Damn it!
Why isn't that woman holed up in the Blood Temple incubating her eggs? What's she doing out here so soon?!
And to think she actually used a diversion tactic just to bite through Uruk, this hard lump of a city!
Seriously?! You're an Avenger! A vengeful spirit who loathes humanity to the core! Aren't you supposed to charge straight ahead without a second thought?!
The large-scale defensive ward had only just formed halfway when thousands of purple-red beams came hurtling toward it.
Buzz!
The eerie purple-red pillars of light slammed into the massive Magecraft barrier guarding the Absolute Demonic Front.
Waves of ripples spread like water, while the wedge-shaped divine patterns anchoring the barrier were eroded and devoured one by one.
Crack!
A sharp sound, like glass shattering, echoed from one of the barrier's nodes. Immediately after, chaotic, web-like cracks spidered outward, dangerous and unstable.
Priests, priestesses, and magi—all pale-faced—desperately poured mana into the shield, only to collapse one after another from sheer exhaustion.
The friction of ether particles in the air sparked waves of purple-red light, illuminating half the night sky.
The already fragile barrier held on for just a few seconds longer before being torn apart like a soap bubble by the countless beams.
The entire Babylonia defense line—no, all of Uruk—was now laid bare under the cold, merciless gaze of the snake-haired goddess.
Boom! Boom!
Concentrated beams swept across the skies, and the lingering shockwaves sent debris flying.
The eastern wall, already breached earlier, took the brunt of the devastation.
The entire eastern gate barracks was flattened. Scorched earth stained red and black, littered with twisted flesh and shattered limbs, stretched across the ruins. Cone-shaped craters, dozens of meters deep, smoked faintly.
That one strike alone erased dozens of Uruk's soldiers stationed near the gate without a trace.
And if you count the casualties—direct and indirect—from the shockwave around the wall, then just from her first appearance, the Goddess of Demonic Beasts had already claimed over a hundred lives!
And those were the elite troops who had been holding off the beast tide for half a year!
As the purple-red light faded, the scraping of claws and heavy wingbeats echoed from the wasteland and the night sky.
Once their vision recovered, the defenders were met with the horrifying sight of high-level magical beasts—Three-Horned Lion-Dragons, Wyverns, and more—swarming in, wave after wave.
I knew that last victory came too easily! There were barely any high-level beasts in the second wave!
So it was bait—just to see if Gilgamesh had been lured away! If I'd known, I never would've driven them all off!
Samael leapt and ducked, Ana clinging to his back, both scrambling for cover as rage exploded in his mind.
All the lingering doubts fell into place the moment the Goddess of Demonic Beasts—Gorgon—revealed herself.
Kingu and the beast tide had been ramping up pressure on Uruk, but they didn't have the power to break through the Absolute Demonic Front that had held for half a year.
Whether it was the release of new types of magical beasts, or surrounding him and Ana without finishing them off—it had all been a ploy to draw out Gilgamesh.
As long as the one true threat stepped out from the palace divine tower to engage, Uruk would be nothing more than juicy meat with the bones picked clean.
Kingu might not be able to unleash the full power of the Chains of Heaven, but just stalling Gilgamesh for a while was more than enough.
Once that happened, the goddess Gorgon, lying in wait, would personally lead the tide of magical beasts in a surprise attack. Who could possibly hold her back?
As Samael rushed to intercept the beasts scaling the walls, he glanced around—and his heart sank.
After that brutal battle earlier, the shrine, temple, Astrology Tower, and sacrificial ground were all nearly depleted.
He remembered Leonidas, the Guardian of the Hot Gates who'd once held out against the Goddess of Demonic Beasts. The man had just gone toe-to-toe with the Blue Dragon Bašmu and now was little more than blood and scraps.
Throwing him out there now would be no different than sending a Spartan to die—for nothing.
The only one left to count on was that sly fox Merlin, but Gorgon's petrifying Mystic Eyes were a perfect counter. He didn't even dare show his face.
Damn it, what are we even doing here?!
The ancient serpent, surrounded by multiple Wyverns and Three-Horned Lion-Dragons, was accumulating injuries by the second. His mana was nearly drained, limbs numb, and bones already broken more than once.
If not for his immortality, he'd have been torn apart by those beasts long ago.
"Samael!"
Hearing the shout from a broken stretch of the city wall, the ancient serpent immediately flung off the three Uridimmu clinging to him and rammed aside two Three-Horned Lion-Dragons, hurling himself straight toward the breach in the eastern defense line.
Crack!
A sharp snap came from his hind leg. Samael lost his balance and tumbled down the rubble-strewn slope.
The Lion-Headed Storm Demon let out a muffled grunt, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth as he gritted his teeth.
No time to hesitate. The ancient serpent shifted into a more agile form—an Uridimmu—and, dragging his wounded leg, darted down the sloped debris.
From the side, this turncoat warrior slammed into a Soul-Eater Beast, knocking it off course and just barely saving General Tim, who had already lost an arm in the chaos near the East Gate barracks.
Chomp!
The "Lion Dog" opened its jaws wide and sank its teeth into the Soul-Eater Beast's neck. The two beasts tumbled and thrashed wildly.
In seconds, razor-sharp fangs tore through the dense fur and buried into the beast's throat, severing a chunk of white windpipe—and sealing victory.
Samael drank deep, purple-black blood gushing from the beast's neck into his gut.
"Ugh! So foul! This stuff tastes awful!"
The ancient serpent shoved the corpse off him and stood up, stifling a gag. He tested his injured leg—bones mostly knit back together—and felt a bit of relief as his mobility returned.
Good thing his immortality and self-modification kept him alive. As long as he wasn't blasted into chunks, he could hang on.
Without wasting time, Samael picked up his barely-breathing old friend and rushed forward to link up with Ana, who was leading the last of the troops to hold the eastern breach.
After shaking off a few magical beasts, he finally reached Ana—but the situation was only getting worse.
That full-power strike from the Goddess of Demonic Beasts had shredded Babylonia's defense spell and blasted a gaping hole on the eastern flank.
The East Gate barracks had been caught in the crossfire and were devastated. Every part of the wall was in critical condition, and they were sorely short on manpower.
The forces General Tim had managed to gather were pitiful—barely a hundred men, and all of them injured.
That thin line of defense, spread across a breach over ten meters wide, was paper-thin. One good push and it would collapse.
If Ana hadn't fought tooth and nail, this place would've fallen more than ten minutes ago.
But even now, Ana and the few dozen remaining troops were running on fumes. There was no way they could last through more than a few more waves of attacks.
If I turned into a snake now... I could probably escape, right?
Hey, think the magical beasts would accept a defector?
Honestly, not being human doesn't sound so bad.
Samael buried his head and took a bite from the remains of an Ugallu, trying to replenish his strength. His unfocused eyes scanned the darkness as his thoughts drifted wildly.
Hearing a faint rustling nearby, the ancient serpent spat the meat out with a grimace.
"Blegh! This crap? Who could eat this?!"
Even with food and board, I wouldn't join them!
...
(40 Chapters Ahead)
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