BOOM! 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

The Alpha struck the wall again, narrowly missing Millis, who, although still had a serious look on her face, continued to smile as she continued to dodge the monster’s ferocious attacks.

Unfortunately, she was struggling to do that, especially with the need to simultaneously pull Viesta out of the way with her lasso to keep her safe.

With the support of a pillar, Millis dodged another attack from the Alpha. But then lost her footing as the pillar beneath her crumbled after the monster’s attack.

Flipping through the air and feeling the air rustle through her hair, Millis checked out the armour of the beast and found it to be cracking slightly—Lillian’s doing before being taken out of commission.

She shot Lillian’s unmoving body a glance. A flash of concern flew through her mind before being dispersed as she had other matters to focus on.

Quickly raising her sword in her right hand and tightly clutching the end of Viesta’s lasso in her left, she prepared for the monster’s attack, which was now in motion.

She felt the wind of the attack crash into her first and, almost as if on cue, Millis struck the metallic claw of the Alpha.

Clang... BOOM.

At the moment of their clash, the runes of Millis’s black-jagged blade brightened. Then, a powerful shockwave knocked not only her but also the Alpha back.

The only difference was that she was sent farther away.

Viesta, who was dragged through the air, quickly regained her bearing as she flashed her revolver out—now fully reloaded—and began to unload it.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The whiskers of the Alpha raised themselves and blocked the projectiles before being blown back and slapping the face they belonged to.

Spinning through the air, Millis landed on the wall with a bend in her knees. Then, she created a platform for both her and Viesta to stand on as they took a breather.

They quickly used the mana potions supplied to them by Lillian before refocusing on the monster at hand.

Viesta wiped her forehead of sweat and muttered with a serious expression as she threw Lillian’s limp body occasional glances of concern:

"To think it reached the Dire rank..." She chuckled lowly in Lillian’s direction in a joking manner, "Looks like luck isn’t on our side for this fight, Lillian..."

She then gazed at Millis, whose muscles were trembling and faltering slightly.

The Heroine had been pushing her body to an extreme level as she kept up with the monster’s rapid movements.

Not only did she have to take on the role of attacker, and also Lillian’s role to get its attention, but she also had to ensure Viesta’s safety.

And that was for half a dozen minutes or even more...

Viesta knew this and couldn’t help but smile gratefully and in awe of Millis’s physical abilities.

The Alpha scrutinised the two with its many eyes before glancing at the metal platings on its shoulder. It scowled as it seemed to crack and peel off ever so slowly...

But not only that... It felt an odd and painful sensation in its stomach.

Holding a hand over its abdomen, it slowly shifted its attention towards the white-haired girl. The Alpha’s eyes glowed a malicious light as it dashed towards Lillian’s limp body, startling Millis and Viesta.

The distance between them and Lillian was at least 60 metres. Compared to them, the Alpha had already reached 15 metres away from the girl.

They can’t get to her in time!

As their bodies moved forward and their eyes trembled, they then screamed at the top of their lungs in unison—with desperation bleeding into their voice:

"LILLIAN! GET UP!" x2

Time slowed down as their voices echoed throughout the nursery, enhanced by Viesta’s element.

As the sounds of the Alpha’s stomps drew nearer to Lillian, so did the monster, who had already opened its maw and spilt out a smell of bad odour into the air that caused Lillian’s nose to twitch.

And then...

Just one fifth of a second before Lillian would be devoured along with the wall she was slumped up against...

BOOM! BOOM!

Two small consecutive explosions erupted right before the monster’s face, causing it to recoil back, stumbling as it clutched its face.

Its metal mask was now completely torn off, destroyed—revealing its tender flesh underneath that was now subtly covered in both burn marks and scorched blood.

After it had stepped back a few metres, it looked forward with a furious light and found a wall of smoke hiding the perpetrator of the explosion. It was fortunate that its eyes managed to miraculously survive the explosion.

However, what happened a split second later caused it to let out a blood-chilling screech as its exposed face began to be riddled with holes.

And as blood bled through the newly created holes, the Alpha began to lose most of its vision as whatever was attacking it was now targeting its eyes.

After losing at most half of its eyes, it managed to regain control and raise its arms—using them to shield its exposed face.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

As it listened keenly to the sounds of something rebounding off its armour, it found that it had eventually ended.

Opening a gap in its arms, it glared towards the smoke that was riddled with holes as well.

It then watched as it parted and cleared like dissolving curtains to reveal a middle-aged man, whose body began to slowly become visible.

The man confidently wore a black military cap, a black eyepatch, which was now fully pulled to the side, and light metal armour.

It was Zeke Barrago, the Captain of the Blackridge Cavern’s guards, whose body glowed a strange outline.

It was a buff. But not of just one kind, but several others—evident from the variety of colours the outline was transitioning through.

And clutched in his hands were two black rifles of the same kind, each creating a small line of smoke that exited through their barrels.

Zeke grinned as he stared into the many eyes of the beast and mentally noted how many he took out.

Then, he declared in a raspy voice:

"I’ve arrived just in time."