Chapter 125: Rampaging The City (2)
Reinhard saw the family huddled in a doorway, and the parents were shielding their children with their bodies.
An elderly woman had fallen but couldn’t get up, while two young men were trying to help her, watching the beasts with terror-widened eyes.
The Tonothus began forming a line to block off the passageway. While their hooves scraped against cobblestones, and their spiked tails swayed with agitation.
"Marie, go to the left and Joseph to the right, while I’ll take the center." Reinhards shouted as he stared ahead.
They split immediately, each understanding their role without need for elaboration.
Marie rushed forward with Longinus, appearing and shining in her hands, crimson-gold light reflecting off the building. The Tonothus turned its massive head to track her movement, its horn lowering in preparation to charge.
Then the Tonothus roared out as it rushed out, aiming its horns towards Marie, who had reached.
It swept toward her in a wide arc, trying to catch her even as she dodged. Still, Marie easily evaded the horn, smiling at the glaring Tonothus.
Then she thrust out her spear, which pierced down. The crimson-gold spear rushed down and punctured through the Tonothus’s shoulder blade.
The weapon pierced through muscle and bone, finding the creature’s heart with unerring accuracy.
The tonothus roared out as it faltered mid-stride, and then its front legs gave out.
It crashed face-first into the cobblestones with blood forming rapidly around the spear embedded in its back.
Marie placed her foot against the beast’s body and pulled Longinus free before she quickly helped the people near her.
Joseph rushed to the right with Arondight held in a low position, and he quickly reached the Tonotus.
Just as it shifted its stance, its hooves found purchase as it prepared to meet his approach.
Joseph met the right Tonothus head-on, with the beast lowering its head and aiming to impale Joseph. But he didn’t dodge, he gripped Arondight and then swept upwards with the lance.
The lance rushed towards the horn of the Tonothus before both crashed into each other. The impact created a ringing sound like struck metal.
The Tonothus was slightly lifted up to its shock before Arondight was pulled back and thrust out, piercing into the Tonothus’ left eye.
The Phantasm Beasts roared before Joseph pulled out, sweeping out at the beast’s leg and cutting into its front legs. Momentum carried it forward, but Joseph used that force against it.
Tendons severed, bones cracked, and the creature’s legs folded. It collapsed forward, its massive head striking the ground, and then Joseph reversed his grip and drove Arondight down through the back of its skull.
The lance pierced through the Phantasm Beast’s head before he quickly pulled out.
Reinhard rushed straight at the central beast, Zenuken glowing brighter with each step. The black-blue blade pulsed with energy, wisps trailing from its edges like smoke given purpose.
The central Tonothus roared out before rushing towards him, aiming its horn at Reinhard’s chest. The ground shook with each step as the beast picked up speed, and then wind swirled around it.
This further increased its speed as it blasted through the air and reached Reinhard, whose eyes slightly widened.
But he didn’t care too much as time began slowing down with the Tonothus looking like it was frozen mid-motion.
Reinhard moved through the slow time, his body slipping past the horn with inches to spare before positioning himself alongside its neck. Zenuken rose in his hands, the blade angling for the perfect cut, and he hacked down with the sword.
Zenuken slashed through the beast’s neck and cut through its bones. Then he continued moving, chopping, slashing, sweeping, and hacking apart the flesh of the beast.
Before that time, it returned to normal.
The central Tonothus’s momentum carried it forward another three steps before its brain registered what had happened.
Blood erupted from its throat, sides, back, and legs before it lost all feeling in its legs. The massive body crashed to the ground with Reinhard continuing forward.
The entire engagement had lasted perhaps ten seconds from the time they moved to the final kill.
The civilians stared in shock, their minds struggling to process what they’d witnessed. Three massive Phantasm Beasts that had seemed like insurmountable obstacles were now corpses bleeding across the street.
"Move!" Reinhard shouted as he waved at the civilians. "Go to the south and leave the city if you have to. Staying around isn’t safe anymore!"
The civilians jolted into motion, survival instinct overriding shock. The family burst from their doorway, parents carrying children.
The two young men finally helped the elderly woman to her feet and supported her as she limped away. Others who’d been trapped by the Tonothus wall rushed past with grateful cries.
Reinhard didn’t watch them go. His attention was already forward, tracking the next threat, planning the next engagement.
They had to reach the Mekhko Research Center. Every second of delay meant more civilians dead, more of Phineas’s plan progressing toward its terrible conclusion.
"Let’s go!"
They continued rushing forward and continued north through streets that had become a battlefield, leaving the three dead Tonothus.
As they were rushing through the area, they heard a crashing sound and glanced to the side.
A Bumbodusk charged from a side street, its massive boar-like form easily horse-sized. It was rushing towards a group of children who had separated from their parents.
Gran Vector Path had already shown him its trajectory. He positioned himself in its path, his eyes glowed golden as he met its enraged gaze directly, which was the very thing that would trigger its aggression.
The Bumbodusk charged faster, seeing eye contact as a challenge and threat.
Gran waited until the last possible moment, then jumped upwards with the Bumbodusk passing by him underneath.
Before he lashed out with both legs that crashed down onto the Bumbodusk’s back. The beast let out a screech as it was driven into the ground before a crimson spear appeared in front of it.
Then the spear drove straight into the creature, and blood splashed out.
Then Scath walked past the Bumbodusk with twin daggers appearing in her hands, and then she finished it with a slash across its throat.
They moved through street after street, killing beasts, saving civilians, coordinating with city guards and other Beast Masters when paths crossed.
The city was bleeding, burning in places where fire had spread, but it was fighting back with everything it had.
An Autumn Deer appeared on a rooftop, its multiple antlers silhouetted against a smoke-filled sky. It leaped down with impossible grace, landing in their path. Its green eyes tracked across the group, intelligence evident in how it assessed threats.
The creature’s antlers began to glow, leaves growing rapidly and then launching as razor-sharp projectiles.
Nikki waved her hand, leading to a pillar of fire to burst out from her hand and turn the leaves into ash. Then Marie hurled her spear towards one of the deer, which forced it to the side, and Joseph’s lance punched through its chest before it could recover.
They continued rushing forward, moving past the central district and closing in on the northern district that approached.
The Mekhko Research Center was visible now, its bulk rising above surrounding structures. And around it, the fighting was most intense with more Phantasm Beasts concentrated in that area.
A Bone Wyvern circled overhead, its bone-armored form massive and terrifying. It dove toward a group of guards who were already engaged with three Cheronos.
Reinhard’s hand found the Harrold Mark. Marie’s magic flooded through him as he tapped into Purging Lance. Light erupted around Zenuken, transforming the blade into a pillar of golden-white radiance.
He hurled it like a javelin.
The weapon punched through the Bone Wyvern’s chest with unstoppable force, driving it down into the street rather than onto the guards.
The impact created a crater, dust billowing outward, and the wyvern shrieked once before going still.
Zenuken dispersed and reformed in Reinhard’s hand.
The guards stared in shock, then rallied and finished off the Cheronos with renewed determination.
"Almost there!" Roana called, her voice cutting through the chaos.
The Mekhko Research Center’s entrance was ahead, its gates torn open, its walls showing damage where Phantasm Beasts had burst through from within.
They rushed toward it, weapons ready, knowing that whatever awaited them inside would be far worse than anything they’d faced in the streets.