The City of Valther, capital of the Eastern March, had always been a bastion of order and calm. Its white walls, reinforced with runes, its arcane towers, academies of elemental magic, and radiant temples were symbols of a prosperous and secure civilization.
But that night, even magic seemed to hold its breath.
High atop the battlements, the watchmen froze as a shadow advanced across the horizon. A dark ripple—too vast to be mist, too alive to be smoke. One of them swallowed hard, unable to look away.
"Does anyone… else see that?" he whispered.
When the horde entered the range of the runic towers, the truth struck them like a fist of ice.
Monsters.
Thousands. Tens of thousands.
Blue deer swollen with mana. Boars with crystal tusks. Lesser wolves with hardened pelts. All of them running as if fleeing from something far worse.
"ARCANE ALARM! ACTIVATE THE TOWERS!" the captain roared.
The runic towers flared violently, launching bolts of energy that vaporized the first monsters. But the air was so saturated with mana that the cores began to spark; each shot twisted and detonated before reaching its target.
"The towers are failing!" shouted a runic technician. "They can't handle this level of saturation!"
Mages from the academy rushed to the walls to reinforce the defense—but the moment they began casting, the mana tore through them from the inside.
One fell to his knees, blood streaming from his eyes.
Another summoned a sphere of fire that collapsed in on itself and exploded in his face.
"I—I can't control it!" a young mage whimpered before collapsing.
The archmage lost all composure.
"Fall back! The mana is killing us! FALL BACK NOW!"
But it was already too late.
The magical lines collapsed into chaos—screams, convulsions, bodies hitting the stone.
The runic knights took their place, marching into the streets.
"Shields forward! Iron line, damn you! Don't let a single one through!" the commander ordered.
Their mana-forged spears pierced lesser monsters, and their shields absorbed impacts that would have shattered ordinary soldiers. But it wasn't enough.
The deer trampled entire ranks with glowing antlers.
Boars burst into homes, smashing doors and walls.
Wolves scattered through the streets, attacking fleeing families amid desperate screams.
"My daughter! Someone help my daughter!" a woman shrieked, clutching a wounded child.
"Fall back! FALL BACK! We can't hold them!" a knight roared as a mana-charged elk shattered his shield.
A deep roar echoed from the forest.
The sound was so unnatural that the soldiers froze.
Even the lesser beasts hesitated.
Then the apex appeared.
An obsidian feline that shattered a runic tower with a single swipe.
A colossal serpent wrapped in a blue aura that crushed entire streets beneath its body.
A two-headed wolf cloaked in black mist, every breath carrying the echo of death.
Level 60.Level 70.Level 80.
The food chain itself had descended upon the city.
"That can't be real…" a soldier stammered, dropping his spear.
"Retreat! RETREAT! THE WALLS WON'T STOP THEM!" another screamed before a giant boar dragged him away.
The temples opened their gates as the barriers activated—but the impact of the apex beasts shattered them like glass.
"Pray!" a priest shouted. "Pray! The gods will hear us!"
A woman shoved her son toward him, desperate.
"Protect him! Please!"
Her hands trembled uncontrollably.
Neither prayers nor sacred seals worked.
The excess mana was suffocating them.
"Will the gods save us?" a child sobbed.
The priestess holding him said nothing.
Her eyes were glassy.
She was trembling too.
Then the ground began to shake.
Not like an earthquake.
Like the footsteps of something unimaginably heavy.
Absolute silence fell.
Soldiers, civilians, even the lesser monsters stood frozen, feeling a presence that crushed their very instinct to survive.
From the depths of the forest emerged a creature that did not belong to this world.
A vast shadow with eyes that shone like shattered stars, so saturated with mana that the air warped around it.
Humans fell to their knees involuntarily.
Some died just from looking at it.
"That…" a guard whispered in a broken voice."That's not… life…"
The beast raised a claw the size of a tower, its shadow swallowing half a district.
Valther stood one heartbeat away from being erased from the map.
But the sky split apart before the claw could fall.
A column of light pierced the clouds with a thunderous crack that shook the world.
It was not divine.
Nor natural.
It was human.
So dense, so pure, so concentrated that the air whistled as if sliced open.
Every beast froze.
Even the colossal shadow.
A massive circle of runes ignited above the plaza, illuminating the city like a second sun.
"City of Valther… hold fast. Help has arrived."
The voice rang clear, firm, undeniable.
Citizens looked up through tears and despair.
Four silhouettes emerged from the circle of light, descending like stars that refused to die.
Emily, the Heroine of Light, landed first.
Her body radiated a white brilliance that forced monsters and humans alike to avert their eyes. It was not violence.
It was purity.
The air itself seemed to stabilize around her.
"As long as I breathe," she said firmly, "darkness will not devour this kingdom."
The second figure struck the ground wrapped in swirling golden flames that burned without consuming.
Alejandro, the Hero of Fire.
He slammed a blazing fist into the earth, and from the explosion rose a wall of luminous ash that halted the stampede as if the beasts had crashed into a solid dawn.
"OMEGA BEAST!" he roared."THIS TERRITORY IS NOT YOURS TODAY!"
A crack of lightning tore across the sky as Leonardo, the Hero of Electricity, appeared.
His body was surrounded by blue arcs that slithered like living creatures, filling the air with ozone and raw power.
With a precise motion, he traced a barrier that crackled like a storm trapped in iron.
"You cross this wall over my corpse," he said, each word rolling like thunder.
The fourth figure descended without a sound.
Kara.
The Heroine of Strength.
Slender. Elegant. Almost fragile at first glance.
But every step she took made the earth tremble.
Stones lifted from the ground like dust under the invisible pressure of her power.
Her gaze locked onto the Omega colossus without a trace of fear.
She stepped forward.
The monster took a step back.
"If you were looking for easy prey…" she whispered, tilting her head slightly,"you chose the wrong city."
The citizens broke into tears.
Priests fell to their knees, unsure whether they were witnessing humans—or something greater.
The temples, powerless only moments before, remained in absolute silence.
Amid the rubble, a woman covered her mouth as tears streamed down her face.
"The gods saved us…" she murmured.
"They sent the heroes."