All My Summons Become Divine Girls

Chapter 274: Ash-White Zone

Dalen reached the overlook with nine militia defenders while Hajin maintained both Aegis layers beneath the wounded line.

The rear clerk had counted every orchard resident during the evacuation, then returned carrying casualty tags plus a shield.

Hans placed his group around the clinic frames, keeping them behind the rope crossing while Vella prepared the first transfer.

Across the pass, eighty-four vanguard fighters locked mantlets along the forward shoulder while seventy-two formed around Dreth’s socket.

Their ash-mirrored plates faced Hajin at different angles, preventing another narrow cut from reaching every occupied line.

The forward ranks began descending before the first patient crossed, bringing firing levers toward the Aegis bridge behind him.

"Drop your weapons and clear the pass," Hajin said, keeping two Rings around his right forearm, "I will not offer it again."

Dreth raised his spear above the larger socket, sending one ash-white pulse through every mirrored plate.

"Advance by bands," he ordered, watching the clinic workers lift their frames, "break the crossing before they move the wounded."

The first band released iron bolts toward the bridge while the second drove hooked poles beneath its projected edge.

Aegis stopped the bolts above Dalen’s shield, but every impact pulled mana from the healing layer holding three patients closed.

Vella caught one slipping seal with both hands, forcing golden light back through the wound before its marker turned red.

"You have one strike before I lose his chest line," she warned, keeping her attention on the frame, "make them stop touching the barrier."

Hajin summoned the damaged Chain into his right hand, feeling its worn links tighten beneath the pressure from both Rings.

The third Ring opened around his forearm, widening past the other two while dark-gold mana entered the Chain.

Every forward fighter saw the new halo before the weapon shortened behind Hajin’s shoulder, though none lowered a weapon.

Aria placed one boundary through the pass shoulder, separating the occupied formation from Dreth’s rear seventy-two.

"The forward bands share a load brace beneath their mantlets," she said, marking its buried route, "break there and the shoulder follows."

"Keep the rear line outside it," Hajin replied, planting his feet before the first hooked pole tore through Aegis.

[ Skill Activated: Eclipse Lash ]

The Chain crossed the nearest band before their mirrored plates turned, cutting soldiers plus mantlets along the same line.

Dark-gold force entered the buried brace behind them, ripping the prepared shoulder away from the pass in one release.

The center formation disappeared beneath separated armor, bodies, plus the section of road that had supported their firing lanes.

Every link followed the opening fracture uphill, widening it through five bands before stopping at Aria’s rear boundary.

Sixty-one fighters died inside the direct path, their armor opening before the pass shoulder dropped beneath them.

Twenty-three along its outer edge survived the release, although broken limbs plus crushed pathways left none able to continue.

The rear seventy-two lost their forward road without entering the strike, forcing them around Dreth’s socket on higher ground.

[ Hostile combatants eliminated: 61 ]

[ EXP gained: 1,525,000 ]

[ Ring Progress: 21,870,000 / 25,000,000 EXP ]

[ Vanguard combat status: 61 deceased / 23 unable to continue / 72 fit ]

The Chain returned through the falling shoulder while Hajin ran across the fracture it had carved.

Three rear files raised spears toward him, but one sweep broke their points before Aegis struck them away from Dreth.

He reached the larger socket without killing another fighter, driving the Chain across the commander’s chest before the spear could turn.

Dreth’s plate split from shoulder to ribs, throwing him against the socket with blood spreading beneath the opened section.

Hajin shortened the Chain around his remaining guard, pulling its edge toward the commander’s throat for the finishing strike.

Dreth planted one hand inside the socket instead of blocking, pressing his bleeding palm against the ash packed within it.

The broken pass answered through every buried anchor at once, drawing released mana plus falling terrain into the same circulation.

Ash-white light climbed through the fracture, holding pieces of the dropped shoulder above the bodies beneath them.

Ambient mana stopped flowing toward Hajin’s Rings, turning around Dreth instead before entering each prepared anchor without delay.

[ Hostile Zone detected ]

[ Zone Anchor Network: Active ]

[ Terrain circulation no longer follows natural load paths ]

Dreth stood within the socket despite his opened armor, ash-white lines sealing the damaged plate against his chest.

"You hit the shoulder I prepared," he said, closing his hand around the spear, "good, the anchors needed that much released mana."

He moved before the last word ended, catching the Chain below its cutting edge while the Zone pulled against every link.

Hajin drove his right arm forward, forcing Dreth through the socket before a suspended road section struck between them.

The impact separated their weapons, leaving Hajin inside the fracture while the commander landed among his remaining files.

Behind Hajin, the Zone turned the falling shoulder sideways instead of allowing it to settle beneath the pass.

Road sections crossed the broken channel toward the rescue line, carrying iron ribs plus ash-white mana through Aegis from three directions.

Dalen raised his shield over the first clinic frame before a rib passed through its center, entering his chest behind it.

The same release threw eight militia defenders across the ridge, breaking limbs plus opening mana pathways beneath their armor.

Vella spread golden threads toward them, but three earlier patients began bleeding when her attention left their transport seals.

Aria filled Hajin’s sight with eleven failing markers, separating eight new injuries from the seven already entered in Hans’s roll.

[ New Sixth Region casualties ]

[ Confirmed deaths: 1 ]

[ New serious injuries: 8 ]

Dreth remained exposed beyond the fracture, his Zone holding the Chain away from his throat while Hajin still had three Rings open.

One full advance could reach him before the rear files rebuilt their shield line around the damaged socket.

Another suspended road section turned toward Vella, carrying enough iron to cross every clinic frame behind her.

Hajin released the Chain’s pull, turning all three Rings toward Aegis before the Zone completed its strike.

The barrier expanded around the rescue line, catching the road section above Dalen plus the eight defenders it had wounded.

Weight spread across Hajin’s shoulders while Dreth withdrew behind the seventy-two fighters still able to stand.

Vella dropped beside the nearest new patient as Juna pulled Dalen’s body away from the exposed barrier edge.

Ash-white mana continued circling the broken pass, giving every loose rib plus road section another route toward the wounded.