The process didn't take too long as extremely terrifying rank A skills rained down on the beasts until all that was left was charred or mangled bodies. I repeatedly used [War Cry] while flying across the skies to see if there were any people lucky enough to evade the rampage of the beasts
I already observed some underground structures broken through and the people huddled inside killed, but expected some to be luckier in such a large city. A few hunters and people began rising out minutes after I began using [War Cry], fear and despair on their faces as they looked at the city they used to know
The city was very large and widespread with collections of people far apart, so I gave them all a singular message. The path towards the inner cities of the empire was cleared, and they should start making their way there.
I continued to increase the number of [Core]s, [Skill Book]s, and [Item]s from the many BOSSes I had been taking down on the way here, so I used my gut and chose people and hunters that seemed to hold another emotion besides fear for the beasts that did this to them. I looked for any people with rage on their faces and handed out many of the cores, skills, and items that were useless to me. This would strengthen them and make them strive to do even more
I spent a few hours in this city, trying to quickly wrap up the rescue and strengthen process so I could head towards Outer Bank X. I flew with apprehension towards the old city I used to live in as I knew I would be subjected to a similar scene
I reached the broken walls of Outer Bank X after another hour of killing groups of beasts roaming the Barrens, and even though I was prepared for the scenes of destruction, I still felt a pain in my chest. Similar to the city before, monsters roamed free with many people brutally dead across the city
My heart felt the growing rage that I had nowhere to aim to besides the mindless beasts that continued their destruction. I wanted to find those responsible for this. I wanted to find the enemy that continued to play with us and the lives of billions. But they were nowhere to be found, only mindless beasts continuing their destruction
I repeated what I did in the previous city with a heavy heart as the monsters fell to a variety of my destructive skills as I looked for any survivors in the city. The process repeated itself similarly, with thousands of people being lucky enough to hide in underground bunkers all over the city and not be found by the pursuing beasts
None of the hunters I knew in this city were anywhere to be found. The confident face of the female hunter that spoke without regard passed through my mind. She was nowhere to be found. I flew around the city as I located the destroyed structure of the dilapidated apartment I used to live in. The building was half destroyed with no signs of life. Where my lodging used to be was now just air, with rubble on the ground being all that was was left of it. Emptiness that I didn't think I could feel pervaded my body as I took my time and watched this scene
I had watched so many of these scenes of death and misery that I thought I couldn't get anymore enraged, but I was wrong. I reigned in my emotions as I passed out skill books, items, and cores to the many people remaining alive in the city while telling a similar message as before, for them to head towards the standing cities of the Empire
I rose to the skies and looked at the destroyed Outer Bank X for the last time as I moved even faster, making it my goal to comb through the periphery of the Empire and destroy as many groups of beasts as I could.
Another day passed and I was able to pass by a few hunter groups led by rank A hunters that were carrying out a similar mission to mine. It took a few days for the hunters to stabilize their cities and start sending out more squads to purge the beasts populating the Barrens and give aid to other cities. I could also see regiments of soldiers in huge lines of trucks carrying supplies heading straight to the defense line where the collision with the horde of monsters would soon occur
I helped any hunters and people that required aid while giving out skill books to awaken even more hunters that still had the will to fight. I was killing so many monsters of lower ranks that the many rings I had were nearly filling up, making me very generous in giving away the resources I held. I would give more than half away whenever I came across regiments of soldiers led by Vice Admirals or Admirals. They would be putting their lives on the line soon enough, strengthening their ranks before this fight would still be beneficial
The Blessed Empire was large, with many cities populating it, but I wasn't moving alone in the Empire. The cities and people that could be saved were saved in the next few days, with more and more hunters congregating to the last defense line getting ready for the brutal fight
I was able to take down five more rank A BOSSes while moving these past few days, providing me with an abundance of cores that brought my attributes all the way to 300 for [Vitality] and [Strength] even without putting the attributes from the support skills into account. The rank A [Focus] attributes were given to the military as I still had no use for them, the blank attribute not changing the slightest no matter how many I absorbed
Three skills and two items also dropped from these rank A BOSSes, the skills being [Void Slash- Cut the area in front of you with a swing of your sword], [Expansion- Burn your energy to expand your body to its limits], and [Pain Resistance- The perception of pain in your body is dulled]. I learned the [Expansion] and [Pain Resistance] in a blink and put away [Void Slash] that I wouldn't be using for now. I could use both of the items, one being a rank A storage ring and the other was [Emperor's Boots], granting me a boost in speed that further enhanced my already fast [Flight]
The time was quickly approaching as the horde neared the Empire, and I went towards the defense line to meet the coming enemies head-on while trying to minimize the deaths of hunters as much as possible. They had erected a wall and trenches that stretched for miles left and right where many hunter soldiers were stationed.
The Empire was preparing for this horde for a while now, and the sudden appearance of new dungeons and beasts had only damaged parts of the defense line that were repaired as soon as the hunters took back control.
I placed the colorful [Fairy's Wings] into my ring as I flew towards one of the command centers. My figure put the already tense hunters on high alert, but ecstatic expressions rose on their faces as soon as they saw it was me. I had been moving across the Empire rapidly these past few days, becoming widely known as more and more of the hunters I saved moved around. I had also met with the military regiments multiple times and provided them with the loot that was filling my rings, making many of the hunters in the military excited when I neared
I landed on top of the wall lined up with soldiers as I looked out to the wide expanse of Barrens before us. A horde of hundreds of thousands of beast would soon be upon us from this quiet stretch of land