"Ha, you lost. So what if you capture all of us and send us to the Council? The town will still be doomed!" Shuka saw the direction of the fireworks and Ed's instantly grim expression, seeming to have already figured out what had happened.
"That Fosa! You sent him to attack the town!" Ed realized that the key figure was not this guild master. Simply taking care of Shuka would not stop the beast tide. But if the Wolf King hasn't been defeated, the wolf pack won't attack. Ed remembered that the Wind Wolf pack still obeyed Andrius's commands.
Perhaps Shuka felt that victory was already assured and Ed had no way to turn things around, so he did not bother hiding anything and openly revealed the plan.
"I don't know if you're truly stupid or just pretending. In a forest this large, do you think Wind Wolves are the only magical beasts? It's just that the Wind Wolf pack has relatively high combat power in this forest, so we tried to kill the Wolf King and take control of the pack."
"Tch... miscalculated..." Ed said irritably. 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 leading several young men hurriedly toward the outskirts of town. He jumped in fright at the sudden golden flash, then saw Ed appear while carrying someone. His entire body went limp like a deflated balloon as he said with difficulty, "You've finally returned. Outside the town... outside the town, so many magical beasts suddenly appeared, and they're preparing to attack! Please... please save this town!"
The young men around him also guessed from the mayor's reaction that this was the mage who had come to deal with the beast tide, and they hurriedly pleaded for help.
Without another word, Ed tossed 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 a close eye on him and don't let him run. The magical beasts outside were brought here by the mage who can control magical beasts. 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 all kinds were 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 had not appeared among the beasts. These were all common low-level magical beasts from the forest—boar-type, rabbit-type, rodent-type, and bird-type magical beasts.
Watching the beast tide draw closer, Ed took out all of his Flying Thunder God Kunai. Excluding the one he had given the mayor, only twenty-nine remained. "Tch, even if I recover the Kunai after battles, there are still too few at times like this. Whatever, I'll make do!" Ed kept several on himself and handed the rest to the young men. "In a moment, throw all of these toward the magical beasts. Remember to spread them out."
Everyone nodded. Though 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 did not explain much. Once he saw that the Kunai had mostly landed among the magical beasts, he activated Flying Thunder God and began this one-versus-hundreds interception battle.
As Flying Thunder God activated continuously, everyone stared blankly at the golden flashes flickering throughout the beast tide. Every flash of light was accompanied by a magical beast having its throat cut by a blade or its heart pierced, before collapsing helplessly to the ground and struggling.
However, there were simply too many magical beasts, while there were only a little over twenty Flying Thunder God Kunai. Before long, the remaining beasts realized that as long as they stayed away from the spots where those strange golden flashes appeared, they would basically not be attacked.
Gradually, more than twenty gaps appeared in the beast tide, with the Flying Thunder God Kunai positioned within those gaps. Ed felt a headache coming on and returned to the mayor once more. "Let me ask you something. If I need to turn this whole area upside down to repel the beast tide, that won't be a problem, right?"
The mayor was confused. "As long as we can repel the beast tide, anything is fine. But what do you mean by turn it upside down?"
"I mean..." Ed crouched slightly and began gathering strength. Then he leaped into the air and smashed a powerful downward kick into the ground. "Heaven-Shaking Kick!"
A tremendous boom erupted, like a meteor crashing into the earth. With Ed's foot as the center, the surrounding ground shattered 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 a Dongxing crow. Waves of earth howled past like a tsunami.
The beast tide seemed intimidated by the towering wave of dirt and stopped advancing, restlessly stirring in place. As the dust settled, several cracks spread outward like lightning from beneath Ed's feet.
"Whew... that took quite a bit of effort, but this should keep them in line, right?" Ed rolled his ankle, easing the discomfort from using Monster Strength at full force.
The mayor and the young men wore expressions as though they had seen a god. No one knew what to say, and the entire scene fell silent.
Suddenly, a shout came from the direction of the forest. "Spread out! Go around this guy and charge straight into the town!" The magical beasts that had just been afraid seemed to have been injected with adrenaline. They charged toward the town again, no longer gathering together but breaking into scattered groups and surging forward like waves.
Ed gritted his teeth, intending to first take the mayor and the young men back into town and use the streets to clear out these magical beasts. Suddenly, a cold wind swept through the area. A shockwave of ice and wind slammed into the front of the beast tide, and the powerful impact halted their charge once more.
Ed turned and saw Andrius, magical power surging all around him as he raced over. 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 the promise they had made.
"The Wind Wolf King!? Sir Mage, do you know this Wolf King? Is he here to help you?" Seeing that the situation had been brought under control, the mayor asked curiously.
"We only just met. He probably isn't entirely here to help me. I saved his child earlier, but according to him, when he was young, people from this town once saved him and released him into the forest. That's why he restrained the wolf pack from attacking the town."
"!" The mayor was startled, and he seemed to remember something. "You mean our townspeople released him into the forest? 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. It was blue and white, very beautiful, but I didn't know how to take care of it. In the end, I had no choice but to release it into the forest. So it had always believed it was saved..." The mayor looked somewhat embarrassed, as though he had done something wrong.
"The cause and the process aren't important now. What matters is the result." Ed comforted him. "All right, I need to get back to work. We can talk later~" Then he rejoined the battle.
With Ed and Andrius working together, the beast tide was successfully repelled. At the same time, the wolf pack surrounded the mage named Fosa. With the Wolf King present, his magic could not drive the wolf pack.
Andrius walked up to Fosa and stared down at him. Icy frost 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 planning to bite off Fosa's head directly.
"Wait, Andrius. Leave him to me. I'll make sure he receives the punishment he deserves." Ed stared coldly at the dark mage who had nearly ruined his mission.
"Since you said 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."
"Sure thing~" Ed patted Andrius's body.
Andrius threw back his head and howled, 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 approached Fosa through gritted teeth.
"You... stay away... don't come closer... help... ah~~~" His bloodcurdling screams echoed through the deepening night like a symphony.
Before you continue