Her father nodded grimly, the knife shaking in his grip. “The outer wall is being attacked.”

“WHAT?”

‘It shouldn’t be time yet,’ his mind raced. ‘There was no sign they were ready to attack…’

The terrible realization hit him like a physical blow.

‘My attack. They sensed a human found their gathering place.’ Cold dread pooled in his stomach. ‘I triggered this.’

The distant sounds of battle filtered through the thin walls—shouts, roars, the clash of metal against chitin. The city bells had begun ringing, their urgent peals carrying across all districts.

“Alright, you two stay here. I’ll check what’s happening.”

Lin stepped forward, concern etched across her face. “You can’t go out there—it’s too dangerous!”

Her father caught her arm, gently pulling her back. He shook his head, eyes meeting Ethan’s with grim understanding.

“Let him go,” the old man said quietly.

Ethan nodded his thanks. “Barricade the door behind me. Only open it if you hear a rescue team or my voice.”

Without waiting for a response, he slipped out into the pre-dawn darkness. The streets had transformed into chaos—people running, guards shouting orders, the sky to the east lit by an ominous glow.

Ethan activated Enhanced Speed, racing toward the outer wall.

He climbed a building for a better vantage point, the climb effortless with his strength.

What he saw froze his blood.

The outer wall hadn’t fallen—not yet—but hundreds of beasts swarmed its base. Razorbacks, Wolves, Bears, and creatures he couldn’t identify from this distance.

In the storage room, Lin watched her father slide the heavy storage shelf against the door.

“You can’t tie him here,” her father said softly. “If he wants to go, you can’t stop him.”

Lin nodded, a single tear tracking down her cheek. “I know.”

…

Ethan studied the chaotic battlefield from his perch, eyes narrowing as he analyzed the attack pattern. Something wasn’t right.

‘Where are the Silver-ranks?’ he wondered, scanning the beast horde again. ‘Where are the High-Bronze commanders?’

The attackers were numerous but weaker than expected, mostly Iron-ranks with Low-Bronze leaders. Each Bronze beast commanded about five Iron ranks, moving with coordination but lacking the devastating power he’d witnessed in the forest.

‘This isn’t the main force,’ he realised. ‘This is just a probing attack.’

City defenders had mobilised quickly, Bronze-rank awakeners hurling spells from the walls while archers rained arrows on the creatures below.

They were holding for the time being.

Ethan’s gaze shifted toward District Two, where Tiana would be. The wealthier district’s walls stood taller, stronger, better defended. She would be safe there, at least from beasts. Han Wei was another matter, but even he wouldn’t dare touch a research official during a monster attack.

A slow smile spread across Ethan’s face as opportunity revealed itself.

‘Time to gather some cores.’

In the chaos, no one would notice one more fighter. No one would question a person helping defend the walls. And no one would track where those monster cores disappeared to afterwards.

Ethan activated Enhanced Speed, blurring across rooftops toward the embattled wall. Soldiers shouted orders, civilians fled inward, and somewhere in the distance alarm bells continued their frantic pealing.

He landed atop the wall, startling two archers who clearly hadn’t expected anyone to approach from behind.

Without warning, Ethan vaulted over the battlements, plunging straight into the writhing mass of monsters below.

“What the hell is this guy doing?” One archer gasped, bow forgotten in his shock.

“He’s courting death!” Another shouted, his face pale with horror.

The defenders along the wall froze, watching the apparent suicide with morbid fascination. No human jumped voluntarily into a beast tide. Not even Bronze-ranks.

Ethan disappeared beneath a wave of claws, fangs, and chitinous limbs, his body swallowed by the chaos.

“He’s gone!” A guard captain shouted, leaning dangerously far over the wall’s edge. “I can’t see him anymore—he got stomped to death!”

What none of them realized was that mid-fall, Ethan had activated his Black Beetle transformation, his body shrinking and hardening as he plummeted. He landed among the beasts as just another insect in the swarm, indistinguishable from the countless beetles already present.

‘Need to relocate before I start the slaughter,’ he thought, activating Protective Shield around his beetle form as he scuttled between massive paws and hooves. ‘Too suspicious if I start killing right where that “suicidal” human disappeared.’

He navigated the chaotic battlefield, the monsters around him too focused on the wall to notice one beetle moving against the tide. Reaching the eastern flank where the assault was thinner, Ethan found his opening.

With a pulse of mana, he shed his beetle form, immediately transforming into a Razorback Boar. His body expanded explosively, tusks erupting from his elongating snout as his skin hardened into iron-enhanced hide.

<You have transformed: Razorback Boar(Mid-Bronze)>

The monsters nearest him barely had time to register the strange transformation before Ethan charged. His tusks, glowing with activated Iron Enhancement, pierced the throat of a Low-Bronze Wolf, its howl cut short as blood sprayed across the trampled earth.

<You have killed a Low-Bronze Shadowfang Wolf>

Ethan did not waste the opportunity to devour the wolf’s body and grab it’s core in the chaos, storing it in the storage ring.

< +9 Agility>

He pivoted immediately, slamming his enhanced bulk into a cluster of Iron-rank creatures, sending them flying like bowling pins. They weren’t worth his time—no attribute gains from such weak enemies.

His real targets were the Bronze leaders.

A Low-Bronze Gorilla roared a challenge, beating its chest as it noticed the “traitor” among them. Ethan met his charge with his own, the collision sending shockwaves through nearby combatants. His tusks found the sweet spot beneath the ape’s ribs, piercing upward into vital organs.

<You have killed Low-Bronze Gorilla>

< +7 Strength>

Ethan devoured the gorilla once again, but he did not receive any talent.

The reason was simple: the creature’s ability, like the Iron Enhancement talent he already possessed, belonged to the same category. And compared to his, the gorilla’s version was weaker—too weak to modify or reinforce what he already had.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep