The new wave of monsters raged upon the knights like a storm. But like a steadfast boat, the knights held on and successfully killed the monsters. The battle lasted for more than half an hour after which the final monster was killed.
When the ash of the final monster started getting blown away by the wind towards the sky, Vine ordered the knights to evacuate back to the mid-level.
"Knights! Move back to the mid-level!" He roared.
"Yes sir!" Obeying his orders, all the knights started moving quickly towards the mid-level in a formation.
"Sir, shouldn't some knights stay here to protect the low-level?" Edana moved towards Vine from his back as they looked at the knights.
"No, the people have already been evacuated, the cracks that the monsters crawled out of have already disappeared." He turned his head from the evacuating knights to look at Edana. "There is no more need for the knights to stay here and risk their lives."
"But what about the houses? And what if more monsters come out from that sphere of ash?" Edana pointed towards the sky and Vine followed with his head.
The swirling cloud made from ash had long turned into a sphere. Vine had already noticed this change as he had been fighting. When they looked at the sphere now, they would get goosebumps all over their body. It was like looking at an otherworldly object.
The sphere just floated on the sky in a fixed position, the ashes making its body still swirling around it. Just looking at the sphere made it clear that something bad was about to happen.
Vine looked at Edana and sighed. "Buildings can be built again. If more monsters come out, we will be ready for them and deal with it." He pat Edana on the shoulder and looked at her with a gentle face. "This is the right move. We will regroup with the others in the mid-level and think about what to do."
When she saw how serious Vine was, she had no choice but to nod her head up and down. Their conversation came to a finish and they started to move with the knights too.
Although they had already defeated the enemies and completed their duties, they returned in haste because they didn't know when another disaster would strike. When they finally reached the mid-level, they heaved a sigh of relief.
Making their way towards the church, they noticed the mid-level was empty, the monsters had already been dealt with. That was why there were two spheres of ashes swirling above the mid-level too. Now that they were on the mid level, when they turned back, they could see the two spheres floating above the low-level.
"Move! Don't have any unnecessary thoughts right now!" Vine shouted at his men and made them move towards the church once again.
Finally, the knights reached the church and were greeted by Marshall Buck and Commander Anson at the front.
"You guys are late.." Anson greeted Vine and Edana with no expression.
"Haha! So did you guys have a warmup from those weak monsters?" Buck reacted more energetically.
"How long have you been standing here?" Vine looked at them.
"Long enough.." Anson replied. "Night Leader Roe has gone to the Sacred Order to report about the spheres."
"Yes he should be back quickly!" Buck also joined in on the conversation.
"Good.." Vine nodded.
"Did you guys use your Relic weapon properly?" Buck looked at them with gleaming eyes. He was bored of standing with Anson who didn't offer any conversation, but now that Vine and Edana were here, he was excited to have a chat with them.
"I would've crushed the bastards without these, but using these are fun in their own way too! Hahaha!" Buck began talking without break.
But after some time passed, Buck was stopped by Vine and Anson. "Look!"
The Saint of Mayhem who was flying high above them made his move. Squinting their eyes to see what he was doing, they only saw him move his hands and couldn't make out what he was doing clearly.
After a moment, the Saint laughed like a maniac which reverberated across the whole of Arcturus. Six red lines shot from his hands towards the spheres of ashes, after which the spheres began to glow red from the inside and they swirled even faster, condensing in on themselves.
Swoom
The spheres condensed into themselves and three thick lines of orange light flashed down from each of the spheres, causing tremors all around the city.
The Marshall, Commanders, Edana and the Knights barely held their own because of the quake. When they looked at the place where the orange light fell after steadying themselves, they widened their eyes in horror.
They could see six towering magma giants with armor made from ash on the mid-level. When all six of the towering figures looked back at them, None of them could move even a finger and some knights even fainted.
"Evolved Beasts!" Vine widened his eyes, as sweat dripped from his forehead and onto the ground.