Hearing Maya's words—especially after feeling the tremors still pulsing through the ground—both Alex and Freya grew suspicious about what was happening. Without wasting a moment, they immediately left the mansion.
However, as they stood atop the city's high walls, gazing out toward the horizon, a troubling feeling crept over them.
'But how?' Alex couldn't help but wonder.
Right before their eyes, stretching as far as they could see, wave after wave of beasts were rushing toward the city from every direction. There were hundreds of them—no, thousands. A chaotic stampede of fur, scales, claws, and fangs.
Another beast tide was coming.
And this time, it was worse. The number of beasts was at least double—perhaps even more—than the horde that had attacked just the day before.
'It doesn't make any sense. Where are these beasts coming from?n Alex thought, his expression darkening. 'Why do they keep coming toward the city?'
It was worth recalling that beast tides were extremely rare occurrences. Normally, they only happened when there was either a powerful source of mana nearby attracting them or when the beasts' natural habitat had been disturbed or destroyed, forcing them to migrate. But here, neither of those conditions applied.
What made things even more suspicious was that, as Alex scanned the approaching horde, he noticed that some of the beasts had bodies ill-suited for this environment—creatures built for desert heat or tropical jungles, not snowy peaks and thin mountain air.
Drisidd was situated near the summit of a towering mountain, part of a long procession of rugged peaks that stretched endlessly in either direction. A vast forest blanketed the slopes, and the region was known for its perpetually cold climate. So seeing beasts that clearly thrived in hot, humid environments only deepened his suspicion.
'Worst of all, the average level of the beasts in this tide is on a completely different scale from yesterday's,' Alex noted, his expression growing even grimmer.
The monsters that had attacked the city the day before had mostly been level 1 or 2, with a few scattered level 3s, and the rare level 4—though even those had been on the weaker end of the spectrum.
It was precisely because they were so weak that the explosion Alex had triggered had been enough to annihilate them all in one devastating blast.
The beasts attacking the city now, however, had an average level of 2 or 3, with many level 4s—and more worryingly, several level 5s among them. As for those high-level ones, Alex wasn't even sure if his explosions would be enough to take them down.
The kind of threat that was heading toward the city could easily raze most cities to the ground before reinforcements even had the chance to arrive.
But Drisidd wasn't just any city.
It was one of the cities under the direct supervision of an Earl-ranked noble house. The amount of resources and defensive measures allocated to it shouldn't be underestimated.
Furthermore, the Drazen family's annual auction was currently taking place here, which meant that the city's security had been raised to an exceptional level. The sheer number of guards, adventurers, and mercenaries brought in to ensure the safety of the participants was astronomical. And even that wasn't all—there were still the nobles themselves.
It should be remembered that, unlike commoners, nobles often had better access to beast cores and other high-grade resources, and they weren't shy about using them to enhance their power. Many of them were significantly stronger than the average citizen. Granted, a good number of them didn't even know how to properly hold a knife and couldn't protect themselves if their lives depended on it—but those ones always came with dozens of personal guards. And if push came to shove, those guards could very well serve as an additional force to help defend the city.
'That's if these selfish twerps can stop thinking only about themselves,' Alex thought.
In any case, Alex was ready to defend the city if it came to that. But for now, he had agreed to Freya's request: to stay back and let the city's soldiers do their job.
Before their arrival, a first line of defense made up of city guards had already been deployed—if not to fully stop the advancing wave of beasts, then at least to buy time until a proper strategy could be put in place.
The instant they arrived, Freya took command of the situation and began issuing sharp, decisive orders to those present.
"Deploy the family knights immediately," she commanded. "Each knight will lead a unit of ten men. Spread them out to cover as much ground as possible. Your task is simple: engage the enemy on all fronts and prevent any beast from getting within ten meters of the city walls. Absolute containment is the priority."
"Have the current front-line fighters fall back and catch their breath," she added right after. "Once they've recovered, they are to reinforce the knights. No one fights until exhaustion—this is a battle of endurance as much as power."
She then turned toward the archers and the long-range ability users. "Keep up the barrage. Prioritize the retreating soldiers—cover their movement and create openings for regrouping."
'I hope this will be enough,' Freya thought, eyes fixed on the advancing horde. 'Otherwise, I'll have to send out the Grand Knights. And I sincerely hope it doesn't come to that.'
Alex, who stood beside her, watched in quiet amazement as Freya commanded the troops with practiced ease.
'And here I thought she was only brilliant when it came to making money,' he mused.
'So… what should I do now?' he wondered. Freya had specifically asked him earlier not to annihilate the beast tide with another massive explosion like he did yesterday, explaining that beast corpses were valuable—whether sold for a high price, used in crafting, or even repurposed into weapons or armors.
That made Alex realize that he'd basically thrown away a small fortune the day before. With how versatile his abilities were, there were countless ways he could contribute without obliterating everything. Even now, new ideas were forming in his mind.
"I can help if you want," he eventually offered, turning to Freya. But when he saw the thoughtful, almost conflicted look she gave him, he felt the need to elaborate. "I can help in ways other than just blowing them up."
Freya hesitated for a heartbeat, then nodded. "If it's not too much trouble, we'll gladly accept your help," she said, remembering that the number of beasts in the tide was even greater than she had initially estimated.
Alex nodded back. A moment later, a soft stream of white smoke began leaking from his armor, immediately drawing attention. But he paid them no mind.
After Freya signaled to everyone to stay calm and let him work, they gradually turned back to their tasks—though more than a few eyes remained fixed on him.
In barely a second, a thick white cloud hovered in front of Alex. Then, another cloud—this one yellow—peeled itself from his armor.
His control over the smoke element was so refined that he didn't need to manually create each individual type anymore. Instead, he could simply extract the specific attribute he wanted directly from his mantle of purple smoke. In the first place, that purple smoke was created after he mixed all the different kinds of smoke he was in possession of.
Once the two clouds—one white, one yellow—were formed, Alex didn't act immediately. He had initially intended to send them toward the front lines to ease the exhaustion of the fighting soldiers and heal their injuries.
However, he ultimately chose to wait. He knew that even the smallest distraction on the battlefield could prove fatal. If the soldiers felt something unusual—like a mysterious cloud engulfing them—while still engaged with the beasts, even a moment's hesitation or confusion could cost them their lives. His powers were meant to support them, not get them killed.
Fortunately, he didn't have to wait too long. Moments after the clouds began to hover in place, the knights of the Drazen family charged into the fray. With organized precision and terrifying efficiency, they began cutting down the beasts, quickly turning the tide and opening up space for the exhausted frontline fighters to fall back.
It was at that moment that Alex made his move. The white and yellow clouds surged forward, drifting gently toward the retreating soldiers.
Some of them noticed the smoke heading their way and instinctively tried to pull back, fearing it might be some enemy trick to finish them off while they were vulnerable. But before they could escape, the clouds enveloped them.
They froze, eyes wide in alarm, bracing for pain or worse—yet none came. Instead, within seconds, their limbs felt lighter, the burning ache in their muscles eased, and the pain of their wounds began to fade.
"Hey… do you feel that?" one soldier asked another, touching his side where a deep cut had been just moments before.
"Yeah! My wounds… they're gone!" the other replied, stunned, before grinning in excitement.
"If you're no longer in pain or exhausted, then get your asses back to the front!" their captain barked, snapping them back to reality. "The fight's not over yet!"
He had no idea what was happening or how the healing occurred—but it didn't matter. What mattered was that they could fight again, and that was all he needed.
All around the city's perimeter, similar scenes played out. Wounded, breathless soldiers who had just pulled back found themselves suddenly restored—muscles steady, pain gone, wounds closed. Without hesitation, they plunged back into the tide of beasts, fighting with renewed strength and energy, as if they had never stopped.
On the walls above, those who had witnessed the moment the mysterious smoke had first appeared now turned their gaze toward its origin—toward Alex—staring in stunned silence.
"They're all staring at you, old man," Maya whispered, nudging him with a smirk.
"Yeah, I can feel their gazes—and stop calling me old man, brat!" he whispered back, eyes twitching in irritation.
"I'll stop when you stop calling me brat," Maya shot back, lifting her chin and just about to stick her tongue out at him in defiance. But just as she did, her gaze met her mother's stern, disapproving eyes. She froze mid-gesture, her face paling. A beat later, she let out an awkward cough, as if she'd suddenly choked on thin air—playing it off like she hadn't been about to act like a child.
"Anyway," she said a bit louder, now sounding more composed, "that was kinda cool, what you did there, Master," she added respectfully, trying to smooth over her earlier slip.
Having witnessed the silent exchange between mother and daughter, Alex couldn't help but chuckle. "If you thought that was cool, wait till you see this," he said with a grin.