Blood-red clouds pressed down heavily from high above, sealing the brilliant sunlight completely outside this demonic purgatory.

  The air above the endless soil was thick with the rich scent of blood.

  For humans who set foot in this place, just one breath was enough to make their stomachs churn violently and their minds fall into chaos.

  Countless monster corpses were piled into several small mountains, their scattered bodies covering this desolate land.

  Countless demi-humans wearing animal masks stood atop these monster corpses.

  They licked their claws, or the daggers in their hands, bodies crouched low, tails raised high, eyes flashing with fanatical light.

  Some demi-humans collected materials from those dead monsters, casually playing with them in bags or in their hands.

  Various colors merged together, becoming viscous black liquid that slowly flowed across the earth.

  The sticky, moist bloody mud gathered into streams of sludge.

  A mighty tiger-man stood upright with his robust physique, stepping over the chaotically piled monster corpses one by one.

  As if patrolling his own territory.

  His brows were tightly furrowed, fierce light compressed into two sharp streams of killing intent, piercing straight toward monsters hundreds of feet away.

  His thick muscle lines were distinct, orange fur dancing in the bloody air, like a massive wall of fire burning beneath the blood clouds.

  The low growls he occasionally emitted were like drumbeats, making the surrounding space tremble involuntarily.

  If any weak monsters stood before him, they would probably die on the spot from this overwhelming presence.

  He turned his head, looking at the dense monster corpses in all directions.

  In this entire area, there was almost no breath of living monsters left.

  Only then was he satisfied, continuing his patrol toward other areas.

  As for those soldiers and adventurers who were severely wounded, they weren't his responsibility.

  In this terrible war, they were all buried beneath the vast land piled with monster corpses.

  Feeling their broken bodies being dragged, flesh scraping against the cold bodies of monsters, even beginning to vaguely see the blood-colored gloom in the sky—

  Someone had rescued them from the bloody pile of corpses, causing them to raise their heads in a daze.

  But they were surprised to discover that these rescuers were a group of slender girls wearing masks.

  Animal ears of various characteristics adorned their heads.

  Obviously, they were all demi-humans.

  However, the warriors trapped in death's whirlpool no longer had the strength to think about why demi-humans would appear here.

  They could only feel their bodies scraping against cold corpses, staring blankly at the sea of blood and mountain of corpses, crying out in despair.

  "Why? Why did you save me? I should have died here!"

  "Kill me!"

  "At least dying here, I could have gained the honor of dying in battle... I don't want to live anymore!"

  These people trapped in death murmured desperate words.

  The emptiness in their eyes and the stiffness of their bodies all revealed the collapse and despair in their hearts.

  And those adventurers missing arms and legs were even more disheartened, silent as stones sinking into the sea.

  The surviving soldiers could still expect national compensation, but what could they hope for?

  As adventurers by profession, they were already clowns walking on life's tightrope.

  One misstep meant eternal damnation.

  And now, their bodies were already disabled. Even if they recovered their lives, they could never fight again.

  They might as well be dead.

  However, the soldiers and adventurers could only helplessly watch as the medical teams carried them away.

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  Meanwhile, those rescuing demi-humans shuttled across the blood-colored earth, converging toward a mountain-like, robust bear-man.

  "Mr. Helnersen, we rescued 340 wounded, including 300 severely injured and over 20 lightly wounded."

  "The rest all committed suicide during the rescue process."

  This was just part of the wounded sorted out from cleaning the battlefield.

  After an invasion of monster tide, only these living people remained on the entire battlefield.

  One could imagine just how intense this war had been.

  And those wounded who had been rescued, upon hearing the demi-humans' report, all raised their heads.

  Almost everyone whose eyes weren't damaged could see—

  That enormous bear-man standing on the earth, tall and robust to the point where his end seemed invisible.

  Each of his breaths was filled with heavy power, and even from several yards away, one could feel that amazing sense of oppression.

  They widened their eyes, mouths agape, obvious terror appearing on their faces.

  What kind of monster was that?

  These warriors or adventurers who hadn't died on the battlefield received a small shock from the bear-man the moment they survived.

  At this time, Hela, whose clothes were already dyed red with blood, sat quietly on a wooden chair, letting a cat-girl beside her bandage her wounds.

  One open eye flowed with heavy, complex patterns, like countless blooming roses spinning rapidly.

  "Thank you."

  Hearing Hela's thanks, the cat-girl who was bandaging Hela remained expressionless, concentrating on continuing her work.

  Hela looked at this small cat-girl, falling slightly into contemplation.

  What could be confirmed was that this suddenly appearing support team was basically composed of demi-humans like this cat-girl.

  Although they all wore masks, shrouded in mysterious veils—

  However, the animal ears swaying on their heads still exposed their true identities.

  Of course, these demi-humans probably never intended to hide in the first place.

  After all, in this team, there was also a particularly powerful tiger-man.

  It was simply no different from an upright-walking tiger, completely a bloodthirsty beast.

  It was fearless on the battlefield, wantonly hunting monsters.

  The number of monsters it killed was also the highest, and the rampaging beast tide seemed completely unable to stop its advance.

  So powerful that it even gave Hela a feeling—

  Perhaps even she wasn't a match for that tiger-man.

  However, relying on just one tiger-man obviously couldn't withstand that shocking number of beast tide.

  Around it, densely packed demi-humans cooperated with perfect coordination.

  Trap encirclement, guerrilla attrition—they used every method possible.

  Under such cooperation, along with that tiger-man's individual ability, they perfectly blocked this beast tide's attack.

  Most importantly...

  Hela raised her head, looking toward that enormous bear-man.

  Although he never entered the battlefield, he had been watching the battlefield's direction the entire time.

  In his broad palms, he constantly held several stones.

  Whenever any area might fall into danger, he would reach out and throw those stones into it.

  The originally tightly surrounding beast tide would collapse and scatter in just the moment he acted.

  Just like...

  An adult in a beast tribe specially raising a large batch of prey.

  And watching over those young beasts around, letting them train hunting without getting hurt.

  This bear-man was doing exactly that.

  He had specifically organized this defeated battlefield into a training ground for those demi-humans.

  This attitude of ease and control, she had only seen once before on Viktor.

  What kind of force could possess such a well-trained demi-human team?

  Hela already had a vague guess.

  But soon, the guess was completely confirmed.

  Some adventurers stumbled toward her.

  They had mournful expressions on their faces, their bodies covered with various monster blood.

  From far away, they shouted loudly toward Hela:

  "Boss! Are you alright!"

  "Boss! How are you!"

  Although their hands were still stained with monster blood, their gorgeous and solid armor and robes could immediately tell people—

  They were definitely different from other adventurers.

  They were definitely very wealthy.

  Hela recognized several of the big men running toward her.

  These people were all core backbone members sent by the Beast Guild to Bryston to guard merchant caravans for the Kravina family.

  They were also Hela's former comrades-in-arms.

  Seeing them, a flash of joy appeared in Hela's eyes.

  "Pal, how did you come back?"

  "Where's Watt? Didn't he come back with you?"

  Facing Hela's inquiry, several big men looked at each other.

  Finally, Pal spoke up to explain:

  "Mr. Viktor informed us of the southern front situation. We came back specifically to provide support following Butler Helnersen."

  Butler Helnersen?

  Hearing this name, Hela subconsciously raised her head, looking toward the enormous bear-man in the distance.

  Pal continued:

  "As for Watt, he's now working at the Bryston Weather Bureau."

  The salary he could get working there was very high, far exceeding what these rough men who delivered goods earned.

  Everyone was very envious of this.

  "But actually Watt really wanted to come support us, but as a fourth-tier mage, he needs time to chant magic."

  "Plus he's getting old and lacks stamina, afraid of slowing down our journey, so he didn't come in the end..."

  Before the big men finished speaking, the surroundings fell into brief silence.

  They didn't say much about the real reason Watt didn't come back.

  Hela looked at them, also just smiling without saying more.

  The reason was something everyone understood.

  Watt was human, and even as a mage, he was quite old.

  He belonged to the 'elderly' among mages.

  Having finally found stable work in Bryston to spend his twilight years peacefully was naturally better.

  His former comrades also didn't want Watt to return to remote and dangerous places.

  So in the end, they secretly left Watt behind and came south with the main force alone.

  Hela looked at them, understanding in her heart.

  The return of several backbone members had already explained the origin of this demi-human team.

  Mr. Viktor, upon learning that the southern front might collapse, sent support in advance.

  What did this indicate?

  "Mr. Viktor must be concerned about my safety."

  She felt a wave of happiness rise in her heart, feeling much more at ease.

  Even her tense shoulders gradually relaxed, and her body almost collapsed onto the cat-girl behind her.

  However, the several big men in front of her looked at each other, ultimately not saying the reason that 'Mr. Viktor took money from the First Prince.'

  Hearing the conversation not far behind him, Helnersen also turned around, slowly walking toward these Beast Guild adventurers.

  He walked to Hela's front, his deep voice resonating:

  "You are the president of the Beast Guild, Hela, correct?"

  Hela heard the bear-man's rumbling voice and nodded.

  "I am Helnersen, butler of the Kravina family."

  """

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