Ethan stood at the edge of the forest and calmly observed the waves of corrupted beasts rushing toward him.
The explosion from the bomb had already spread deep into the forest and awakened countless monsters that had been lurking quietly in the gray mist. The forest that had seed silent monts ago was now filled with growls, roars, and the sound of thousands of heavy footsteps crushing the undergrowth.
Ethan did not move imdiately.
His ntal Domain had already expanded outward and covered the surrounding ten kiloters of terrain. Every movent within that area appeared clearly inside his mind.
Dozens of corrupted wolves were approaching from the east.
Hundreds of insect type monsters were swarming from deeper inside the forest.
A herd of twisted horned beasts was rushing from the south.
The number of monsters was rising rapidly.
Ethan slowly opened his eyes.
His expression was calm, but a faint excitent could be seen in his gaze.
"Good," he said quietly.
"This should be enough."
He raised his right hand.
A faint silver light appeared around his fingers as divine energy condensed into a small sphere.
Then he spoke a single word.
"Disintegrate."
The sphere of energy suddenly expanded into dozens of thin beams that shot outward in every direction.
The first group of corrupted wolves that had just erged from the trees was instantly struck by the beams.
Their bodies did not explode.
They simply dissolved.
Flesh, bone, and corrupted energy all broke apart into gray particles that scattered through the air.
Within seconds more than thirty beasts had completely vanished.
Ethan continued moving forward.
More monsters appeared.
More beams flashed.
Every attack erased several beasts at once.
For the next few minutes the forest echoed with constant explosions of energy.
However, Ethan did not realize one important detail.
The bomb he had thrown earlier had not only attracted nearby monsters.
The shockwave had traveled far deeper into the Great Forest than he had expected.
Deep within the gray mist.
Far beyond Ethan’s current perception range.
Entire herds of corrupted beasts were suddenly awakened.
Predators that normally hunted each other suddenly began moving in the sa direction.
The explosion had acted like a signal flare.
Thousands of monsters began rushing toward the disturbance.
Then tens of thousands.
Then hundreds of thousands.
And the direction they were moving toward was not only Ethan.
The path of destruction he was carving through the forest had created a massive opening that naturally guided the beasts toward the nearest large concentration of life.
The city.
Normally the corrupted beast tide would not begin for another ten hours.
The monsters were still gathering deep within the forest.
But Ethan’s actions had accelerated everything.
What should have been a gradual buildup suddenly turned into an unstoppable flood.
Back at the city wall the adventurers were still preparing their defenses.
Several groups were reinforcing barricades.
Others were carrying supplies toward the frontline.
The atmosphere was already tense, but the actual battle had not yet begun.
Then suddenly a scout shouted from the watchtower.
"Movent in the forest!"
Another scout quickly used a detection device and looked into the distance.
His face imdiately turned pale.
"There are too many of them!"
"What do you an too many?" one of the commanders asked.
The scout swallowed nervously.
"There are tens of thousands of monsters already moving this way!"
The entire wall fell silent.
"That is impossible," one of the veteran adventurers said.
"The tide is supposed to begin ten hours later."
But then more scouts started shouting.
"More beasts are coming from the north!"
"There are swarms approaching from the western ridge!"
"The entire forest is moving!"
Within minutes the situation beca clear.
A massive beast tide had already begun.
The adventurers on the wall started cursing loudly.
"What the hell happened?"
"This is way earlier than predicted!"
"Did sothing trigger them?"
Suddenly one of the level three adventurers frowned.
He rembered sothing.
"That outsider."
"The level two guy who jumped out of the wall earlier."
Several people imdiately turned toward him.
"You an the crazy one who ran into the forest?"
The man nodded grimly.
"He threw so kind of explosion before running inside."
The surrounding adventurers froze.
Then one of them shouted angrily.
"That bastard!"
"He didn’t die and has now beco the death of us!"
Another adventurer slamd his fist against the wall.
"The envoy from the Ragnarok Clan hasn’t even arrived yet!"
"If the tide hits the city now we are finished!"
Soone spat angrily.
"No wonder people don’t like outsiders like him!"
"He triggered the beast tide and ran away!"
The soldiers and adventurers on the wall were filled with anger and frustration.
Thousands of monsters were already pouring out of the forest.
The ground trembled under the weight of their movent.
Corrupted wolves.
Mutated boars.
Giant insect swarms.
Grotesque humanoid creatures ford from gray mist.
The endless waves of monsters looked like a living black ocean.
Then suddenly soone shouted.
"Wait!"
"Look over there!"
All the adventurers turned their attention toward the forest.
At the front of the beast tide they saw sothing unexpected.
A single human figure was standing calmly among the rushing monsters.
Ethan.
At that mont he had just finished destroying another group of beasts.
The ground around him was littered with dissolving gray particles.
More monsters were rushing toward him from every direction.
However Ethan did not appear worried.
Instead he slowly raised his hand again.
Then sothing strange happened.
A blinding light suddenly appeared around his body.
The adventurers on the wall squinted their eyes as they tried to see clearly.
Then Ethan’s figure suddenly split.
One Ethan beca two.
Two beca ten.
Ten beca hundreds.
Within seconds thousands of identical figures appeared across the battlefield.
Each Ethan stood in a different position among the monsters.
Every single one of them radiated a faint golden glow.
The light surrounding them looked almost holy.
For a mont the entire battlefield froze.
The adventurers on the wall stared in complete disbelief.
Thousands of Ethans stood inside the beast tide like an army of shining warriors.
Each one of them raised a hand simultaneously.
Then thousands of voices spoke at the sa ti.
"Disintegrate."
An enormous wave of energy erupted across the forest.
Beams of light shot in every direction like a divine storm.
The monsters at the front of the tide were instantly erased.
Hundreds of beasts vanished.
Then thousands.
The gray mist exploded into fragnts of corrupted energy that scattered through the air.
The adventurers on the wall were completely stunned.
One of them whispered slowly.
"What... is that?"
Another adventurer looked confused.
"Is that so kind of clone technique?"
But the golden light around the figures made the scene look completely different.
Each clone glowed like a radiant being descended from the sky.
One of the younger soldiers spoke hesitantly.
"Wait..."
"Those wings of light..."
The others looked again carefully.
Behind several of the glowing figures faint shapes that resembled radiant wings were forming from condensed energy.
The soldier swallowed.
"Is he... from the Angel Clan?"
Another adventurer frowned.
"But if he belongs to the Angel Clan..."
"Why did everyone call him an outsider?"
The battlefield continued glowing with divine light as thousands of Ethan’s clones continued slaughtering the corrupted beasts.
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