, Farid?” The young girl embracing the village chief changed the topic, focusing on the more pressing matter.

“I…I could not supply the guardian cards with any more mana, and the barrier broke down…and numerous drakes invaded the village…” Tears flowed down the village chief’s cheeks as he recounted what had transpired.

Zafir felt a mix of relief and guilt that the village chief hadn’t divulged the full truth—that the invasion was partly his fault.

Farid then retrieved two cards from his pouch and handed them to Milli.

“Belphegor…Xenado…you should be able to summon any of these two for even a moment, and they could kill these drakes with ease…”

Milli grew frustrated, realizing her overconfidence in the cards’ protection for Farid, contingent on his mana reserve and strength to summon them.

“If only I didn’t get the villagers to lynch the village chief, they wouldn’t have died…” Zafir’s heart weighed heavily as he clenched his fists.

“Mama Milli…please…there might be some beastmen still alive in the village…please save them…” Farid implored before collapsing, still clutching Milli’s hands.

“Can you take care of these two, I will head to the village alone.” Milli asked Richard.

“Be careful.” Richard nodded.

Milli waved goodbye and swiftly darted towards Daw’ Al-Qamar.

“There’s so many corpses lying around! These poor beastmen! I hope some are still alive! I have to get there faster!” Milli's anger surged as she approached Daw’ Al-Qamar, witnessing the grim aftermath of the drakes' attack.

“I am different now! I am not the same as the past me! I can finally fight back!” Spotting two drakes devouring beastmen corpses, Milli swiftly retrieved a card and released it. The card hovered in front of her, enveloped in swirling winds as she tapped it with her staff.

“Crush them, Baltimore.” From the card emerged Baltimore, the king of minotaurs, a towering figure standing two and a half meters tall. Adorned in battle-worn leather armor and sporting a scarred bullish face, Baltimore wielded a massive two-handed axe. With a thunderous roar, he charged at the drakes, cleaving them in two before they could react.

“Rrroahhh!!!” Baltimore's battle cry echoed through the forest, a menacing sound that reverberated with authority and power.

The ferocious roar alerted nearby drakes, drawing them toward Baltimore's location. As they approached, they found themselves hopelessly outmatched by the towering minotaur. Their attempts to strike with [Tail Swipe] and other attacks were futile against Baltimore's resilience. With each swing of his massive axe, drake bodies were rent apart, splattering the already blood-soaked village with gore and entrails.

“Oh no you don’t get to run away after invading somebody’s village!” Facing the fleeing drakes, Milli summoned another entity from her card.

“Confine them, Belphegor” A shadow emerged from the card, coalescing into a tall, elegant humanoid figure with horns and a tail—the demon of Sloth, Belphegor. With a deliberate wave of its hand, Belphegor invoked [Idle]. Instantly, the escaping drakes slowed their frantic movements, their actions becoming lethargic as if caught in a trance. Despite their [Magic Resistance], Belphegor's magic overwhelmed them, leaving them powerless to resist or flee. Their once sharp gazes glazed over with a dull emptiness as they succumbed completely to Belphegor's spell.

Baltimore swung his giant axe with ruthless efficiency, cleaving through the stationary drakes like a seasoned butcher preparing meat. The remaining drakes, overwhelmed and subdued by Belphegor's spell, showed no resistance as they met their demise.

The scene unfolded into a grim spectacle of senseless brutality—a one-sided massacre where the drakes fell without a fight, their bodies mutilated under Baltimore's relentless strikes. Milli stood amidst the carnage, her expression devoid of emotion, silently overseeing the slaughter as though she were the overseer of a grim slaughterhouse.

Once the last drake in the vicinity had fallen, Milli dispelled the summoned beings with a gesture, returning them to their cards. She then moved through the village, where the ground was strewn with the dismembered corpses of both beastmen and drakes, searching desperately for any signs of survivors among the devastation.

“W-what do we do?” Zafir asked Richard, his voice trembling with panic.

“Stay close behind me,” Richard replied firmly, his mind racing to devise a plan to protect the group from the encroaching drakes while also worrying about Milli’s safety.

The drakes, drawn by Baltimore's battle cry, were initially headed towards Milli’s location. Spotting Richard’s group on the way, they diverted their path to eliminate them first.

“Drakes have high strength and tough hides. Plant walls won’t stop them. These will have to do,” Richard muttered urgently to himself. He swiftly conjured four Ice Bullets and fired them at the lead drakes, freezing them solid to create makeshift barricades against the others.

However, the drakes in the rear ranks were undeterred. With powerful [Tail Swipe], they shattered their frozen comrades into pieces and continued their relentless advance, crunching through the icy remains of their allies as they moved closer.

“Tsk, as expected, they wouldn’t care about their allies. They are still considered younglings and haven’t developed breath attacks, It’s hard to tell what elemental drakes they are. And I can’t use fire bullet here.” Richard muttered under his breath, assessing the situation critically.

He swiftly loaded yellowish bullets into his guns and aimed at the foremost drake. With precision, he fired a [Lightning Bullet], which struck the drake directly. Lightning crackled from within its wound, spreading paralysis through its body.

While Richard focused on incapacitating the drakes ahead, another drake, unseen, lurked behind the group, ready to strike at Regina.

Just as Regina turned, sensing something amiss, the drake pounced, its claws aimed to tear through her.