The Bizarre Beast Tide

"Master, what do you think of the situation?"

Sitting on a tree branch, Angela watched the magical beasts slowly advancing in the distance and asked cheerfully.

"Hard to say."

Li Lin stood beside her, the magic runes on his body having gradually dimmed. They now merely circled around him, forming a sturdy defense. Just moments ago, while the sisters weren't paying attention, he had transported himself and Angela into a nearby forest. They watched the Beast Tide from afar. It was Angela's first time seeing such a large-scale movement of magical beasts, and Li Lin hadn't encountered one in a long time either.

As Li Lin answered Angela, he studied the distant magical beasts. After casting the Hawkeye Spell, he could easily see things far away. The beasts weren't particularly large, only about the size of jackals, and not even as big as actual wild wolves. But their bodies were exceptionally strange: their entire forms were dull and lusterless, even somewhat transparent. Their eyes were gray as well, producing almost no light in the darkness. At a glance, they looked like a black wave rolling and surging forward.

"Those are Shadow Hounds. They don't belong to this plane. They should normally inhabit the Plane of Shadow. We must be in a period of planar overlap now, which is why they've appeared here. You could say they're dangerous, but you could also say they aren't."

Li Lin naturally recognized the magical beasts. They weren't much different from ordinary wolves or dogs. The only real trouble was that Shadow Hounds were nearly incorporeal, and could only be harmed by magical attacks or magic weapons. Of course, "nearly incorporeal" meant they did still have some substance, but it was hard to strike, making them extremely difficult for ordinary warriors to hit. Whether they were dangerous or not depended on the unstable nature of the planar overlap. If the planes overlapped for only a short time, the Shadow Hounds would all vanish into thin air before reaching the town. But if it lasted a long time, the town would have to fend for itself. After all, Shadow Hounds were creatures of the Shadow World, and they wouldn't follow the routes of the Prime Material Plane.

The best way to attack them was with divine spells or magic that produced light, but Li Lin had already checked the town. There was no Temple here.

As for mages...

He said nothing more, instead raising his head to watch the Beast Tide surging before him.

"I wonder if those two little ones can survive this?"

Angela cupped her cheeks in her hands and watched the two standing dumbstruck not far below with great interest. She had given the sisters an absolute order: fight to the bitter end, no retreat. The order from a direct-line vampire had completely dispelled any thought of escape. After all, Angela was their creator, and the sisters could not refuse her orders.

"If they have enough strength... or if they're smart enough."

Li Lin carefully recalled the spells he had taught Fina and spoke with great confidence.

"In other words, if they die, they'll have no one to blame but themselves for being stupid?"

Angela chuckled softly, her bell-like laughter echoing through the forest.

"That's true. We don't need useless fools traveling with us, Master. If they die, it'll save us the trouble."

At that, Angela's eyes shifted, as though she had thought of something interesting.

"Master, would you like to make a bet with me?"

"What kind of bet?"

Li Lin asked, a little curious.

"Fina is your student, and Mina is mine. Why don't we use this as a test to see which of them is better?"

"What are the stakes?"

Clearly, Li Lin had no objection to Angela's proposal.

"Good point... How about this? If you win, you may do as you please with me. If I win, you'll let me do as I please with you for three days. How does that sound?"

"...Deal."

At that moment, the sisters naturally had no idea where their masters had gone, much less that they had become the stakes in someone else's bet. Facing the Beast Tide slowly closing in, Fina trembled all over, while Mina stood in front of her younger sister, also extremely tense. They wanted to run, but whenever the thought crossed their minds, their legs seemed to stop belonging to them, refusing to move even an inch no matter what they did. It seemed they really had no choice but to attack.

"How many spells did you prepare?"

Watching the Beast Tide draw closer, Mina bit her lip and asked her sister in a low voice. Although she didn't know much about spells, she wasn't entirely unfamiliar with them, since both arcane and divine spells needed to be prepared. They were undead now and naturally could no longer receive divine spells from the gods, but that didn't mean they had lost their memories as well.

"I, I, I prepared... prepared..."

Fina clenched her teeth and struggled to remember. Fortunately, although she stumbled over her incantations, she wasn't stupid, and had prepared almost all the low-level spells Li Lin usually taught her. Soon, she began chanting softly, attempting to cast a spell.

"Wait!"

Seeing her sister blankly about to reach out, Mina hurriedly grabbed her.

"It's not time to start fighting yet!"

"Ah! Yes, I..."

Startled, Fina immediately lost the spell she had intended to cast, wasting a casting opportunity. It was understandable, though. She was used to being a priest, and priests generally cast all sorts of status spells on their allies before a battle to keep anything from happening to them. Why would they wait until the fighting started to cast?

"One spell."

Watching Fina, Li Lin frowned. Clearly, her childish action had cost her a spell. In a mage's battle, that kind of mistake was among the most fatal.

"Hee hee, what's wrong, Master?"

Although she wasn't familiar with magic, Angela had spent enough time with Li Lin to notice his reaction.

"Things don't look good, do they?"

"The art of magic is very subtle."

Li Lin's expression returned to a calm, harmless smile.

"You should worry about yourself. After all, you never gave Mina a magic weapon, did you? She'll have a lot of trouble dealing with the Shadow Hounds."

"You underestimate us of the Vampire Species..."

"--!!"

Just then, the leading Shadow Hound seemed to notice the obstacle blocking their path. It immediately stopped and let out a long howl. Then the pack began advancing resolutely toward the town of Yinkalan once more. Although magical beasts were more intelligent than ordinary beasts, the instinct to migrate had long since seeped into their blood. Just as lemmings would press forward whether a sea or a cliff lay ahead, the Shadow Hounds showed no intention of stopping, advancing in a vast mass toward the town before them.

"Loose arrows!!"

Hundreds of flaming arrows flew from the walls, raining down on the magical beasts. Startled by the flames, the slowly advancing pack abruptly halted for a moment, then turned into a surging torrent of shadows and charged forward at great speed. There was no firelight in the Shadow Plane. Although the flaming arrows did cause the Shadow Hounds some damage, they also aroused their ferocity. If the magical beasts had previously regarded the town as nothing more than an obstacle, like a boulder or a mountain range, they now saw it as their enemy.

"What are you waiting for? Keep shooting!!"

The pack's sudden acceleration made the old captain of the guard tense up as well. With an angry shout, he shoved aside the terrified new recruit next to him, snatched the longbow from his hands, immediately drew an oil-soaked arrow and lit it on a torch. He quickly took aim and shouted.

"Shoot!!"

As another flaming arrow fell, the other soldiers came to their senses and began doing the same. Unfortunately, they were only ordinary soldiers, who had hoped the "beasts" would flee as soon as they saw firelight. They had never expected that the flames would not only fail to stop the "beasts," but make them even more dangerous!

Just then, the old captain's gaze swept down below the wall and came to rest on the sisters. They were too far away for him to make out who they were. But were there still people who hadn't managed to get back?

"Come back, quickly!!"

Although he knew it was already impossible to open the gates and let them in, the old captain still shouted futilely in their direction. Unfortunately, his voice seemed not to reach the two at all. They simply stood there, staring as the black tide swept toward them and swallowed them whole.

"That's it? Useless?"

Seeing the sisters engulfed by the Shadow Hounds without even putting up a fight, Angela frowned in displeasure.

Could those two humans have chosen to escape through death?

At that moment, a red light flashed. A tremendous explosion, accompanied by a blast of scorching wind, erupted from the pack of Shadow Hounds, tearing a gap through it.

"I told you, the mysteries of magic are very subtle."

Watching Fina standing amid the hounds, magical light flashing in her hands, Li Lin spoke smugly.

After a Flame Burst tore through the Shadow Hounds' line, Fina immediately became the beasts' target. This time, Mina wasn't idle either. During her training with Angela, she had learned the Vampire Species' basic methods of attack. Now, barehanded, she stood in front of her sister and protected her from any interruption, allowing her to prepare her next spell. The Shadow Hounds were indeed difficult to attack, and many of Mina's strikes missed completely. Fortunately, a vampire's speed made up for her lack of accuracy. If she couldn't hit them, she would naturally land a blow by striking a few more times...

Under her sister's protection, Fina soon cast Flame Jet, clearing another large area.

Spurred on by the sisters' fight, the soldiers on the wall redoubled their efforts, shooting flaming arrows into the pack of Shadow Hounds in rapid succession. Even so, large numbers of Shadow Hounds reached the base of the wall and began climbing rapidly, trying to leap over the barrier. But the warriors who had prepared for them naturally didn't wait foolishly for them to climb up. Holding heavy shields, they knocked the climbing Shadow Hounds back down in a few passes.

The back-and-forth battle continued. The number of Shadow Hounds gradually began to dwindle, while the intervals between Fina's spells grew longer and longer-to the point where she refused to cast at all unless she was in danger. Clearly, her magic was nearly exhausted.

"Something's wrong."

Watching Shadow Hounds continue to appear on the distant horizon, Li Lin frowned.

"A planar overlap can't last this long. There's a problem."

Just then, the woman wrapped from head to toe in a cloak appeared on the wall as well. She looked down at the Shadow Hounds, a trace of barely perceptible tension in her eyes.

"My lady, what brings you here?"

Noticing the woman, the old captain immediately came to her side and asked with tense respect.

"How could I not come and see when something like this has happened?"

The woman's voice remained gentle and serene. Her gaze lingered for a moment on the sisters, who were still struggling to hold out below the wall, then moved away.

"How long has this been going on?"

she asked softly.

"About two hours now, I think..."

The old captain drew a sharp breath as he looked at the Hounds of Shadow still charging against the wall below. After all, he had never seen any "beasts" as persistent as these.

"Two hours?"

The woman softly repeated the old captain's words, then reached out. Soon, the beautiful staff appeared in her hand.

"My lady, are you..."

Seeing that the woman was preparing to act, the old captain's expression changed.

"Tell your men to get ready."

The woman, however, seemed unchanged and continued to give her orders in a low voice.

"I'm afraid we have trouble."