Cannibalism. 

It was the only explanation for how a creature like this one could form in a mere 24 years. It consumed its fellows in order to grow at an overwhelming rate.

The purification party had been prepared for monsters up to level 139, creatures that had not yet undergone their final evolution. And while they could withstand the assault of an army of such monsters from within their ‘Holy Fortress’, the difference in power between an adult-stage monster and a perfected-stage monster was a massive change in power. And this abomination had more than just one toe into its final evolution.

...It must have consumed millions of its own kind.

The moment its body slammed into the barrier, the golden shell cracked and the thick miasma that clung to the monster’s body started to seep in. Every blow was like that of a heart beat, counting down to the end, ripples flickering across the dome’s surface until it couldn’t take anymore, and it finally shattered.

The soldiers were stunned by the monster’s [Piercing Shriek], their minds searched for what the contingency plan was for this kind of a disaster, but none came to them.

Their group consisted of five nobles with Tier 4 combat skills, 150 normal soldiers, and 50 priests, who were meant to fuel the holy barrier and the terraforming magic ritual, and who were left drained after the barrier’s destruction. They had not been chosen to handle something like this.

The few who managed to maintain their wits called out orders and attempted to disperse, but they were already surrounded on all sides, with the giant beast looming over them.

With a cry, it swung down its claw, killing three men. Its head descended down and grabbed two more.

One was swallowed in an instant, while the other was tossed screaming into the air spinning about as the beast lined itself up below in order to catch him in his mouth. 

Only, before the man could face that final end, something came barreling in at sonic speeds and spinning rapidly around the monster’s head, causing it to release a large spray of blood.

The beast let out a confused cry, as the newcomer disengaged, grabbed the falling man and rushed him to the ground. 

“Everyone form up! Keep together in small groups and don’t let them surround you! You take care of the ones on the ground and I’ll handle the one in the sky!” Mehal shouted to the surrounding men, snapping them out of their daze. 

Despite the fact that the rescued man was missing a limb and would surely die soon, the sight of the man’s entrance did much to improve morale, especially for those who recognized him.

Mehal Silvana was something of a notorious figure, as despite working for the nobility from time to time, he openly refused to ever become anyone’s retainer, going so far as to turn down an offer of title from the King himself, saying the only person he would ever deem worthy of being his master was dead..

The man could easily claim the title of the strongest Hedge Knight.

Flying up to be level with the winged beast, Mehal checked his equipment, including his reserve mana crystals.

“We aren’t equipped for this.” He grunted, wiping a droplet of black blood from his cheek, which had been slowly burning his flesh.

While the young Scarlet’s blessing had been enough from a distance, the air so close to a monstrosity like this one was too much for the girl’s blessings.

Mehal would kill for one of the magic respirators that the men on the ground were using, but since he was going to have to go without, he would need to use [Holy Breath] in order to mix holy attributed mana into his lungs to offset the necrotic mana.

It would cut into his mana reserves quickly.

“We’ve got enough mana for 5 minutes, so let’s make them count for something!” Mehal shouted, and started to flow mana throughout his entire body.

Light surrounded his form and his silver hair bristled in its ponytail as Mehal started to channel his [Mystic Body] skill to blow away the monster blood that still clung to him, holy attributed mana surrounding his hands from his [Elemental Weapon Arts].

Preparations complete, Mehal went in swinging.

For a man of his level, who specialized in close-quarters combat, Mehal’s strength was relatively low, but he made up for it with speed. His high Reflexes meant he could move in and out of range of the monster’s range with every flail of its massive body.

His hands moved like a blur, making use of his [Swift Strike] Bond skill to slice his way into the monster’s body with a mana infused open palm so fast as to not even get a drop of its blood on his hands. His ‘Silver-Palms Monk’ Class was specialized for hit and run tactics, and death by a thousand cuts.

Which put him at a disadvantage, as no sooner did his strikes open up wounds on the monster’s body, than it proceeded to heal those wounds. Its [Body of Taint] skill appeared to give it the ability to heal using necrotic mana and the air was full of the stuff.

If Mehal wanted to kill the monster, he would have to focus all his efforts on one section of its body and just hammer it faster than it could regenerate. The problem was, there would be a lot of blood, and he wouldn’t be able to avoid getting drenched in the stuff.

Well, there was no point in delaying. He might end up losing an arm, but it was better than running out of mana and losing his life.

Mehal decided to target the neck, moving in and cutting away at it with rapid strikes with his left hand, making sure to move away whenever the monster raved about, trying to reach him.

He managed to have a hole around two feet deep going into its body when tendrils erupted from it, slowing his progress as he had to cut them aside.

His left arm was completely soaked with the monster’s black blood and he could feel it as the skin was burned away and his muscles and nerves were exposed to the taint.

FUCK THIS HURT!

The pain was beyond words, reminding him of the time he had, in his hubris, tried to train [Arcane Mana Resistance]. The pain was blinding, but he had to focus. If he lost his senses now he would definitely die.

But more and more blood came and Mehal felt the damage it did start to sack up.

He wondered if he would manage to secure the kill before dying himself.

That was when he heard it, the sound of someone singing a low and peaceful hymn.

Pulling back slightly, Mehal glanced about and spotted its source.

Scarlet was flying in the air above the soldiers, white wings spread wide as she floated there, a large crystal the size of her head grasped in her hands as she sang a song that Mehal didn’t recognize. It was different from the [Song of Valor] she used to buff allies. 

It was the [Song of the Earth].

The healing effect that the song produced traveled through the air and reached Mehal, even at a great distance. He felt his Health slowly being restored, his skin no longer melting as the song was repairing his body faster the blood was destroying it. Every second that past, he was being healed for 50 HP. The soldiers on the ground were being healed at a much faster rate, being closer to the source of the healing energy.

But that wasn’t the only effect the song had. The wounds of the massive monster weren’t closing as quickly as before, as the life mana radiating from the girl was counteracting the necrotic mana in the air, neutralizing it. Not only that, the multitude of weaker monsters on the ground were screaming out, as if in pain, as the healing energy was as toxic to them as necrotic energy was to normal living creatures.

It was serious damage to the mobs, leaving the stronger monsters in constant agony as their bodies were being broken down by the overwhelming life mana energy, while straight out killing some of the smaller ones.

Not that the monsters were the only ones stunned.

Scarlet’s sudden appearance had caused much confusion among the ranks of the soldiers. The priests who had been escorted by the army had dropped to their knees in order to give a prayer that had nothing to do with [Holy Magic], believing that the winged girl was an angel who had descended to save them during their hour of need.

To be fair, their belief seemed reasonable, considering the inhuman amounts of life mana she was giving off.

Scarlet had broken out her emergency consumable, a Tier 8 Mana Storage Crystal she had gotten from the Professor, in which she had been storing some of her excess mana over the last few months. Using the mana stored within, she was overclocking her [Song of the Earth] as high as it would go, expending 2000 units of mana a second, instead of the normal 20. It was more than quadruple the total mana regeneration rate of the entire army of two hundred soldiers put together. The item had 10,000,000 units reserved for either a grand ritual or emergency situations.

The effect was powerful enough to cause the long dormant wildflower seeds to start to grow in that dead landscape.

But not all the monsters were completely immobilized, and they were able to identify the girl as the greatest threat to them.

While the soldiers were still confused, several high level monsters, though with levels reaching 100, lunged into the air and towards the young girl.

“You won’t touch her!” Yet another newcomer shouted, and a red haired woman riding a giant spider jumped over the crowd of soldiers, her strange whip-sword lashing out at the monsters, its magic edge ripping their already weakened bodies to pieces.

Without the need to hold back in order to allow the children to get EXP, Maria was showing her full strength, as well as the true strength of her magic weapon.

Within seconds, the assaulting monsters were dealt with, as she Weapon Merged Spindle into her whip-sword, increasing its damage considerably and giving it a poisonous edge that could paralyze weakened foes.

Jogged out of their daze, the higher rank soldiers started to give commands. “Form up ranks! Protect the girl!” Their holy barrier was down, but the child’s area-of-effect, mass heal skill was just as good, if not better, as any injuries they sustained would be almost immediately reversed if they weren’t instantly lethal.

The weaker monsters were dropping like flies and the stronger ones were not in such numbers that the nobles and Maria could not handle them. So the army did the battle it was sent there to do, pushing back the groundlings and keeping them away from the girl flying in the air above them. 

Up in the sky, Mehal’s forward progress was greatly helped as the monster’s healing was slowed to the point where he could start making serious headway. His mana infused hands cutting away large chunks of flesh as the monster struggled to shake him.

But as he finally penetrated the side of the monster’s neck, it started to gather even larger amounts of mana into its throat.

Mehal fled backwards, dodging out of the way as the monster’s breath attack started to boil upwards, part of the body melting blast of corrupted mana shooting out of the gap he had dug in the side of its head.

He expected it to try to swing its head around, to fire the blast at him, but for some reason, its head was just focused dead ahead. 

As its attack was launched, Mehal was struck with a horrible realization.

The attack wasn’t meant for him. His target with Scarlet, who was still suspended in the sky, her healing skill crippling all of the monsters nearby.

He moved as fast as his body would allow, trying to bridge the gap between himself and the girl in time, but the beam of death was faster. Mehal’s eyes widened in horror as the blinding light flashed before him, and the girl’s singing stopped.

As the light faded, it revealed an empty sky, not a single sign that the child had ever been there.

“Scarlet!” Maria’s horrified scream filled the air as Mehal stared at the space in front of him, searching it with all his senses, trying to convince himself that it was a lie. 

It was only survival instinct that allowed him to dodge the attack at his exposed back by the flying beast. The beast which had just killed one of Mehal’s charges. One of the people who the man had sworn he would protect.

The warrior monk stared up at the monster, seeing the wound he had worked so hard to open starting to rapidly close again as the force which was keeping it open disappeared.

It let out a [Piercing Shriek], a mockery of all of Mehal’s work and of the death of the child that sent shivers down the spines of the soldiers below. 

But Mehal didn’t falter… his spirit was simply going numb.

(Morty… This isn’t a fight we can win.) Mehal said to his Bond.

(Yes. I know.) The mantis replied quietly, knowing where this was going. (Thank you for putting up with me. It’s been an honor.)

This was not a fight that the two of them could win. So they would simply have to settle for a draw.

Mehal let out a scream of rage as he activated Morty’s final Bond Skill, [Self-Sacrifice], converting his own life force into mana. The aura surrounding his body expanded rapidly, his silver ponytail shimmered like moonlight off a pond as the power overflowed from him. 

The lifeforce mana condensed around his hands, forming into sharpened blades of light as he activated his Class Skill, [Asura’s Wrath], causing his two arms to become six.

The monster was surprised by the sudden transformation and started to draw in a breath, ready to unleash a second beam attack on Mehal, but rather than moving to evade, the man charged in at full speed, straight into the monster's mouth, pressing through the miasma as he went straight for the brain, cutting through flesh and bone with hundreds of high speed slashes from his blade like hands, even as his body was turning to rot.

“Let’s die together, bastard!”

---

(...So, this is the end.) Mehal said as he and Morty walked side-by-side down a long and dark tunnel.

(I guess so.) The mantis replied, hanging his head as he scurried along on his four back legs. (I’m sorry. If I was a stronger Bond...)

The mantis stopped as Mehal patted his head. (You were a good partner. I don’t regret anything, and neither should you.)

(Mehal...) Morty said, looking up at the man with his bug eyes. If he was physically capable of crying, he would have.

(Come on. There are people waiting for us.) Mehal said with a smile.

((There are people who are waiting for you.)) A young voice echoed from behind them. The pair turned around to see a bird, its body made of white fire looking at them. 

(Who…?) Mehal said in confusion before the dark tunnel started to fill with light from the direction they had been coming from.

((It isn’t your time yet, so I am taking you back.)) The bird said. ((Come back home to us. We are waiting for you.))

---

Mehal’s eyes shot open as he took a deep breath, looking around him in confusion at the night sky. “What? Where am I?”

“Teacher, you’re awake!” Andy shouted, getting the rest of the kid’s attention as they all crowded around the man, saying how worried they were.

“How… How am I… How am I alive?” Mehal said, his right arm reaching up to his head, trying to steady himself, only to find a good deal of his silver hair missing, and his face distorted by scars. His entire body was a mess, and his left arm was missing entirely. ...But he was alive. “I should have died.”

“You did die.” Branwen said in a scolding tone of voice as she flew down next to the man. “You are lucky that I grew several levels during the battle. If I hadn’t unlocked the [Retrieve the Lost] Bond Skill, we wouldn’t have been able to bring you back.”

Mehal gazed in confusion, seeing Scarlet’s Bond there with them, his eyes moving about and finding the girl asleep in her mother’s lap, her body shaking terribly, as if in a horrible nightmare. Her tiny hands clutching tight to her mother. Spindle was behind the two of them, its body much larger than before, and with the torso of a woman growing out from where its head should have been.

“But… You two died. I saw you…” Mehal said, not entirely believing that any of this was real.

“When the monster attacked, we used our [Traveral] Skill in order to temporarily hide in a pocket dimension.” Branwen explained, her feathers bristling. “AND WHAT DO WE FIND WHEN WE GET OUT!? YOU HAVING BEEN A BIG STUPID IDIOT AND KILLING THE MONSTER WHILE WE WERE GONE!” Her magical voice raised in anger, frightening the children as the white raven broke down into tears. “It’s not fair! We put in so much work, but we didn’t get any of the experience! I should have evolved too!”

Having contributed a good deal of work into fighting the mobs during the battle, Scarlet’s mother had been rewarded with a portion of the EXP when the giant monster died, along with Mehal and the other Nobles who had contributed enough total damage to the battle. It was only 1% of the total experience given by that monstrosity, but it had still been enough to grow her and her Bond all the way up to level 102, resulting in Spindle’s evolution. Meanwhile, Scarlet and Branwen had been gone from the world at the moment of the kill, and had not received a single experience point from its death, leaving them behind at level 68, from the hundreds of monsters they had killed before that moment.

This fact was a lot more distressing to the Sacred Raven than Mehal’s death and mutilation. 

“You! You owe us big time!” Branwen said angrily. “Not only did you cost us our experience, but we had to expend 5,000,000 units of mana in order to revive you! Do you know how long it is going to take in order to build our Mana Storage Crystal’s reserves back up?”

5,000,000 units!?!

Dimension manipulating skills. Reviving the dead. As usual, Sacred-type Bond skills were extremely powerful, but the cost was utterly insane. 5,000,000 units was as much as Mehal’s equipment could generate for him in 4 weeks. And since you could only use stored mana that you yourself processed inside of your body, save for when it comes to ritual magic, all of that mana had come from Scarlet herself.

How? How could she possibly have had that much mana leftover given the way she trained? Where in the world did she even get a Mana Storage Crystal large enough to hold that much mana?

“Are you listening to me!?” Branwen shouted angrily. “Because of you, Scarlet was so exhausted that she actually fell to sleep! Do you know how much she hates sleeping!?”

“I got it. I’m sorry. I owe you.” Mehal said, holding up his singular hand in surrender.

Honestly, things were a lot simpler when he was dead.

---