As he finally saw the wolf person die, he sighed in relief before spewing out more blood.
Then, like a cigarette butt in a forest, Ran burst into white-pink flames as the familiar cold sensation healed him up in a jiffy.
"Phew." Ran exhaled as he looked at himself. His clothes had holes and other various cuts all over. He balled his hands into fists before realizing something.
"Uh… where's my breastplate?" He searched his pendant and found it. "S**t!" So you're telling me I could've avoided those holes in my clothes this whole time!? Forget about my chest hole, my clothes… my precious clothes!
He sighed in resignation of his own stupidity before he began to do something.
Yes, to the bewilderment of everyone around him, he began stripping… again. For real this time. He couldn't fight knowing his clothes were in such condition as it broke his non-existent heart to see it like that.
Luckily, with the help of his other peers, he has about ten seconds before another enemy would pick a fight with him.
So, while everyone saw his heart-printed undergarment, he swapped to one of the extras he had Max enchant; luckily he had thought of that.
…
"What do you mean showing your *ss is a good strategy!?" Bob's four ears twitched and moved about in a flurry of anger and confusion as he heard what Ran told him.
After fighting for a total of three hours (at exactly three PM), the first respite was initiated. It will last for an hour and the horde will resume at four. The second and final respite will start at six PM and will last for half an hour. Then the final rush will continue until eight.
So it can be said that the horde is split into three acts and each one is harder than the last as more powerful beings will still be alive and everyone will have less and less energy.
"Of course it's a good strategy, just look at how it turned out." Ran proudly stood by his ridiculous decision and looked to Ann for support.
"Bob, you can't lie, it worked really well. Plus, it only worked with Ran BECAUSE of his *ss!" Ann stood to his defense like a loyal guard while he was the back nodding his head continuously. He felt happy that Ann was praising his bum and could even feel the worship in her tone. He was very satisfied. After all, who doesn't like praises?
"What!? You two…" he looked at the two of them and ended letting out a sigh of defeat. Why was he even friends with these two? To that, he would never find out the answer until….
"Speaking of strategies, why are you in all black?" Ran shook his head at Bob. He didn't dislike black, but in this desert, it was torturous.
Aha! So it was Bob, this ba***rd, who wore all black in the desert!
"Brother, how else am I supposed to get the Great Fireball's nourishment without succumbing to its godly power?" Bob just looked at Ran in confusion as if everything he said made perfect sense.
"I can only passively absorb it through this black clothing."
"Nourishment?" Ann was confused as to what he meant exactly. How can you absorb its nourishment if you're blocking it with your clothes?
"Ah! My mistake sis-ter. Its warmth is what I seek as where I come from, the Fireballs like to evade us, so we can only helplessly follow. But here, in the light land, the Great Fireball nourishes all and is unexpectedly too strong. So, I can only wear this as a filter to get my nourishment. As for the desert, it just helps me warm up even more! Now I'm all warm and cozy." He hugged his robes and smiled innocently, his pearly whites blinding the both of them.
Pssh, stop trying to sound more sophisticated than you really are, Bob. That was even more confusing and weird than the way I thought it would go.
Ann swore to never ask questions to this person ever again as it would only make her more confused.
And Ran had already moved on and focused on other things. He took out an elixir from his pendant and looked at it.
The glass exterior was a round, spherical, bottom with a tubular top. The end of the tube then stretched outwards and slightly cupped inward. Additionally, the glass tube seemed to be of a different make up then the rest as it felt more rubbery and had some give as well as some springiness.
The inside was filled with a glittery green fluid that sloshed around when shaken. The green fluid was so viscous that if poured, just a single string has enough bondnage to pull the rest of the fluid along with it.
He opened it and a medicinal smell suddenly filled the tent they laid. He rubbed his nose as he studied it.
This was something he and Ann bought yesterday for this exact time. Unfortunately, due to the nature of his ability, the amount of usage and wastage that came with it was higher than others. Basically, Ran had used a lot of his energy and was only left with just a little bit more than half or roughly around sixty percent.
And that's what this elixir is for. It didn't give more energy and in a sense was similar to using cores for progression. Basically, like how a beast core can increase the speed of purification of the soul and its juice, the elixir increases the speed of recovery of that juice; not to mention its effects will last a whole day.
Ran, luckily, knew how to operate such a "complicated" invention. He pulled off the cork that stopped the contents from spilling and promptly lifted it.
Yet, instead of putting it to his mouth and drinking the fluid, he lifted it higher, all the way to his forehead. Once there, he carefully put the edge of the end and then pushed the whole end to his forehead. Like that, with its special cupped form, it became like a suction cup and firmly stuck to his forehead.
"Look, Ann!" He bobbed his head and the rubbery-like tube caused the whole thing to bob up and down, all around, in a may I even dare say… PHALLIC manner.
"Pfft." Ann burst into a full cackle as she made fun of Ran right in his face.
The sparkly green liquid finally seemed to have noticed his forehead and flowed into it. Yes, right into it! It flowed slowly and it seemed heavy, yet, Ran only felt it go straight into his core. Then, feeling his soul, he felt his recovery rate had easily doubled if not more!
With this, recovering to over eighty percent is a sure fire thing to happen before the next act begins.
Bob laughed along too, but when Ann stared daggers right into his soul, he quieted down. Only I can make fun of his Tiny Holiness! Hmph, maybe I'll be slapping someone else's cheeks tonight as well.
After everyone treated their wounds, Ran got out another thing. He had gotten an idea, but he wanted to do it here in case it did not work out.
What did he take out?
Of course, it was his clothes! His bloodied and torn clothes to be exact. What did he want to do?
Hmm, wait a second, I have to go inside Rans head to find out.
Okay, hmm. Oh, ah… I see, I see. S**t! He's thinking of doing that!? But… but, how would that even work?
What did he want to do? It's simple, he wants to "heal" his clothes! This ba***rd, clothes aren't even alive fool! How would you even heal that!?
Poof.
His clothes were set aflame, the white-pink flames dragging Bob's and Ann's attention over.
"Hmm, I didn't know it was cold." Ann, who was close to him, felt the coldness the flames emitted and pondered, though the Sakura aroma caused an instinct to well up in Ann. She spread out her nostrils to suck up as much air as possible.
The blood that was caked onto the clothes turned into crumbs before turning into dust and floated away with the wind. When the clothes were free of the flames, it sparkled like it had just been made and all the stains, tears, and holes were cleared. The threads were as they were and everything radiated the air of something new.
What, it actually worked!? Okay, fine, Ran. Your author thought you a fool and was slapped in the face.
"Eee…" Ran screamed like a little girl who saw a beautiful dress before he hugged his clothes with tears in his eyes. Gah, I thought I lost you….
…
After the respite was over, the horde resumed with a force greater than before.
Now, Ran almost fought rank-7s exclusively. The rest of the rank-8s grouped up and fought each other in large teams, though he didn't join.
After fighting another dozen or so wolves (both kinds), he had already consumed what he healed in the respite and about half an hour had passed by.
After killing the most recent opponent, he felt a chill crawl up his spine. He looked around and noticed nothing out of the ordinary. Then, he looked up.
What he saw shook him to his core.
There, in the sky, hovering above him was a blood-red cloud that echoed with maniacal laughter. And he swore he could hear the sound of thunder as well. Its thirty square feet size towered over him as it followed his every move, silent as ever.
"Uh… since when was that there?" Ran looked up at the sky in sheer horror, but he failed to notice something.
What was that something?
Well… hmm, how do I put it? If I was to describe it, it would probably go something like this; a giant f**king axe was about to split him in two!
F**k! I should've known better than to distract our mc in the middle of a battlefield.
Wait… I know how to fix this! Phew, here goes nothing.
As Ran was contemplating the significance of the blood cloud, a slight and invisible ripple in space appeared behind him.
Suddenly, and with a slight jerking motion, Ran suddenly blacked out. Oops, wrong wording. His eyes blacked out.
Then, he felt a slight sensation in the back of his head, like something was brushing up against it.
He opened his eyes again, and his vision cleared up. In fact, it cleared up significantly!
Is this the legendary 8k resolution!? Finally, no more 1080p?!
Wait a minute… Why was everything backwards!?
What Ran saw, as dictated by the words above, was whatever was behind him! Did he grow eyes in the back of his head?
Wait another minute… why was there a big*ss axe hurling towards me!?
His eyes widened, which ones are unknown, before he jumped up three meters into the air. He then extended legs outwards and the axe passed right under him. The axe barely ended up cutting a little of his trousers, causing Ran to curse out.
But he had more important matters right now.
Ignoring the axe and the bulky wolf who threw it, he looked behind him in search of his new "eyes". When he looked behind himself, he realized the back of his head moved along with him! Such mischievousness! He was determined to catch it off guard, however, and continued to try to surprise the back of his head in an effort to find them.
The bulky wolf who saw thus was immediately confused. When he saw Ran dodge the axe, he was excited to have found a worthy opponent, yet the current scene caused him to second guess himself.
"Ah, it seems he's already gone insane. A pity, those senses of his are quite sharp." The wolf person shook his head as he looked at Ran.
This actually reminded him of some of his brothers who, as kids, would try to catch their own tails only to fail miserably every time.