Elson was now unrecognizable. He looked at Lily in surprise, "Little girl, are you also a high-level werewolf?!"

Lily was nearly choking to death on the spicy stick. Rolling her eyes, she nodded vigorously. At the same time, the transformation power she had accumulated finally reached its peak—though if we didn't consider the art style, we could really call this spicy stick power.

A gust of wind howled, making it impossible for Hao Ren and the others to open their eyes. They could only hear a series of rough, distant howls nearby: "Awoo—"

In the wolf howls, the whole world seemed to quiet down, and scenes of illusion rose from everyone's hearts: a silver moon hanging in the sky, a vast and desolate earth, a lone wolf howling at the moon...

All the illusions stopped at a "Woof" that didn't quite fit the atmosphere at the end.

The wind dissipated, and five or six huge, unmatched war wolves appeared before everyone. Their eyes were blood-red, and they were awe-inspiring; they were as large as mountains, full of fighting spirit; their fur was stained with blood, making people shudder; and a husky was mixed in among them.

Lily, who had grown to five meters tall, looked around at her elders and found that her size was about the same as theirs, so she nodded in satisfaction: "Woof, woof."

The alpha wolf stood at the front of the pack, looking around at its companions and Lily, and then spoke thoughtfully in human language, Elson's voice: "I always feel like something's not right."

The other war wolves looked at each other, and then looked at the patterns on Lily's body. Another wolf also spoke in human language: "Maybe the ink ran out while she was being born, or maybe it's a hidden family from the Snow Plains. I don't feel like anything's wrong."

Lily tilted her head, not understanding why everyone else could speak after transforming: "Woof? Woof?"

Elson continued to mutter to the others: "...I still feel like something's not right..."

"Forget it, nothing's wrong..."

Aufra kicked Elson's paw: "Will you stop! How many times have I told you to pay attention to maintaining your intelligence after transforming! This is wartime!"

Although Elson looked like an old man, he was probably not as old as Aufra in actual age. The latter scolded her old partner like a grandson. Elson and the group of war wolves saw the marshal's power and immediately perked up, temporarily putting aside the "white wolf" in their ranks that looked a little out of place. A one-eyed giant wolf looked in the direction of the Twisted Forest: "We'll find a way to attract the attention of these monsters, and you guys stop the ones that slip through the net!"

After saying that, the five giant wolves, led by Elson, charged into the forest. These behemoths, several meters tall, were surrounded by wind pressure strong enough to crush metal and stone. The places they passed were ravaged like a hurricane. Elson, as the leader, had extra power. The path he ran left behind scorching waves of fire. The flames burned fiercely on the bare rocks and were clearly not ordinary flames.

Behind these five awe-inspiring beasts, the white, extra-large husky happily spread its legs and ran all the way. Although Lily didn't think there was anything wrong, the difference between a husky and a wolf was still obvious. Hao Ren heard a faint argument continuing in the distance: "I still feel like something's not right..." "You're paranoid. I don't feel like anything's wrong!" "Woof?"

The occasion was supposed to be serious and tense, but Hao Ren was dumbfounded by this scene. After a long while, he poked Vivian's arm: "Should we call her back?"

Vivian sided with Lily for once: "Forget it, let her be happy. It's not easy to meet so many compatriots... and ones that can transform with her."

The 5+1 giant wolves charged toward the forest with a rolling momentum, attracting the attention of a large number of dire beasts. Those dark, twisted monsters didn't have much intelligence, and they were the descendants left over after the "Third Child" was wiped out ten thousand years ago. This time, they were driven by the Twisted Forest to actively attack humans, so naturally, they didn't have any military tactics. As long as these monsters sensed the aura of other "Second Children" in other directions, they would immediately have their attention diverted, and the pressure on Hao Ren and the others was greatly reduced.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Izhaks also gathered enough power. He strode into the wilderness and grinned at the approaching dire beast swarm.

With a soaring blaze, the ground beneath Izhaks' feet instantly melted in the high temperature. A wall of demonic fire mixed with green hellfire surged forward in an overwhelming array. Where the fire wall passed, rocks turned into magma, plants instantly sublimated, and the corrosive blood of the dire beasts was turned into steam before it could even take effect.

Aufra watched this scene in a daze: "...Are you sure you're just mercenaries?"

"We're experts!" Hao Ren said, waving his alloy spear and charging towards the last group of dire beasts.

The interception and escort on this side went smoothly, but in other areas, the situation was probably not so good.

The trembling of the earth had not stopped since just now, and new tentacles continued to rush out of the cracks in the ground. The shallow consciousness of the "First Child" had awakened. It realized that mortals were trying to escape its control, so it increasingly strengthened the activity of the surface tentacles, and the variant tentacles with mental attack abilities or other magical powers among these tentacles were also gradually increasing. Every team fleeing the Beinz area was subjected to sudden interception from underground. It was up to fate how many ordinary soldiers and militiamen who had only undergone basic training could survive such attacks. Now, the Royal Knights and the Church Knights could only do their best: they were trained to deal with humans and simple monsters. Faced with this unheard-of ancient creature, even the most brilliant military strategists could only be as at a loss as ordinary soldiers.

As a result, every direction of the evacuation team encountered huge resistance, and casualties were unavoidable, and they would never be small.

This great evacuation lasted for a day and a night, and the divine arrays in Leyton Town and other strongholds also persisted for a day and a night. However, human power has its limits after all. When the first ray of sunlight appeared on the top of the mountain in the early morning of the second day, the divine arrays at all points of the Leyton defense line stopped operating one after another due to energy exhaustion. The tentacles from the ground finally completely gained the upper hand, and villages and outposts were razed to the ground in the blink of an eye.

Now only the largest divine array in Leyton Town was still barely supporting, providing the last bit of safe shelter for the knight officers and soldiers stranded in the rear, so that these seriously overworked soldiers could have a place to breathe. Under the cover of the thin purple light curtain, no tentacles would run out of the ground in the town for the time being, but almost every road outside the town was occupied by tentacles and dire beasts.

Aufra and Hao Ren had retreated back to the town. Everyone hadn't rested for a day and a night. High-intensity combat made even legendary heroes a little overwhelmed. Aufra's heroic close-fitting light armor was stained with a lot of blood, and many holes had been corroded in her cloak by the poisonous blood of the dire beasts. She stood on a watchtower at the entrance of the town, looked at the completely changed earth outside, and breathed a sigh of relief: "Fortunately, most people have evacuated..."

All the civilians and more than 80% of the army had evacuated from here. Now, those who remained in the town were the elites responsible for the final rearguard, and the high-level monks responsible for maintaining the divine array.

Hao Ren and his group didn't leave either. They wanted to see what the "First Child" looked like and whether it could be eliminated.

The 5+1 giant wolves guarded the entrance of the town majestically. They had not lifted their fully beastly state since yesterday. These super-strong "warriors" were the source of morale for the elite soldiers of the final rearguard. As long as their conspicuous figures were guarding the entrance of the town, the morale of the Knights would not collapse.

These giant wolves had become a symbol of the final defense line, whether you admitted it or not, including a husky.

Lily stood tall and squatted on the side of the city wall, looking like a hero, and constantly asked Hao Ren to take pictures of her for remembrance...

"Aufra, we must break through," Elson looked up. In his current posture, he squatted on the ground, his eyes level with Aufra standing on the watchtower. "All the roads are about to be blocked, and there's only one road left that can barely be taken. If we don't leave now, it'll be too late."

"The reinforcements from the Royal Knights are gathering at the foot of the Dragon Ridge Mountains, but they can't break in. We can only break out."

Aufra breathed a sigh of relief, watching the last batch of soldiers gather in the pitted town square. They needed rest. The short breathing time in the early morning was not enough at all, but now there was really no time for them to rest.

"Prepare to evacuate," Aufra finally ordered. "Elson, go and notify Archbishop Gelton to prepare for the transfer... no, forget it, you can't get in now. I'll send someone else."

At this moment, an unprecedented and horrifying roar suddenly came from the direction of the Twisted Forest!

Hao Ren looked in the direction of the sound in horror, and the scene he saw would be unforgettable for the rest of his life.

Vivian quickly flew into the sky, and her exclamation followed:

"The Twisted Forest... is rising!!"

(There are so many troubles during the New Year, but I will try my best to keep updating, but the time is not very stable.)