The most alarming revelation was the presence of three massive monster tides, positioned at three strategic nodes. Lara knew she couldn’t wait for the eting to start to address this. She had to act now.
With a heavy heart but a steady hand, she issued the order to recall all masters from the outlying sectors. Then, she did the unthinkable: she crushed the transmission portals leading to the two auxiliary spots adjacent to William’s position.
From the intelligence she had gathered, William had successfully drawn the monsters’ ire, focusing the brunt of their ferocity solely on his location.
With no defenders left at the other two spots, they were nothing more than open doors for an invasion. By collapsing the portals, Lara effectively severed the link between those zones and her city.
It was a ruthless calculation. Without the portals, those locations lost their tactical value to the enemy. Given the vast distances involved, the monsters would be forced to abandon their advance there and redirect their hunger toward the only remaining gateway: William’s location.
Lara felt a pang of guilt, but her trust in William was unshakable. She knew she was gambling with his life, but the alternative was a guaranteed slaughter within the city walls in the middle of their council. To ensure he wasn’t flying blind, she dispatched a final, urgent ssage to William and Becky, informing them of the severance and warning them of the coming storm.
The air in the tent humd with power as the final rune clicked into place.
"We’re all set," Anjie said, wiping sweat from her brow. "The room is sealed. We can now start the eting."
Lara stared at Berry, her eyes narrowed in a mixture of hope and disbelief. She wasn’t alone; nearly every master in the room looked at the young woman as if she were a creature from another world—a monster hidden in a girl’s skin.
Yet, Berry remained an island of tranquillity in the storm. She stood calm and collected, absorbing the weight of their scrutiny with a steady deanor that betrayed no nerves.
"So... let us get to the heart of this," Lara began, her voice cutting through the heavy, stifling air of the tent.
She didn’t offer a greeting; there was no ti for pleasantries. "Why did William strictly demand your presence to solve this... this disaster? What do you have that the rest of us lack?"
Berry did not flinch. Instead, she t Lara’s stern gaze with one that was arguably stronger, filled with a cold, focused clarity. "Before I answer that, I need to confirm sothing with you first. These monster tides... the reports say they are comprised entirely of Scarlet Bears. Is that the truth?"
"They all are," Fang interjected before Lara could speak. His voice was grim, gravelly with the weight of what he had witnessed. "I can confirm it personally. And here is the proof."
Clang!
The sound of sothing heavy hitting the wooden table echoed like a gunshot.
Fang was a practical man, a master who lived by the blade and the reality of the battlefield. The mont he had heard the whispers of monster tides ford exclusively of Scarlet Bears, he had vanished.
He couldn’t wait for scouts or second-hand reports; he had gone out on his own to verify the rumours. What he had seen in the wild had shaken him to his core. He realised then that none of them were ready for the terror descending upon the city. No one was.
He had been more shocked than anyone by William’s request. Berry? The girl he had always viewed as a kind, beautiful granddaughter figure? The idea that she held the keys to their survival felt like a fever dream. It was illogical, even absurd.
Yet, despite his scepticism, Fang—like everyone else in that tent—possessed an unshakable trust in William. This wasn’t the first ti William had made a move that seed bizarre or reckless, only for it to be revealed as a masterstroke that saved them all in the end.
William saw the board differently than other n. Still, Fang had to admit to himself: this was, by far, the most inexplicable decision he had ever seen his friend make.
On the table lay a monster core, pulsing with a dark, rhythmic gold light. The mont it was exposed, the air in the tent began to stir violently, as if the oxygen itself were water reaching a boiling point. The raw power emanating from the stone was suffocating.
"This..." one of the army leaders hissed, leaning back as if the core might bite him. "It’s a Scarlet Bear core. A high-tier one."
"How did you get this?" Anjie asked, her eyes wide. As Fang’s constant companion, she was rarely surprised by him, but this was different. "You were supposed to be gathering the scattered masters and arranging the periter defences."
"I had to make sure the reports weren’t exaggerated," Fang said, his eyes fixed on the glowing core. He paused, his expression darkening. "While you were occupied with the logistics, I slipped away to one of the affected areas. I confronted the beasts. I killed a few."
Silence fell over the room. Anjie wasn’t surprised that Fang had gone missing—that was his nature—but she was stunned by the casual way he admitted to hunting Scarlet Bears. Those creatures were nightmares of fur and rage; killing one was a feat for a squad, yet he spoke of it as a re errand.
"We all know the legends of these monsters," Fang sighed, sensing the eyes of thirty-five leaders fixated on him. "They are solitary hunters by nature. Territorial. Violent. It is unheard of for such terrifying creatures to move in large numbers, let alone form a cohesive tide. It defies everything we know about beast ecology."
A heavy murmur of agreent rippled through the gathered masters. They nodded, their faces pale. To face a tide of mindless monsters was one thing; to face a tide of apex predators that usually hunted alone was a death sentence.
But amidst the nodding heads, four people remained still.
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