Chapter 56: Embers
They dash at us frenziedly.
The trolls do not care about monsters under their feet and continue to step on goblins, spiders, and wolves.
The bears run over the smaller monsters and push others away.
Even as they die they do not let out a single scream of pain and before they enter Tess' and Kim's range, dozens of them die.
As they ca closer, the rain of quickly flying stones hit them.
So are big, so are small, but all of them are dangerous. Monsters continue to die, and more of them climb over their dead bodies.
Then Sophie's mana washes over them, and a few of the biggest trolls turn against a horde of monsters. She even gets one of the Giant Trolls, and he starts spamming his gravity attacks. The giant circular holes start appearing all over the forest, destroying the trees, and squashing monsters under the power of the skill.
Just like that trolls wreak havoc.
Soon, the other monsters stop ignoring the manipulated monsters and jump at them.
The smaller ones only get squashed as they enter the gravity field around the giant troll, but so bears and other unaffected trolls push through and attack the monsters.
More of them die as they do so.
I feel Sophie switch her focus on another Giant Troll as the first one dies, and the sa thing repeats. She stops trying to control smaller trolls and just continues to take over one giant troll after another. Every ti she does so, the monsters stop pushing towards us and focus on killing the Giant Trolls.
We gain more precious ti like this, and much more of them perish trying to take down massive Giant Trolls. I don't even bother to count how many but a new worry appears in my mind.
Is she getting the experience?
Finally, the last Giant Troll dies, and Sophie falls to her knees. Not losing consciousness but close to it. There is blood on her nose, and a few small blood vessels have burst in her eye.
The waves of monsters start pushing again, and Tess and Kim continuously throw at them what they can.
After that, Isabella's flas roar into the surroundings and even Kevin continues to throw smaller stones charged with his [Combustion] into the monsters.
What I regret is that we can't set the forest ablaze, as it is still wet because of the rain, and most of the trees are also destroyed because of it.
Still, monsters continue to burn in flas without letting out any screams of pain. They just move until their burning bodies allow them to, and then they fall down, the flas from their corpses burning more monsters.
I feel a presence closing up, and sothing in
moves. I dash at it and catch a Phantom Goblin about to sneak inside the cave by his neck. I squeeze until its head is separated from its body. The blood dirties my hand, and I shake it off. Then, while ignoring my surroundings, I stomp on its corpse.
Splat.
Its head explodes like overripe fruit, and its chest dents under my feet.
Fucker.
I get back to monitoring our surroundings, and there isn't aanother sneaky assailant.
When I get back to the position, I notice that Tess is attacking monsters that are further away, and Kim is focusing on throwing stones at the ones that are getting closer to the cave. Our frontline still hasn't gotten to fight, but as I see the smaller and smaller piles of stones, I know that it will happen soon. I send mana as far as I can and feel that there are even more monsters than at the start, even though so many of them have died.
How the heck is this clearable?
Did we do sothing wrong?
Are we that weak? Is it impossible to clear for a single strong individual, and the target of the First Floor is for all of us to get as strong as possible?
While probing with mana, I feel sothing familiar – the piece of amulet tied to the wolf.
What the fuck?
How is he still alive?
The low-level wolf monster rushes at us too and soon gets killed by one of the attacks.
As he dies, I feel a really weak pulse of mana from the piece of amulet I tied to its fur.
With my improved perception, I realize that it feels similar to the twins' connection, and it sends a ssage sowhere – a call if you will.
Damn.
I quickly check the tir, and there are still thirty minutes left.
The cave shakes, and dust starts falling down from the ceiling as so monsters begin attacking it.
There is already a fight at the front. Hadwin, Kevin, Maya, and the twins are fighting up close with the monsters, and I join them.
Imdiately, a goblin warrior jumps at , but I dodge and kick at his head while strengthening my body.
[You have defeated a Goblin warrior - lvl 6]
Another one – this ti, I grab the monster's neck and throw him into the horde of monsters, where he gets stomped to death.
[You have defeated a Goblin - lvl 5]
A burning wolf dashes at , but I absorb the kinetic energy of a few monsters around and push him into other monsters that also start burning.
Good.
They start moving closer with their bodies in flas.
Not good.
I absorb more and more energy and push them again, this ti as strongly as I can. Tess continues to grab dead burning bodies and flings them as far as she can.
A few burning monsters also try to get to Hadwin, but as soon as he turns to them, I feel his mana activating, and the flas around the monsters dissipate as if extinguished by a strong wind. The man continues to finish them off with a massive club in his hands.
So smaller monsters are able to get closer to him, but their attacks do not penetrate his skin at all, and I feel mana around his body.
Maya is holding a translucent pointy stick rather than a spear in her hand and keeps stabbing at the monsters. Calmly and every ti a monster gets closer to her, she either avoids it with her high dexterity or uses her armor created out of mana to absorb the attack.
Kevin continues to create explosions in the palm of his hands and reflects the attacks of the monsters. The stronger they attack, the stronger they are pushed back, but I see that it's taking a toll on him.
A toll on all of them. Especially the twins, who are already wounded in multiple places while fighting back to back against every monster that gets to them.
I activate my [Armant] and hold sothing more like a spike than a sword.
I continue to stab every monster that gets in my way, slowing them down and stabbing through their eyes and necks. Mana flows through my body, but I am being careful with its usage, knowing that the worst is yet to co.
A wolf jumps at Kevin while he is turned towards another monster, and I use my skill to slow it down in the air. Then I use absorbed energy to dash and hit the monster with my shoulder, pushing it away from Kevin.
“T-thanks,” he barely gets out of himself, once again fighting against another monster. There is sweat on his forehead.
More and more monsters get inside, and the wounds start accumulating.
Hadwin is limping, Maya isn't using her armor anymore, Kevin's reflection is weaker than before, and the twins are nowhere to be seen. Tess and Kim are barely able to throw so stones – only with their will do they keep themselves on their feet.
Then I feel a whisper of terrifying mana at the edge of my perception.
While other monsters are unnaturally quiet, one deep, low growl sounds in the surroundings, and we can hear it even inside the cave.
A bear's growl.
Monsters slow down and stop, then all of them at once turn towards one direction. I feel a wave of mana that scares
and reminds
of things I want to forget.
From one part of the forest, I notice flas that burn in a bright orange color. Soon sparks start glowing around the flas. Pushed by the wind, they move through the air and land on the monsters that are instantly set ablaze by them.
Tens, hundreds of monsters get burned to ashes in an instant, and then I spot the bear walking through the corpses while hot air flickers around.
He walks with a scarily confident stride.
[Cinderbear - lvl 25]
Its mana expands and covers a massive area, and then Cinderbear looks straight towards the cave.
Staring right at us.
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