"Boom!"

A violent explosion echoed from the communicator, followed by a harsh busy tone.

Tang Qi gripped the communicator so tightly his knuckles turned white.

He took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the tremor in his heart, and quickly switched channels.

"Teams Three through Five, abandon the original evacuation route."

"All teams assemble at the breach in the West City Wall."

"Establish a defensive line and cover the civilians."

"Remember, we must let as many civilians escape as possible."

"Understood!"

"Understood!"

Billowing smoke and dust rose above the ruins.

The first batch of civilians who broke out of the Ashihara Slums stumbled over broken concrete blocks. When their feet finally touched the unpaved barren earth outside the city wall, many collapsed to their knees, bursting into tears.

That was the air of freedom.

It smelled of gunpowder, yet it was ten thousand times sweeter than the rotting, moldy Death Qi inside the city.

"Run! Don't stop!"

Someone in the crowd shouted, pushing those who had paused in excitement. "We're not safe yet! Keep running west!"

However, just as the following crowd was preparing to surge out through the breach...

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Heavy footsteps accompanied by the rumble of operating machinery echoed from the smoke on both sides of the breach.

Hundreds of City Guard members, like a black iron wall, rapidly blocked the breach.

Pitch-black gun muzzles and cold, gleaming magical blades were all pointed in unison at the unarmed civilians.

"Everyone turn back!"

The icy, chilling voice of the City Guard commander echoed over the loudspeaker, "Anyone who dares to take another step forward will be executed on the spot!"

Harsh alarms paired with red laser targeting dots flickered across the faces of the crowd.

The excited crowd instantly felt as if a bucket of icy water had been poured over them, and a deadly silence spread.

Fear was etched into their bones.

Facing these violence machines that normally held the power of life and death over them, the civilians' instinctual reaction was to tremble and flinch back.

Some stopped, others began retreating in panic, and the orderly forward torrent suddenly devolved into chaotic backflow.

"Don't... don't kill me..."

A woman holding a child fell limp to the ground in fear, despairing as she covered her child's eyes.

The City Guard commander watched this, a cruel sneer curling at the corner of his lips.

Indeed, just a bunch of spineless trash.

As long as the butcher's knife was shown, they would obediently drop to their knees.

"Three-second countdown. Those who do not retreat die!"

"Three!"

"Two!"

Just as that final "One!" was about to be uttered, when everyone thought the escape would end in a massacre...

"To hell with your 'executed on the spot'!"

A furious roar exploded like thunder from within the crowd.

Dozens of figures suddenly charged out from the refugee line without warning.

They wore ordinary, tattered overalls, and some were even disguised as beggars, but the aura bursting from them at this moment was like a sharp blade unsheathed—razor-sharp and fully exposed!

They were Great Xia Nation agents lurking in the crowd, along with civilian Classer who refused to sit back and wait for death.

"Brothers! Kill!"

"Carve out a path of blood for the common people!"

A middle-aged man disguised as a cripple slammed down his crutches, cupping his hands. Two balls of blazing fire instantly condensed in his palms, turning into two fiery Dragons that roared and charged at the City Guard's defense line.

"Boom!"

Flames exploded.

The originally neat formation of the City Guard was instantly torn open.

Immediately after, ice spikes, wind blades, earth spikes... colorful lights from various skills bloomed before the crowd and smashed viciously into the City Guard.

"If you don't want to die, charge outward!"

The fire Professional yelled at the stunned crowd while wildly laughing and casting skills, "Leave these bastards to us!"

"Even if I have to use my teeth, I'll stall them!"

This scene deeply shocked everyone present.

So these high-and-mighty "lordly soldiers" could bleed and be beaten too!

The instinct to survive once again overwhelmed fear.

"Charge!"

"Fight them to the end!"

The crowd boiled over once more, like a bursting dam, surging outward wildly along the gap torn open by the Classer.

...

Inside the underground command room.

Tang Qi stared intently at the red dots on the screen representing his personnel blinking out one by one, his eyes bloodshot.

Loud and chaotic reports intermingled through the communicator.

"Team One reporting! The breach is clear, but enemy firepower is too heavy, we need backup!"

"Team Three has suffered over fifty percent casualties! Their commander is a lightning mage, we can't hold on!"

"These civilians are running too slowly! They're sitting targets!"

Tang Qi's fingers tapped rapidly on the control console, his voice raspy yet terrifyingly calm: "Teams Five and Six, abandon flank harassment and push forward with everything! No matter what, hold that breach open for me!"

On the screen.

The battle at the West City Wall had reached a white-hot pitch.

The City Guard obviously hadn't expected so many tough nuts to hide among these "ants." Caught off guard, they quickly adjusted their tactics.

On the high ground behind them, several heavy Magical Cannons began charging, their muzzles glowing with heart-palpitating blue light.

Standing on high ground with a cold expression, the City Guard general swung his long saber, pointing straight at the crowded mass below.

"A bunch of foolish bugs."

"Since you want to run, then die here, all of you!"

"Fire!"

Buzz—!

The air vibrated.

Three thick magical beams, carrying a destructive aura, whistled forth, targeting the most densely populated area of the crowd.

A single strike would instantly vaporize at least several hundred people.

Tang Qi's pupils shrank, and his heart skipped a beat.

Too late.

Intercepting it was completely impossible.

Right at this critical moment...

A small, frail figure leapt into the air from the terrified crowd like black lightning.

It was a young girl who looked to be only thirteen or fourteen years old.

She wore an oversized, ill-fitting hoodie. Her delicate face was covered in dust, but her eyes were frighteningly bright, exuding a resolve and ferocity that belied her age.

Facing the magical beam capable of destroying a tank, she didn't shrink back in the slightest. Instead, she spread her arms and let out a childish yet sharp roar.

"Get lost!!!"

Boom!

A rich, intense black energy suddenly burst from her body.

It was no ordinary dark magic, but a purer, more domineering destructive energy that seemed capable of swallowing all light.

The black energy instantly coalesced into a massive shield in midair.

"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—!"

The magical beams slammed violently into the black shield, making an ear-grating grinding sound.

The light was blinding, and energy spilled out everywhere.

The young girl's body trembled violently in midair, and a trickle of blood spilled from the corner of her mouth, clearly under immense strain.

But she did not retreat a single step.

"Shatter... for... me!"

She gritted her teeth, her eyes instantly turning pure ink-black.

The black shield shook violently outward.

Rumble!

The three magical beams were actually shattered by force, dissipating into a sky full of light specks.

Silence fell over the entire battlefield.

Whether City Guard or fleeing civilians, everyone stared blankly at the small figure floating in midair.

No one had expected that the one who blocked this fatal blow would actually be a little girl who looked like she hadn't grown up yet.

Natsume Rinku!

This usually unassuming young girl had finally, in a desperate situation, shown her terrifying fangs ahead of time as an SS-rank talent possessor.

After blocking the attack, Natsume Rinku did not land to catch her breath.

Her ink-black eyes locked onto the City Guard general on the high platform, the murderous intent in them practically overflowing.

"Kill!"

Her body blurred as she turned into an afterimage, charging straight into the middle of the City Guard's position.