The 『Kin of Twilight』 and the 『Twilight Hounds』, a group exceeding 30,000, continued their advance.
The distance between us was about 300 meters. I could now see the fangs protruding from the mouths of the 『Twilight Hounds』. Dorozitte shouted, “Prepare gravel-type magic!”
200 meters. The vanguard was already within the effective range of magic, but Dorozitte seemed intent on drawing them in further.
100 meters. At Dorozitte’s “Fire!” command, a tremendous number of rock spears were launched by the adventurers’ mages.
Sfenia, Shizuna, and Geshura also unleashed their magic simultaneously. They alone must have conjured over 300 rock spears.
The rock spears, flying in gentle parabolas, landed like a concentrated downpour on the pack of 『Twilight Hounds』, their eyes glowing red and their fangs bared as they charged.
Screams arose, and the pierced 『Twilight Hounds』 vanished into black mist one after another. A phenomenon unique to summoned beasts.
The mages continued to cast spells, but several times that number of 『Twilight Hounds』 pressed on, unfazed. The sheer force of numbers was indeed overwhelming.
As the distance closed to less than 50 meters, the 『Twilight Hounds』 began to spew fireballs from their mouths. These destroyed the pikes and reached the adventurers’ ranks. The adventurers, in turn, defended themselves by having shield-bearers intercept the fireballs or by erecting earthen walls with magic. Of course, the fireballs near the front of 『Soul’s Guidance』 were all redirected by my 『Attraction』 Skill and absorbed into the 『Immovable Fortress Wall』.
The long-range attacks of our mages and archers and the fireballs spewed by the 『Twilight Hounds』 intersected countless times, and the distance between us steadily decreased. I could even hear the breath of the 『Twilight Hounds』. It was about time for me to step in.
“I’m going out. I’ll blow away everything in the front, so everyone, shift your attacks to the left and right. Sfenia, Karma, I’ll leave the command to you!”
“Leave it to us, Soushi-san!”
“Yeah, you can count on us!”
Encouraged by the support of the other members, I stepped alone into the red-black torrent of 『Twilight Hounds』, 『The Great Equalizer』 and 『Immovable Fortress Wall』 in hand.
“Hah!”
I swung 『The Great Equalizer』 horizontally in a semicircle.
The perfected 『Shockwave』 combined with the newly acquired 『Crushing Wave』 Skill, along with the effects of my simple Strength and Body Enhancement Skills, created a wave of equalizing power that exploded outward.
Everything caught in that wave—earth, stone, grass, and 『Twilight Hounds』—was crushed as if hitting an invisible wall, transformed into a single mass, and blown away.
What remained was a semicircular crater, about 30 meters in radius, spreading out from me. It was a tremendous power, even by my own standards. If I used it in rapid succession, it might change the terrain.
I heard loud cheers from behind. I raised 『The Great Equalizer』 to the sky and advanced without looking back.
Each swing of 『The Great Equalizer』 turned hundreds of giant hounds into meat chunks without even a chance to scream, and craters were carved into the grassland.
The 『Twilight Hounds』 seemed to possess some intelligence, so with such a difference in power, it wouldn’t be strange for them to flee from me. However, my perfected 『Provoke』 Skill wouldn’t allow it. The 『Twilight Hounds』 were drawn in like moths to a flame, and they vanished from this earth without even landing a single blow on me.
I must have taken down over ten thousand of them alone. The main force of the enemy, the 『Kin of Twilight』, appeared in my path.
The first to attack were the winged ones.
“We will not let you advance any further!”
Shouting that, the horned, lizard-headed 『Kin of Twilight』, wielding tridents, swooped down. It was the group led by that Migitima.
Contrary to their brave words, a grim determination was evident in Migitima’s eyes. They were not actively participating in this battle in the first place. Moreover, Migitima knew he couldn’t win against me. Especially after witnessing the power I had just displayed.
Of course, it wasn’t my intention to take their lives either. So, what should I do?
It was simple. I just needed to remove them from this battlefield.
I drew their attention and swung 『The Great Equalizer』 towards the sky.
Migitima and his group were sent flying into the air, their bodies contorted as if struck by the hand of an invisible giant. They would probably suffer quite a bit, but they wouldn’t die as long as they didn’t remove the Magic Stone—Geshura called it a “Life Stone”—from their chests.
Migitima’s clan, about 30 members, who had been hit by the 『Crushing Wave』, fell to the ground far away, tracing a parabolic arc.
After that, the flying units attacked one after another, but they all met the same fate. There seemed to be several types of winged 『Kin of Twilight』, some with bodies closer to humans like Argi, whom I had fought before, and others that looked completely like bats. It was clear how unique the 『Kin of Twilight』 were.
Among them, there must have been some who could understand me, like Migitima, and others who couldn’t, like Argi. But since I couldn’t distinguish them, I had no choice but to make them all stay quiet for a while.
Some of the flying units cast magic from a distance. All of their spells had firepower comparable to or exceeding that of an A-Rank adventurer, but they were like leaves fluttering in the wind before my 『Crushing Wave』. They couldn’t get close enough to even enter my range, so they could only cast spells from afar.
While all this was happening, I made contact with the ground forces of the 『Kin of Twilight』.
At the front were the snake-bodied warriors, like Geshura. It was a mixed-gender group, with men wielding melee weapons like axes and swords, and women using magic with their bare hands, like Geshura.
Their intelligent faces showed the same grim determination as Migitima. They were probably strong, being members of the 『Kin of Twilight』, but unfortunately, the person standing before them must have looked like a demon to them. As opponents in an unwanted battle, they were the worst possible match.
The male warriors stepped forward to protect the female mages. Their speed as they slid on their snake lower bodies was quite fast. The female mages preemptively unleashed wind blades. But they couldn’t even scratch the 『Immovable Fortress Wall』.
“Sorry about this.”
『The Great Equalizer』 groaned. A new crater was carved into the ground, and the 『Kin of Twilight』 within the range were sent flying as if kicked by a giant. They retained their forms, so they probably wouldn’t die. But even so, their vitality was incredible.
The 『Kin of Twilight』 rushed at me one after another. The ones that looked like human-shaped insects clearly exuded intense killing intent. They launched invisible projectiles, so they must have been related to Milan and Rove, whom I fought in the Dwarf Village. They were the ones I couldn’t reason with, so I blew them all away with a 『Crushing Wave』. Two of them approached using 『Swift Run』, so I directly crushed them with 『The Great Equalizer』. Their Life Stones must have been shattered, so they were definitely killed instantly.
There were also tall, slender figures with long arms, similar to humans. They seemed to be of the same race as Zaikal, the first 『Kin of Twilight』 I had fought. All of them had Noh mask-like faces, making it hard to read their emotions, but they seemed hesitant even before facing me, so they were probably passive. Zaikal might have been an exception, being unusually belligerent. They used 『Swift Run』 and a rapid series of hand strikes. It seemed to be a lower version of the 『Ephemeral Azure』 technique that Zaikal used, but if they could only fight in close combat, they were no match for me. I made sure not to hit them directly with 『The Great Equalizer』 and sent them flying as far as possible.
“What is this guy!?”
“Is there a human who surpasses us, the 『Kin of Twilight』!?”
“I haven’t heard of such a monster!”
After blowing away about four or five hundred of them, the 『Kin of Twilight』 finally seemed to realize my abnormality and began to observe me from a distance. Some of them used ranged attacks, but no one could break the combination of 『Attraction』 and 『Immovable Fortress Wall』.