God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Wiping the blood off his face, Cain counted how many Aether Beasts he had felled.

He sighed...

Boulder walked up to him,

"Good job."

Cain nodded, his face a bit solemn. Boulder frowned,

"What's wrong?"

They were currently at an intersection point between a group of decrepit buildings jumbled together. These buildings were not yet destroyed. Rather, they foundations were mostly gone, leaving the buildings leaning on one another, creating a rather dystopian-esque feel.

The entire world around them seemed like an otherworldly ruin, the scent of Aether Beasts and blood still lingering in the air.

Cain shook his head,

"Nothing. Warn your men to be careful."

Boulder raised a brow, "What do you mean?"

All this time, they had been moving through areas with a decent number of buildings. Although there were Aether Beasts here, most of them were usually on their own, or were weak even as a horde like the {Hive Bats} they had fought.

Now, they were about to reach this intersection; a place where they would be exposed momentarily. If they were to be ambushed, this would be the best place for it to happen.

For some reason, Cain felt a sinking feeling in his guts.

He had used {Eye of Clairvoyance}, but he hadn't noticed anything.

But maybe that was where the disconnect was.

Normally, he should have sensed even a few Aether Beasts lurking within the few buildings that trailed off towards the intersection. But now, he sensed nothing.

Boulder was silent for a few seconds before nodding. He turned around,

"Everyone, be on high alert. Jasper, scout ahead. Keep your eyes out for anything unusual."

Jasper nodded silently before jumping into a shadow and disappearing away from sight. Cain, even with his exceptional senses found it difficult to locate him one he merged with the shadows.

'How odd...'

The group continued onwards...

The distance was great, and who knew what they would encounter on the way, so they had to be cautious.

Every one of them was on guard, their nerves on edge...

To make sure nothing went wrong, Cain even had to go to the lengths of keeping {Eye of Clairvoyance} active, just in case. However, it put a strain on his mind. The headaches would get worse over time.

Suddenly, a piercing scream reached their ears.

They all acted at the same time. Cain drew the {Hands of Midas} and pointed it at the direction of the scream.

The darkness of the night tends to hide things, but the silver sheen on the moonlight could reveal all.

Under this silver light, a rather gruesome scene was revealed.

Glassy eyes stared back at them, its mouth open in an eternal scream of horror.

Cain 's blood ran cold as he stared at the familiar face.

"You bastards!" Lucia yelled as she let a torrent of bullets fly.

Immediately, all hell broke loose.

A veil seemed to have been lifted from the world around them.

Unidentifiable individuals dressed in black garbs with the symbol a red moon embroidered into the fabric dashed at them from every corner.

They dodged the barrage of bullets Lucia sprayed with ease and continued to approach the group.

With a mechanical calm, Boulder began coordinating the group. Seeing the head of Jasper, someone who they had eaten with just a few hours ago, dead on the ground, was more than a huge shock.

Tears formed at the corners of Lucia's eyes, but they were swept away as her bullets flew. One of the men in black was struck square in the head by a bullet. His head exploded violently, but the other men didn't even seem bothered by this.

They quickly closed in on the group.

One of them let a throwing star fly, aimed at the head of Gloria. Unable to react, she watched as the blade closed in on her throat, splitting it open.

Blood poured out like a torrent, and her life was rapidly being drained from her body.

Cain acted immediately...

He activated {Blood Restitution} on Gloria. The wound sealed, and the color gradually returned to her face.

Boulder breathed in a sigh of relief. Giving Cain a brief nod, he turned his focus back to their attackers.

His eyes burned with a subtle rage,

"Getting cocky, are we?"

Drawing his bowstring into a full crescent, he let an arrow fly.

The arrow was like a streak of lightning, cutting through the air swiftly and borrowing into the head of an attacker.

Without wasting a breath, Boulder let a barrage of the lightning fast arrows fly.

One of the attackers sidestepped just before the arrow stabbed into his head, avoiding death.

However, the arrow was like it was possessed with life as it changed its trajectory almost immediately, stabbing into the attackers head from behind.

Cain sighed, 'So this was their plan.'

Cain had thought whatever attack was coming would happen when they reached the intersection. They had been lulled into a false sense of anxiety and tension. Because of that, they had been unable to see through it.

The plan has been to attack them when their guard was extra sensitive, throwing them off completely.

Not only that, but they had managed to kill Jasper as well.

It was a terrible turn of events.

Cain sighed again. Boulder was trying his best to keep the team together, but there was only so much he could do.

Two more of their men had already fallen victim to the throwing stars of the attackers.

When the men in black finally got close enough, they drew their weapons.

Shortswords and daggers coated in tar were unsheathed, aimed at the throats of their victims.

It was obvious that these men were trained killers. Mana surged into the air as the attackers activated their various skills and spells.

Just when it seemed like that ambush was a success, Cain made his move.

Ba-dump!

Ba-dump!

The sounds of his {Internal Mana Furnace} going into overdrive. A huge amount of his mana reserves were burned instantly as his body exploded into action.

A stream of pure, vaporized mana escaped from his lips. He activated {Azure Burst}. The azure flames locked the ground, burning the rubble and asphalt.

The world seemed to turn blurry as his senses went into overdrive. The sword in his hand seemed weightless as he slashed forward, separating the head of an attacker.

A split second later, he moved again, tearing one apart from the midsection. A fraction of a second later, his fist was flying through the head of another, painting his arm white and red with brain and blood.

It was a gruesome massacre.

In just a few seconds, more than ten of them were killed. Lucia dashed forward, closing in one of the attackers.

His weapon stabbed forward, but she dodged pulling his arm in and coming close. The hammer of her gun went on a rampage as she emptied several shells of bullets into his midsection, with a final one into his jaw, ending his life.

With Cain as the forward, the rest were able to fire off a barrage of bullets, keeping their ambushers at bay.

Cain came to a stop, his chest heaving rapidly...

'Damn it. This is exhausting...'

Steam wafted off the surface of his body

The {Internal Mana Furnace} was a very useful skill, but it did have its downsides. For one, because it pumped mana vigorously through his body at high speeds, it could overheat. Once it overheated, it was difficult to bring it back under control.

The steam rising from his body was his own sweat and blood particles.

Thanks to his powerful body, he could handle the strain. A regular humans would turn into bomb of they used it for even a few seconds.

Cain breathed in before observing the battlefield.

Thanks to him, the ambush had been foiled. The rest of the men in black were already retreating, but still, the damage had been done. Two whole corpses and a bodiless one lay on the ground, their blood seeping into the ground.

Their eyes were glassy and soulless, gazing upon the starless, moonlit sky.

Cain gritted his teeth. Slowly, his heart was calming down.

'I'll have to get used to this.'

Boulder placed his bow back into his inventory before doing a quick headcount. From how dark his face was, it was obvious he wasn't very pleased with the outcome.

Lucia gritted her teeth, "Damn it! Damn it all!"

Sheathing his blades, Khan approached and embraced her.

The rest of the squad all had dark expressions as well as they gathered around the three deceased.

Cain's face was dark as well. He hadn't known them long, but he knew they were just normal people fighting for a chance to live well. This kind of death was grossly unbefitting.

In the end, there was not much he could do besides say a silent prayer to whatever higher being was watching.

Sheathing his blade and placing it into his inventory, he walked up to one of the corpses dressed in black

Seeing the red moon insignia, he could tell exactly where these bastards had come from.

Leaning down, he pulled the dark veil covering the face of one of the corpses, revealing his face.