Chapter 449: Chapter 448- Unexpected help(1)

Annabelle stared at the monstrosity standing before her.

Her breathing was slightly unsteady. Not because of all the monsters she dispatched.

The slight sign of exhaustion was born from the brief confrontation against the behemoth.

Dark sparks danced across its body like a second skin, its plain white eyes stared at Annabelle.

The raven head clutched her broken blade tightly, runes igniting as she fed mana into it, blue lightning rumbling around her and above her.

However, when the thunder met the monster, the effect was annoying.

“*GRUOOGH*” The orc growled, the lightning absorbed into it.

Annabelle stood still.

The battlefield was already unrecognizable. What was once open ground had been turned into a field of broken stone, scorched earth, and fallen bodies. Lesser monsters surrounded them, hesitant, trembling. None dared to step closer.

The behemoth moved first.

Its foot came down.

The ground collapsed.

A shockwave tore outward, flattening monsters in a wide arc. Bones burst. Flesh was smeared into the dirt. Annabelle did not move. The pressure washed over her and split around her like water around a rock.

She stepped forward.

The space between them vanished.

Her fist slammed into the creature’s chest.

No thunder. No spell.

Just impact.

The air detonated. The monster behind the behemoth was hurled away, crushed into pulp by the force that passed through its body. The behemoth itself slid back a few steps, gouging trenches into the earth.

It laughed. A deep, animal sound.

Its arm swung.

Annabelle raised her forearm.

The collision did not harm either of them.

The world screamed.

A mountain of debris rose behind Annabelle as the shockwave blasted backward. Dozens of monsters were hurled into the air, their bodies tearing apart before they hit the ground.

Annabelle twisted, stepped in, and drove her elbow into its jaw.

The head snapped to the side.

The air wave made the tree behind it sway away.

The behemoth answered with a headbutt.

Annabelle met it.

Skull to skull.

The impact sent a ring of force racing outward. Everything within it died. Trees burst. Rock shattered. Blood misted the air where monsters once stood.

They did not step back.

They tore into each other.

Annabelle struck again and again. Knees. Elbows. Short punches aimed at vital points. Each hit carried enough force to break cities. None of it harmed the behemoth. None of its counterstrikes harmed her.

But the land paid the price.

The creature slammed Annabelle into the ground.

She did not yield.

She grabbed its arm mid-motion and twisted, using its own weight. The behemoth crashed into the earth, creating a crater large enough to swallow a fortress. The monsters trapped within it were reduced to nothing.

It rose instantly.

Annabelle was already moving.

She ran up its body, using falling rubble as footholds, and drove her heel down onto its shoulder.

The blow missed her target by inches.

The shoulder held.

The shockwave split the horizon.

The behemoth roared and clapped its hands together.

The sound alone erupted everything between them.

Annabelle slipped through the pressure and appeared beneath it, slamming her palm into the ground.

Not magic.

Force.

The earth buckled. Spikes of stone erupted in every direction, impaling monsters, flinging bodies skyward, tearing the battlefield apart. The behemoth was launched upward, its massive frame blotting out the sky.

Annabelle leapt.

They collided mid-air.

Fist met claw.

Knee met gut.

Their struggle bent the wind. Clouds spiraled above them. Lightning flashed, not summoned, but born from the violence of their clash.

They fell.

The impact carved a crater into the land.

Dust rose like a storm.

When it cleared, both stood at the center.

Unbroken.

Unmoved.

Around them, nothing lived.

Annabelle exhaled slowly, blood streaking her face though her body was whole. The behemoth straightened, its dark sparks flaring brighter, its grin wide and eager.

This was not a fight of injury.

This was a contest of dominance.

And the world was losing.

“Bella,” Annabelle paused upon hearing Ariana’s voice.

She turned.

For the first time since the battle began, hesitation flickered in the silver-haired woman’s eyes. It was faint. Almost invisible. But Annabelle saw it.

And then she understood why.

The battlefield had changed.

Not only monsters lay broken across the land. Soldiers were buried beneath rubble. Golems lay in fragments, their cores cracked and silent. The space around her had been erased by force alone.

And then—

“Oh no… Aria…”

Annabelle’s breath caught.

Ariana’s left arm was gone.

Not severed. Not cut.

Charred to the bone.

Lightning crawled through the ruined limb, flickering without control, the flesh lifeless and blackened. Ariana stood upright, but her balance wavered. Her jaw was clenched, eyes fixed forward, refusing to fall.

Annabelle’s mind emptied.

She had done this.

The thought struck harder than any blow she had taken. Her power had spread too far. Her strikes had not chosen. The one she was meant to shield had paid the price.

Her chest tightened.

Her hands trembled.

Then the monster moved.

The orc lunged, its massive frame tearing through the ground as it charged straight for her.

Annabelle did not look at it.

The space before the creature vanished.

*DHAK*

*CRACK*

The orc’s body folded inward as if struck by an invisible wall. Something tore through its torso, piercing flesh and bone in a single motion.

Silence followed.

Then the monster was launched.

It tore through the forest like a siege weapon, snapping trunks, shredding stone, carving a path of ruin as it flew. The ground screamed beneath it.

The orc roared and dug its claws into the earth, trying to stop itself.

It failed.

Annabelle appeared above it.

Her heel came down.

**DOOOOOOM**

The impact drove the orc into the ground. Stone burst upward in jagged pillars, the land breaking under the force. The crater swallowed the monster whole.

The sky answered.

Thunder rolled low and deep, the clouds twisting as if pulled by her will. The air thickened. The world went still.

Annabelle ascended slowly.

Her eyes burned blue.

Lightning coiled around her body, moving with intent, wrapping her like a living thing. The sky above her answered her call.

The orc raised its head.

Its body convulsed as energy surged through it, dark sparks clashing violently with the power invading its form. Pain shook it from within. Pressure crushed it from without.

It could not rise.

It could not flee.

Because standing before it—

Was the strongest Warden alive.

Every student saw it.

Every instructor felt it.

Every monster understood it.

This was not rage.

This was judgment.

Annabelle lifted her hand.

“Try absorbing this.”

The sky split.

An ocean of thunder poured down in a single line, so fast and dense that space itself seemed to lag behind it. The world blurred, as if vision had failed to keep pace with the strike.

The beam did not spread.

It did not wander.

It erased.

And the battlefield went white.

It took some time, but the battlefield slowly regained its calm and silence.

And when it did, the same monster which had been an unstoppable force until now was erased from existence.

Annabelle exhaled a long sigh as she lowered herself to the ground.

“Ariana…” She called out, her voice shaky.

The silver head, despite sweating and appearing pale, smiled and shook her head, “It’s nothing. Adrian will heal me.” She cupped Annabelle’s cheek, trying to comfort her.

However, Annabelle shook her head, “It’s my fault. I got so irritated by that thing that I completely forgot I had something to protect.”

This was the same woman who had appeared like an enraged goddess in the eyes of others but now appeared like a child who was sobbing in guilt for hurting Ariana.

Ariana helplessly smiled but just then, she paused.

Her eyes widened as suddenly, the same being who caused this whole chaos appeared behind Annabelle and before she could react,

*DHAK*

“Gha!” Annabelle’s eyes rolled back as a chop to her neck ceased her consciousness.

Ariana couldn’t even take a step before Nytharos grabbed her neck and muttered,

“You are his favorite, aren’t you. Hmm, you are coming along too.”

Ariana flailed, tried to get away but regardless of her struggle, she couldn’t get away from his grip. As if, struggling against the strength was pointless.

Her eyes rolled back in her head and soon, she stopped moving.

For a moment, Nytharos thought of just killing the woman, but then he decided to keep things more tense for the sake of a better hunt.

Carrying both women on his shoulder, he turned.

Abraham stood there, his head bowed as he heard God speaking, “Use the forces to do whatever you want.”

However, before Nytharos could have disappeared through the portal he just opened, someone cried,

“STOP RIGHT THERE!”

Nytharos’s eyes widened as he had to jump away.

**SLASH**

The attack from the ambusher not only erased his teleportation portal—it severed Abraham from the middle.

°°°°°°°°

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