Yamwen sidestepped swiftly, dodging Javier’s swinging arm. The sickly weapon slammed into the ground, shattering stone into rubble.

This just got seriously troublesome.

Javier screeched incomprehensible words while rampaging. Yamwen’s brow furrowed slightly.

She’d heard rumors before—Elvenfolk had crafted a device to drive Human Hammer Knights berserk, but abandoned it for being *too* effective…

As she thought this, Javier seized a League knight with one arm. While the knight struggled, Javier slammed him into the ground, lifted him, and slammed him again. He repeated this until armor and flesh turned to pulp, then discarded the mess.

Like a toddler with a mind of a few years, he’d never be satisfied until everything around him lay destroyed. Truly, as a weapon of mutual destruction, its effect was *too* perfect.

Yamwen raised her longbow again, nocking a feathered arrow. She shot it straight into the unmutated half of Javier’s face. Even as the arrow pierced his eye, Javier roared, dragging himself toward her while raising his Stone Hammer.

*Thud!*

Lontan swung his axe, intercepting the blow. Gripping the haft with both hands, he charged.

No denying it—Beastkin were born warriors. His massive frame, broad shoulders, thick neck, and powerful arms matched the monster blow for blow. Under the moonlight, each axe swing sent arcs of blood blooming into the air. Their war cries filled the space.

Then—Lontan’s axe swung wide. Seizing the opening, Javier whipped his arm around. *Crack!* His steel-whip limb exploded against Lontan’s armor like a bomb.

“Agh!”

Lontan screamed. His armor crumpled inward. He crashed to the ground. Javier whirled, jaws gaping like a starving lion lunging for prey.

“Lontan!”

Yamwen shouted, raising her bow—but before she could loose an arrow, a *whoosh* cut through the air above her.

*Thwip!*

A massive wooden bolt impaled Javier’s body. As rainbow-hued fluids oozed from his puff-like flesh, Yamwen spotted Oren atop the villa beside a colossal machine.

A ballista. The Alliance’s deadliest siege and defense weapon. Its spears could pin two or three tightly packed foes to the earth. Its precision was legendary—Alliance records told of bolts splitting previously embedded shafts mid-air.

Javier yanked the bolt free, screeching. He changed targets, charging the villa. Oren tied a rope to a fresh bolt, heaved the lever down, and fired.

*Thud!*

The giant bolt tore through the air, piercing Javier’s arm before burying deep in his torso.

“——————————!”

Javier howled unintelligible rage. His puff-body shuddered violently. Then—with a putrid stench—a pair of tender wings burst from his back. They dripped iridescent blood, reeking of sewage.

Javier seized the bolt’s rope and launched skyward. Oren grabbed the tether, snatched a crossbow, and leapt from the villa. As Javier dragged him upward, the monster opened his maw in fury. A corrosive breath erupted, eating away at everything nearby.

Javier’s breath burned like acid. It corroded the ground, the very air, releasing a nauseating stench that stung Oren’s eyes shut. The earth sizzled and cracked. Stone walls dissolved. Chunks of earth shattered, collapsing inward.

Oren looked up. The sky blackened like an approaching storm. Debris and acid residue cast crimson-gray glows in all directions. Fields trembled, sank, melted. Vast space shuddered like an ocean. It felt like a bottomless volcano erupting.

*Demons were Illis’s only secret weapon against Dragons in the Ancient Epoch.*

*And now… even a mere thrall holds such power…*

Oren glanced down. Endless darkness covered the land. Clouds from the explosion mingled with smoke, blanketing everything. It was hell incarnate.

*Seriously. Why is my life always full of surprises?*

Sighing quietly, Oren gripped the rope and began climbing toward Javier’s body. The monster spotted him, spread his wings, and dove like a falling boulder.

Seeing the puff-like mass hurtling closer, Oren whipped out his crossbow. He fired at the villa’s left side—the bolt, tethered by rope, lodged deep in the stone. Oren swung toward the castle just as Javier crashed down with crushing force.

*Boom!*

The impact pulverized men and stone beneath him. Amidst the rubble, Oren swung onto the villa’s roof. He secured the ballista bolt’s rope to a wooden beam without pause.

Then he leapt down, driving his longsword into Javier’s forehead as the monster thrashed blindly on the ground.

“——————————”

Javier slammed his head down. The impact flipped Oren onto his back. The monster’s arm lashed out like a black whip. Oren rolled left just in time.

Dust and shards sprayed as Javier’s fist cratered the earth. He pivoted, locking onto Oren, and charged with a roar.

Oren raised his sword slowly, stance relaxed. As Javier closed within half a meter, jaws gaping to swallow him whole—

*CRASH!*

The villa behind Javier collapsed. A tidal wave of stone and earth buried him.

Oren had tied the ballista rope to the villa’s main support beam. When Javier pulled the tether during his charge, he’d snapped the beam clean. The seven-meter-high wall now crushed his back.

Javier roared, beating his wings to escape—but Oren lunged forward. His sword slashed down, tearing a gaping hole through Javier’s right wing membrane.

Unbalanced, Javier plummeted. The avalanche of debris swallowed him whole. The roar of collapsing earth buried him completely.

*Survival in this world still relies on brains.*

*He was slightly harder to handle in human form.*

Oren sheathed his sword, gazing at the mound of rubble.

*But I should hurry. Hilwen might be far gone by now.*

He gritted his teeth, turning to leave—when Yamwen’s shout cut through the air:

“Oren! Behind you!”

He spun.

A stinking gale erupted from the rubble. Javier burst forth, jaws snapping toward Oren.

*Too close!*

Oren’s hand flew to his sword hilt—but Javier was already upon him.

*Thud!*

Teeth sank into Oren’s shoulder. Javier wrenched his head up, hurling Oren away. He tumbled wildly before skidding to a stop. Javier dragged himself from the debris, crawling closer.

*This is bad. Real bad.*

Oren muttered under his breath, glancing at Lontan clutching his wounded side. His axe might slow Javier, but he couldn’t move. Yamwen had her bow drawn, magical energy gathering at the arrow’s tip—but Javier’s sewage stench filled Oren’s nostrils. Less than half a meter away. By the time her chant finished, he’d be shredded.

Javier lunged, jaws clamping down—

*Thud!*

Oren squeezed his eyes shut. No pain came. He opened them.

Shards of fractured space drifted down like falling stars. Between them towered a colossal being—a silver blade piercing the night. Fiery ash swirled as twin wings, each spanning dozens of meters like celestial staircases, descended. They loomed like cliff faces, threatening to crush the sky itself.

Javier recoiled from the blinding silver light. Amidst the falling stardust, Oren caught the scent of rain on the air. A smile touched his lips.

As expected...

Oren gazed at the form resembling a statue purely forged from silver. The elegant silvery-white wings shimmered brilliantly under the moonlight. After standing frozen in awe for a long while, he finally whispered softly, "Only like this are you truly the most beautiful."