The Beginning After The End novel Chapter 224

Chapter 224

Chapter 224: Carried Back

Sylvie and I left the protection of the Wall and looked out at the battle that had long since reached its climax. Archers and mages, whose ranges weren’t as long as the ones up on the Wall, were positioned on the ground, closer toward the bloodshed.

I looked back once more at the thick metal gates of the Wall closing behind us in both rage and regret.

‘We’ll find out who was responsible for this later,’ my bond comforted, her eyes locking into mine. ‘Right now, it’s our duty to find your family and help as many soldiers as possible.’

Giving her a nod, the two of us walked forward. I tuned out the shouts and cheers of the soldiers around us.

I wasn’t a hero, nor did I wish to be. It was impossible to be everyone’s hero. It’s inevitable that I’d let some people down—hell, I’ve already let a lot of people down.

Not every human, elf, and dwarf were equally important to me, and that’s a fact that I had accepted long ago. I was here to serve my role to help end this war. It wasn’t for world peace or to save mankind—it was to lead a comfortable and happy life with the people I loved and cared for.

Walking through the lines of bowmen and conjurers either firing at the backline of the beast horde or resting and replenishing their mana reserves, I could hear mutters around us. Soldiers nudged their colleagues nearby for their attention as hundreds of gazes turned towards us.

“You should at least acknowledge them,” my bond said, noticing the stares.

“Focus, Sylvie,” I admonished. “Let’s do what we came here to do first. We can worry about troop morale after.”

The dry cracked grounds of the Beast Glades felt like wet tar, gripping and pulling back my feet as I trudged forward with my bond by my side. I couldn’t shake off the unsettling feeling that made my chest tighten. The veil of night and the crowd of beasts and man alike hid the answer to a question that I grew more and more afraid to ask.

Brandishing Dawn’s Ballad, Sylvie and I dove into the thick of the battle underneath the shower of spells and arrows. My bright teal sword became the beacon for our soldiers within eyeshot, giving them hope and the strength needed to unleash one more strike.

Sylvie kept her distance away from my sword range while shooting precise bullets of mana perfectly timed to save an unguarded soldier.

Of course, neither of us were simply wildly attacking. As I sliced apart smaller foes and brought down gargantuan beasts without discrimination, my eyes were always on the lookout for signs of any large-bodied earth conjurer that resembled Durden or brawler with a fire-affinity that looked anything remotely like my father.

While sweeping my eyes throughout the barren glade, I saw the silhouette of a massive worm towering over the rest of the beasts around it with soldiers in its maw. Occasionally, blasts of fire tore out of its tip, eliciting faint screams from the soldiers before more were consumed by the familiar worm-like beast.

Gritting my teeth, I tore my gaze away, trying once again to spot my father and Durden through the dirt, smoke and debris filling the gaps of the chaotic battlefield.

It was then that I caught sight of another group of soldiers trying to bring down a giant monster. This one, however, was a midnight grizzly.

That particular breed of mana beast ranged from B class to AA class—when it wasn’t corrupted—depending on their maturity and the density of their metallic pelt that they obtained from consuming precious ores.

By its twelve-foot height and the glimmering sheen its spiked fur carried, my guess was that this particular midnight grizzly ranged towards the latter. What drew my attention wasn’t the beast itself, though. It was the broad back of a soldier that fought with thick armored gloves taking the brunt of the grizzly’s attack while the others made futile attempts at bringing the corrupted beast down.

Before my eyes could even deduce whether that person was my father or not, my feet were already moving towards that battle.

Within two mana-infused steps, I was already within range to strike down the grizzly, but my focus turned to the brawler.

I clicked my tongue in frustration. The soldier was in a full set of armor, including a helmet that covered his face.

Flashing beside the soldier that was taking a momentary breather while the beast was occupied by the other soldiers, I took off his helmet.

“Hey! What the hell—”

It wasn’t my father. Suppressing the urge to just crush the flimsy helmet in my hands, I shoved it back on the brawler’s head without a word.

“ Move,” I ordered. It wasn’t just directed towards the man I mistook for my father, but at the other soldiers circling and striking at the midnight grizzly as well.

Being mages made them sensitive to mana, and the mana surging out of me immediately put weight to my words—or rather, word.

I knew Dawn’s Ballad wouldn’t be able to cut through a near-S rank mana beast, especially in the condition it was in. Putting away my sword, I took a step toward the giant metallic, six-limbed bear.

That single step carried me just below one of its razor-sharp claws as the beast struck down. Grabbing ahold of one of its claws that were as thick as my forearm, I shifted my weight and imbued mana at the very last minute.

The result: a 6,000-pound beast was tossed in the air and sent slamming into the ground by a mere teen.

The ground shattered from the impact and the beast—as feral as it was—let out a deep wail in pain.

“Holy crap,” a soldier that had been fighting the beast exclaimed. His giant war hammer was dented and its shaft slightly bent from multiple collisions against the midnight grizzly’s armored pelt.

I wanted to end it quickly but the beast recovered faster than I had expected it to. The grizzly rolled back up to its feet and immediately lashed out with its four clawed arms.

‘Arthur, do you need help?’ Sylvie’s voice sounded in my head.