Heroes and Reinforcements Always Arrive at the Critical Moment!

"Ha, you lost. Even if you capture all of us and hand us over to the Council, so what? The town will still be doomed!" Seeing the direction of the fireworks and Ed's instantly grim expression, Shuka seemed to have already understood what had happened.

"That Fosa! You sent him to attack the town!" Ed realized that the key figure was not the guild master. Simply dealing with Shuka would not stop the beast tide. But if the Wolf King wasn't attacked, the wolf pack wouldn't attack. Ed remembered that the Wind Wolf pack still obeyed Andrius's commands.

Perhaps Shuka felt that victory was assured and Ed had Zero power to turn things around, so he did not keep them guessing and openly revealed the plan.

"I don't know whether you're truly stupid or just pretending. In such a vast forest, do you think Wind Wolves are the only magical beasts? It's just that the Wind Wolf pack has relatively high combat strength in this forest, so we tried to kill the Wolf King and take control of the pack."

"Tch... I miscalculated." Ed was irritated. He grabbed Shuka, sensed the kunai he had given the mayor, and directly activated Flying Thunder God.

Shuka only saw a flash before the surroundings changed. The lush forest had become a town at night.

The mayor was hurriedly leading several young men toward the outskirts of town when the sudden golden flash startled him. Then he saw Ed appear while carrying someone, and his entire body went limp like a deflated balloon. He said with difficulty, "You're finally back. Outside the town... outside the town, so many magical beasts suddenly appeared. They're preparing to attack! Please... please, you must save this town!"

The young men nearby also guessed from the mayor's reaction that this was the mage who had come to resolve the beast tide, and hurriedly begged for help.

Without another word, Ed threw Shuka to the nearest young man, then pulled the mayor toward the outskirts. "Talk as we walk. This is the president of that dark guild. Keep an eye on him and don't let him run. The magical beasts outside were brought here by the mage who can control them. Let's assess the situation first. If we can deal with that mage directly, the beast tide might disperse on its own."

Before long, Ed and the others reached the outskirts. Hundreds of magical beasts of various kinds were continuously advancing toward the town from the forest. The closest were already less than a hundred meters away. The good news was that, perhaps because the Wolf King was still around, the Wind Wolves were not among the beasts. These were all common low-level magical beasts from the forest—boar-like, rabbit-like, rat-like, and bird-like creatures.

Watching the beast horde draw closer, Ed took out all of his Flying Thunder God Kunai. Excluding the one he had given the mayor, he only had twenty-nine left. "Tch, even if I retrieve them after battle, there are still too few kunai for times like this. Whatever, I'll make do!" Ed kept several on himself and handed the rest to the young men who had followed him. "In a moment, throw all of these toward the magical beasts. Remember to spread them out."

Everyone nodded. Although they did not know why, there was no time to think about it. They immediately followed Ed's instructions and threw the kunai in their hands toward the beast tide.

Ed offered no further explanation. Once he saw that most of the kunai had landed among the magical beasts, he activated Flying Thunder God and began this one-versus-hundreds interception battle.

As Flying Thunder God activated again and again, everyone stared blankly at the golden flashes constantly flickering within the beast tide. Every flash was accompanied by a magical beast having its throat cut open or its heart pierced by a blade, before collapsing helplessly and struggling on the ground.

But there were simply too many magical beasts, while there were only a little over twenty Flying Thunder God Kunai. Soon, the remaining beasts discovered that as long as they stayed away from the strange places where the golden flashes appeared, they would basically avoid being attacked.

Gradually, more than twenty gaps appeared in the beast tide, and the Flying Thunder God Kunai were all located within those gaps. Ed had a headache. He returned to the mayor once more and asked, "A question. If I have to turn this whole area upside down to drive back the beast tide, that won't be a problem, right?"

The mayor was somewhat confused. "As long as you can drive back the beast tide, anything is fine. But what do you mean by turn it upside down?"

"It means..." Ed crouched slightly and began gathering strength. Then he leaped into the air and slammed down with a heavy kick. "Heaven-Shaking Kick!"

A deafening Hibiki rang out as though a meteor had struck the ground. With Ed's foot as the center, the surrounding earth cracked and collapsed under the strain. Entire slabs of land were hurled upward, and the once-solid ground was violently flipped over like a table before Crow of East Star. Waves of earth howled past like a tsunami.

The beast tide seemed intimidated by the soaring wave of dirt and stopped advancing, restlessly stirring in place. As the dust settled, several cracks could be seen spreading outward like lightning from beneath Ed's feet.

"Whew... that took quite some effort. But this should be enough to intimidate them, right?" Ed rotated his ankle, easing the discomfort from using Monster Strength at full power.

The mayor and the young men wore expressions as though they had witnessed a god. They did not know what to say, and the entire scene fell silent.

Suddenly, a shout came from the direction of the forest. "Spread out! Go around that guy and charge straight into the town!" The magical beasts that had been somewhat frightened just moments ago seemed to have been injected with adrenaline. They charged toward the town once more, no longer gathered together but splitting up and rushing in like crashing waves.

Ed gritted his teeth, planning to first take the mayor and the young men back into town and use the narrow streets to clear out these magical beasts. Suddenly, a blast of cold wind swept past. A shockwave formed from ice and wind slammed into the front of the beast tide, and the powerful impact halted their advance once again.

Ed turned his head and saw Andrius, magic power surging around him as he raced toward them. Behind him was a wolf pack made up of hundreds of Wind Wolves, advancing alongside their king.

"Could it be? Reinforcements! Ha, it's Andrius. You came at just the right time~" Ed remembered the story the Wolf King had told him and their agreement.

"The Wind Wolf King!? Sir Mage, do you know this Wolf King? Has he come to help you?" Seeing that the situation was under control, the mayor asked curiously.

"We only just met. He probably didn't come entirely to help me—I saved his child earlier. But according to him, when he was young, someone from this town rescued him and released him into the forest. That's why he kept the wolf pack from attacking the town."

"!" The mayor was startled and seemed to think of something. "You mean he was released into the forest by one of our townspeople? Could he be that little wolf from back then?"

"Oh? You know?" Ed could not help asking.

"Back then, I bought an injured little wolf from a passing circus troupe. It was blue and white, very beautiful, but I didn't know how to take care of it. In the end, I had Zero choice but to release it into the forest. So it always believed that it had been rescued..." The mayor was a little embarrassed, as though he had done something wrong.

"The cause and process aren't important now. What matters is the result." Ed comforted him. "All right, I'm going to get busy. We'll talk later~" With that, he rejoined the battle.

Through the combined efforts of Ed and Andrius, the beast tide was successfully driven back. At the same time, the wolf pack surrounded the mage named Fosa. With the Wolf King present, Fosa's magic had Zero ability to control the wolf pack.

Andrius walked up to Fosa and stared down at him. Icy chill and howling wind swirled around his body. "It was you, wasn't it? You tried to control the wolf pack and turn them into your tools..." As he spoke, Andrius bared his fangs, seemingly ready to bite off Fosa's head.

"Wait, Andrius. Hand him over to me. I'll make sure he receives the punishment he deserves." Ed coldly stared at the dark mage who had nearly ruined his mission.

"Since you say so, Ed, I'll leave him to you. I'm taking them back now. Come visit the forest when you have time. The wolf pack will always welcome you."

"Sounds good~" Ed patted Andrius's body.

Andrius howled at the sky, then led the wolf pack away and returned to the forest.

"Now, it's time to settle our score properly. Because of you, my mission was nearly ruined!" Ed gritted his teeth as he approached Fosa.

"You... stay away... don't come over... help... ah~~~" A bloodcurdling scream accompanied the deepening night like a symphony.