Numbers x Casket-Chapter 44: Invasion

The lindworm stared at the appraiser standing on its line of sight; it saw the human as nothing but a mere food waiting to be devoured.

Thus, without wasting any more time, it lunged forward and aimed its fangs at its target, but little did it know, the piece of meat in front had never been prey; it was someone born to be an apex predator.

Without even unsheathing his blades, Efraim welcomed the giant creature. Its mouth wide open, drooling for his flesh. The people around the audience seat were already shouting, their hearts beating fast for the appraiser’s safety.

"Is he dumb? Doesn’t he know that facing a metallic lindworm head-on is like signing his very own death? The scales of those ones are pretty hard to deal with," someone stated while watching.

Then a man stood up and yelled, showing his concern for the appraiser. "Hey! Move away from its path!"

"It’s no use; I think he froze up in fear," another replied.

The crowd shared the same thought; even the host felt a little nervous upon seeing him just standing still.

"This will be bloody; maybe I need to call out the healers," Alleah commented.

However, the Fourth Pillar opposed her thoughts.

"You’re way too early to judge," Zeyn stated.

Upon hearing his remark, the host glanced at him with confusion.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Look carefully, is that the face of someone scared?" the Fourth Pillar replied.

Alleah furrowed her brows and reverted her gaze back to the equator, but the moment she did, her round eyes widened in amazement.

"Am I seeing things?" she uttered while still in a daze.

. . . . .

The appraiser stared at the mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth. His right shoulder throbbed as this scene triggered such unpleasant memories.

His left eye turned into a cyan hexagram color, and the number eighty-eight written in purple appeared above the monster.

Efraim shook his head and waited for it to close the distance.

"Don’t forget to say hi to your cousin after this," he stated and bent his body backward to dodge the creature.

Then, he gave it a kick on its chin before pushing his body upward. Though the monster suffered no damage from this attack, it was enough for the appraiser to escape its line of sight.

While levitating up in the air, Efraim clenched his right hand into a fist. Then he summoned a platform of energy and propelled himself in a downward motion through kicking the platform.

The lindworm was still busy looking left and right, searching for the appraiser, when it felt its head crack open as a punch harder than steel went straight on its top.

The ground caved in and trembled for a moment due to the strength of the impact, and a shockwave strong enough to be felt in the whole area was released during the collision.

The monster lay flat on the open ground; its hardened scales were crushed along with its head. Meanwhile, the appraiser was sitting next to its body while checking his arm.

"That’s a lot better than before," he said and looked at the host, waiting for her to declare his victory.

. . . . .

The crowd felt their mouths partially open. They were stunned by the appraiser’s display of strength. Almost all the participants showed a wonderful performance, but up until this point, no one had shown them such a scene.

"Killing a lindworm in a single punch? Is he for real?" the same man who ridiculed the appraiser earlier commented.

"Even Zach took a few slashes to defeat his opponent," another voiced out.

"Someone please, give me a pinch! I think I’m dreaming," a woman holding a staff uttered, her gaze fixated on the appraiser.

The young equator’s execution of the punch earned the people’s admiration, though they still couldn’t believe that the same person who passed out from the first trial was the one who pulled out that stunt.

Meanwhile, Zeyn, who was still standing near the host, looked at her, and upon seeing her mouth still partially open, he did the honor of giving it a gentle push.

"I’m afraid an insect would fly in," he said, teasing the woman.

Then upon seeing her glance at him, he spoke again.

"Kindly proceed with the announcement," he added with a chuckle.

Alleah, who just recovered from shock, stepped forward and smiled at the crowd, even though her face was a lump of red due to the pillar’s mockery.

"What a beautiful performance from our young equator! To think that a Disaster Level beast would be taken down in a single hit! This will definitely be a talk of the entire city for the rest of the festival," Alleah announced, and the crowd went wild.

Cheers of applause reverberated in the open field, and the appraiser was in the middle of it all, standing with his lips curled into a smile.

. . . . .

At the same time, hiding behind the sea of people, Zack clenched his fists in anger, his teeth gritting in annoyance. He was supposed to be the star of the show, but neither the first nor the second trial favored him.

The appraiser took away the spot and left him standing next to his shadow.

’Smile all you want now, because when we face each other, I’ll make sure that you won’t be able to laugh for the rest of your life,’ Zack thought before turning around and leaving the place with more hatred accumulated in his heart.

. . . . .

The rest of the fights continued with a lot of participants losing the battle. They tried to take down their beast opponents in a single attack, but their strength wasn’t enough to do so, and this careless action of theirs resulted in their loss.

The second event took a lot of time, and it was already afternoon when the last fight ended. The people in the open field started to dwindle, but a lot still remained present. After all, there were still some events during the night.

"And that concluded the trials to search for the strongest on the first day of our festival," Alleah announced.

"From a thousand, the number of our participants dropped to less than a hundred; only ninety-eight people emerged victorious from the second trial!" she declared.

Then she raised her hand and clenched her fingers aside from the one next to her thumb.

"But only one would be able to stand and claim the title of the strongest at the festival’s end," she added.

Alleah smiled and looked at the sea of people.

"The event will resume tomorrow, before sunrise! Now! I will bid my farewell for a while. Please, enjoy the rest of the night," she declared.

Despite hearing the announcement, Efraim didn’t leave right away; he waited for the crowd to disperse in full before leaving. However, the moment he stood up, he felt a gaze coming from afar.

Thus, he gave it a glance, but he failed to see something; the presence disappeared all of a sudden.

"Hey, did you feel that one?" Efraim asked.

Though there was no one around him, he still heard a reply.

’Hmnn. Yes, it’s quite adept at concealing its presence that even I almost failed to notice its existence.’ It was the Hemlock who answered his query.

’Do you want me to locate it for you?’ she added.

But Efraim shook his head and turned around.

"Naah, that would be a waste of time, and there’s no fun in that," he replied.

The hemlock let out a soft giggle and didn’t speak any further, and as the sun dipped down below the horizon, the first day of the festival came to an end.

. . . . .

The night sky was filled with an eerie atmosphere, explosions after explosions. The sound of screeches along with a thunderous roar echoed across the battlefield.

Humans against fiends, light versus darkness, the series of attacks coming from both sides made the terrain change shape, the sky gleaming with spectacle as hundreds of magic circles lit up the horizon.

With just a few mages under his wing, Riel, the Grand Lord, stood tall, like a towering wall that hindered the fiends’ advance. His overwhelming presence took down several hordes of dark beings, and yet the enemies were not even decreasing in numbers.

"Grand Lord, it’s like a useless struggle; they kept on appearing no matter what we threw at them," a man holding a cigar in his mouth uttered.

His voice is hoarse and a little bit tired. After all, they had been battling since dawn, and it was already night again. Their potions were already depleted, and aside from the Grand Lord and the Pillars, the other mages were already suffering from fatigue.

"Grand Lord, maybe we need to retreat first and devise another plan," he added.

Riel glanced at his pillar; he wanted to argue, but he was already aware of the state of his companions.

Thus, to not escalate things any further, he fired a small fireball above to capture everyone’s attention.

"All mages of Celestia! Back to the Arcane City," he declared.

. . . . .