Chapter 406: Carnage

"Shyra, you won’t be able to eat that beast. Leave it and wait for other wild beasts to arrive."

Leo conveyed his intent to Shyra, and she abruptly stopped attacking the Rock Boulder Snake. It was also at this moment that Yano finally noticed his beast—otherwise, it would have been teleported away without him even realizing what had happened.

Shyra frowned, staying low in stealth as she studied the beast’s body. Her gaze landed on the strange object attached to it. Since beasts’ bodies differ in size and shape, the bracelet adjusted accordingly to accommodate and attach itself. It clung like a sticker, lodged within one of the crevices of the beast’s body.

Shyra recognised it instantly. Niri had once been saved because of that very thing, and even she wore it every time. Reluctantly backing away, Shyra melted into the shadows. If there was no food, there was no need to work hard needlessly when Leo didn’t specifically tell her to do it.

"HAAAA—Defend the leader’s beast!" Jisp roared, summoning his beast along with a few others as they rushed to attack whatever had ambushed the snake.

But when they reached the location, there was no sign of the attacker.

"Where did it go?" Jisp snapped, frantically scanning the surroundings as they formed an encirclement.

Yano quickly arrived at his beast’s side and splashed a healing potion over it. To no avail—the damage was far too severe to recover properly, and the persistent violet flames clung to the beast, burning relentlessly with no sign of fading. Gritting his teeth, Yano assessed the injuries before summoning another High 2-star beast of the same species.

"Boulder, dig inside and reach that treasure directly!"

The newly summoned beast obeyed immediately, burrowing into the ground without hesitation.

Yano pulled out another flask, staring at the healing potion within with a pained expression.

"This thing cost me 15,000 AC..."

He hesitated. Letting the beast be defeated and healed for just 1000 AC at the temple was far cheaper—but that would delay, or even ruin, his plans to raid Leo’s territory. After a brief struggle, he threw the flask onto Rocky’s body, the liquid quickly seeping in.

The cracked body softened slightly, and the violet flames dimmed—just a little, the damange was still severe.

"What the hell?! What are these flames?!" Yano snapped, irritation clear in his voice.

On the other side, Jisp let out a cheer.

"Whooaaa!! The attacker got scared! Let’s push forward!"

The others echoed his enthusiasm, their morale rising.

Grumble!

The ground trembled beneath their feet.

"Huh?" Yano turned sharply toward the spot where his beast had dug in.

From that very hole, his other snake was suddenly flung out.

Hissiiiss—?!

The snake looked utterly terrified, as if it had encountered something beyond comprehension. As it arced through the air, Yano caught sight of an orange wisp trailing behind it. His senses struggled to grasp it properly—the heaven and earth phenomenon raging in the background interfered with everything.

"Is that... an arrow?" he muttered, narrowing his eyes. A second later, realization struck—it was headed straight for the snake.

"NO—!"

He thrust out his hand, raising earthen walls mid-air to shield it.

Too late.

The arrow’s momentum far exceeded his expectations.

Shing—Twoossss!

The moment the arrow struck, the snake vanished.

"Heh...?" Yano froze, his expression flattening; he wasn’t even able to comprehend what happened before raging flames swallowed him, his injured beast, and his companions whole. In the next instant, all of them disappeared.

"Lord, the problem has been dealt with," Naelith’s voice echoed through the thought link.

"Good work. You’ve gained a lot of control over your flames."

"Thank you, my lord."

The connection ended as Naelith calmly nocked another arrow, aiming at the next wave of attackers charging toward the territory at different location.

Leo observed the concentrated blaze surging forward like a massive flamethrower, sweeping through the ’unknown’ attackers. The fire originated from the exact point where the snake had been struck mid-air.

"Good... if she keeps improving at this rate, she might be able to form that fire tornado soon."

As the flames subsided, Leo spotted the glowing arrowhead embedded in the scorched earth—the wooden shaft had completely burned away.

"Looks like I need to arrange special wood for Naelith... her arrows are becoming useless after a single shot."

Soon, more patches of blazing ground appeared, accompanied by the attackers’ agonized screams.

"AHHHH—what is this fi—!"

The man couldn’t even finish before he was teleported away.

"Eh...?"

A woman looked down at her abdomen, only to find a large circular chunk missing—a hollow void where flesh once was. Her companion behind her bore the same wound. Their vision blurred, and the next instant, they found themselves in the temple, priests already tending to their injuries.

Another man jerked his head up, only to see a glinting arrowhead inches from his eye—then, suddenly, he was standing inside the temple, a junior healer pressing firmly against his bleeding forehead. Only then did the pain register.

People were being ’killed’ before they could even feel it.

Inside each watchtower, the elves communicated cheerfully among themselves.

"We aren’t even using the new sturdy arrows made from the avian beast feathers that Lord acquired."

"Yeah, these people are so weak." 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

"I guess we were just unlucky to have our lord and lady attack our secret realm."

Another elf giggled softly.

"Or maybe lucky. Lady Lily is so nice!"

"Yeah, we finally got to see the new world while being in safe hands!"

"Shh! Quiet. Don’t mess up this chance to prove our worth to our Lord."

Thankfully, the [Spirit Link] allowed multiple channels of communication at once. Otherwise, Leo or Lily might have overheard—and become a bit stricter.

Sylrael heard their chatter and could only sigh, though a faint smile tugged at her lips. Even she was grateful they had ended up under Leo and Lily.

Meanwhile, Leo descended the mound calmly, his senses sweeping for rogue beasts as he took in the unfolding carnage.

"So easy..." he murmured.

It wasn’t just Naelith—even the elves infusing their arrows with wind were cutting through multiple opponents in a single shot, piercing bodies one after another.

The only ones who felt slightly lacking were the 2-star elves and other territory members, like the three girls and Virat. Not that they were weak—far from it. They could still one-shot many opponents. But compared to the 3-star elven archers atop the towers, who eliminated multiple enemies with each arrow, their efficiency fell short.

Naturally, Naelith stood at the peak—her fire-based area attacks wiping out entire groups at once.

While the others handled waves of human and tamed beast attacks, Leo, Kaelion, Lily, and their beasts remained patient, waiting for the true threats—the top 10 students and the wild beasts drawn to the heaven and earth phenomenon.

Rooooaaaaarrrrrr....

A distant roaring was heard in the forest a few kilometres away. Beast’s were already on their way.