Chapter 54: Monster Wave
Alex moved closer to Lily’s position as he continued to effortlessly slaughter the Winged Bisons.
He saw them struggling against the beasts, and despite wanting to jump in immediately.
He deliberately waited for the fight to reach a critical point, hoping to swoop in at the last second and play the hero.
Just when Lily screamed and he was about to make his grand entrance, he saw Daisy and Lily’s shadows suddenly turn into dark tendrils that pulled them safely away.
More shadows abruptly appeared beside the Winged Bisons, binding them securely in place.
Then, he saw Night standing confidently in front of them, playing the defensive wall for the girls.
Noooo... You again...
Alex:
(〇□〇）
Then he watched Night glow green as he dashed around the immobilized monsters, killing them easily while that tiny monkey comforted the girls by chattering happily.
Sage:
@( ˶ˆ꒳ˆ˵ )@
He took a few deep breaths and told himself:
It was my fault.
I was too focused on them and forgot to check if someone else was coming to help...
Next time, I shall be more careful...
He turned around and resumed his slaughter, seeing that they were safe.
He knew strength was everything in this world, he knew his priorities...
...
[Ding!]
[You have slain Lvl 18 Winged Bison | +180 EXP]
[You have slain Lvl 19 Winged Bison (x2) | +360 EXP]
...
[Congratulations! You have reached Lvl. 17]
Level: 17 (EXP: 205/1800)
...
[You have slain Lvl 20 Winged Bison | +200 EXP]
Night immediately felt a blissful feeling wash over him, relaxing his tense muscles as he leveled up.
Night:
(-‿-)
Sage felt it too through their bond, but she didn’t show any outward reaction.
Using his shadow, he quickly swept the fresh corpses into the Nightmare Domain...
Seeing him, Lily immediately hid behind her sister. Daisy was the first to speak, looking at him gratefully. "I am...."
But Night interrupted smoothly, "Daisy, right? And she must be your sister, Lily?" he asked, pointing at the younger girl.
He knew their names because teacher had announced it during the duels this morning.
Daisy nodded in surprise. "Thanks for helping us."
Night waved his hand dismissively and said, "It’s fine, you guys were close by anyway."
Lily, finally gathering her courage, peeked out from her hiding spot behind her sister and stammered, "Tha... thank... youuu."
Sage immediately reached out and patted her chest reassuringly, which visibly relaxed the timid girl. It seemed Sage was very easy to be around.
Sage:
⊂@( ˘ᵕ˘ )@⊃
Night then asked something he had wanted to try earlier but hadn’t gotten the opportunity for: "Want to team up?"
Daisy blinked in surprise. "Are you sure? We are not very strong."
Night thought this was a wonderful way to reduce the chances of exposing his unique abilities. Plus, he was much better at working within a team anyway...
"No, your green flame thingy was very strong," Night encouraged.
"If your sister has something similar, we can easily work together."
"I will focus on finishing the Winged Bisons while you guys make sure to keep them distracted, together with Sage here," he said, gently patting Sage’s head.
This way, Sage might be safer as well... Night thought.
Agreeing to his logic, they grouped up and moved to attack.
....
A tiny white monkey, closely followed by lively green flames, jumped fearlessly into a small horde of Winged Bisons.
The beasts immediately retaliated, attacking the monkey with rock-shaped spears, heavy stone balls, and earth bullets.
Using the distraction, Night jumped into action.
He moved through the horde like a reaper, effortlessly killing the confused Winged Bisons with smooth slashes.
He dodged their frantic attacks with a fluid ease that didn’t just come from his recent level-ups.
He remembered Sage’s description:
[White Monkey - They are agile and cunning. They possess a strong tail that can be used like a whip. They can "monkey" anything. (≧◡≦)]
He realized he was definitely feeling much smarter and physically more agile than before. He didn’t have a tail to test the whip part.
Also, he wondered what the "monkey anything" part meant, maybe it meant mimicking?
He would try to figure that out later.
In no time, the fight was over. The scattered corpses were covered in scorch marks and clean cuts.
Sage ran back to him, looking incredibly joyful.
Eeek eek!
(We won! We won!)
୧@( Ò ᴥ Ó )@୨
Daisy and Lily walked over, both of them looking genuinely happy.
Daisy said in awe, "You dodge so well!"
When Night looked at the corpses, Daisy quickly added, "You can keep the bodies of the monsters. You did most of the close-combat work anyway."
Night wasn’t sure if he should accept and was about to politely reject...
But Lily also chimed in softly, "Plea...se. Kee...p it."
Night didn’t insist further and seamlessly moved the corpses into his Domain.
He checked the system notifications.
[Ding!]
[You have slain Lvl 18 Winged Bison (x5) | +450 EXP]
[You have slain Lvl 19 Winged Bison (x3) | +285 EXP]
[You have slain Lvl 20 Winged Bison (x2) | +200 EXP]
Level: 17 (EXP: 1160/1800)
Holding his chin thoughtfully, Night mused: I received only half the usual EXP because it was a team effort, but it’s still better since I got to keep all the corpses.
And fighting like this is much, much safer as well.
Suddenly, the sound of a war horn brought him sharply out of his thoughts.
Daisy immediately said in a panic, "It’s a monster wave!"
Night nodded seriously, scooped up Sage, and ran with the girls closer to the safety of the city wall.
Standing near the base of the wall, he looked out and saw tens of thousands of the same Winged Bisons they had just fought, pouring out of the dense forest in massive droves.
This was completely out of his league.
Seeing the endless stampede of Winged Bisons, followed by a terrifying barrage of different shapes and sizes of rock bullets, spears, boulders, and spikes raining down, he felt genuine chills run down his spine.
He looked up at the wall, seeing that the teacher didn’t seem inclined to interfere just yet.
Taking a deep breath, he readied himself. He looked at the girls; this time, both of them were shivering uncontrollably.
He completely understood. Unlike him, who had the luxury of possessing an adult’s memories, they were just kids.
He seamlessly entered his meditative stealth state and said in a profoundly calm, steady voice, "Prepare your flames and go all out."
Seeing him so preternaturally calm, they managed to calm down as well.
In his arms, Sage squirmed a little. She didn’t have a reliable way to finish off the monsters; she could only make them chase her around to distract them.
...
Just as the massive horde was about to reach their sector, Alex, who was stationed a little farther away was about to move toward Lily to act as her valiant guardian and finally make her see the light.
Suddenly, the shadows in the region deepened unnaturally, and a horse-sized headless black wolf appeared right in front of Night’s group, radiating a terrifyingly menacing aura.
Alex’s movements paused. Forget about him, even the charging monster horde paused for a second upon sensing its apex aura.
Why?!
Can you not suck for just one minute, you pretty boy?!...
Have you never loved someone?
You already have such a cute summon to bother with, and if you want, you can even have her stuck-up older sister...
Why won’t you just leave Lily alone?!
Why won’t you let me save her just once?!
Is it too much to ask?!
In pure, unadulterated annoyance, Alex glared at the approaching horde and violently activated his sword intent.
"You all have come at a very bad time...."
Then, he charged headfirst into the horde like a maniac.
This was the day Alex leveled up the most...
....
Just before the horde had reached them, Night had received a sudden telepathic message from Sara, saying it was okay to call Lucy out into the open.
With a twitch of his lips, he thought, I got found out again.
( ￣～￣;)
He called for Lucy.
She emerged from his shadow, purposefully covering her head in dark shadows, making her look like a headless wolf, which scared the girls and the kids around her.
Lily pointed a shaking finger at Lucy. "Wha... whaaat is tha... thaaat?!"
Even Daisy took a nervous step back.
Laughing lightly, he patted Lucy’s back and said, "She is my friend. Her name is Lucy... I promise she won’t bite."
Understanding that it was simply his summon, they relaxed significantly, probably because they had already grown comfortable around the harmless-looking Sage.
Lily even chuckled a little, mustering the courage to make a joke. "You kinda need teeth to do that."
Night shook his head, thinking to himself, She may not be able to ’bite’ right now, but she can definitely swallow you in one gulp if you annoy her too much...
He looked down at his tiny black knife and thought, I really need a bigger weapon.... a sharp axe would be good...
Night:
( ・_・)ノ🪓
He picked up the paperweight-sized Sage and placed her on top of Lucy’s back. For now, she was just not suited for this kind of large-scale warfare...
Lily and Daisy both brought out red staffs with glowing red crystals affixed to the top.
Looking at them sweating profusely just from holding the weapons, he realized he wasn’t the only one suffering from energy issues...
It was always nice to meet kindred spirits...
Just then, the front line of the horde that reached their area abruptly paused as their shadows twisted into dark hands, locking them firmly in place...
Night yelled, "Attack!!!!"
The students used this golden opportunity to bombard the immobilized Winged Bisons.
He used [Wind Dash] to close in on a Winged Bison, closely followed by the sisters’ green fires, which were now twice their previous size and burning significantly hotter.
[Ding!]
[You have slain Lvl 19 Winged Bison | +190 EXP]
Level: 17 (EXP: 1350/1800)
After efficiently executing the stuck Winged Bison, he activated [Wind Overdrive] and blurred toward another one, killing it cleanly as well before moving on to the next beast.
[Ding!]
[You have slain Lvl 19 Winged Bison (x2) | +380 EXP]
Level: 17 (EXP: 1730/1800)
As he fought, he couldn’t help but think: Maybe if Sage had a proper weapon, she could be of more help... I wonder what kind of weapon she would like...
(o_O)?
