Chapter 255 - The Only Salvation

After the old man, the Elder Dark Priest raised his glowing staff, he tapped the other end of it on the ground. Then there was a ripple on the ground where the back end of his staff hit. The ripple grew about a meter and a half radius. 

The next second, a swirling shadow happened beside him. Then, from that shadow, a creature came out. The creature he summoned has a body of a cat with a pair of bat wings and a human face. 

"Go inspect the whole place," Elder Dark Priest gave his command.

"As you wish," replied the creature in a mystical voice and a human language. After saying it, the creature's feet ablaze with emerald flame. Then it hopped in the air.

From the Elder Dark Priest's position, the figure of the creature he had summoned was getting smaller and smaller as it moved farther and farther away from him.

As he was staring at the figure of the human-faced creature, Elder Dark Priest muttered, "Hmm, this staff is truly amazing. It raised my magical power to some extent," he said while raising the staff in front of his eyes.

"Thanks to my lord, my ability to create those creatures has improved a lot. Little Sky also helped in designing them. Thanks to those references she showed me last night. Now I have a clear goal on how to modify those human-faced creatures. Hehe, I must reward her later."

'Anyway, I arrived here after testing the item that my lord asked me to make. After some failures, now it seemed this item had finally worked fine,' thought Elder Dark Priest as he glanced at the ring with a purple crystal pendant.

"This ring brought me here to this place," he muttered.

Based on what Elder Dark Priest said, it seems like it was just a coincidence that he got to the place where he was standing at the moment. He said so, after he tried the item, it brought him here to the slope of the lofty mountain where he overlooks a city below.

'Anyway… my arrival here at this place was a huge surprise. I immediately noticed the strange thing in the human settlement that can be seen below. I also noticed a lot of energy coming from that side.'

Looking at the settlement, he believed it was a town. But it was hard to say with certainty because he could only see wreckage on it from where he was standing. When he focused his attention, he noticed that there was more than just energy. There were different kinds of energies in that place. And based on experience, he came to understand that they were from monsters and humans.

'In that case, monsters may have invaded this part of the human settlement,' Elder Dark Priest thought.

It was also why he summoned that human-faced creature. He wanted that creature to examine the town before going back to his domain inside the Lord's Domain dimension.

Under the dark sky, where the snowflakes were incessantly falling, the summoned creature ran over the white city. It was hard to imagine that a creature was running not on the ground, but in mid-air. This creature was truly mystical.

Replicates in its eyes the situation seen below it. A shadow of a few people wearing thick clothing can be seen surrounding a sturdy-looking wall. On the other side of that wall, there were shadows of grotesque creatures, trying to pounce the wall.

Other people were busy with various activities. There were also those who could be seen running in any direction.

In other parts of the area, many monsters could be seen gathering while trying to destroy the barricade, which was the reason they could not cross to the opposite side. However, the barricades were made of thorns and spikes. It was to prevent the rampage of monsters throughout the city.

The barricades were made of sharpened hard and large wood. Behind the barricade, people were raining attacks on the monsters. Several corpses of monsters could be seen stuck in the sharp wooden sticks and around it.

However, even with the help of the mercenary guild, the number of the monsters showed no sign of decreasing. 

The same situation could be seen in other parts of the city. 

In the eye of the human-faced creature, it could be seen that almost half of the town has been occupied by monsters. Some shadows of monsters could be seen strolling in some corners of the town. It also looked like many of the monsters had already entered the human defense line.

Even at this time of night, the battle was still going on. Some soldiers and town guards were trying to stop the increase of monsters inside the city. Several groups of soldiers and mercenaries were assigned to inspect some corners of the town to see if there were trapped civilians or monsters roaming around.

After a while, the human-faced creature that was inspecting from above finally returned. It immediately gave its report to the Elder Dark Priest.

"Then my suspicion is correct. It looks like monsters are currently attacking this human settlement," said Elder Dark Priest after hearing the human-faced creature's report.

"Yes, my creator," replied the human-faced creature.

"Hmm…" the elder made a gesture of thinking. Then he muttered, "I think this event will be beneficial to my lord," after saying it, the Elder Dark Priest's figure disappeared from where he stood.

In the battle, 

The defending humans already felt exhausted from the monster's unceasing attacks. It seemed as though the monsters had exhaustible stamina. No matter how many of them they killed, they never retreated.

At their temporary headquarters, Lieutenant Davis was listening to his subordinate who was reporting about the relentless attacks of the monsters and the extra forces from the Dona Family.

Although the Dona family was better suited to defend this city since it was their turf, Lieutenant Davis still took the lead in defending the area. Honestly, they were just passing this city. Their main goal was the Skyblaze City which was in the Southwest of the empire. But to get to that place, they need to pass the Merc town. Although there was another route where they didn't need to go through Merc Town, the group still chose this route.

But, unexpectedly, when they arrived at this place, a massive invasion of monsters was happening.

They have a choice to ignore the town and proceed to their destination, but as imperial soldiers bowed in front of the emperor to protect the land and the people, they could not bear to watch the people dying around them.

Anyway, after hearing his subordinate's report, Lieutenant Davis understood that they were in a dire situation.

Even with the combined strength of their group, the mercenary group, the town guards, and the personal soldiers of the Dona family, it was still not enough to repel the monster tide.

That's why Lieutenant Davis sent some men to get help to the Skyblaze Family. Their only hope to survive in this predicament was them.

Well.

That was if the Skyblaze family sent help here in Merc Town. That was their only hope. In the neighboring cities and towns here in Merc Town, Lieutenant Davis believed that only the Skyblaze family had enough soldiers and strength to confront a monster tide.

He surmised that if he asked for backup from the palace, he believed before the help arrived the Merc Town would already cease to exist. Also, there was no military settlement near this place. So their only hope for salvation was truly the Skyblaze family.

As he was pondering, Lieutenant Davis let out a sigh.