God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Chapter 361: Forced to Fight.

"Abyssal Crimson Slash!"

A wave of destructive energy flashed out from the edge of the blade, splitting every {Blood Abomination} in its path into two.

"Go!"

The three of them exploded in a burst of speed as they began tearing all the creatures in their path apart.

"Go! Move now!" Jenny yelled at the beastmen who had already been informed about what to do.

They all began to sprint with all their might. The tanks still held their shields up and bashed to the side the {Blood Abominations} that had managed to slip through Cain, Ignis, and Hunter's attacks. They were then cut down by the Swordmen and Spearmen.

"Jenny, we are running low on ammo!" Jutè yelled out to Jenny as he shot a {Blood Abomination} in the chest.

Jenny gritted her teeth, "If all goes well, you won't be needing them for now. Run faster!"

They all ran faster at Jenny's urging...

"Follow them!" Malcolm let out a chilling order. They had been separated by a decent amount of {Blood Abominations} before. Now, they were directly behind, taking advantage of the space Cain, Ignis, and Hunter had cleared up.

"Those bastards!" Jutè said through gritted teeth.

"Ignore them," Susan said coldly. It was as though she didn't even notice them as she didn't spare them a glance.

Meanwhile, Malcolm barked out another order,

"Archers, take to the sky..."

The avian beastmen that were a part of Malcolm's camp began to flap their wings, creating a huge gust of wind as they took to the skies mid-run.

Malcolm threw a discreet nod at Floki and Galip before he also took to the skies. Now that the majority of {Scarlet Blood Abominations} had been cleared from the sky by Cain's {Golden Firmament}, these avians could take to the skies without too much worry.

"Take them out!"

Arrows began to fly, as the avians sniped all the {Scarlet Blood Abominations} that tried to stop them.

Susan threw a glance at the flying beastmen with dangerously narrowed eyes. However, a second later, she turned her attention back to the beastmen who were running like their lives depended on it...

Cain, Hunter, and Ignis worked together to tear through the {Blood Abominations}. All three brought all the melee skills, abilities, and spells in their repertoire, and used them to destroy the aether beasts in their path.

Hunter was still in his semi-transformed state and was tearing the {Blood Abominations} apart with frightening speed. Cain had noticed that he had put on a scary-looking steel gauntlet at some point during the fight. The steel gauntlet had sharp steel claws that were now stained red with blood.

Ignis was like a disastrous force of nature as rivers of fire flowed out from her, turning the {Blood Abominations} to fluttering ashes and blackened bones.

Cain tore through the {Blood Abominations} with the {Scale of the Abyssal Flame} and shot them dead with the {Hand of Midas}.

Suddenly, a faint feeling of danger washed over him. Eyes narrowed, he activated {Eye of Clairvoyance}. Immediately, his field of vision split into two different perspectives, normal and a sea of color.

The regular {Blood Abominations} were of a slight crimson color, while the ones in the sky were of a slightly more scarlet hue. However, a little in the distance, a ring of deep crimson surrounded them. And the worst part of it was that this ring was slowly encroaching on them.

'As strong as the Four-headed {Chaos Trolls}!'

The creatures that were slowly surrounding them, were as strong as the Four-Headed {Chaos Trolls} Cain had once faced. Even though he was confident in his ability to take on one or two of them, he wasn't sure he could fight off so many.

'Damn it!'

Cain felt true pressure for the first time.in this fight.

'Should I use {Hell's Nexus}?'

Shaking his head, he dismissed the idea of using one of the most powerful attack skills in his inventory.

Cutting down the last {Blood Abomination} in his path, he was greeted with the tip of a spear aimed at his face.

BANG!

Sparks flew as he parried the spearhead. However, the force of the impact was enough to stop him in place.

Looking up, his eyes became as dark as an abyss as he realized what had happened. With a sigh, he remained stationary. Hunter and Ignis had stopped beside him, their eyes trained on the not-so-distant ring of Aether beasts that encircled them.

"I should have known..." Beads of sweat fell down Hunter's face as he snarled.

"It was obvious from the start. There's no way they'll allow so many beastmen to escape with their numbers."

"Indeed..." Cain said, his voice low and ominous.

It should have been obvious. If the {Blood Abomination} army wanted to have them buried with their numbers, they would have done so a long time ago. It made little sense why they had broken through so many lines of {Blood Abominations} without being completely overwhelmed.

The mission of the {Blood Abominations} was not to have them all killed. Rather, it was to capture them. They were now stuck in the dead center of the {Blood Abomination} army.

'Perhaps he wanted us to believe that it was possible to break through the army.'

"Damn it! I knew this was a bad idea!" Floki, who had been following from behind walked through the mass of bewildered beastmen and approached Cain, his face wild with fury.

Galip followed him, a venomous glare in his eyes...

Walking very close to Cain, Floki leaned over and said in a low voice,

"You set us up..."

Cain stared back at him, "I don't know what you are talking about..."

Floki let out a sigh. He gazed up at the sky and saw that it was mostly empty. There was no sign of the majority of {Scarlet Blood Abominations}, nor was there any sign of Malcolm and the rest of the avial beastmen.

"That bastard traitor, Malcolm. We should have never trusted him." Galip said with a sigh. Even the snake-like Galip had never expected they would get played by Malcolm.

Apparently, Malcolm had convinced them that it would be better for him and the rest of the avial beastmen to attack from the skies now that Cain had managed to clear out most of the {Scalet Blood Abominations}.

Although they had been wary, they didn't think he would choose now of all times to run away since things hadn't gotten dangerous yet.

Cain's hard expression melted away as a grin replaced it. Susan and Jenny walked over, their faces free of worry.

"I know the general of this army isn't a fool. Making simple plays will lead me and all these beastmen into the grave."

Floki stared at Cain, his eyes filled with confusion,

"What are you saying? Did you suspect this would happen?!"

Cain nodded enthusiastically,

"Of course! I'm not an idiot. If I was that guy, I would have done the same thing. However, he failed to account for a few things..."

Suddenly, a ring of darkness surrounded the entire beastman army. It happened so suddenly, that none of the beastmen had the time to react before they fell through and into the shadows.

Both the beastmen that had allied with Hunter and Cain, and the beastmen under Floki and Galip's camps disappeared into the shadows.

"I knew you all would take advantage of an opening, should we create one. Once we did, I'd conveniently have all the beastmen gathered together in one place, ready for transport." Cain said with a cheeky grin.

"W-what's going on?!" Galip said with a blank stare. One moment, there was an army behind him. The next, it had disappeared.

"I had one of my teammates get them away from here. They are on the run right now..."

Floki gave Cain a hard stare, "So what you are saying is you had the weaklings escape, while our lives were still in jeopardy?"

Cain clapped enthusiastically, "Spot on!"

A vein nearly exploded on the bear-like beastman's head,

"Are you crazy?! You just ruined our plans!" A roar of raging frustration and a hurricane of chilly air exploded from Floki.

Cain shrugged, "You want those same weaklings to fight for you as you make your way to safety? Now that's quite reasonable..."

Galip glared at Cain, a deep flame burning in his eyes,

"So you wanted to make us fight by force?"

Cain nodded, "Until your men get to safety. Don't worry. I'm here with you, aren't I? I don't plan on dying either."

Hearing this, Floki calmed down. Although he still looked incredibly angry, he seemed much more reasonable.

"Give me one reason why I should fight for you. If you think simply putting me in a shit situation is enough for you to garner my help, you have another thing coming..."

Cain paused for a second to consider it...

Then, he tilted his head to look right into the piercing blue eyes of the huge beastman,

"If you fight, you'll live."

Staring into Cain's eyes, Floki was overwhelmed with a strange feeling. Beads of sweat streamed down his temple as he tried to calm his furiously beating heart,

'What is this feeling?'

It took him a second to realize what it was, but after he did, all the hesitation drained from his face,

'Death... That is death.'

Floki took Cain's words quite literally. When he started into his eyes, all he could see, was death. If he went against what Cain said, there would be no other outcome for him besides death.

He had no other choice...

"I'll fight then. However, you'll owe me one after all this is over."

Cain grinned as he stretched his hand out,

"Deal!"

Galip snorted, "I don't want to die as well, so I guess I'll play along..."

Cain ignored him and turned to face the new opponents that stood in front of him...

Behind them was a semi-circle of {Blood Abominations}, but before them was another semi-circle of aether beasts that were far more sinister and stronger than mere {Blood Abominations}.