Chapter 330: King Beast down.

A pair of intense, concentrated energy beams sliced through the air like a hot razor through butter, instantly cutting Taylor’s killer completely in two. The captain of the guards didn’t even have time to scream before both halves of his body hit the dirt.

Zyra snapped out of her shock instantly on hearing screams get louder. She sent Taylor and Red sun into the beast domain. "Beauty, save him. I saved your beasts. He was injured because of us, now you must save him. Do you hear me?"

[I hear you.]

A flaming ball of fire nearly landed on her. Gilby pulled her out of the way just in time. "Boss, snap out of it." He bellowed, pulling her hand to join the rest of their team in a race out of the town.

But Zyra did not want to lose the opportunity to fight the king beast. They were far away from her territory; she couldn’t care less if this whole town was burned to ash in their battle. "Water team! Get to work immediately!" Zyra said through the comms.

The town went from orderly lockdown to absolute, primal chaos. The giant King Beast bird hovered low over Grimmark, opening its beak and spewing a continuous torrent of roaring, hot, golden flames.

Wooden buildings burst into fire instantly. Roofs caved in, street stalls exploded into ash, and hundreds of civilians ran for their lives, screaming and diving into alleyways.

"My stall! My meat!" a merchant wept while running for his life.

"Forget the meat, run!" his wife shrieked, dragging him by his collar.

Midst the chaos, Zyra noticed a group of terrified, abandoned children crying near a collapsing, burning overhang. She dashed forward, grabbed two under her arms, kicked a falling wooden beam out of the air, and quickly raced to a sturdy building that had the sign; Quarantine zone.

She dropped the kids there and barked, "Stay inside!" before sprinting back into the line of fire.

Suddenly, big jets of water blasted from outside the wall. High-pressure water beams hit the giant beast bird from eight different directions at full force.

Clouds of blinding steam filled the sky. The bird screeched in frustration, its wings heavy with water, frantically flapping in mid-air as it tried to maintain its balance.

Zyra glided to a halt in front of the burning plaza, her eyes dead-locked on the struggling beast. "You’re not leaving this city alive."

She waved her hand, summoning Drake from the beast domain.

It arrived with a thundering roar that blew the scarf off Zyra’s head. Worse, it released a wave of fresh water from its beak that splashed onto her face, washing away the make-up she had applied. Her hair clung to her head, a few strands on her forehead parted to reveal part of her blossom mark.

"I know the girl.... Zyra. The Scorpion girl on the posters!" a traveling trader from the capital screamed, pointing a shaking finger at the beast.

"What kind of beast is that! It’s huge!" another merchant whimpered, hugging a barrel.

The Drake shot into the air like a rocket, instantly closing the distance with the King Beast.

"Drake! Electrocute it! Full power!" Zyra ordered, her voice booming across the entire city as she used her boots to hover in the air, shooting at the bird.

The Drake opened its jaw, crackling purple lightning swirling in its throat. A giant pillar of high-voltage lightning slammed directly into the soaked firebird. Because the bird was drenched in water, the electricity conducted instantly through every single cell of its body. The bird twitched violently, screaming as blue sparks danced across its charred feathers.

The drake released another bolt, and other, relentless, as if it was on a mission to roast the bird.

Desperate and crazed with pain, the King Beast gathered the absolute last of its energy, turning its head toward Zyra on the ground to unleash a final, desperate burst of flame.

Out of nowhere, Hunter descended from the sky, sitting proudly on Tyrant’s back.

Tyrant snapped its razor-sharp wing forward like a giant guillotine blade. With a clean, brutal chop, Tyrant severed the King Beast’s beak right off its face before it could emit a single spark. His iron sharp claws ripped off its wings.

The King Beast plunged out of the sky, crashing heavily onto the ground, shattering the ground and kicking up a massive cloud of mud and debris.

Silence fell over Grimmark. The fires flickered, the steam cleared, and hundreds of stunned, dirty faces slowly peeked out from behind ruined walls, completely mesmerized and rendered speechless by the sheer, terrifying display of power.

Zyra slowly floated down from the sky, her boots landing softly on the cracked earth beside the fallen monster. She glanced cold-eyed at the gaping crowd around her that was eyeing the shiny stones on the bird.

"Stay back," Zyra said calmly, pulling a massive sealing scroll from her ring. "Unless you want to end up like the bird."

The people drew back, their eyes wide with absolute terror and awe as they watched her. She was dripping wet, covered in soot, and looked tougher than a block of steel.

Zyra didn’t say another word. She leaped straight onto the back of the King Beast. With a flick of her wrist, her knife expanded into a long, gleaming spear. Holding it with both hands, she drove the weapon down, piercing the King Beast straight through its skull.

A final, wispy trail of black smoke curled up from the bird’s beak, and the giant creature went completely still.

A nearby merchant who had been peeking out from behind a wooden barrel shuddered, his knees giving out. He realized with a jolt of panic that the damn thing hadn’t even been fully dead when it hit the ground. If Zyra hadn’t finished it off, it might have incinerated the rest of the street.

High-grade energy stones sparkled all over the beast’s burnt feathers that had landed near its body. They were worth a fortune that could buy half of Grimmark. But Zyra didn’t care about a single one of them.

She breathed heavily, her shoulders heaving as she slid down the slick side of the dead bird. The victory felt completely hollow. Her heart was a lead weight in her chest as the painful reality slammed into her: one of their own could be dead.

Wiping a mix of rain, sweat, and stray tears from her damp face, Zyra turned her back on the dead beast and began walking toward the gates.

Everywhere she passed, townsfolk peeked out from the rubble, calling out to her.

"Thank you, soul maiden!"

"You saved my children!"

"May the heavens bless you, Mistress Scorpion!"

The senior that had brought them to Grimmark from the plague village bowed. "She is the true Divine Maiden!" He had remained in the town to see what the group was up to. Now that he had seen, he was a believer. There was no doubting after Zyra’s display of power.

"Beauty?" She called out in her mind.

The system did not respond.

"Soul maiden, stay here for a day." A woman begged.

Zyra didn’t respond to her or any of the folks in that town. She didn’t even look at them. The gratitude of thousands didn’t mean a single thing when Taylor could be dead. She wouldn’t know until she went into the beast domain.