CHAPTER 59: WAVE OF BEASTS (2)

Kyrian’s eyes focused on a beast at the 5° stage of the Qi Accumulation realm that was preparing to dive upon a young guard who was vainly trying to hide.

Kyrian looked, aimed, and could perfectly see the distance the beast would have to cover.

And then.

The arrow was released.

There was no grand sound, only the silent hiss of air being cut before the arrow’s tip met its target with absolute precision, piercing the flying beast’s brain.

The minimal icy energy that Kyrian had imbued into the arrowhead was enough to freeze the beast’s brain midair for a microsecond before it fell heavily from the sky.

The beast’s body crashed outside the walls, quickly lost to sight among the countless other beasts.

The young guard looked around confused, not understanding what had just happened.

By then, Kyrian had already turned. Another arrow released. Another beast fell.

And then another. Kyrian moved with a terrifying calm. An absolutely serene point in the midst of chaos.

Kyrian had already gone through this chaos, through a time of despair like this before. Compared to the blood dome, where he didn’t even have the chance to run, this situation wasn’t terrifying to him.

Now, Kyrian at least had the strength to protect himself.

Each arrow was a death sentence for the beasts.

In not much time upon the wall, shouts of surprise and, afterward, hope arose as the defenders realized that someone was finally striking back against the terror of the flying beasts.

The surviving archers, encouraged, began to shoot again, but their arrows weren’t of much help.

Kyrian then noticed something bad. The beasts began to cluster, and some were climbing the walls. Soon they could invade from all sides.

Qi surged into his throat, and then a loud cry sounded, echoing for all like thunder.

"FORGET THE FLYING BEASTS! I WILL HANDLE THEM. SHOOT AT THE WAVE OF BEASTS BELOW, DO NOT LET THEM CLIMB THE WALLS!"

The orders were clear, firm, and authoritative. They didn’t know exactly who the order came from. But the archers and soldiers, who were still struggling against the instinct to fire blindly at the skies, decided to obey.

One by one, they turned their bows downward.

Arrows began to rain upon the mass of land beasts. Each shot before had been guided by despair, but now there was purpose.

The creatures climbing the high walls of the rampart were struck and fell upon the others, buying precious seconds for the defenders.

Kyrian kept his eyes turned to the sky. One arrow, another, and another. Each shot felled a beast that dared approach the archers.

His bow sang without rest.

However, the beasts in the skies reacted. Despite their limited intelligence, they realized who was striking them down with precision.

The enemy was no longer the weak archers, but the young man with eyes that shone like ice.

Roars tore through the air. Whole groups began to descend at speed. Black wings vibrating, animalistic eyes full of hostility fixed only on Kyrian.

He did not move. Calm enveloped him.

Arrows were released. Bodies fell, countless. The wall became the stage of a one-sided hunt.

Soldiers nearby, once consumed by terror, began to notice the change and shout in hope.

"He’s really holding them all back?!"

"Keep going! Don’t stop shooting at the beasts below!"

Coordination upon the walls returned. Chaos turned into resistance once more.

Meanwhile, at the gate, the battle was brutal.

The broken gate allowed for the constant entry of beasts, but the narrow space limited their number.

Forming a bloody funnel. The makeshift line of cultivator defense held on. When someone grew tired and had spent most of their Qi, they fell back, and another took their place.

The ground was covered in bodies, mostly of beasts, but losses were inevitable. Even if minimal compared to the number of beasts that died.

The smell of blood filled every breath. The metallic taste was in everyone’s mouths.

When the pressure became unbearable, the guild master, Liu, advanced. His short sword cut through the air, and a wave of condensed Qi devastated dozens of beasts at once, opening space.

Right behind, the patriarchs Mu, Li, and Chen also unleashed their techniques, each accompanied by shockwaves and the agonized screams of monsters.

The barrier of cultivators held. Not a single beast had managed to break through yet.

Back atop the wall, Kyrian fired without pause. But soon the quiver was running empty.

Claws closed in amid the dive of three beasts. Kyrian dropped the bow for an instant. He crouched in a precise movement, and his sword gleamed.

A horizontal cut, clean.

The body of a beast was split in half. Blood drenched his face and clothes, splattering like a hot bath.

Kyrian didn’t care about that, there was no time for it, only for killing.

Another beast dove, he spun the sword and pierced the bird’s throat before it could touch the wall’s ground.

Now the focus of the flying beasts was absolute. All of them were turning against him, the only real threat to the skies.

But that only made the situation simpler. He didn’t need to worry about distractions or protecting the others.

Kyrian preferred it this way.

If the beasts were far, they would fall by his arrows. If they were too close, they would be dismembered by his blade.

Kyrian spun, cut, shot, and breathed. A cold, constant cycle.

Despite this, Kyrian was using only a minimal amount of Qi. Only when necessary, when a beast with a bit more strength appeared.

Kyrian calculated exactly the expenditure he would make. For he didn’t know what could happen.

Suddenly, a group of young men ran up to him. They carried quivers full, taken from the wall’s storerooms.

One of them, his face covered with blood and fear, extended the arrows to Kyrian.

"Take them! You need them more than us!"

Kyrian simply nodded and took them. There was no time for words. He had already loosed the first arrow before the young man had even stepped back.

The hunt resumed.

From the battlefield below, Master Liu raised his eyes. He saw Kyrian turn chaos into a hunt and a calculated massacre.

He saw bodies falling outside and within the wall, each arrow, each shot, a clean strike.

A glint of satisfaction shone in the man’s eyes.

"I was right to trust him. Hmph... as expected of a son of the heavens."

The patriarchs, even covered in blood, noticed as well. It was impossible not to.

The defense of the wall had quickly changed since Kyrian had taken control of the skies.

The night then advanced. But the slaughter of the beasts seemed endless.

Corpses already piled against the gate. The streets were already rivers of blood. But the human barrier still stood firm.

On the walls, the archers’ confidence returned. They didn’t need to worry about the skies, only about the beasts that tried to climb. Panic gave way to discipline.

And Kyrian alone kept the sky clear.

It became only a battle of endurance. Time stretched, every minute feeling like an eternity.

The beasts weren’t absurdly strong. The strongest were comparable at most to the 5° or 6° stage of the Qi Accumulation realm.

The problem was their number. Even so, the city held.

Then, during the stalemate, suddenly.

A different sound ripped through the night.

It was no common roar. It was a primal, guttural, grotesque scream. That echoed from the heart of the forest. A sound that made those who heard it shiver.

Even the beasts stopped for an instant, trembling.

There, in the darkness, a black silhouette rose. Its contours were unreal and strange.

It was not easy to identify the form of that being, as if it were not flesh but shadow. The mere sound it emitted made the blood freeze.

At its side, there were five enormous beasts. Each one the size of a small house. But they bowed, shrinking before that being.

Then, they charged toward the city.

The silhouette, in turn, bent down and began devouring beast corpses without distinction.

The bodies vanished quickly, and each bite seemed to swallow more than possible, leaving not even a drop of blood on the ground.

Kyrian, from atop the wall, upon hearing the sound, felt a deep shiver run down his body. His eyes, once focused on the sky, had no choice but to look toward the distant forest.

He could not see from where the bizarre sound came. But that did not seem like a beast.

It was something different. Something terrifying.