Battle of the Gate (1)

Back in the area surrounding the military outpost, the plains were filled with both monsters and humans, who fought valiantly with ferocious expressions, as their bloodlust collectively combined to give off a menacing aura.

The humans roared in unison as they charged toward their enemy with their blood ablaze with feverish excitement.

The monsters were similar, yet different. The mixture of mutated tigers, snakes, apes and boars had drool dripping down from their mouths after gazing at the sea of humans in front of them.

The tantalizing smell of humans sent them into an even more frenzied state as their desire for human flesh doubled.

Evan, who was in the middle of the human army, had his face flushed red as Otto's speech swept him up in the raging excitement and motivation felt by all the soldiers. Roaring his heart out, he set his heart ablaze as the first of his many enemies appeared in his vision.

A rank 1 striped tiger with orange and yellow fur bared its two sharp fangs in a menacing roar as it approached him with great speed on all fours.

Unsheathing the tenebrous sword in his possession, Evan swung it as he activated the Whispering Retribution Art.

'First Form—Horizon's Dash!'

The speed of his strike doubled as the unforgiving blade turned into a blur, biting deep into the tiger's neck. With blood gushing out like a fountain from the gruesome wound, the monster roared in agony.

Punching forward with all his strength, Evan's fist crashed into the tiger's face, forever silencing its agonizing cries. The monster had no chance to retaliate under Evan's swift attacks.

Removing his sword from its neck, he looked up, gazing at the mass of monsters right in front of him as his expression turned gloomy.

'One down! Many more to go.'

With a sigh, Evan rushed up to the monster nearest to him and began engaging in a bloody dance of slaughter once more.

***

As the frontline of the humans led by Otto clashed with the first wave of monsters, the soldiers in the back were rushing about the place with frantic urgency.

Having received explicit instructions from their de facto commander to ready the long-range weapons, the back-end of the human army was a hubbub of orders and commands.

In the event of cases such as a monster horde, the military had items which they could rely on to help relieve the pressure those on the front lines were facing.

Ranging from futuristic rifles to old-fashioned siege engines empowered with mana, it displayed a wide assortment of weapons with tyrannical might in front of the soldiers.

Lining up the members of the auxiliary category, which included blacksmiths, potion concocters and formation masters, readied their weapons as they steadied their agitated nerves.

"3…2…1!"

Counting down, the soldier in command waved his hand as he ordered for the long-range fire to begin.

A barrage of ballistics, rifle shots, lasers, and many more shout out of the technologically advanced weapons and crashed into the endless waves of monsters.

Blood dyed the ground red as the unfortunate monsters, which were subject to the intense attack from the auxiliary soldiers, stumbled as their corpses fell down to the ground with a loud thud.

All over the battlefield, similar scenes were happening as some fighters on the brink of being overwhelmed, found to their luck that their enemies miraculously died.

After having a brush with death, the fighters searched for another monster to kill as they went all out, hoping to surpass their limits.

Back at the area where the auxiliary soldiers were stationed, the troopers responsible for manning the weapons reloaded with the aid of their comrades as they were once again ready to launch a lethal barrage of attacks aimed at the frenzied monsters.

***

As the battle waged on, more and more agonizing cries of pain from the human side resounded loudly as some unlucky ones found themselves ripped to shreds, as the difference in strength between their opponents was just too large.

After more and more soldiers kept on getting killed, the morale of the human group was decreasing with every passing second.

As the twilight glow of the firmament provided a gorgeous backdrop to the bloodied melee, as a scene of carnage and destruction was playing out in the landscape below.

There were three main areas of the battle, each centred around three individuals who were killing monsters left right and centre with ease.

Akin to programmed death machines, Otto, Kang and Astrid were what kept the morale of the soldiers from plummeting to an all-time low.

In the eyes of the soldiers, they were beacons of light in the never-ending blackness surrounding them, igniting a flame of hope deep within their hearts that maybe, just maybe they had a chance of coming out the victors in this desperate battle of survival.

Swinging his silver hammer as the muscles in his upper body bulged, Otto bulldozed through the monsters in his path in mere seconds.

Whether it be a tiger, a snake or a gargantuan ape, his mighty war hammer didn't discriminate and bulldozed whoever was in its path..

Covered in the blood of the monsters that it had previously slain just a few moments prior, the hammer hummed as if excited at the opportunity to slaughter even more of these wretched abominations.

To his right on the far side of the battlefield was Kang, as any monsters who neared his figure were smote with purple lightning. With their charred bodies crumbling into small piles of ash.

In addition to his fearsome daggers, which reaped a monster's life with every strike. Kang's expert combat prowess allowed the soldiers on his side of the battlefield to have a little less pressure from the incoming horde.

To the far left of the battlefield was Astrid, who with every spell she cast annihilated the monsters surrounding her within a few meters radius.

With the use of the tempest spell as well as other spells packed with powerful might, to the monsters, she looked like the Grim Reaper ready to send them into the afterlife.

As the trio worked hard massacring countless of their vile opponents, Evan meanwhile was dodging the gargantuan fist of a golden ape.

After killing the tiger, he engaged with a few other rank 1 monsters, successfully murdering them just using the Whispering Retribution Art alone.

Now facing a rank 2 golden ape, Evan's expression was incomparably solemn. Dodging the fist by a hair's breadth, a black hue sprung from his body, augmenting his sword.

'First Form—Black Death!'

As the black blade arced toward the neck of the ape, Evan activated the Demon Reaper Art!