Chapter 478: Murder! Murder! Murder! Feng looked up to the sky as he stood outside in the garden, his eyes scanning the clouds absently. As of currently, Medusa was in considerable pain inside the manor, her contractions coming more frequently now. According to the letter that his master Azel had sent about a week ago, he was traveling to the distant Land of Elves for some kind of important trial. ’She’s almost going to have the baby...’ Feng thought with growing concern, wondering if Azel would make it back home on time to witness the birth of his child. There were already some experienced midwives in Medusa’s room taking care of her, professionals who knew what they were doing. But still, a child should have their father present for such a momentous occasion. ’I hope Master comes home on time...’ Feng thought, knowing how much this meant to both of them. He looked around the property, taking stock of who was present. He was currently in the spacious backyard, and Lillia as well as Alvinus were practicing magic together on the open lawn. Though it was more accurately Alvinus trying to help her refine her spatial teleportation magic. The elf had already been helping Feng with his lightning magic training too over the past week, and now Feng could imbue the element freely with his spear attacks, coating the weapon in crackling energy. Just then, without any warning, the entire sky turned crimson. It was like the heavens themselves were bathed in blood, drowning out the warm sun and everything beneath it in an ominous red glow. Not only that, but there was a venomous, malicious intent suddenly thick in the air itself, an oppressive presence that made every hair on Feng’s body stand on end. His cultivator instincts screamed danger. Alvinus immediately stopped his instruction, looking upward with wide eyes. He moved quickly, taking off his enchanted cloak and draping it protectively over Lillia. ’I can’t have Boss’s daughter or wives being hurt by this overwhelming killing intent.’ Alvinus thought with determination. He rapidly cast three separate protective enchantments around the entire house, creating overlapping barriers that drowned out the suffocating killing intent from touching the people inside. Then he also placed two additional enchantments directly on the cloak itself, making sure that as long as Lillia wore it, she would be completely covered by magical protection. Feng, on the other hand, stared directly at the blood-red sky with narrowed eyes. Throughout Lepreun town, civilians who lacked magical power were literally falling unconscious from the sheer oppressive thickness of the killing intent pressing down on them. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎 Their bodies simply couldn’t handle the spiritual pressure and then something tore through the dimensional fabric in the air with a sound like ripping cloth. They were birds descending from the crimson sky. Massive birds almost the size of carriages, except they were completely monstrous and unnatural. They had skeletal exoskeletons covering their bodies like armor, exposed bone forming protective plates. Their wings were tattered membrane stretched over sharp bone spurs. They flapped their enormous wings as they descended, and one landed directly on a residential building. The structure immediately collapsed completely, flattening in one devastating impact. The sound of the building’s destruction was followed by screams as dozens of people were killed instantly, crushed beneath rubble. "Eh...?" Lillia stuttered as she heard the distant screams of terror, her young mind struggling to process what was happening. More of the skeletal birds were dropping out of the crimson sky continuously, their numbers growing. She counted approximately twenty of them now visible over the town. "...What is happening?" She asked with fear in her voice. Alvinus raised his hand upward and focused his mana on one of the monsters that was flying directly in their direction, its hollow eye sockets fixed on them. Crimson energy crackled around his fingers as he concentrated his fire magic. The air filled with the sound of compressed magic, and then he released it. Multiple fire bolts shot through the air and struck the bird monster. They all exploded like fireworks on contact, the combined detonations making the creature’s skeletal body shatter completely. It died immediately, raining bone fragments. "What’s going on...?" Veyra came outside from the manor and looked at the descending birds with shock and confusion. "What the fuck is happening?" Anya emerged right behind her, and she immediately turned back inside to address the others. She looked at both Edna and Lorraine who were standing in the entrance hall. "Please stay inside the manor... it’s extremely dangerous outside right now." She said firmly, then closed and locked the heavy door behind her. It wasn’t that Edna was weak by any means. The woman had her own considerable power. Anya simply didn’t want to risk anything happening to her if she could avoid it and she needed to take care of her daughter as well as Medusa. As for Lorraine, she was not meant to fight any battles currently because she had severe problems using her mana in actual combat situations, and that psychological block came directly from her trauma. Once Anya joined up with Veyra and the others outside, she looked around at the widespread destruction already unfolding. Buildings were burning, people were screaming, and monsters were descending. "We have to protect the town..." Anya said with conviction. Such a lively town filled with innocent people who mostly didn’t use mana, and it was being destroyed right before their eyes by these monsters. "I agree completely." Veyra said as she summoned her signature bone sword into her hand, the weapon materializing from her magic. "Let’s take them all out... together as a team." She looked at the young girl. "Lillia, will you fight as well?" Lillia looked at her third mama with determination replacing her earlier fear, and she nodded firmly. "Yes mama." "Good, that’s exactly what I expected from you. You’ll stay close under your mentor Alvinus and let him guide you through the battle." Veyra instructed, wanting to ensure the child’s safety. She was about to sprint off toward the nearest group of monsters, but everyone paused and looked at Feng who suddenly stepped forward with his spear gripped tightly in hand. His expression was strange and conflicted. "Whatever you see out there from me as we fight..." Feng said slowly, his voice carrying an unusual weight. Lightning began surrounding his body, crackling and dancing across his skin. "Please don’t think less of me afterward." And then he shot off in a blur of movement, the lightning propelling him forward at incredible speed. Everyone looked at each other with complete confusion at that cryptic warning, but they didn’t have time to dwell on it. They moved regardless, splitting up to engage different monsters. ... A little girl, no more than five years old, was being held desperately by her mother as they ran through the streets. Flying behind them in pursuit, getting closer with every second, was one of the skeletal bird monsters. Its hollow eye sockets seemed to track them specifically, and its massive talons were extended. "Help! Someone help us! Help!" The mother cried out frantically, her voice hoarse with terror. A few soldiers stationed on the town walls immediately aimed their rifles and released a barrage of bullets at the monster. However, the projectiles simply bounced harmlessly off its bone exoskeleton with metallic pinging sounds. The skeletal armor was too thick and reinforced for mere bullets to break through. It seemed the monster was actually enjoying chasing them, playing with its prey like a cat with a mouse. Just then, there was a blur of movement. A figure ran along the side of a building adjacent to the monster’s flight path, defying gravity through sheer speed and mana control. Then he jumped off the wall, launching himself through the air and landing a clean spear strike directly on the creature’s head. With the amplified power of lightning channeling through the weapon, the spear broke through the skeletal armor and pierced deep, hitting the brain. The monster immediately fell from the sky with a tremendous boom, crashing into the street and sliding several meters before going still. Blood began spouting out from the wound, staining Feng’s face with crimson. However, something happened next. The mana that the monster had been carrying began flowing directly into Feng’s body through the spear contact and he felt that sensation intoxicate him completely, like the most addictive drug flooding his system. ’I want to... murder more...’ He thought, his eyes going slightly unfocused. He began stabbing the monster’s brain repeatedly, driving his spear in over and over even though the creature was already clearly dead. The people that he had just saved were running far away now, glancing back fearfully at the man who had the widest, most unsettling grin on his face as he continued slaughtering a corpse. Another one of those skeletal monsters flew toward him from the side, approaching fast. However, Feng seemed completely engrossed in whatever dark satisfaction he was experiencing, so absorbed that he didn’t notice the incoming threat at all. Alvinus, who was fighting alongside Lillia and had just killed off three monsters in their area, spotted the danger immediately. "Feng!! Watch your side!" Alvinus shouted out desperately, trying to warn him. Feng finally turned his head to his side at the last possible second, seeing that the monster had already closed the distance completely and was extending its razor-sharp talons to rake across his body. However, for some inexplicable reason, his body moved with supernatural precision. He twisted his torso to the right while bending backward at an impossible angle, dodging the sweep of claws by mere inches. The talons passed harmlessly through the space his chest had occupied a moment before. At the same time, he reached out with his free hand and grabbed the back of the monster’s leg mid-flight. The creature immediately stopped in the air as if it had hit an invisible wall, completely halted. Mana was subconsciously flowing into Feng’s muscles now, reinforcing them and making him exponentially stronger than his normal baseline. "Ahh..." Feng let out a satisfied, almost euphoric smile. Then he dragged the massive bird along through the air by its leg, swinging it in a wide arc before slamming it violently into the ground. The impact created a crater that spread outward for dozens of meters, the shockwave shattering nearby structures. Not only that, but it had also completely shattered the glass windows of every building within a hundred-meter radius. ’What the fuck...? When did Feng become that monstrously strong?’ Alvinus thought with shock. Lillia shared that same thought, though hers wasn’t filled with profanity since she was still only eight years old but the confusion was the same. Feng leapt upward without even retrieving his spear from the first corpse. The monster in the crater began struggling to rear itself up, shaking off the impact. However, Feng had already closed the distance through his jump, and he extended his legs out in a devastating kick aimed at the creature’s head. "Just die already!" He roared. His feet collided with the skeletal skull, and a visible shockwave extended outward from the point of impact. The monster’s entire head exploded violently, spreading brain matter and blood fragments everywhere in a grotesque spray. The headless body fell completely limp, and then the creature’s mana flowed into Feng once more. He grinned even wider, the expression bordering on manic. Five more skeletal birds circled above him now, having identified him as a significant threat. They descended together in a coordinated attack pattern. Feng willed his spear back to his hand through their magical connection, and the weapon flew through the air to his grip. "You all want to die as well...?" He asked the monsters. "If that is your wish, then I, the Weakest Cultivator of the Primordial Sky-Devouring Sect, will fulfill it for you!" ... A total of five minutes had passed since the skeletal monsters had first arrived and begun their assault on Lepreun town. Most had been killed now through the combined efforts of the defenders but if one were to ask who had killed the most monsters by far, that answer would easily be Feng. He was currently sitting casually on the headless corpse of one of the skeletal birds, holding his blood-soaked spear across his lap. The creatures had really jumped him in a coordinated 5 versus 1 assault, and he had beaten them all up completely, massacring them without taking a single serious injury. ’I think I actually like this version of Uncle Feng even better.’ Lillia thought as she observed him from a distance. Though he was giving off a weird, unfamiliar type of mana that irked her a bit. It felt wrong somehow and tainted in a way she couldn’t quite identify. Not evil exactly, but definitely not the clean mana she was used to sensing. And then the crimson sky began parting once more, tearing open like a wound. A being descended, a creature that had not been seen in this region for so very long. It fell from the dimensional rift and landed with a thunderous impact that shook the entire town. Then it reared back its massive head and roared. The sound was primal, overwhelming, instilling instant fear in every living thing within the whole region. The city close to Lepreun town heard the roar clearly. Everyone within a hundred-kilometer radius heard it and felt it in their bones. It was the unmistakable roar of a dragon. A real dragon, not some lesser drake or wyvern, but an actual true dragon of legend.