Screech—
A violent scrape of metal tore through the silence in the church.
Fishmen everywhere raised their ugly heads in unison and looked toward the atrium.
The Faithguard Army soldiers went pale as they cursed and descended at high speed. No one tried to fire; there were more Fishmen than they had bullets.
Kyle pulled several grenades from his weapon belt, yanked out the pins, and threw them toward the densest cluster of Fishmen.
A few seconds later came a muffled blast, followed by a foul rain of blood falling from above.
This slowed the Fishmen's advance slightly, but against such terrifying numbers, it was no more than a drop in the bucket.
"We need to move faster!"
Kyle gritted his teeth and led the Faithguard Army squad straight down!
Fortunately, they were descending from the atrium, directly above the Stellar Furnace, so they did not need to worry about losing their way.
Otherwise, finding a path through Fishmen that filled the sky and ground would have been nearly impossible.
"I feel like this job should've been left to the Banshees!"
"Who are you telling? But we're all they've got!" Kyle shouted at his teammate. He turned, about to crack a joke—
—but in the next instant, he saw a group of Fishmen reach out and snatch his teammate away.
"Ian!!!"
Within moments, the Fishmen swallowed Ian. Kyle froze for a second, then turned with a savage expression, his reddened eyes fixed firmly on the Stellar Furnace below.
"Ah!!!!" A scream suddenly rang out beside him. Kyle turned to see another Faithguard Army soldier plummeting—the Fishmen had cut his rope!
"Evan, Evan! Damn it, damn it!!"
"Captain, we can't! We're going too fast! We'll be killed by the fall!"
Desperate shouts came from beside him.
Kyle clenched his teeth. They