Just as the defensive line was on the verge of complete collapse, a deep blue figure, like a bolt of thunder tearing through the night, shot down from the steep hillside outside of town. He moved so fast that he left only a faint afterimage in the air.

He vaulted directly over the broken outer fence, landing on a high rooftop at the edge of the square.

Murphy’s figure came into view, illuminated by the firelight.

His expression was calm, his gaze like lightning. He instantly swept his eyes across the chaotic battlefield below, locking onto the most critical area of the defensive line—the one most densely packed with monsters.

He didn’t even draw his sword. With a mere flicker of his body, he vanished from the rooftop, reappearing a moment later above and to the side of the medium-sized Scorching Beast that had smashed through the barricade.

The medium-sized Scorching Beast seemed to sense him. Its maw, filled with sharp teeth, snapped upward as it slashed with its front claws.

But Murphy was faster. He twisted in mid-air to evade the bite, his right leg whipping out like an iron rod. Wreathed in condensed white Energy, it viciously slammed into the side of the Scorching Beast’s relatively fragile neck!

CRACK!

A distinct crack of breaking bone echoed out.

The medium-sized Scorching Beast let out a pained shriek. The immense force sent its massive body flying sideways, where it crashed through half a ruined wall. Amidst a cloud of dust and debris, it twitched a few times and then fell still.

This stunning blow instantly drew the attention of every nearby monster and survivor.

"Reinforcements! It’s reinforcements! A Great Knight from Blackstone Fortress is here!" an Official Knight behind the barricade roared, his voice bursting with hope born from despair.

Murphy landed steadily, his icy gaze sweeping over the swarm of monsters. They had stirred restlessly at their companion’s death, and now they surged forward with even greater ferocity.

He wasted no words. His right hand finally closed around the hilt of the Ancient Longsword at his waist.

SHING!

The Longsword left its sheath. Its blade glinted with a Dark Gold luster in the firelight as a brilliant, searing white Energy surged from his body. The Energy instantly enveloped the blade, pulsing unstably and radiating a heart-stopping aura of sharpness and destruction.

"All who can still move, pull back the line! Protect the wounded, the women, and the children." Murphy’s voice wasn’t loud, yet it cut through the din of the battlefield with a strange, calming power. "Leave these things to me."

Before his voice had even faded, he was already in motion.

The white gleam of his sword became a web of deadly lines crisscrossing through the monster swarm.

Before this condensed Energy, the carapaces of the small Scorching Beasts were like paper. Wherever the blade’s light passed, severed limbs flew through the air and foul-smelling fluids sprayed.

The trickier medium-sized Scorching Beasts were fast, but not faster than Murphy’s ghostly movements and predictive abilities. They often had just enough time to begin a pounce before their joints were pierced, their throats were slit, or their internal organs were shattered by the immense Energy.

Wherever the white sword-light went, a small area of monsters was swiftly cleared, buying the teetering defense line a precious moment to breathe.

The remaining militiamen and Knight’s Attendants were greatly invigorated. Shouting, they followed along the sides of the path he cleared, finishing off stragglers and blocking any that slipped through with their spears and swords.

Just as Murphy was steadily advancing like a bulwark, clearing out most of the monsters in the square, and the survivors began to organize a counterattack to reclaim control of the main streets...

RUMBLE!

The ground suddenly trembled!

In the center of the square, the stone-paved ground abruptly buckled and cracked!

A blast of scorching hot air and a thick smell of sulfur erupted from the fissures like a volcanic eruption!

Accompanied by the roar of crushed rock, a colossal creature burst from the earth!

This was no small or medium-sized Scorching Beast.

It was enormous, nearly the size of a small house. While it retained the basic form of a Scorching Beast with its multiple limbs and savage maw, its carapace was a dark, deep red, like cooled magma. It was covered in menacing bone spikes and strange patterns that flowed with a Dark Gold molten light.

It didn’t have eight legs, but twelve, each one thicker and tipped with a spear-like point, supporting its bloated yet powerful body.

Most terrifying was its head. Above its usual tooth-filled maw, an additional fissure had split open. Inside were not eyes, but two fiercely burning spheres of Dark Gold magma that constantly sputtered sparks!

The moment this mutated "Giant Scorching Beast" appeared, it radiated a terrifying pressure and scorching heat that far surpassed the other monsters. The very air around it distorted from the high temperature.

Its lava-like "eyes" instantly locked onto Murphy, who was busy slaughtering monsters nearby. It let out a deafening roar, filled with tyranny and hunger!

The sound formed a physical shockwave, shaking the tiles from the roofs of nearby houses.

"By Oriane! What is that thing!" a surviving Knight’s Attendant cried out in horror, the hope that had just blossomed now drowned by a deeper fear. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

The Giant Scorching Beast’s thick limbs suddenly kicked off the ground. Its colossal body, moving with a speed that defied its size, hurtled toward Murphy like a small, burning mountain!

It crushed several small Scorching Beasts that couldn’t get out of the way, along with scattered building debris, its power absolutely astonishing.

Murphy’s eyes narrowed slightly.

’The appearance of this monster is clearly beyond a standard infiltration.’

’The Energy Fluctuations it’s emitting are violent and chaotic, far stronger than those of the medium-sized Scorching Beasts, even stronger than an Earth Rock Worm.’

He chose not to meet it head-on.

The instant the beast charged, he tapped his toes to the ground, his body drifting backward like weightless willow catkins. At the same time, his Longsword slashed through the air, sending a condensed beam of white light slicing diagonally toward the joint of the beast’s foremost supporting limb!