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The slaughter continued in an orderly manner, and the number of monsters in the valley visibly decreased.
No one showed any intention of stopping, as the operation was proceeding too smoothly.
Although Paul was beginning to tire, Allen remained as energetic as ever.
"One hour is up!"
Laws, still immersed in the joy of exterminating monsters, remained calm and dutiful. As soon as the time was up, he immediately spoke up to remind everyone.
Rudy, feeling the abundant mana within him, turned to Allen beneath the tree and asked, "Shall we continue?"
Allen slashed through the noticeably thinning horde of monsters in front of him and glanced across the valley.
At a glance, the number of monsters had been reduced by half compared to the beginning—no, it seemed even fewer than that.
'Most of them died under Rudy's magic. Area-of-effect attacks really do clear the field quickly.'
He blinked, somewhat surprised that they had killed so many in just an hour. Things were going surprisingly well.
Allen smiled and looked at Paul, who was visibly exhausted but still pushing through. After a moment of thought, he spoke up.
"Alright, let's wrap it up. The number of monsters has decreased significantly. Rudy, do you have a rough estimate of how many we've killed?"
Rudy chuckled. "About half! Maybe even more! These D-rank monsters are so fragile. Some of them just fell over after being grazed by my magic and never got back up. Are they playing dead or something?"
"Playing dead? I doubt it," Allen replied with a laugh, glancing at Paul, who let out a sigh of relief and smiled.
"Then let's head home, Uncle? I think we've made enough progress for today."
Paul, who had already been worn out from spending many days in the forest, felt a surge of energy at the mention of home. He thought of his wife and child and, with a renewed spirit, swung his sword, sending a gust of wind that blasted apart the pile of monster corpses in front of them.
"Alright, let's go home!"
With that, he sheathed his sword and took one last look at the monsters in the valley below. Then, he turned and walked back the way they came, alongside Laws, who had jumped down from the tree with a smile on his face. As Laws walked, he glanced back at Allen.
Allen couldn't help but find their eagerness amusing.
'Are you two just going to leave the kids behind? Well, Paul is understandable—he's genuinely exhausted. But Laws, what's your excuse? You were up in the tree. Even if you're not the most agile, you could've at least carried your daughter down first, right?'
He shook his head and looked up at the tree, where the two children were staring at him with pleading eyes. Allen leaped onto the tree and reached out to scoop them up.
But just as he was about to do so, Sylphiette raised her hand to stop him.
She frowned slightly, looking troubled as she eyed Allen's blood-soaked warrior attire. She then cast a wind spell, blowing away the gore clinging to him.
The blood and flesh fell like crimson snow.
Meanwhile, Rudy was still excitedly surveying the dense field of monster corpses, wearing a proud expression as if admiring his spoils of war.
Allen, on the other hand, looked down at Sylphiette's serious expression. The setting sun cast its light on her soft, shoulder-length green hair, which fluttered in the wind of her spell. Her cheeks were tinged with the colors of the evening clouds.
The two of them stood in silence, with only Rudy's incessant chatter filling the air.
"...I never thought hunting monsters would be this easy. I didn't feel much during my training sessions with Father and Allen, but my magic is really effective, huh? Wait... did I see that right? The ground Father just split open... is there something there?"
Allen was about to tease Rudy, but suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind.
It was something Rudy had said earlier.
"About half! Maybe even more!"
"Some of them just fell over after being grazed by my magic and never got back up..."
Countless fragmented images suddenly flooded Allen's mind—images of the dark, bottomless holes lining the snow trenches outside the forest.
Deep, unfathomable.
Allen grabbed Sylphiette's hand, interrupting her spell and startling her. He then turned sharply to look in the direction Rudy had mentioned.
There, on the ground exposed by Paul's earlier sword strike, were clusters of black spheres.
'Flow Sense' provided a clearer view.
Those weren't black spheres.
They were dense, dark holes!
At that moment, Rudy's puzzled voice reached Allen's ears.
"Are those... holes? Good thing I froze the ground earlier, or this hillside would've been in trouble. Father really is experienced..."
Allen's gray eyes narrowed to slits. With Sylphiette staring at him in wide-eyed confusion, he pulled her into his arms and scooped up the still-muttering Rudy under his other arm. He bent his knees, preparing to jump, and turned to shout at Paul and Laws, who had already walked some distance away and were now looking back at them.
"Uncle! It's not over yet! The monsters—"
BOOM!!
A deafening explosion drowned out his voice!
The ground trembled violently.
Allen stumbled as the ground beneath him tilted!
No, it wasn't just tilting—the entire hillside was collapsing!
The monsters hadn't broken through the ice layer beneath the earthen fortress; instead, they had undermined the entire foundation!
A massive crack split the ground in front of the tree, spreading along the edge of the earth spike spell.
Allen's eyes widened in horror as he saw Paul and Laws, now standing outside the range of the earth spikes, separated from them by the chasm. He gritted his teeth, ready to leap, but suddenly, the ground beneath him gave way. His hair whipped upward as the entire hillside plummeted into the valley!
"Ahhh!!"
Rudy and Sylphiette screamed in terror. Paul and Laws, now at the edge of the chasm, watched in horror as the hillside collapsed into the valley and shouted in unison.
"Allen!!"
Adrenaline surged through Allen's veins. With one child under each arm—Rudy still screaming while Sylphiette covered her mouth and looked at him—Allen bent his knees and prepared to jump.
'I can make it! It's less than twenty meters. I can jump that distance... Damn it!!!'
As his feet left the ground, he saw the horde of monsters swarming around the chasm. The hillside beneath the crack had been hollowed out by their relentless gnawing!
The monsters leaped into the air at the same time as Allen, creating a cloud of dust that obscured his vision. Just as the swarm was about to crash into him, Allen instinctively reached for his sword, only to realize both his hands were occupied.
He had no free hand to wield his blade!
The wind seemed to still.
Allen's pupils contracted. With 'Flow Sense' operating at full power, he roared in his mind.
"Dragon Saint Aura, come forth! Concentrate on my back!"
A warm surge erupted from his core. The walnut-sized seed of Dragon Saint Aura compressed into a date pit, its magical patterns shrinking to near invisibility.
And then it expanded!
The aura, named after the dragon, burst forth and enveloped his body.
Note: So far this story is published up to chapter 125 on my patreon, go check it out and remember that if we reach the goal of 30 power stones I will publish the next chapter.