The roar nearly deafens me, and I can hear it even through my [Focus] as if it's not affected by it at all.
Seeing the monster's hand reaching up to me, I let go, and my body instantly falls to the ground much faster than it should, affected by the gravity field. The troll tries to stomp on me.
I absorb as much energy as I can and propel myself again, this time out of the field.
I roll a few times and absorb my own energy, then release a bit of it to make myself stand up faster. The remaining energy escapes into the surroundings.
The troll's attack once again hits the place where I stood, and a perfectly circular hole appears there.
Then I notice the troll's leg healing.
What the heck!
How is that fair?
I continue to run around, at least allowing other monsters to be hit by the troll's attacks while I think.
Its regeneration makes it even more annoying. I am sure I would be able to finish him off if given enough time but like this?
Tess throws a few normal stones at the Giant Troll, but as soon as they enter the area around him, they come crashing down.
So she does what I would have done.
Two ores, squashed by her skill into a shape resembling a thick spear, fly high into the air, both of them surrounded by red and white lightning that shines even brighter than the raindrops falling from the sky. They fly high over the troll, out of reach of his skill.
Then I feel mana from Tess, and the iron ores start glowing even brighter and falling down to the ground straight at the giant troll.
As they enter the area of his skill, they speed up even more, and a scary whistling noise cuts through the heavy rain.
They hit the troll's head as two massive bullets and a geyser of blood and bone explodes into the surroundings, followed by a lightning strike from the sky that hits the ores buried deep inside the monster's head, making it literally explode.
[You have defeated the Giant Troll - lvl 19]
The skill around the monster disappears, and I see Tess moving closer to the corpse to regain control over her now deformed weapons.
A few hours later, the rain becomes dangerous.
I notice that the raindrops are piercing through the skin of weaker monsters, like tiny, sharp bullets, and I can even feel them hurting my skin.
That makes most of the weaker monsters run away and hide, allowing us to regroup.
Everyone is dealing with it in different ways.
Tess and Kim just stop the raindrops from hitting them at all while keeping Lily close to them. Kevin continuously reflects them.
Hadwin, still alive and well, continues to get hit by the raindrops, but as they enter the area around him, the mana disappears from them, and they stop glowing, hitting him as normal raindrops would. A few more people are huddled close to him.
Maya moves around while surrounded by a now firmer-looking armor that covers even her head, and it doesn't seem to affect her either.
As for Sophie and Isabella, they stand under something I can describe as an umbrella made out of a bright orange fire. The area isn't that big, but it evaporates every drop of water close to it.
And me? I use it as an opportunity to train my [Armament].
It isn't as strong as Maya's, but even if it cracks in some places, I use my mana to fix it quickly.
The huge mana consumption seems to be a problem, so we continue to move back to the cave we used before. Hadwin knows the way, so we follow him.
A group of people that would go at each other's throats if given the opportunity, brought together only to have a stronger chance of survival.
Trust? What is that, can I eat it? There is none.
Friendship? Can it kill the Cinderbear?
Cooperation? I'm just using them, and they're using me.
We get closer to the cave after pushing through fewer and fewer monsters until there are none.
The rainfall is light and less dense, with fewer droplets, but it's even more dangerous. I've already given up on training my skill and just continue to absorb the kinetic energy from the raindrops, not enough to stop them, just enough to reduce the impact.
Hadwin, struggling to maintain his large-area skill against the intensifying rain, eventually reduces its scope with a surprised groan. The bus driver, Jacob, who stood at the edge, exits the area, and the rain falls on him at full power.
For a second, some sort of barrier appears around his body, but it's quickly destroyed, and the rain goes through his body like needles.
Hundreds of beautifully glowing raindrops tear apart his body in a second, and not even a scream escapes his mouth.
Hadwin doesn't slow down and just gives the body a glance before more drops of water turn it into a gory mess.
We enter the cave and at some point, use our strong bodies to dig even deeper as the rain starts piercing through the stone.
Terrifying hours pass, and then, after what feels like an eternity, the rain is gone, and the suns reappear in the sky.
It all changed in a split second.
Immediately, as if someone flipped a switch.
It disturbs me to my core, even more than the Cinderbear or the murderous rain.
Time slowly passes, and there are still no monsters.
One hour.
Two hours.
Three.
Not a single sound from the forest.
Some people start screaming at each other as their nerves reach a breaking point, but no one wastes more energy than necessary.
Everyone is preparing for what's about to come.
Everyone knows this is not the end.
Just the calm before the storm.
We continue to dig down and inside the cave. Maya and I use our skills to create something resembling a shovel. Tess and Kim tear stones from the cave walls. Kevin makes small explosions to get rid of larger stones, and others either move the dirt out or help as much as they can.
And the dog? He's still with me.
Even through the rain, he either stayed close to Tess or Kim and now he's using his mana tentacles made of purple mana to grab smaller stones and move them away.
The rain doesn't come; instead, I feel hundreds of mana signatures moving closer and closer to the cave. Not wanting to get trapped inside the tunnel we dug, I move to the entrance but realize there's nowhere to run.
All around us are hundreds, perhaps thousands of monsters.
All of them are quiet.
Wolves.
Goblins.
Trolls.
Spiders.
Bears.
They don't make a single noise, just stand there in a giant circle around us, staring in our direction.
Tess stops using her [Farsight], saying it's terrifying to look at.
Somehow, I become calmer, even without entering deeper into my [Focus].
So that's it.
A pretty lousy first floor. Zero out of ten.
Bury the entrance to the cave? They have trolls.
Push through? As far as I can sense, there are monsters, surely even beyond my range of perception.
I follow the pulse of Sophie's mana and stop in front of her.
"How many can you control?"
Another pulse towards the monsters.
"A few dozen at most, lower-leveled ones only. Or two to three stronger monsters."
That's not even close to enough.
"Okay, Tess, Kim, you will attack as soon as they push us. Use the stones we got when we dug the tunnel. Sophie, you will focus on controlling trolls, and try to make them attack others. Your sister will burn as many as she can when they get into her range. Tess can throw a few burning corpses into others after that."
I look around, and no one says anything; all eyes are on me, but this time I do look into the eyes of every one of them.
"When they get closer, we all will fight. The only one in the backline will be Lily."
Yes, I am still selfish. I need Lily to get my arm back, so as I said, I will try to protect her.
No one complains. Either because they do not bother or they also think that it's better not to have our healer die uselessly.
So we wait.
And wait for more.
We eat the last remaining bits of our food and finish up the water.
I feel calmer and calmer as time passes.
I did everything I could. I worked hard. I endured the pain.
Now I will fight until my body breaks.
I look at the countdown, and there's one hour left when the monsters attack.
Quietly, without letting out any sound.
The roar nearly deafens me, and I can hear it even through my [Focus] as if it's not affected by it at all.
Seeing the monster's hand reaching up to me, I let go, and my body instantly falls to the ground much faster than it should, affected by the gravity field. The troll tries to stomp on me.
I absorb as much energy as I can and propel myself again, this time out of the field.
I roll a few times and absorb my own energy, then release a bit of it to make myself stand up faster. The remaining energy escapes into the surroundings.
The troll's attack once again hits the place where I stood, and a perfectly circular hole appears there.
Then I notice the troll's leg healing.
What the heck!
How is that fair?
I continue to run around, at least allowing other monsters to be hit by the troll's attacks while I think.
Its regeneration makes it even more annoying. I am sure I would be able to finish him off if given enough time but like this?
Tess throws a few normal stones at the Giant Troll, but as soon as they enter the area around him, they come crashing down.
So she does what I would have done.
Two ores, squashed by her skill into a shape resembling a thick spear, fly high into the air, both of them surrounded by red and white lightning that shines even brighter than the raindrops falling from the sky. They fly high over the troll, out of reach of his skill.
Then I feel mana from Tess, and the iron ores start glowing even brighter and falling down to the ground straight at the giant troll.
As they enter the area of his skill, they speed up even more, and a scary whistling noise cuts through the heavy rain.
They hit the troll's head as two massive bullets and a geyser of blood and bone explodes into the surroundings, followed by a lightning strike from the sky that hits the ores buried deep inside the monster's head, making it literally explode.
[You have defeated the Giant Troll - lvl 19]
The skill around the monster disappears, and I see Tess moving closer to the corpse to regain control over her now deformed weapons.
A few hours later, the rain becomes dangerous.
I notice that the raindrops are piercing through the skin of weaker monsters, like tiny, sharp bullets, and I can even feel them hurting my skin.
That makes most of the weaker monsters run away and hide, allowing us to regroup.
Everyone is dealing with it in different ways.
Tess and Kim just stop the raindrops from hitting them at all while keeping Lily close to them. Kevin continuously reflects them.
Hadwin, still alive and well, continues to get hit by the raindrops, but as they enter the area around him, the mana disappears from them, and they stop glowing, hitting him as normal raindrops would. A few more people are huddled close to him.
Maya moves around while surrounded by a now firmer-looking armor that covers even her head, and it doesn't seem to affect her either.
As for Sophie and Isabella, they stand under something I can describe as an umbrella made out of a bright orange fire. The area isn't that big, but it evaporates every drop of water close to it.
And me? I use it as an opportunity to train my [Armament].
It isn't as strong as Maya's, but even if it cracks in some places, I use my mana to fix it quickly.
The huge mana consumption seems to be a problem, so we continue to move back to the cave we used before. Hadwin knows the way, so we follow him.
A group of people that would go at each other's throats if given the opportunity, brought together only to have a stronger chance of survival.
Trust? What is that, can I eat it? There is none.
Friendship? Can it kill the Cinderbear?
Cooperation? I'm just using them, and they're using me.
We get closer to the cave after pushing through fewer and fewer monsters until there are none.
The rainfall is light and less dense, with fewer droplets, but it's even more dangerous. I've already given up on training my skill and just continue to absorb the kinetic energy from the raindrops, not enough to stop them, just enough to reduce the impact.
Hadwin, struggling to maintain his large-area skill against the intensifying rain, eventually reduces its scope with a surprised groan. The bus driver, Jacob, who stood at the edge, exits the area, and the rain falls on him at full power.
For a second, some sort of barrier appears around his body, but it's quickly destroyed, and the rain goes through his body like needles.
Hundreds of beautifully glowing raindrops tear apart his body in a second, and not even a scream escapes his mouth.
Hadwin doesn't slow down and just gives the body a glance before more drops of water turn it into a gory mess.
We enter the cave and at some point, use our strong bodies to dig even deeper as the rain starts piercing through the stone.
Terrifying hours pass, and then, after what feels like an eternity, the rain is gone, and the suns reappear in the sky.
It all changed in a split second.
Immediately, as if someone flipped a switch.
It disturbs me to my core, even more than the Cinderbear or the murderous rain.
Time slowly passes, and there are still no monsters.
One hour.
Two hours.
Three.
Not a single sound from the forest.
Some people start screaming at each other as their nerves reach a breaking point, but no one wastes more energy than necessary.
Everyone is preparing for what's about to come.
Everyone knows this is not the end.
Just the calm before the storm.
We continue to dig down and inside the cave. Maya and I use our skills to create something resembling a shovel. Tess and Kim tear stones from the cave walls. Kevin makes small explosions to get rid of larger stones, and others either move the dirt out or help as much as they can.
And the dog? He's still with me.
Even through the rain, he either stayed close to Tess or Kim and now he's using his mana tentacles made of purple mana to grab smaller stones and move them away.
The rain doesn't come; instead, I feel hundreds of mana signatures moving closer and closer to the cave. Not wanting to get trapped inside the tunnel we dug, I move to the entrance but realize there's nowhere to run.
All around us are hundreds, perhaps thousands of monsters.
All of them are quiet.
Wolves.
Goblins.
Trolls.
Spiders.
Bears.
They don't make a single noise, just stand there in a giant circle around us, staring in our direction.
Tess stops using her [Farsight], saying it's terrifying to look at.
Somehow, I become calmer, even without entering deeper into my [Focus].
So that's it.
A pretty lousy first floor. Zero out of ten.
Bury the entrance to the cave? They have trolls.
Push through? As far as I can sense, there are monsters, surely even beyond my range of perception.
I follow the pulse of Sophie's mana and stop in front of her.
"How many can you control?"
Another pulse towards the monsters.
"A few dozen at most, lower-leveled ones only. Or two to three stronger monsters."
That's not even close to enough.
"Okay, Tess, Kim, you will attack as soon as they push us. Use the stones we got when we dug the tunnel. Sophie, you will focus on controlling trolls, and try to make them attack others. Your sister will burn as many as she can when they get into her range. Tess can throw a few burning corpses into others after that."
I look around, and no one says anything; all eyes are on me, but this time I do look into the eyes of every one of them.
"When they get closer, we all will fight. The only one in the backline will be Lily."
Yes, I am still selfish. I need Lily to get my arm back, so as I said, I will try to protect her.
No one complains. Either because they do not bother or they also think that it's better not to have our healer die uselessly.
So we wait.
And wait for more.
We eat the last remaining bits of our food and finish up the water.
I feel calmer and calmer as time passes.
I did everything I could. I worked hard. I endured the pain.
Now I will fight until my body breaks.
I look at the countdown, and there's one hour left when the monsters attack.
Quietly, without letting out any sound.
