164 Chapter 164: Black Beasts

"Okay, who put the exclamation mark up there in the previous chapter? Why make it so dramatic?"

I mumbled to myself, but fortunately I was so soft that nobody heard me. Otherwise the sergeant would smack me and tell me to shut up. We were supposed to stealthily approach and take the Dark Church dudes by surprise, after all.

"Get ready," the sergeant whispered, signaling us forward. He was only speaking to us students because we didn't understand the military hand signals. "Ranged mages, take aim and shoot the Dark Apes. The close combat mages, standby. Once they see us, you can charge in and eliminate the survivors."

"Yes, Sergeant!"

We all got into positions. Dong Fang Yue Chu could double as a ranged mage as well, so he began casting his fire spells. Alicia aimed with her guns, as did the soldiers with their carbines. As for me, I summoned Orion.

The Dark Apes were rank D monsters. Even though they weren't as powerful as Elemental class monsters, they were still fairly strong and thus we couldn't afford to eliminate me. They would be quite durable when compared to the rank F Cyclops Rats.

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"Now!" The Sergeant barked.

We immediately unleashed a hail of fire, taking care not to hit the bodyguards and city council dudes. As I expected, they were more tenacious, and only five went down in the first wave. The survivors spun around and caught sight of the projectiles coming from our direction.

"Continue firing!" the Sergeant bellowed, squeezing his trigger and letting his rifle roar on full automatic. The Dark Apes were racing forward now, growling and snarling, but that was where the close combat mages came into play.

Craig and Theodore were the first ones to reach the approaching line of Dark Apes, the latter's hammer smashing into the front two rank D monsters and pulverizing them. Craig's spear darted with impeccable precision, spearing the heart of a Dark Ape before he scythed down a second. Another pounced on him, but Sheila bashed it away with her shield before slicing the stunned monster's throat. Craig then reached her side, and the two of the fought back-to-back.

It was clear that the two Crimson Spear Society members were used to working with each other. Their attacks were completely in sync, and they covered each other's vulnerabilities. Sheila would shield Craig with her shield while Craig would cut down any Dark Ape that was striking at her blind spot. Working together, the two pulled off a flawless and seemingly choreographed display of skill, reaping a huge tally.

Dong Fang Yue Chu and Lily supported either side of Theodore, while Harrison hung a bit back to protect Alicia. The soldiers didn't need help. The moment the Dark Apes reached them, they lowered their guns, allowing them to hang from their straps. Instead, they drew swords and sabers, stabbing and thrusting at the howling monsters.

With my comrades dealing with the majority of the Dark Apes, I switched my aim toward the Dark Church dudes. They were hanging back, not actively participating in the battle. We had assumed that they were controlling the Dark Apes, but there was a faint possibility they had summoned them as well. If so, killing them would cause the Dark Apes to disappear.

At the very least, eliminating them would end their control over the Dark Apes, and we could focus on mopping up the monsters. As deadly as the Dark Apes were, I had a feeling that the humans were even more dangerous.

Especially since those bastards were the ones who masterminded the massacre.

Charging up a weaker version of Rigel, I launched it at the Dark Church dudes. They were unable to react in time, my arrow striking the one in the middle before exploding. All the robed figures were consumed by the resultant conflagration, incinerated into dust…or so I hoped.

But the Dark Apes didn't disappear. Either the summoner survived or these were controlled monsters.

A trio of the Dark Church dudes stumbled out of the inferno, their robes fuming and the men coughing hoarsely as they struggled to extinguish the flames. One of them shouted something incoherently, and a detachment of Dark Apes broke off to charge at me.

"Betelgeuse!"

A volley of countless arrows pierced through the offending Dark Apes and reduced them into bloody craters. I then shifted my aim, but the surviving Dark Church trio were already running and conjuring a defensive barrier. Worse, a few Dark Apes threw themselves in my line of sight, obscuring the fleeing trio.

"Damn it!"

I tried to move to the side, but they were persistent. And then the city council guys chose that moment to run as well.

"Help!"

Their bodyguards were dwindling fast. Not only that, I saw that the huge group wasn't just city council dudes, but also a massive population of civilians. The ring of bodyguards had been broken, and the civilians were forced to break up into smaller groups, scattering all over the shelter to prevent themselves from getting mauled.

"Damn it! What are those guys doing?"

I knew I couldn't blame those guys, but the heat and frustration of the moment got to me. The bodyguards had been fighting for goodness knows how long, stretched to breaking point and overtaxed with protecting a group of civilians about ten times their number. Honestly, it was a miracle that they had lasted this long.

However, the sergeant recognized that we would fail our mission after coming so close if we allowed things to develop as they did. He issued an order, and the soldiers disengaged as quickly as they could. Harrison and Alicia stepped in to cover their retreat, then Dong Fang Yue Chu and Lily joined. Abandoning my efforts to assassinate the Dark Church guys controlling the whole thing, I dismissed Orion and drew Gan Jiang and Mo Ye.

I cleaved the first Dark Ape in half before decapitating a second. Thanks to the efforts of my friends, the ranks of Dark Apes were being thinned. They were tenacious, though. The Dark Ape I had cleaved was scrambling toward me, the upper half of its body dragging itself forward. I was forced to finish it off with a vicious stomp to its head. Alicia wasn't faring much better. Even though her shots were hitting home, the Dark Apes shrugged them off and advanced toward her. Harrison was probably the worst of us three. Despite pummeling a couple of Dark Apes, they refused to die. He must have delivered what seemed like five separate lethal blows to them, and yet they kept coming. Only when he finally caved in the head of a Dark Ape, smashing its face in and distorting the entire shape, did he score a proper kill.

"Tenacious little fuckers!" he swore under his breath.

"That's rank D for you," Dong Fang Yue Chu complained as he roasted another Dark Ape. One of his victims, despite being charred and blackened, rose to its feet and lunged at him, only for Lily to slice its head off with her sword.

"They can take a lot of punishment," she remarked, breathing heavily. Her face was already red from the exertion.

"Almost there!" Alicia assured her as she shot a Dark Ape in the head. It staggered, but that hesitation was more than enough for me to lop its head off. "There aren't many left now!"

The soldiers, now free from engaging the Dark Apes in close combat, raised their carbines and let loose several precise shots at the Dark Apes still harassing the civilians. The Dark Apes snarled as they were struck, but only three died in the barrage. The rest turned around, abandoning their attempts on the beleaguered bodyguards.

And good thing too, for there were about five men in suits and sunglasses (why the fuck were they wearing sunglasses inside an underground shelter?!) remaining. And they looked like they were in pretty bad shape.

On the other hand, we had managed to thin the number of Dark Apes to about half of their original count. About fifty Dark Apes left. Pretty good odds, if you ask me.

"Damn, maybe I should have cast Vermillion Phoenix or White Tiger instead. Never mind."

At that moment, I summoned Black Tortoise. My Celestial Guardian appeared and he immediately conjured whirlpools of water that slammed into the Dark Apes and swept them away. As hardy as they were, even Dark Apes needed to breathe, and the immense water pressure not only crushed them but also drowned them. Just as insurance, I summoned Pisces. The two gigantic sharks sailed through the water that Black Tortoise had created and began tearing the Dark Apes apart with their dagger-like fangs.

"Over here! Move it!"

The sergeant was yelling for the civilians to run over to our position. With the Dark Apes out of the way, they would be safest next to us, especially if the Dark Church dudes still had anything up their sleeves.

Speaking of which…where were they? I had lost sight of them when dealing with the Dark Apes, but I was pretty sure they didn't just disappear somewhere. There was nowhere else to go in this shelter, and my rescue team was guarding the only exit. Not unless they used the elevator at the center, but the space in front of it had always been empty. If they had headed that way, we should have seen them. Unless they used an invisibility spell, but that begged the question of why didn't they cast it earlier?

By now I was summoning more and more Constellation spirits to finish off the surviving Dark Apes. Even though the number of bodyguards had been drastically reduced, I could easily reinforce our position with more Constellation spirits. The longer time passed, the more advantageous it would be for us.

"Canis Minor!"

I called one of my hunting hounds over and gestured him toward the last place where I saw the Dark Church trio. He nodded and bounded over to sniff the area.

"Go track them down! I'm counting on you!"

Canis Minor barked an affirmation and began sniffing out the trail. He began racing toward the civilians. I snorted inwardly. If those idiots thought they could hide within the civilians, then they were dead wrong. My Canis Minor was capable of picking out their scent from everyone else.

So I was surprised when he ran past the civilians and deeper into the shelter. Cursing under my breath, I followed him.

"Oh? There's still more prey?" Craig noticed me jogging toward the opposite end of the shelter, and he joined me. The guy was faster and fitter than I was, and he caught up really easily. They said that spearmen were the fastest mages, and now I finally had a chance to see that they were right.

Sheila also caught up shortly after. Being weighed down by her shield, she was just a teeny bit slower than her president.

"What's going on?"

"The real enemy," I replied grimly. "We're not going to let them get away."

"Oh, the Dark Church! Great idea!"

With a cheer, Craig increased his speed. Canis Minor ignored him, skidding to a stop near the edge of the wall.

"…what the hell is that?"

I also paused in my tracks when I caught sight of two gigantic canisters lying against the wall. Between them was the surviving trio from the Dark Church.

"Who cares?! Kill them! Kill them all!"

Craig hurled his spear at them in reflex, instinctively understanding that he couldn't afford to let them do anything. Sheila did the same, but a magical barrier appeared between their targets and their weapons, stopping the spears from piercing through.

"Man, this was meant to be a last resort. We really don't want to use this…but you kids forced our hand."

The Dark Church dude in the middle was growling some cliché line that I had heard a dozen times before. So I didn't pay attention. The moment Craig had attacked, I had begun casting a summoning spell as well.

"Taurus!"

It was futile. The barrier held strong even as Taurus collided against it. Behind the barrier, the Dark Church dudes continued to work on the canisters.

"You're too late!" the Dark Church dude in the middle howled triumphantly.

The moment the words left his mouth, the canisters clicked and flung open, releasing white smog into the air. And then, from each of them, a massive dark figure stepped out, their silhouettes still obscured by the dense smog.

"What in the world…?" I muttered under my breath, but Craig suddenly seized me and Sheila.

"Get out of here!" he shouted as he began sprinting backward. "Everyone, run! Or we'll all die!"

Amidst his panic, I could hear the three Dark Church dudes cackle cruelly as they too were enveloped by the smog.