God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

The changing landscape of the world was not limited to one region alone.

The terraformation of Urbus was rather strange.

In some places, the land cracked. In some places, the land elevated to create huge continental shelves as tall as mountains.

In some areas, the ocean drained to create immensely deep basins that housed vile creatures of the dark abyss.

In some cases, the waters seemed to rise, disobeying all reason to form incredibly vast water bodies that swallowed up entire coasts, sinking enormous portions of continents.

In the City of Zoan, the changes were a bit more tame.

However, for the humans living within, they might as well have been the difference between heaven and earth.

Staring at the large depression in the ground, Steven couldn't help but feel like the gods, spirits, or whatever was up there in the sky currently looking down on the mortals, thought he was really cute.

At the same time, he could also sense that a few of them might want his head really badly.

Or he was just hallucinating again...

"I expected a lot of things to go wrong at first, but this is a rather good outcome, isn't it?" He muttered to himself.

Hunter shrugged as he massaged the bridge of his nose. He could feel a serious migraine coming up.

"If this keeps happening, not only will we all die by the end of the week, it will all be for nothing."

He paused,

"Logically speaking, that is..."

Steve nodded slowly, his mind far away,

"Is that so..."

Hunter pursed his lips,

"I've informed Floki of those that have arrived in Sandsea. Cain will be heading here soon."

Steve nodded,

"Our sharpest sword has returned. Let's hope he doesn't break against this rather terrible pillar we face."

In front of them, was the area Steve had detonated all the magic explosives.

Because of the terrible explosion, the already unstable land has caved in. Perhaps it was coincidence, but the world has suddenly trembled.

Then it began to expand.

The ground beneath their feet rumbled, broke apart, and stretched.

A deep, bottomless chasm opened up on two sides, leaving a large land bridge that connected the two abysses.

On the land bridge itself, multiple cracks and gorges had formed, each one leading into either one of the terrifyingly dark chasms.

It was a strangely beautiful, yet harrowing sight to see.

And coincidentally, it favoured the humans more than it did the Devils.

Having suffered heavy damage, they had chosen to retreat instead of advance.

Not only that, but having a large army cross this place where ether could still be an undisclosed number of bombs left was not only dangerous, it was also futile.

"How are things looking?" Jenny asked as she walked up.

The once young lady had turned into a rather stunning huntress.

Her long, black hair was tied in a neat ponytail behind her. Unlike most, she had chosen to wear a simple, black leather armor with streaks of crimson and violet on it as well as some light metal protection to cover vital parts.

Her magic rifle was slung across her shoulder; A powerful beast that could rip the head of a {Greater Flame Devil} with a single, well timed shot.

Steve gave aher a short glance, then turned to face the masterpiece he had created,

"I've done a few checks. It's stable for now. The Devil's definitely know this already, so we can be expecting an attack any moment from now."

Jenny nodded. Her eyes narrowed,

"Right now, we have the advantage. Not only do we have those explosives, we also have the high ground. If things get bad, we can just blow up what's left, right?"

Steve shook his head,

"I'm afraid it isn't that simple, but you are right."

Although they did hold the advantage over here, that didn't mean the battle was won. They still had to deal with the attacks from the other end.

Currently, they were fighting battles on two fronts; within the city, and on the city's outskirts. The Devils had tried to pincer them from the other side.

They had skirted the city's outer district, or at least what it once was, to avoid detection from the humans. Although subtlety was not a tactic popular amongst the Devils, they had employed it this time.

Regardless, the humans had been prepared, foiling their plans. The losses had been terrible.

But the Devils didn't seem too bothered. Most of the casualties were from the corrupted human {Zombies} anyway. Although the losses would impact a siege, it wasn't too terrible. The Devils themselves were still abundant.

Plus, there remained more than enough human {Zombies} to facilitate such losses five times over.

Steve frowned,

"For now we prepare defenses. If they want a fight, we can most definitely oblige now."

He paused for a moment,

"Once they have rescued those Cain saved from the Dome of Fire, Floki and Luke will bring their men over here to help. That way, we can keep things stable for longer."

The three fell silent for a moment.

'There are a lot of strong Tier 2 here. We can definitely hold out for some time.'

He shook his head,

'No. The goal is to win.'

His mind churned like a storm as he pondered their situation.

A wild breeze blew, blowing up a cloud of dust.

The wind swam through the hollow chasms, creating a terrifying shrill sound.

Like the sound of damned souls wailing.

Suddenly, Hunter's eyes widened. He frowned and looked to the side.

From behind them, a figure approached. He wore plain looking clothes, and his body was covered in a dusty black piece of cloth.

Nobody had seen him come.

One moment he was not there. The next moment, he was.

Steve turned around and grinned,

"Would you look at that... You don't seem very happy to see us, Cain."

Walking up to the group of three quickly, wiped the sweat off his face,

"Sorry. I had to run all the way over here."

Hunter's brows shot up,

"Run? All the way from Sandsea?"

Cain chuckled wryly,

"Yes. But that's because I don't have enough mana for {Spatial Jump}.

"You... How..." Steve muttered blankly.

While Sandsea and Valestorm were rather close together when considering the scale of the city, they were still separated by a distance of several kilometers.

And Valestorm being around a thousand kilometers wide itself, plus the distance between Valestorm and where they were...

It was well over three thousand kilometers, perhaps even closer to five.

Hunter's face paled, 'It has barely even been half an hour since we spoke.'

Most humans at Tier 2 were capable of reaching speeds that slightly exceeded the speed of sound.

Running at top speed, maybe they could run just a bit faster than that.

However, crossing a distance of about five thousand kilometers under anhour was just too.

Jenny sighed and walked forward.

Lightly touching Cain's face, she spoke dryly,

"Ignoring all the impossible things you do sometimes, I know I speak for all of us when I say, Welcome back."

Then she pulled him in for a hug.

Since he stood taller than her, Cain could very well appreciate the warmth and softness of the body embracing him.

So much so, he was momentarily speechless.

A soft fragrance wafted into his nostrils. He was tempted to greedily take in a deep breath.

Instead, he sighed and smiled,

"Hm? Did you miss me that much?"

Jenny snorted and broke away, a small blush creeping onto her face.

"Alright, enough of that. You two are making me sick." Steve said, quickly breaking apart the strange atmosphere.

He turned to Cain with a grin,

"Although I would have loved to welcome you back with more fanfare, unfortunately, we are in a bit of a pickle."

Cain nodded, "I can tell."

Looking at the chasms stretching out before then, he whistled sharply,

"I know they were powerful, but I didn't think they would cause this much damage."

Steve shook his head,

"We just so happened to place the bombs of a rather delicate spot. What you see here is a result of a rather terrifying chain reaction. For a moment, I thought we were all goners." Steve said with a sigh.

Then he turned to Cain,

"The fighting will begin any moment from now. Are you sure this is the best battlefield for you?"

Jenny answered for him,

"The Devils sent here aren't nearly as much as those fighting on the other side. If we can defeat these ones quickly, we can divert more power there. The sooner we get it done, the better."

Cain shrugged,

"Although that confidence is concerning, I agree with you."

He clapped his hands together with a grin,

"Alright, it's decided then."

He turned to Steve,

"Keep handling everything like you've been doing so far."

Steve chuckled and waved his hand,

"What choice do I have? You are terrible at this after all."

Cain smiled wryly. He definitely couldn't argue with that.

He turned to face the other side of the chasm.

There, a line of darkness was slowly stretching.

The Devils were preparing for the battle as well.