When Kana, Jubia, Elfman, and Ibarglin's team arrived at Mr. Hogg's town, it was already deep in the night.
The gentle moonlight shrouded the entire town, making it appear exceptionally tranquil.
Most people were already asleep at this hour, and as they looked around, only the furthest part was still lit.
Ibarglin said, "There's something not quite right."
Jubia nodded and said, "Jubia also has a bad feeling."
Kana thought for a moment and suddenly realized, "It's the lights. If it's not some special celebration, they shouldn't be concentrated in that small area."
Elfman placed his right hand on his ear: "I think I hear... like the sound of stones breaking, the direction is over where the lights are."
"Oh no!"
Everyone was shocked and began running towards the inside of the town.
Just a few steps out, wings grew on Elfman's back, and he directly carried Kana forward in flight.
Seeing this, Ibarglin also hugged Jubia and flew up.
Soon they reached the lit area.
The streets were covered with intersecting knife marks, buildings on either side cut in half, some slashed at an angle, each cut was incredibly smooth.
The lights were coming from these broken houses, some lights had already extinguished in the destroyed houses.
Kana's heart sank: "Are we too late?"
Boom!
"Ah!"
"Ah—"
The sound of a heavy object falling accompanied by a scream and a cry.
"Over there!" Elfman dashed forward.
In a house that had a corner cut at an angle, a man lay in a pool of blood, while a woman trembled, holding her child.
"Haha… Die, humans!"
A strange creature with grey skin and a head full of spikes laughed maniacally, swinging its arms at the mother and child.
This creature had four arms, six legs resembling octopus tentacles, and a head full of sharp spikes like an explosion.
With a casual wave of its hand, invisible slashes shot from it.
The woman holding the child had closed her eyes, hearing the sound of a hard object clashing, but the expected pain didn't come.
She opened her eyes, a large figure with a similar hairstyle to the creature was shielding them.
"You... you are..."
"We're Mages from Fairy Tail, take your child and leave now." Elfman frowned, the creature's slashes hurt more than he expected.
Even when using partial reception, he couldn't completely defend against it.
"Human Mage? Hahaha..."
"Water Flow Restriction!"
The creature's laughter abruptly stopped.
A water ball suddenly appeared, enveloping it completely, suspended in mid-air.
"My husband..."
"There is still hope, but for such injuries, we need Guild members to come over."
Ibarglin took off her glasses and used her hand to pry open the man's eyes, forcibly activating the Petrifying Eye.
The man turned into a statue in an instant, the woman and child both startled.
"Don't worry, it's just to help stop the bleeding, the petrification will be undone when the doctor arrives."
Ibarglin put her glasses back on, and together with Kana, lifted the statue, signaling the woman to leave with them.
Jubia's magic didn't hold the creature for long.
Just as they stepped outside, four slashes flew from the creature, crisscrossing to break apart the water ball.
The ensuing slashes continued to fly outward, Elfman spread his arms wide, protecting his retreating companions.
Jubia allowed a slash to cut her in half.
Bang, bang...
The already broken house couldn't withstand it, walls collapsed, stones from the roof fell.
Kana and Ibarglin protected the family of three, swiftly moving to a safe location.
The 'wound' on Jubia's waist spewed water, reconnecting her body back to normal, not even her clothes got damaged.
But the stones on Elfman's arm shattered, leaving two red marks.
He looked at Jubia and sighed: "You're really convenient."
"Because Jubia's body is..." Jubia suddenly stopped speaking, because someone previously complained every time she said that, she got hit.
"Haha! Some interesting characters have arrived, can I show my skills now? Can you let me showcase my skills?"
Jubia asked, "Who are you? Why are you here?"
The creature didn't seem to mind answering:
"I'm Ethel, one of the Nine Ghosts Sect's 'Tongzi Cut', came here to kill an old man! Now I've more people to kill!"
As he spoke, he launched an attack, his four arms crossed in front, all making hand blade gestures, and suddenly swung:
"Five Swords of the World·Ghost Ball!"
Another four slashes flew out simultaneously, two towards Elfman, two towards Jubia.
"Rock Spirit Dragon's Fist!"
Elfman's right arm swelled, layers of stone covering it, armed until it was thicker than his body.
The giant stone hand clenched into a fist, aiming directly at the two slashes.
"Water Flow Slash!" Jubia continuously swung her arms, seven or eight water blades shot towards Ethel.
However, unexpectedly, both Elfman's fist and Jubia's water blades were split by Ethel's attack.
Elfman's stone arm shattered, his body staggered back a few steps.
The water blades were split in half, Jubia couldn't dodge in time, the tip of a slash grazed her shoulder.
The clothes on her shoulder abruptly ripped open, red blood streamed from the wound.
"Ah!" Jubia covered her shoulder, "It actually can..."
She didn't want to finish saying that.
Looks like today's opponent is another tough one.
But Elfman said on her behalf: "This guy's slashes can actually hurt Jubia!"
"Don't get distracted, Elfman!" Jubia suddenly raised her right hand, "Water Flow Rise!"
Two streams of water spiraled and intertwined, rising from beneath Ethel's octopus feet, lifting him into the air.
"Beautiful hit!" Elfman leapt, landing above Ethel's head, clasping his hands together, raising them high and forcefully striking down:
"Rock Spirit Dragon's Heavy Hammer!"
His hands covered in sturdy rocks, fists larger than a person heavily pounding on the nearly unavoidable Ethel's head.
Ethel descended like a cannonball, head first into the floor.
Before they could celebrate, two intersecting ground cracks appeared, slashes flying from within.
Elfman and Jubia quickly retreated and dodged.
The final two walls of the house were also cut down, collapsing.
Ethel emerged from the crack, a small wound atop his head, trickling a bit of blood.
"I've decided, I'm going to cut you all into pieces and eat you! Haha..."
Ethel's four arms continuously swung, slashes flying out like raindrops, constantly blocking Elfman and Jubia's retreat.
Without a second thought, Elfman shielded Jubia, crossing his arms before him, the thick stones on his arms were cut apart, growing again continuously.
Seeing the normal slashes were ineffective, Ethel crossed his four arms in front gathering force before slashing:
"Five Swords of the World·Shuzan!"
The swinging arms were like the most sharpened sword crafted by a master artisan.
The X-shaped slashes neatly landed on Elfman's crossed arms.
The hard stones were sliced like tofu, Elfman's large body staggered backwards, leaving a long cut from elbow to wrist.
"Elfman!" Jubia was almost pushed away by him, barely supporting herself.
Blood sprayed from the wound, the crimson shade entering Ibarglin's sight.
"You bastard... What have you done?!"