The Seven Demon's Tamer

*Bang Bang Bang*

A wave of beasts that emerged from the bridge collided violently with the ground, shaking the entire village like an earthquake.

Buildings trembled, windows shattered, and distant screams of agony could be heard.

The villagers around them had already been taken to safety by the Red-Eastern guild members—the fans in particular.

The beasts crashed into stores, buildings, and countless places, and their numbers were not on a small scale. From the number of beasts that had emerged from the portal, there should be at least 1,000, and more were still pouring out.

Ryder's gaze followed the trajectory of each falling creature, his stomach tight with every impact, ready to engage in combat.

The rat-like monstrosities all had similar sizes, as massive as wolves, not to ignore another similarity they shared—the same beady red eyes that glinted with pure bloodlust.

Their fur was patchy and matted, ranging from sickly gray to dark brown, and their overgrown incisors seemed to be covered in dried blood.

"Those teeth could tear through steel," Leo muttered from the side, eyes narrowed even though he wasn't exactly getting the menacing vibe from these creatures. "And I'm betting that their claws are just as sharp."

The first beast to land in perfect condition despite the height was some distance away. Immediately, it lunged at a nearby villager—an elderly man who had frozen in terror.

A Red Eastern guild member intercepted just in time, his tigress familiar slicing the creature in two with its claws, but three more immediately took its place.

Screams of agony could be heard despite the number of Red Eastern guild members that were stationed by Master Sung to protect them. Bodies—both beasts and a few unfortunate humans—littered the ground, the soil gradually darkening with black blood.

A young woman tightly gripping a baby to her chest darted between buildings as she was being chased by a particularly large rat beast.

Suddenly, she tripped on a piece of rock that had fallen from a partially destroyed building right next to her, sprawling forward but somehow managing to brace herself at the right moment, using her body to shield her child.

The beast leaped, jaws agape—

Thwack!

A Red Eastern member's familiar pinned the creature to a wall with its tail that was shaped and as sharp as a spear.

The rat beast twitched as black blood oozed from the wound. The woman scrambled to her feet, tears streaming down her dirt-stained face as she hurriedly ran behind the guild member in terror.

With a sobbing voice, she mouthed, "Pl... Please, protect me."

"I will," he replied before placing his fingers on a device by his ear.

"Found another civilian," he spoke through it. "Coming over, give me your spot for shelter."

With that, the guild member lifted her by the waist and swiftly hopped towards the roof of a building in reasonable shape nearby.

The villagers were just too many, and no matter what, there must be casualties. This was a painful truth everybody had to accept.

"What the hell is taking so long?" Ryder panicked as he watched more and more beasts raining down.

His fingers instinctively reached for his summoning mark on his left arm as he remembered Luxy's absence. It was quite unsettling given that he had summoned Luxy a short while ago.

He couldn't help but worry about the sharp pain he felt in his soul. Could it be why Luxy wasn't here? Did something happen to him?

"Hey," Leo called out as he flexed both of his arms, "let's try to have fun." He smiled.

Ryder was about to reply when suddenly his attention shifted to Leo's arms.

"What the hell," he voiced out, "your arms are healed? How!"

Leo simply smiled, wiggling his fingers as if testing their current state. "The gaze is more than a technique for the eyes as far as one has the brain."

Completely turning around, Leo muttered to everyone nearby—Ryder, Mara, and Brok. Master Sung had already separated from them.

"Let's go."

"Mara, stay behind me," said Ryder as he rushed towards the closest beast. It was a rat-like beast.

It wasn't just some beast; every single beast on the surface was similar, like they were from a particular breed, all like rats.

"I wonder why it's taking so long for Luxy to return to me," Ryder wondered. "My best guess is that it must be the distance between us. We are just too far apart, but I'll exercise some patience."

WHAM

A single casual punch from Ryder burst the beast's head into blood splatter. It fell down immediately after, dead.

WHAM

WHAM

WHAM

With coldness, Ryder created a messy splatter of black blood as he destroyed beasts one after another, all with one punch.

After what seemed like an eternity, the beasts from the breach finally stopped pouring out overgrown rodents. By now, the rat-like beasts numbered around 2,000 in the village.

A flash of movement caught Ryder's eye—three beasts approaching from different angles, almost like a coordinated attack, and their target was Mara.

Just after he had waited for the right moment to strike, a blurry figure suddenly flashed by and the three rat beasts simultaneously fell to the ground.

"Hey, not fair," Ryder protested. "You are stealing all the fun for yourself."

Leo waved his hand, sending flickers of black blood all over. "Try to be faster."

Shrrrrreeeeeiiik!

Meanwhile, loud ear-piercing shrieks could be heard like a war cry as countless beasts approached Master Sung, who was casually walking by the streets of crumbled buildings away from Ryder's team but still within their view.

"Brown Mark beasts, eh." He grinned through his teeth and stretched his arm outward with splayed fingers wide.

"Is this a joke or what?"

"Don't waste my time, scum-born."

*Affinity of endless flame: ignition*

The words hung in the air for a split second where silence crept in, but just shortly after, the peace expired.

From Master Sung's palm erupted a torrent of flame so intense that it appeared to be almost blood-red, with its edges crackling with crimson sparks that varied from the flame.

The fire didn't simply burn—it devoured, consuming everything in its path, frighteningly.

Brok's eyes widened in shock. "How is this possible? He is able to use the affinity of his beast for himself."

The flame from his palm spread out in a swift and fast motion, reducing everything in its path to ash. Not even the bones of the beasts remained. Falling from the air were only motes of ash now on the long cratered, endless pathway Master Sung's attack had formed.

It felt almost unbelievable. A handful of beasts that would have stressed them had been exterminated in a flash. Nothing less than fifty of the rat beasts that got caught up in it were ash now.

"Holy..." Ryder breathed, momentarily stunned by the display. "Is that the capability of the leader of the fastest rising guild?"

Even Leo, usually unfazed by strength tied to the internal involvement of a familiar, looked impressed. "That's someone who can be proud of being a summoner, I'll have to admit. The rumors didn't do him justice."

Charging through and using the opening Master Sung had created for them, Leo wasted no time and rushed towards the beasts.

A particularly large beast lunged at Leo from behind, but without even turning to look, he sidestepped at the precise moment, allowing the creature to sail past him before grabbing its tail and using its momentum to slam it into the ground, killing it.

Not stopping, he raised the corpse again by the tail and slammed it into another approaching beast with sheer force that destroyed it.

Turning to the side, he glanced at Brok, half expecting he would be doing well, but that wasn't the case. He was struggling against two beasts attacking him simultaneously, his movements growing increasingly desperate as he tried to fend them off.

Unlike Leo, Brok had always relied more on brute strength than anything. He even summoned his familiar the moment the battle began.

Mara, on the other hand, who was right behind, was scared, and it was clear without any words spoken.

"Mara, what color of marking do you have?" asked Ryder.

"It is brownish," she replied, causing him to nod as he finally understood completely.

She could only go one-on-one with all these beasts. If many attack her at the same time, things might go quite badly.

Suddenly, their attention shifted to the air where someone could be seen, observing.

"Really! He can fly now!" Ryder smacked his head. "This man never runs out of surprises."

Above in the air, Master Sung splayed his fingers, directing them downwards, and chanted:

*Affinity of thunder whisker Koi: trajectory lightning*

This time around, it wasn't flame; it was thunder, actual bolts raining down from his palm and executing roughly 150 of the beasts instantly upon collision.

Weaving through the ruins of destroyed buildings, Leo wasn't slowing down in massacring every rat beast within his area. His enhanced perception allowed him to anticipate the creatures' movements, to be where they weren't expecting him.

Each punch, each kick was calculated for maximum effect with minimum usage of energy.

A trio of beasts cornered him against a partially collapsed wall, their eyes gleaming with killer intent.

Leo smirked, dropping into a low stance at the sight of this, clearly amazed.

"Come on then," he spoke calmly while the burst of aura that emitted from his body immediately after explained otherwise. "Let's dance."

Leo didn't wait for it to make up its mind. With a burst of speed that would have been impossible for any other ordinary human like him, he closed the distance and ripped open the first beast's throat with his bare finger.

The other lunged at him from the side, but he evaded with a rotational kick delivered to its neck.

The third died by several blows to its head.

Bone cracked audibly, and the beast collapsed, twitching.

Finally, after a long while, he took a brief pause to catch his breath and wiped off black blood from his forehead with his thumb.

Then afterward, he stared at the ground, looking at something that caught his eye.

Despite the Red Eastern guild members that were tasked to protect the villagers, they could only do so much.

Taking a deep breath in, Leo calmed his breathing. A loud rumbling of thunder was heard again, and he looked upward to see Master Sung doing his thing.

With simple gestures, he could summon flame and lightning from his hands while levitating in the sky.

"Thanks, Luxy. I truly appreciate what you did for Ryder because I can't imagine myself having to fight that creature if he had made the wrong decision."

He hasn't even summoned his familiar, and I don't think he will need to. He has already cleared the beasts from this entire area, and his guild members are doing quite a good job from the other side. The whole thing is nearly over.

There are no beasts pouring out from the portal above anymore, but for some strange reason, it still refuses to close up. Maybe it wouldn't until we wipe out all the beasts... Or maybe, something is yet to emerge.

Meanwhile, Ryder swung his arm to deliver one last attack at the last beast that had attacked Mara.

What followed next was silence. So this is it; we have taken care of all the beasts from this area. Brok dragged his swollen feet on the ground as he returned towards Ryder, with multiple scratches and cuts all over his body.

Of everyone, he seemed to have been the one who had the most trouble.

Soon later, Leo also joined in, visibly exhausted and drenched in blood—but not his; it was the black blood of the beasts he had slain.

And then, Master Sung also joined in, descending from the sky while his magnificent robe billowed in the air.

"The presence of beasts has dwindled down a lot; I can assure you my guild members are doing quite well," Master Sung spoke. "But let's hurry to join them."

"I already told them to regroup two kilometers away at seven o'clock."

"Right!" They all echoed with respect. With that, Master Sung ran off while they trailed behind.