Fierce Battle

On the streets of Damir Port, although the garrison did everything it could to hold back the monster horde assaulting the town, a few scattered monsters inevitably slipped through the defensive perimeter and entered the residential areas where ordinary people lived.

Experienced households had already lit every source of illumination they could find, trying to avoid having their lives silently taken by the invisible monsters lurking in the shadows and darkness.

Unfortunately, unlike mainland cities such as Backlund, Enmat Harbor, and Pritz Harbor, colonial islands like Damir lacked gas. The streetlamps on either side of the roads were sparse, and only a few dim candles echoed the Crimson Moon flickering faintly behind the clouds, barely illuminating the outlines of the ground and buildings.

Just then, a thin mist gradually spread through the area. In the mostly two-story houses near the northern side of town, the already sparse lights began to sway unstably, and in the blink of an eye, a large number of them went out! As the screams abruptly ceased, those houses became utterly dark and silent, as though no one had lived there for a very long time...

Abner followed behind Mr. Gaston, holding a revolver in one hand and the Cane-Sword, which had transformed into a longsword, in the other. He moved briskly through streets that were gradually falling silent after their earlier clamor. Xio stayed behind and slightly to Abner's side, ready at any moment to support the two men ahead.

With a mournful howl, a chilly gust whirled out of the thin mist, making Abner's scalp tingle. His Spirituality was already warning him. He stopped, activated Spirit Vision, and called to Mr. Gaston ahead, "Watch above!" He knew that Beyonders of the Savant sequence generally had weak intuition and might not notice the danger.

Xio, who had already activated the Ring of Prediction's ability, raised her revolver and fired several shots in rapid succession at the second floor of a building to their front left.

Because an image had suddenly flashed through her mind!

In that image, a watermelon-sized black shadow darted out from the darkness on the second floor and instantly pounced beside Mr. Gaston's ear.

Mr. Gaston clearly trusted Abner's warning. Without further thought, he activated a Beyonder item on his left hand at the same time Xio opened fire. It was a fist-sized jewel inscribed with mysterious patterns of the Sun Domain, intricate and exquisite enough to seize one's attention.

Then, a pure and radiant light pierced the darkness, transforming into a streak of brilliance that shot forth like lightning, striking directly at the ambush coming from beside his ear.

Awooo!

With a shriek, the suddenly appearing black shadow was hit head-on by the light just as it drew close! It was clearly badly wounded and had no choice but to retreat, no longer daring to face the might of Holy Light directly.

By the illumination of that pure light, Abner finally saw what had attacked them through Spirit Vision.

It was a bird whose entire body had nearly rotted away.

This avian monster floated eerily in midair. Its small head was covered in mold and maggots, while its yellow-green, dripping skin hung loose and sagging, yet still outlined the shape of its bones. From its appearance, one could vaguely tell that it had once been a pigeon.

Its eye sockets had long lost their eyeballs, leaving only two black holes with several maggots crawling in and out... Its beak was also badly damaged, but inside were blood-stained teeth that had been ground razor-sharp!

A rotten pigeon with fangs? Monsters really did have distinctive appearances! Abner was astonished inwardly, but his attack was not slow. Five or six Wind Blades appeared from thin air and sliced toward the demonic pigeon. This was a Beyonder ability of the Wind-blessed granted by the Sea Breeze Hat.

However, though all its feathers had fallen out, the pigeon was remarkably nimble with the thin mist around it propelling it. Not only did it deftly evade the Wind Blades, it even swooped toward Abner instead.

Abner did not panic. A Gale suddenly formed beneath his feet, carrying him a considerable distance back in an instant.

"It's a Demon Mist Turtledove! Quickly use the wind to disperse the mist around it!" Mr. Gaston shouted from nearby.

Abner had read quite a few occult books at his teacher's place, so he naturally knew of the Demon Mist Turtledove. It was merely his first time seeing one in person, so he had not recognized it right away. With Mr. Gaston's reminder, he immediately understood.

"So it's a Demon Mist Turtledove... Right, turtledoves are also birds of the pigeon family... I remember the books saying that most of its abilities rely on the mist surrounding its body. Once the mist is blown away, it will be weakened for a short time."

With that thought, Abner activated the Sea Breeze Hat again. Gales immediately surged from within him, and the powerful wind pressure slammed into the air. Hurricanes swirled all around them, sweeping away the mist that had filled the streets!

The Demon Mist Turtledove had not expected the thin mist it relied on for flight to vanish so suddenly. It foolishly fell from the air, and Abner's group seized the opportunity, raising their revolvers at the same time.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Three Demon-Hunting Bullets from different guns pierced the Demon Mist Turtledove's head. Its corpse fell to the ground and lay motionless.

Mr. Gaston took out a small mirror and carefully shone it upon the corpse. Only then did he relax. "No problem. It's dead!"

Abner and Xio sighed in relief as well. Some materials from a Demon Mist Turtledove could be main ingredients for certain Sequence 7 Potions, so the creature itself possessed at least Sequence 7 strength. If it had not been struck head-on by the Holy Light of the sun at the start of the battle and suffered considerable injuries, it would not have been easy for Abner to kill it even with some of the Wind-blessed's abilities.

"Cover me. I'll collect the materials first, and we'll divide the spoils after this is over!" Mr. Gaston said swiftly, displaying his experience.

"Alright!" Neither Xio nor Abner objected. Dividing loot on the spot in such a dangerous place would be suicidal.

After Mr. Gaston processed the Demon Mist Turtledove's corpse and packed its parts into separate tin boxes, the three continued onward toward a building to the northwest where the sounds of battle were obvious.

They did not head for the military's defensive line outside town. After all, if they were kept there as cannon fodder, they would have nowhere to argue their case. They wanted to help defend the town from the monsters, but they were not foolish enough to throw their own lives away.

"There won't be many monsters that slipped through the outer defensive line, at most three to five. And aside from those indiscriminate feeders like the Demon Mist Turtledove, most of them will seek out Beyonders first. After all, Beyonders have stronger Spirituality and suit their tastes better," Mr. Gaston said as they walked.

"In fact, even a bird with as little brain capacity as the Demon Mist Turtledove came after us!" After saying that, Abner turned around, took a Sailor hat from his coat, and handed it to Xio, who was trying hard to keep her head lowered.

"What is this for?" Xio asked blankly.

"I made this hat earlier with ritual magic. It can conceal the wearer's face. If you wear it, you won't have to worry about the Ring of Prediction's side effects," Abner explained briefly. He greatly admired Xio's decisiveness earlier. This lady might feel embarrassed afterward, but when danger came, she had not hesitated in the slightest to use the Ring of Prediction. She truly was a trustworthy partner.

Xio pursed her lips while holding the hat, but because of the Ring of Prediction's side effect, this ordinarily normal gesture became utterly comical. Her lower lip puckered so far that it nearly reached her nose.

Abner held back his laughter and turned away, pretending not to see it. Xio put the hat on at that moment.

Inside a two-story building in the town's northwest, Annie Gwen gave a bitter smile as she looked at the arrow lying on the floor, its luster gone. She had only just traded for it at the gathering, intending to use it when hunting the Dragon-Eyed Giant Python... Yet before she had even set out, she had already used it here.

What was worse was that even after taking an arrow imbued with Light Flame, the monster outside had merely been driven back. If it had not feared that she might have more similar arrows, it would likely have launched another attack long ago instead of remaining in this stalemate.

"But this can't delay it for long. At most, in one or two minutes, it will definitely make a probing attack. Once I show weakness, it will certainly pounce on me with everything it has... But the military is still locked in a fierce battle with the large monster force outside town. There's no rescue coming at all!" As Annie Gwen thought this, she could not help feeling dejected. She inevitably recalled her past—her father, mother, friends, and the comfortable life she had once enjoyed...

Her mood slowly shifted from dejection to regret, from regret to pain, and from pain to Despair...

But at that moment, a dark golden light seemed to flash before her eyes, and an invisible force rapidly merged into her body. In that instant, it was as though she had arrived in summer, basking in warm sunlight that drove away the chill within her.

"Ah!" Courage returned to her heart, and Annie Gwen cried out in lingering fear. She realized that if not for the Beyonder power of the Sun Domain, she would likely have been bewitched by that sinister ability! By then, her fate would either have been Loss of Control into a Monster or Suicide in Despair!

"That monster never intended to confront me... Its attack had already arrived!" Once she understood this, Annie Gwen remained somewhat nervous, but inwardly she relaxed. Because she knew that the reason she could escape the monster's control was that powerful reinforcements had arrived!

Half a minute earlier, downstairs from the two-story building, Mr. Gaston looked strangely at the ugly Devil dog that had been repelled by the arrow carrying Light Flame and said, "That seems to be the arrow I just sold!"

"A prominent vertical eye, human ears, and the body of a dog... That's a Despair Demon Dog, isn't it? The records say it's a monster tainted by multiple traits, not a Devil that advanced properly. Its abilities are chaotic. Basically, whatever kind of demonic trait it comes into contact with, it can use," Abner said fearlessly as he looked at the demon dog that had already turned its head toward them.

"What monster advances properly through Potions? But Despair Demon Dogs generally have abilities that corrupt the mind. I'll activate the Sun Halo first, then we'll deal with it!"