Unfortunately for the small group of five, who were now left alone with the enormous white wolf that seemed capable of eating them on its own, Astaroth was not kidding.
He had grabbed Silent Light because, after a week of defending the small settlement, he had found out that there was more than one place from which the corruption was spreading now. That was also the reason Teraria and Arborea were weakening so much lately.
So he needed the Priest to close the tears. He left the defence to the small group. Hoping that they could at least be useful for a little while longer, with Genie and Kloud's help.
He had also finally found the time interval for the hordes, and he figured he had about another day before the hordes were too much to handle. By now, the hordes attacked about twice a day, nearing the three-times-a-day mark.
And it was still shortening. To make matters worse, the hordes were still becoming larger every time.
More and more of the monsters in the forest were becoming corrupted, and the result of that was that fewer and fewer normal ones were coming to help during the waves. Lately, there had been practically none.
It was common for the hordes to reach well over three hundred monsters now. This eventually pushed Kloud out of his slump when the threat of a stampede killing everyone he held dear was looming over him.
He was now back to his normal self, training the recruits every chance he had, and helping Astaroth defend the settlement as often as he was needed.
Astaroth had appreciated his help, since he was stretching thin, with the lack of proper sleep and nonstop fighting. Astaroth's power had improved over the last week.
Level-wise, he still hadn't moved, although the Exp he had gained was great. But he had made progress in other manners that weren't any worse than levels.
A lot of his spells now had at least one mastery level, if not more, and he was quite happy with his progress on that. But his biggest discovery had come through other means.
Through observing the corruption at work many times now, he had found out how it boosted the monsters' levels and stats. Of course, he couldn't replicate anything too similar, since there was no way the system would allow him to freely level up without Exp.
But he had found another use for this knowledge. With some practice, he could replicate the process of sublimation the corruption was forcing on the monsters, and gained a new ability.
He couldn't wait to try it in combat.
From a distance, Astaroth saw the horde of monsters making its way to the settlement. He lowered his head, shouting over the wind to Silent Light.
"I hope your escort isn't all talk. That horde looks quite vicious."
Silent Light looked at the horde of monsters, and his face paled, even though he wouldn't be fighting them. He had expected Astaroth to have said that to keep them on their toes, against maybe a hundred or two hundred enemies.
But now he saw the man had not been joking at all. From his estimation, there were over four hundred monsters in that horde.
Ranging from gigantic bears to wolves the size of compact cars, bats the colour of blood, and felines that looked like cougars or lynxes, the horde would send shivers down anyone's spine.
But Astaroth looked unfazed.
"I'm not sure anyone would be ok against that many enemies…"
"Nonsense. I have been fighting off hordes like that one, a smidge smaller maybe, for almost all week. They won't be alone, of course. Genie will help, and she has become plenty powerful. Plus, Kloud will also be there, and he is nothing to scoff at."
Silent Light did not know who Kloud was, but if Astaroth said his help was enough to help fight off a horde of four hundred monsters, then he had to be powerful. The fact alone that Astaroth said he had been pushing back monsters in these numbers for a week was already hard to swallow.
Astaroth took a long detour, to go around the horde of monsters, since he would not fight them this time. But once it was far enough, he hooked back to the right, and headed to where they had come from.
"I'll need you at your best, too, buddy. The tears I want you to close are no longer tears. One of them, I know for certain, is already a portal. I can also guess the others are like this, too.
"I estimate at least three portals, given how the hordes have been coming out faster and bigger, but it could be more. I also do not know if something will guard them.
"I'll do the fighting if there is any to do, but I will need you to focus on closing those portals as fast as possible. Their existence alone is a danger to this forest, and every inhabitant in it."
Silent Light nodded his head, his heart already beating fast inside his chest. The anticipation he was feeling was mixed in with angst at the unknown they were going to face.
What would happen if there were also hordes guarding the portals? Or worse, what if whatever lived on the other side of them guarded the portals?
Would Astaroth be strong enough to fight it back while he closed the portal? Would more of them come out and kill him while he was concentrating on sealing them?
Silent's palms filled up with sweat, as his mind started imagining scenarios, all worse than the previous one. Astaroth could feel the boy become agitated in his arms.
"Calm down, bud. I won't let anything happen to you. Have some faith in me, haha!"
Silent Light gulped down and nodded, trying to smile. But it resembled more a grimace than a smile, which made Astaroth burst into laughter even harder.
But he suddenly stopped laughing, becoming serious again.
"Hang on tight!" he yelled.
"Wha—"
Before Silent could end his phrase, Astaroth suddenly dropped toward the ground, sending all of Silent's organs upward inside his body, making him instantly nauseous.
He almost threw up when Astaroth suddenly jerked back straight again, hitting a high-G turn, making Silent Light almost faint.
The teenager wondered what was making him do all these maneuvers until he saw something explode in the air where they were headed previously.
A fireball the size of a small building engulfed the skies, tainting everything around in an orange glow.
"What the fuck?!" Silent Light shouted out loud, losing his facade of a cool person.
"We're here. Get ready."
That was the only answer Silent got from Astaroth, as he landed in a blast of dust and ash.
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