Chapter 22: Don’t Look Back

After breaking through her psychological barrier, Kalia’s combat prowess seemed to have entered a state of unstoppable power. The shadow behemoths she summoned were far superior in strength to the one Roland had encountered that midnight. Her eyes, shimmering with a faint, dark light, remained cold.

Behemoth after behemoth crawled out from the shadows, and the darkness spreading from her feet gradually engulfed the entire street. Chaos Apostles who were slow to react were dragged into the depths of the shadows by pitch-black hands, never to reappear, as if drowning in an endless abyss.

Kalia stood her ground, her staff pointed diagonally forward. Several behemoths dove into the shadows, dashing rapidly through the area to pounce toward Parker, who had been sent flying.

Die!
Die, die, die!
Die, die, die, die, die!
That man must die!!!

The darkness in Kalia’s eyes deepened. Yet, she did not leave her position; she had not forgotten the most important task: protecting Roland. She could not leave until he regained basic mobility.

However, the next turn of events caught Kalia off guard. The shadow beasts, which had easily swatted Parker away, were compressed into clouds of black mist by an invisible pressure the moment they pursued him. One after another, they were crushed until every beast Kalia had summoned was wiped out.

Kalia did not panic; she simply summoned more. A witch’s innate spells require little to no magical consumption. Furthermore, gifted with a mana reserve that rivaled a Third-Ring mage the moment they awakened, Kalia had no need to worry about her expenditure.

Shadow beasts, spears, blades, tentacles—the writhing shadows shifted into endless forms, hungering to devour the enemy still buried in the dust and smoke. But it seemed futile. Each construct of shadow soon dissipated back into darkness.

Before long, a disheveled man emerged from the debris. Parker wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his expression manic. "Wretch! Die!"

Kalia suddenly felt an unprecedented sense of tension and instinctively manipulated the shadows to erect a wall in front of her. The seemingly thin wall blocked Parker’s sudden strike, though it disintegrated in the process.

To Kalia, this was trivial; she could manifest such walls indefinitely. However, while she could block ranged attacks, she was not certain she could withstand close-quarters combat. The brief skirmish, combined with Roland’s earlier hypothesis, allowed Kalia to deduce the truth of Parker’s technique.

"Just as Roland surmised, it’s a gravity-manipulation technique. And a point-target one at that."

Point-target techniques have their pros and cons. The advantage is a quick startup, precise targeting, and a low chance of missing, making them perfect for sudden, accurate strikes. The drawback is equally obvious: a lack of piercing power. If any obstacle appears between the target point and the caster, it affects accuracy or causes the spell to strike the obstacle instead.

This was why Kalia’s shadow wall had held. If her opponent hadn't relied on his specialty technique and had instead thrown a basic spell like a Fireball, she might not have been able to stop it. The output of a Fifth-Ring mage was not something one of her casual defensive spells could easily deflect.

Although Kalia’s practical combat experience had been virtually zero before today, she had been raised by a legendary mage who had participated in the Demon King War. Her vision, knowledge, and spellcasting techniques were far beyond those of ordinary people. Moreover, now that Kalia was in a serious state, her brain was effectively overclocked, her cognitive speed far surpassing that of the "slacker" witch she had been before.

Once she understood his methods, Kalia felt much more at ease. Her high-frequency summoning style was the natural predator of such point-target casters. Furthermore, her spellcasting cost was negligible, whereas her opponent was burning mana every second. In the long run, as long as she maintained the cycle of summoning beasts for suppression, erecting shadow walls for defense, and using shadow spears for sneak attacks, she would eventually wear him down.

But the overclocked Kalia knew this was an ideal scenario. She could not truly rely on this "kiting" strategy indefinitely. What would happen to Roland?

Just as she was pondering, she sensed a magical signature, also of the Fifth-Ring tier, approaching at high speed. She hastily summoned a shadow beast to attack the direction of the aura, but her reaction speed was clearly inferior to the newcomer.

The figure dodged the beast’s dark claws in a flash and arrived before Parker. A sharp halt, a sword draw, and an upward slash were executed in one seamless motion. Even the wind pressure from the strike arrived only after the blade had already moved.

Parker barely managed to summon a defensive shield to block the sudden attack. This time, he didn't fly away; he used gravity to stabilize his stance. Though he took no damage, his expression grew visibly more hideous.

The worst-case scenario had occurred. Her preemptive strike had failed, and the City Guard’s reinforcements had arrived in time.

"Colonel!" Kalia gasped in surprise upon seeing the old man confronting Parker.

Oldmeyer leaned in, putting his weight behind a strike that sent Parker flying several meters back. "Don't lower your guard. Help me deal with this guy."

"Parker Lante, Bishop of the Brotherhood of Chaos."

"This is an enemy who is only one step away from the Sixth Ring. Stay sharp."

The old colonel reached up and unbuttoned his collar. "I came out in such a rush I didn't even have time to change. But it seems I didn't arrive too late."

Parker looked at the old colonel and laughed gloomily. In truth, the moment he saw Oldmeyer, he knew his plan had largely failed. Even in his arrogance, after witnessing Kalia’s combat strength, and seeing his subordinates being held back by the arriving City Guard and slaughtered by the shadow beasts, he knew he couldn't take the secret key from Kalia while under the protection of a Fifth-Ring warrior like Oldmeyer.

But...

"Hahahaha, Oldmeyer, I lost this time."

"I have to admit, my plan failed, but it’s not over yet."

"Here is a parting gift..."

With that, Parker raised his hand and released a signal into the sky.

The next moment, even as the City Guard, the Inspection Bureau, and the Brotherhood of Chaos were locked in a fierce, brutal struggle, those Beast Tamers who had been standing on the sidelines began to move.

Countless swarms of rats surged from the sewers. This was only the beginning. These rats, infected with the degraded blood of the Demon King, were insignificant individually, but when dozens or hundreds swarmed at once, the pressure was no less than that of a magical beast.

This was not to mention those that had already begun to mutate. These variants were the real threat, each comparable to a First-Ring magical beast. Mixing into the swarm, they caused even greater havoc—the pus and blood on their bodies were conduits for the plague.

"Enjoy yourselves, everyone. I hope you like my parting gift."

Mr. Parker seemed to have regained his earlier elegance. He bowed, preparing to activate the portable teleportation device in his hand. He failed to notice that, at some point, a figure had appeared behind him.