Only one of them managed to survive. The three scouting squads had all been attacked almost simultaneously by the underground tendrils. The creatures beneath the soil had moved silently below their feet without any of the scouts realizing it until it was already too late.

Now it became horrifyingly clear what had truly happened.

The gigantic abominations rising into the sky had never been the real attack. Those colossal creatures had distracted the scouts and filled them with fear while the smaller flesh tendrils moved underground unnoticed. By the time the scouts focused on escaping from the giant monsters, the corrupted creatures beneath the earth had already surrounded them from below.

Then they burst upward all at once.

The men and women within the scouting squads never had any real chance to survive.

Because of that, only a single scout remained alive now. A young man from one of the squads who possessed the fastest running speed among them.

Everyone else was already dead.

The surviving scout sprinted desperately across the wilderness toward Leonora while tears streamed heavily down his face. Blood covered parts of his armor and dirt mixed together with sweat, snot, and trembling breaths.

His expression had completely collapsed into panic and grief.

He could still hear the screams of the others inside his head.

The scout bit his teeth hard while forcing his exhausted legs to keep moving. Guilt clawed violently inside his chest because he had abandoned his comrades behind.

But he knew he could not save them.

He had watched them dragged screaming beneath the ground by masses of flesh and teeth. Some had been torn apart before his eyes while others disappeared completely beneath the soil.

He could do nothing.

All he could do now was survive long enough to bring the truth back to the king.

Far above on the battlements, King Garrie immediately realized the scout was being chased.

"Get him to safety!" the king roared loudly from atop the walls.

The knights positioned below the battlements immediately reacted.

Several heavily armored knight squads rushed out from the outer gate and charged toward the approaching scout while maintaining tight defensive formation.

Then one of the senior mages atop the battlements suddenly widened his eyes.

"Behind him!" the old mage shouted urgently.

King Garrie immediately focused his gaze again and finally saw them.

Dozens of grotesque flesh tendrils burst repeatedly from beneath the ground behind the fleeing scout. They twisted violently through the air while clawed mouths and jagged teeth opened along their surfaces.

The corrupted tendrils were chasing him.

"Mages!" King Garrie shouted instantly. "Protect him!"

The battlement mages immediately obeyed.

Large summoning circles illuminated around them while dozens of spirits emerged into the air simultaneously. Some resembled glowing birds while others looked like floating armored warriors formed entirely from Magic.

The spirits shot across the battlefield at high speed toward the scout.

Moments later, they collided directly against the incoming tendrils.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

Explosions of Magic erupted repeatedly outside the walls while the spirits slashed and blasted apart several corrupted tendrils midair. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

The attacks successfully slowed the creatures and created openings for the scout to continue running unobstructed.

But the tendrils were far too many.

Some of them smashed directly through the summoned spirits despite the attacks while others continued tunneling beneath the earth before erupting up again closer toward the fleeing scout.

The young scout nearly stumbled several times from exhaustion and fear.

Fortunately, he was already close enough.

The knight squads finally reached him.

The heavily armored knights immediately planted their shields into the ground while defensive Magic formations expanded before them.

"Formation!" one of the captains roared.

The knights instantly locked together into a defensive wall just as the tendrils burst from the ground again.

CLANG!

BOOOOM!

Several tendrils slammed violently against the knight shields while corrupted flesh twisted across the metal surfaces.

"Run to the walls!" the knight captain shouted toward the scout.

The young scout nodded desperately before forcing his exhausted body to move again.

Then he sprinted past the knight formation and continued running toward the gates of Leonora while the battle erupted behind him.

The corrupted tendrils continued smashing themselves violently against the knight formation outside the walls of Leonora.

The impacts echoed repeatedly across the battlefield while twisted masses of flesh slammed against the shields hard enough to crack the ground beneath the knights’ boots.

But the defenders of Leonora did not collapse.

Every knight standing there had trained for years to cultivate Magic throughout their bodies. Streams of enhancement Magic continuously flowed beneath their armor while defensive runes glowed faintly across their shields and weapons.

Because of that, the attacks from the tendrils were not enough to break their formation immediately.

The knights gritted their teeth and held the line firmly.

"Hold!" the captains roared.

The shield wall remained locked together while the corrupted tendrils continued thrashing violently before them.

Then several knights suddenly stepped forward from behind the formation.

"Strike!"

Blades enhanced with Magic immediately slashed outward.

Several tendrils were severed apart instantly while black-red corrupted fluid exploded. Pieces of flesh twisted violently on the ground.

The knights pressed the counterattack harder after that.

Heavy swords hacked apart the incoming tendrils while spear users pierced through writhing flesh repeatedly.

For several moments the defenders successfully pushed the creatures back.

But then more tendrils erupted from beneath the ground again.

The earth cracked open repeatedly around the battlefield while new masses of flesh burst and lunged toward the knights from multiple directions at once.

"Defensive formation again!" the captain shouted immediately.

The knights instantly pulled back into formation while raising their shields together once more.

Another violent impact shook the battlefield.

Meanwhile, the surviving scout finally reached the kingdom walls completely.

Several support mages immediately activated a floating spirit beside him. Soft streams of wind Magic wrapped around the exhausted young man before lifting his body through the air.

The scout barely remained conscious anymore. Blood dripped from multiple wounds across his body while his breathing had already become ragged and uneven from exhaustion.

Moments later, the spirit carried him onto the battlements before gently lowering him directly in front of King Garrie.

The scout immediately collapsed onto one knee while struggling to breathe.

King Garrie stepped toward him without delay.

"Tell me everything that happened," the king ordered firmly.

The young scout trembled heavily. His eyes looked hollow from terror while tears still mixed together with dirt and blood across his face.

"They’re dead..." he muttered weakly at first.

King Garrie’s expression darkened.

"All of them?" he asked.

The scout slowly nodded while his breathing became shaky again.

"All of my squad members..." he said with broken voice. "The other squads too... they were all killed by the tendrils... I saw them while we were running here."

Several nearby knights and mages immediately stiffened after hearing that.

The scout then looked up toward the king with visibly terrified eyes.

"And they..." His voice shook harder afterward. "They move underground, Your Majesty."

Silence immediately spread across the battlements. The scout’s trembling worsened while remembering the horrifying scene.

"The giant monsters... they distracted us," he continued desperately. "While we were trying to escape from them, smaller tendrils already moved beneath us underground without making any sound."

His breathing became uneven again.

"They surrounded us from below... then burst out. We never even had a chance to fight properly..."

—