Chapter 57: The Tiger’s Claw

A tall, slim man dashed forward, his eyes scanning every shadow in the chaotic city. He pushed his senses to the maximum, desperate to track down the Bishop. All around him, his companions kept close to his radar, hunting for the exact same target. This hidden Bishop was the sole reason this disaster had spread in the first place.

Along the way, their fast movements attracted a swarm of mindless Shrivens.

[Flame Strike Art: Flow Hit!]

He unsheathed his sword, and a bright, dancing flame roared to life along the blade. With a fierce thrust, the coiling fire shot forward. The flames locked onto the charging Shrivens, wrapping around their twisted bodies and burning them to a crisp.

"KYAHHHHHHH!!!"

He didn’t waste a single second listening to their agonizing screams. He just kept running right past the burning monsters.

Just behind him, his companion drew his own weapon. With a swift, blurry swing of his sword art, he sliced a Shriven into several pieces! He ran close behind, a wide, thrilled smile plastered across his face.

"You are enjoying this way too much, aren’t you, Alian?"

Alian grinned, closing the distance between them with a quick burst of speed.

"Of course, Lesias! It is not a daily event that I get to kill such a massive amount of Shrivens. It is fun~"

Lesias looked at him with utter disgust. Watching his partner butcher dozens of monsters along the way without an ounce of guilt made his stomach turn. These monsters were once innocent humans, after all. But Lesias kept his dark thoughts to himself. Stopping Alian now would only result in more casualties and the loss of more living people.

"Now shut up and focus on finding that Bishop. If we fail, Commander Raigar is going to kill us for sure. He already seemed frustrated about not being able to find the guy."

Alian frowned a little at the mention of their commander. He looked at Lesias with genuine curiosity.

"But I feel like something is definitely wrong. Why couldn’t an S-Rank Awakener find him? Is there a catch?"

Lesias kept his movements constant, his eyes darting through the ruined streets. He replied in a quiet, serious tone.

"Do not ever doubt his power. If he finds out, you will not live to see tomorrow. He cannot find the Bishop for the exact same reason we can’t. The Bishop either has a much higher Concealment power or is using a rare artifact to hide his presence."

Alian nodded involuntarily, though his doubts remained unmistakable.

"Okay, let’s split up. I will go to the right, and you search the left. We will meet at the ninety-degree spot after we are done searching."

Without waiting for a reply, Lesias turned around and sprinted down the right path. Behind him, Alian took the left, eagerly searching for more Shrivens and Acolytes to slaughter along the way.

After running for quite a distance, Lesias finally stopped in an empty plaza. He stared out into the distance, racking his brain over why Sir Raigar couldn’t just track the enemy down himself.

’Shit! It is all because of us! If we had been more careful with our border searches, such a huge amount of people would never have been turned into Heretics in the first place.’

An army of thousands—maybe even more—was marching toward this city from behind the mountain side. If Sir Raigar had not gone out there to hold them off, the commander would have found the Bishop and killed him by now!

Lesias swallowed hard, remembering the last words Raigar told him before leaving the city center of Wynthalor.

"I will be back in one hour. Until then, I want that Bishop ready for me to slice. If you and your team cannot find him, then your necks will be sliced instead."

Just remembering those cold words sent a shiver down his spine.

’There is no way we can find the Bishop at this pace! Are we just preparing to get executed? Damn it! I cannot even tell the others, or they will start panicking.’

He shook his head to clear his thoughts and started running again. He had to find that Bishop, who could be hiding god knows where. The clock was ticking, and he had less than fifteen minutes remaining before the commander returned!

...

Meanwhile, far behind the tall mountains, thousands of Shrivens and Acolytes swarmed blindly toward the city.

A man sat casually on one of the high mountain ridges, looking down at the massive sea of heretics below. His gaze was intense, and his messy yellow hair blew wildly in the cool breeze.

He swept his hand over his head, waiting patiently for all the monsters to gather around his targeted place.

"Damn, what a bunch of shits. How long do they need to gather in one place? Even though I placed an artifact down there to grab their attention, it seems they truly are mindless beings. They can’t even gather at a simple location with a normal mind. It seems they are nothing but lost sheep without a Bishop to lead them."

After a while, the grotesque figures finally crowded around the spot where he had planted the artifact, confused and searching for the source of the sudden disturbance of mana in the surrounding.

Raigar finally stood up! He stretched his hand forward and channeled a massive amount of mana, letting the energy gather right in front of him.

As a massive surge of mana coiled tightly around his fist, he didn’t waste another second. He punched downward, aiming straight at the target!

[Beast Fang Art: Tiger’s Claw!]

The pure mana took the fierce shape of a giant tiger’s face. The glowing projectile roared through the air and shot straight toward the gathered heretics!

*BOOOOOOOOM!*

The projectile hit dead center, and a massive explosion erupted! Dust and debris flew everywhere, tearing up the landscape. The earth trembled violently beneath the impact, and a deafening roar echoed through the mountain ranges. Countless Shrivens and Acolytes were wiped out instantly, their grotesque forms dissolving into nothing but dark mist!

Raigar looked down at the vanishing army without a single change in his expression. In fact, he looked relatively bored by the whole spectacle. Did he feel guilty? Not a chance. The monsters down there had turned into dangerous parasites destined to destroy humanity. They were enemies of the world, which made them his enemies too. Wiping them out was simply a necessary step to protect his nation.

He scanned the massive crater, searching for any leftover Shrivens or Acolytes that might have survived the blast. Finding none, he moved. With a swift, blurry motion, his figure vanished from the mountain ridge! He headed back toward the city with unnatural speed, proving why he held the terrifying strength of an S-Rank Awakener.

Behind him, where the explosion had just taken place, not even the ashes of the former parasites remained. Only thick smoke and residual mana lingered in the air. A massive, shattered crater stretching several kilometers wide was left behind, standing as the proof of the S-Ranker’s devastating attack.