Chương 79: Chapter 78: Furen Boswe

Furen stared blankly at the monster remains that lay upon the town. Thirty-three monsters in total. She turned her direction toward where the boss monster lay, its body cut into finely colored pieces that no man would understand had once been a boss monster. She felt rather stunned, lost in her thoughts. One of the guards swiftly grabbed her hand, pulling her inside and guiding her through the second layer of the fortress.

Inside, she met face-to-face with some of the injured soldiers and the medics who were swiftly helping them. Seeing that she had finally come in, one of them came to check on her.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Furen Boswe was still in a daze. That sensation... it felt weird. She felt a sense of yearning when she saw the statue, the guardian, as though it was a piece of her life that she couldn't recall. The final piece from a life she couldn't remember had just come within reach. She clenched her fists. She didn't understand what was going on, but she had a sneaking suspicion that this had to do with Nina.

Just as she was about to go search for her, she saw her coming through a corridor, making her way toward the center of the chief's home. Meeting her eyes briefly, Furen Boswe frowned. The feeling had changed yet again. She was sure of it. A bit earlier, Furen Boswe had been enjoying the festivities along with the others, making a few playful jabs at Rosa.

After hearing that, due to Rosa's efforts, the calamity had come to an end swiftly thanks to her, Furen Boswe thought it was time to put their differences aside, meet eye-to-eye, and seek out a truce. Though Rosa seemed completely skeptical about her stance, she still accepted the truce, excusing it as something that was bound to happen due to the fact that they would be traveling together for the foreseeable future. Bad blood would not be recommended if they wished to save people.

While they were checking out different stalls by themselves, they were all called for a meeting with Ronin, the hero party's leader. After receiving the briefing about what was going to happen to this town, rage filled Furen Boswe's bones. She couldn't understand the feeling. Something told her it shouldn't have been like this. She felt a heavy sense of conviction. She wished to go, to potentially face that person head-on. It didn't matter if her life was in danger.

But just as she was thinking about that, Ronin looked at her as though he could read her mind before saying the words that would shatter her resolve. She was staying in town. Despite every possible angle Furen tried to attack from, Ronin spoke lightly, dispersing each argument. He even stated that despite there being three rifts, he already had several armies set to go.

Although only a few had been sent off, he could send one to the third location they had yet to reach, as they were stationed in and around the area. They would be able to arrive much faster. Rosa, along with the 60 knights, would go to another area. The hero's party would set off toward the other rift. Furen would be needed here, as she was more of a hands-on combat fighter. The fact that she had yet to master her abilities and access what lay beyond them was quite disheartening.

"So, you need to stay in order to gain actual experience," Ronin continued.

"I have a feeling you'll be fine. The experience won't be life-threatening." Furen didn't understand it at the time. But after the hero's party left, after the preparations were completed, and after the battle truly began, Furen felt it. She was still too weak. Despite being able to cut through forty monsters every hour, it was still not enough. She was put in charge as the secondary captain on the ground, assigned toward the third wall of the town's barrier.

From the strategy that Nina had put forth, there would be two commanders and two assistant commanders. During every rotation, there would be one commander and one assistant commander every single time. The rotation would happen so that if there was an assistant commander on the wall, there would be a commander on the ground, and vice versa when it was time to switch. This was to ensure the commanders did not fall from exhaustion and so forth.

The different strategies assigned to each position were more strategic in their own ways. Assistant commanders were those who went into battle, attacking as much as they could and exercising their will directly, while the other commanders did so through verbal orders. Assistant commanders, no matter the situation, listened to the authority of the commander in charge of the wall. There were four sides of the wall in total. Furen Boswe was assigned to a section on the fourth. The strategy was going well.

But Furen Boswe looked up at the sky. Airborne monsters were difficult to handle. She clutched her twin blades. She understood what he meant. But this... was different. She could feel her hands trembling. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. These monsters were not distracted. They had strategies beyond what normal monsters should possess. They knew how to separate their forces. In the next rotation, she wanted to try something. The turn came to fight again.

Furen guided those who felt unable to continue through morale, ensuring that the monsters who were somehow willing to sacrifice themselves just to injure those on the other side were dealt with swiftly. After doing that and helping those who were injured, as well as those too tired to move, return to rest and back to the infirmary, Furen stood inside the walls, looking at all the commanders standing above them. The rotation had switched.

Some areas would always have at least two fully-fledged commanders on top of the walls during each rotation. The others would be assistant commanders, except for one side, which also had the chief present at any given moment due to the fact that the chief was free to move and advise anywhere. If there was a lapse in judgment, things could be overruled. Looking for the figure who had yet to rest even through the different rotations, Furen stared at her strong, resolute back.

Furen felt that she herself was in fact, just too scared. The last time she was in the state that led her into that powerful feeling was the same as having something try to eat away at her, to overwrite what she saw as the truth of the world. Just as she was drowning in self-pity, she heard Nina's commanding voice.

"Ready, set, fire!" Rows of magically infused arrows went forth, taking out several of the flying monsters that were attacking the top of the area. But it wasn't enough. She had watched Nina perform this arrangement multiple times before, but it seemed the monsters had also put two and two together. Every time she moved to one area, they would automatically switch over. Seeing that, Furen could not help but grit her teeth.

"I need to help them." Since she would be dealing with the flying monsters, she turned over before heading to the medic area, where there were a few soldiers waiting in case one of the assistant commanders or main commanders needed breaks and had to switch out. She grabbed all the necessary things, informed her members, introduced them to the person taking over, before clearly stating that she was going to handle the flying monsters in order to ensure the safety of the town.

Despite expecting pushback due to the fact that it was improper at this moment to permanently change positions when they were soon about to head up, Furen was met with encouragement. It turned out her group had long figured out that she was heavily concerned about those monsters. They intuitively understood that at some point she would probably have to leave the role. Seeing that they truly understood, Furen felt a little warmth inside. She couldn't let them down.

After she watched her members leave, and as the rotation was happening, Furen looked at the sky. The airborne monsters were crowding everywhere. She closed her eyes, bringing herself into almost a meditative state. As she did, she felt a warm current go through her. When she reached out to touch the source of the sensation, she felt weightless, almost as if she was flying. But more than that, she felt the current seeping through her bones. What could this be? She opened her eyes.

Sure enough, she was several feet up in the air, staring at her blades, which were now crackling with streaks of lightning. Feeling rather shocked, Furen was about to lose focus when—"Squawk!" The loud screeching of the monsters reached her ears. The groaning was one thing. She had gotten used to it. But these flying-type monsters seemed to have a sonic echo ability. For the sake of everyone and her ears, she needed to destroy them all. There was no time to think.

Throughout the continuation of the battle, she destroyed all the airborne monsters without rest. After destroying every single one of them, she felt utterly drained, slowly lowering herself down. She went to the medical area to rest. She didn't know how much time had passed, but when she awoke, someone was shaking her, telling her that Nina had set out an order for everyone to evacuate.

Waking up, Furen didn't feel the sense of grogginess she normally would when being woken up suddenly without getting a full night's rest. She felt rather light on her feet. She wanted to test things out, only to realize that this might not be the time for that. Helping the makeshift medical area quickly clean up, she then helped evacuate some of the people who were too injured to move. And as she was doing that, she realized her speed. She was faster than before.

The people she could previously help with some strain now felt light as a feather to her. With that knowledge, those who were not too seriously injured and could handle a bit of movement were able to be carried two at a time, as she sent them toward the chief's area at record speed. After ensuring that the rest were taken care of by others, she went forth to the different areas, checking each barrier point to ensure everyone was accounted for. Luckily, everyone was.

Those who had yet to come in were only a few people helping out at the gates. After ensuring each area and gate was secured, all that was left was the final gate. The gate where Nina had been. Looking around, it seemed that Captain Nina, had already left somewhere. After helping the people bring up the gate and putting another layer of blocks over it, she watched as people cast barrier magic to stop anything from getting through, as well as containment magic. She watched them go.

She grabbed a few people, got them to run, and brought them inside before returning for more people who were too slow. But during this process, after she had helped a few groups, she noticed the barrier had dissipated. She smiled lightly. Good thing she had dealt with all the airborne monsters, or else it would have been a disaster. They would have come in and started picking off the people who were still making their way to the chief's house.

Ensuring that their second layer of defense was secure, she told everyone to go inside just in case there were still some airborne monsters that had been scared off during her attacks from earlier, flew over, or had simply been lying in wait. After ensuring everyone else was inside, the people told her to come in because they needed to close the door. But Furen simply smiled.

Looking at the barrier that was now gone and the monsters raining down from above, she knew she was not going to let any of them even think about stepping through here. Her blades started to crackle, lightning flickering among them. She witnessed the impossible. Countless swords circled around the town. Furen felt an excessive feeling of dread. Could this be the boss monster's attack? No. It couldn't be. Remembering all the people, their laughter, everything...

"I won't let it." She stabbed her two swords into the ground. Lightning crackled through them, creating a barrier made out of lightning.

"As I stand, nothing will hurt this place." It covered the entire chief's house.

"So long as I stay strong, so long as my willpower allows me, I will not fall." She silently prepared for the monsters to attack, but she felt no backlash. Nor any resistance upon her barrier. For the first time, Furen felt doubtful. When she opened her eyes, her mouth dropped. The defensive barrier disappeared as her willpower and focus were no longer upon it. In turn, the people within the chief's house were able to see the outside world. There was a guardian.

A huge guardian, hundreds of thousands of meters tall, stood there. The light was blinding. Furen felt her eyes water. She was so amazed by the figure that she didn't realize all the other monsters, the thirty-three monsters, had been destroyed. And just as she thought this was her imagination, the figure moved slightly. As it did, she felt a slight wave pass through her. A breath of light. Not chilly at all. Warming, in fact. It made her lower her guard.

And just as the figure left, she noticed the wreckage that remained. The boss monster, where it once stood, was nothing but tiny, minuscule pieces, while the other monsters seemed to have been killed with one sword strike. Is this even possible? Just as she stared at the place, her head started to hurt. She clutched it, grabbing at her head as if trying to claw through her mind.

"But I... I don't understand." She felt different fractures. Images. Visuals. But they were all dark. She could not seem to understand what each one meant, but she felt that they were connected to her life's regret, something she wished she had found in her other life. The other life. Furen slowly lowered her hands, staring at them before turning her direction toward the swords. Every time something like this happened, it was always like this. She didn't understand.

She felt that using this power too much might be a bad idea, but not using it was also a bad idea. As she sat there, she remembered before the calamity, at that banquet, Rosa had spoken about freedom. She stared at the two swords in the ground. Freedom.

"I guess one cannot truly know if they're free until they have all the information to decide that." She slowly stood herself up, grabbing the two swords and pulling them out of the ground with a swift movement. She turned her direction toward the area.

"I don't know what this power is trying to tell me, but when I find out... and if I find out, will I truly be able to get that freedom I wish for?"