Soon, the sound of footsteps grew louder, and everyone's hearts tightened, as it was their first time facing such a large number of magical creatures.
"Roar!"
Accompanied by the magical creatures' roars, countless of them sprang from the forest, rushing towards the city wall.
"So many!"
All the swordsmen were startled by the sheer scale of the magical creatures.
"Attack!!!"
As the command was given, the soldiers standing on the city wall ignited the cannons.
Bang... Bang...
Boom... Boom...
A large number of cannonballs shot towards the monsters, exploding in their midst.
A large number of magical creatures were blown away, with only a small portion reaching the base of the city wall.
"Move!!!"
The swordsmen at the base of the city wall, seeing these monsters, immediately charged forward to fight them.
"Continue!!!"
The soldiers on the city wall continued to load cannonballs, firing them at the distant monster horde, clearing the area below the wall and leaving it to the army and swordsmen to deal with.
Looking at the scene before him, Takeshi felt incredibly shocked.
Is this war?
It was his first time experiencing it firsthand, and for someone who had grown up in an era of peace, it was overly stimulating.
Suddenly—
"Oooohhhh!!!"
A strange cry rang out, and a giant magical creature, seven or eight meters tall, emerged from the forest. It looked like a monkey, yet also like an ape, covered in red fur, with a single horn on its forehead.
"Oh no! It's the Nine-Star magical creature, Unicorn Blood Ape!"
Seeing this gigantic monster, many people exclaimed in surprise.
Nine-Star magical creatures could generally only be barely dealt with by Nine-Star Swordsmen. Eight-Star Swordsmen going up against them was practically suicide.
Hum!
Blood-colored energy gathered at the tip of the Unicorn Blood Ape's horn.
"Damn it! It's about to attack!!"
Whoosh!
A beam of blood-colored energy shot towards the swordsmen below the city wall.
Blaze Slash!
A fiery slash met the energy beam.
Boom!
The two streams of energy collided, erupting in a violent impact.
A young man walked out with a sword and said, "I'll deal with it."
"It's the Nine-Star Swordsman, 'Flame Sword' Allen!"
Takeshi was momentarily stunned when he saw him. Wasn't this the unlucky fellow he had instantly defeated during the preliminaries?
"Hiss..."
Accompanied by a spine-chilling sound, a colossal nine-headed serpent slithered out of the forest.
"Another one! It's the Nine-Star magical creature, Nine-Headed Serpent!"
"I'll deal with it!"
Crack!
A bolt of lightning streaked through the crowd, heading straight for the Nine-Headed Serpent and engaging it in battle.
"It's Nine-Star Swordsman, 'Thunder Sword' Clay!"
It was another unfortunate soul defeated by Takeshi. However, Takeshi had held back at that time, so neither Allen nor Clay had suffered more than minor scratches and both retained their peak combat strength.
"Roar!"
With a sky-shattering roar, a lion with huge wings on its back flew out of the forest, soaring towards the top of the city wall from the air.
"It's the Nine-Star magical creature, Chimera Lion!"
Flash: Cross Slash!
A cross-shaped light slash shot straight at the lion in the sky.
Bang!
The Chimera Lion was knocked out of the sky by the Cross Slash.
Everyone immediately recognized this signature attack.
"Arthur!"
Arthur plunged his sword into the ground, looking at the Chimera Lion and saying, "Don't even think about getting through here."
However, very quickly, the Chimera Lion shook its head and stood up, seemingly unharmed.
"Roar!"
The Chimera Lion roared at Arthur, the powerful sound waves tearing up the surrounding ground.
Some weaker magical creatures were even stunned unconscious by the shockwave. Many on the human side also painfully covered their ears.
Flash Sword!
It wasn't until Arthur charged forward and forced the Chimera Lion to stop roaring that things got better.
"Why are there so many Nine-Star magical creatures this time?!"
"Right. In previous ones, even if there was a Nine-Star magical creature, it was at most one. Now, three have appeared. Could it be that this attack wasn't caused by a Nine-Star magical creature?"
In the past, such attacks were mostly caused by Nine-Star magical creatures by forcing the weaker magical creatures to attack the city.
But this time seemed different. Three Nine-Star magical creatures had appeared together, implying even more terrifying monsters might be behind them.
"Awooo!"
A tall, giant wolf with silver fur charged out of the forest.
"Oh no! It's the Nine-Star magical creature, Silver Moon Wolf!"
Erza's expression was solemn as she said, "Takeshi, protect the King. I'll deal with this guy."
Requip: Blackwing Armor!
After Erza finished speaking, without waiting for Takeshi's reply, she quickly completed her requip and flew down from the city wall.
With three Nine-Star swordsmen dealing with three Nine-Star magical creatures, if this giant wolf were to break into the human ranks, it would definitely cause incalculable casualties, so she chose to act.
"That's great! It's Erza-san!"
Erza was now a renowned figure in Sword City. Everyone who had watched the competition recognized this highly skilled and beautiful swordswoman.
But just as Erza engaged with the Silver Moon Wolf—
One gigantic monster after another emerged from the forest, causing faces on the human side to immediately turn pale.
"Mammoth King! Dark Panther! Hellfire Tiger! Three-Headed Frost Bird! Earth Tyrant Bear!!"
"How could this be?! Why are all these overlords of the Forest of Magical Creatures gathered here?!"
"Nine Nine-Star magical creatures?! Do they want to destroy this country?!"
Almost everyone panicked at this sight.
Even Reno, who had always appeared calm, now had a drastically changed expression, with sweat pouring down his forehead.
He had expected the Dragon's counterattack to be fierce, but he had never imagined it would send out nine Nine-Star magical creatures.
Currently, in this city, counting himself, there were only five Nine-Star swordsmen. Of course, if Takeshi was also counted, that would be six.
That still left three people short. Three Nine-Star magical creatures were capable of destroying the entire city.
Unless that one stepped in.
Reno quickly asked, "Where is Yoriichi-san?!"
Now, only Yoriichi could save this country.
Everyone around shook their heads, no one had seen Yoriichi. It seemed that ever since the Tournament ended, he had disappeared.
At this moment, Takeshi, seeing so many powerful monsters appear, knew that he couldn't slack off anymore.
If this country was destroyed, who would he collect his money from?
His prize money hadn't been redeemed yet.
"Let me handle it."