126 Chapter 125

[Third Person's PoV] 

All over the continent, monsters and Gates spawned. The monsters had one goal in mind: to kill every single human they came across.

Iris shouted commands to her Knights, "Your first priority should be to escort the citizens who can't fight to safety! Everyone else, follow me!"

Iris covered and enhanced herself with her magic and rushed towards the monsters that had appeared.

'Alexia, I hope you're safe wherever you are.'

She swung her sword towards the green ogres in front of her, but the ogre blocked it with its club and threw a fast punch towards her.

Iris jumped onto its arm, using it as a foothold, and slashed its defenseless neck before she shot off towards the other one.

Iris valiantly led the others in killing the ogres; she ducked under a swinging club and slashed off their tendons, leaving them to the others to finish.

"ROAR!" The ogre's roar was infused with magic, stunning Iris. She forcefully tried to move herself, but before she could break out, another ogre swung his club, hitting Iris and sending her flying.

She rolled and skidded across the ground, crashing into a building. Quickly, she got up and rushed back into the fight.

The more she fought, the more tired she became. "They're endless," she muttered with haggard breath.

An Ogre wearing fury shoulder armor rushed towards Iris while carrying a giant sword. As he cleaved his sword down, Iris had no choice but to block it.

The ground beneath her sank, causing her knees to buckle. She gritted her teeth as she enhanced herself with magic to withstand the Ogre's strength.

She then heard the sound of her sword chipping, 'Tsk, it's growing dull due to their blood. I have to quickly think of a way to get out of this predicament,' she thought.

Watching Iris struggle, the Ogre grinned, showing his tusks. Just as he was about to attack again, Iris saw a flash of golden light appear in the sky above them.

The light descended at a fast pace, cutting the Ogre in two and creating a dust smokescreen.

Iris coughed and wiped her hand over her nose before looking up. Her eyes widened as she saw Cid with a sword over his shoulder standing on top of the Ogre's corpse.

He looked down at her and asked, "You alright?"

Iris smiled as she nodded her head and breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks."

She then looked at Cid with worry, "How's Alexia? Is she okay? Do you know where she is?"

"Don't worry, she's okay," Cid assured her.

Once more, Iris let out a sigh of relief. "That's good," she then gave him an awkward smile. "This is the second time you've saved me; I have to think of a way to repay you."

Cid shook his head. "Just get yourself healed before throwing yourself into danger."

Cid didn't wait to hear what else Iris had to say before disappearing with a blur, decapitating the monsters around them as he maneuvered.

"Just how strong is he?" Iris couldn't help but mutter, feeling a bit envious of his strength.

...

Shadow and Bellion were maneuvering their way through the monsters with great efficiency.

As Bellion whipped his whip-like sword, cutting giant creatures, he looked at Shadow in surprise. "You have a daughter, my lord!?"

Shadow smiled as he created a scythe with his slime, infused it with the elements of death, and threw it like a boomerang.

"Yeah, she was brought into the world a few minutes ago. You should see her, Bellion; she's absolutely the cutest little critter you've ever seen," Shadow bragged as he watched the scythe circle around them, killing everything it touched.

Bellion grinned and let out a boisterous laugh. "Then we can't keep her waiting for long, my lord." Bellion's whip contracted back together, forming his sword. He disappeared in a black blur and slashed through the monsters even faster.

A few minutes later, Shadow and Bellion stood surrounded by corpses. Afterward, Beru and the others appeared with mountains of monster corpses.

Iron presented his kills as an offering to his god. Beru followed his example but offered even more corpses.

"Who are they, my lord?" Bellion asked, sheathing his sword to the side of his hip and examining Beru and the rest.

Beru was surprised to see Bellion and immediately felt that his place was being threatened. 

Beru started growling and snapping his mandibles towards Bellion as a warning, but Bellion just narrowed his eyes. "You dare behave this way before our lord?"

"Not now, you two. We have other matters to attend to," Shadow said, stopping the two from continuing.

"Are we going to attack the Monarchs once more, my lord?" Bellion asked.

To which Shadow smirked and shook his head. "No. The Monarchs are our least priority at the moment."

Bellion was shocked to hear that.

"We will wait for the Monarchs to send more monsters our way. It will increase our forces for when we do take them on and defeat them for good. Plus, I don't want to be away for years fighting all of them and miss the growth of my daughter," Shadow explained.

"I see," Bellion muttered in understanding. "So we will use their forces as nourishment to bolster our own. Excellent idea, my lord," Bellion nodded.

Beru practically screeched, "It was an idea our liege came up with; of course, it was going to be excellent," glaring at Bellion.

"My lord, I hope you can give me permission to put him in his place," Bellion glared back.

Shadow just let out a sigh and focused on all the corpses of monsters that Beru and the others had brought. "Arise," he casually muttered.

Shadow saw different types of monsters: Minotaurs, werewolves, High Orcs, snake monsters, undead ranging from Liches to skeletons. Shadow even detected some shadow soldiers being created from the clones he sent out.

Counting Bellion's forces, which were around +130,000, plus all the monsters, which were around +150,000, Shadow gained a total of +280,000. He now had 290,000 in total, including his original 10,000 shadows.

Shadow then stored all of the corpses and turned towards Bellion and the others. "Let's go."

...

Shadow appeared in front of the others and noticed they were all looking at him with a reverent look, except for one person: Claire.

Claire had a sad look in her eyes as she glanced at Cid. Cid knew he had to sort out that matter with her rather quickly, but first, he turned towards Aurora, who was carrying Celeste.

"My love, Daddy is back. Come, let me hold you," Cid said with a smile, stretching out his arms and taking Celeste away from Aurora's hand while sitting on the bed next to her.