The snow had eased.
But the slaughter had not stopped.
At the edge of the forest, Sword Wind swept up the monsters' remains. Paul raced across the ground, charging through the snowdrifts like a meat grinder.
"The net's been smashed!!"
"This side too!"
"The monsters are gnawing through the tree trunks!!"
An hour ago, the monster horde had already stopped charging the net. To avoid Paul's slaughter, they had chosen to attack and chew through the tree trunks supporting the protective net. The net itself was secured to the thick trunks along the forest's edge, so once the trees fell, the protective net naturally collapsed with them.
Fortunately, many monsters were still attacking one another. In the end, that behavior was merely the choice of small groups of monsters following their animal instincts.
Even so, Paul was run ragged.
There was only him on this end of the net. Unlike during his adventurer days, when Ghislaine, who handled breakthroughs, and Eris, who handled defense, could form a tactical formation, with flanking support and healing from his own wife.
Holding the entire line by himself was simply too exhausting.
Paul tore apart the snowdrift piled around the protective net with a single slash. Dense cries of monsters rang out, but at the same time, villagers screamed again not far behind him!
Paul was about to twist around and rush over to support them when countless scarlet eyes emerged once more from the holes in the snowdrift he had just shattered.
"Damn it."
Paul stopped short and raised his hand, cutting down the monsters rushing at him again with several slashes. His feet stumbled, and he nearly fell to the ground.
His battle qi was exhausted!
Paul grimly assessed his condition. Under wave after wave of Demon Beast Tides, he had fought