Kate introduced herself and her groupmates, and Ignis followed suit, introducing himself and Ethyn. He continued to speak in a serious tone, acknowledging the validity of Kate's plan.
"Your analysis is correct, and your plan would have been successful if the monsters surrounding us had come here to surround us of their own free will. However, these monsters are here because of that scream, and I think that Ethyn is right: that scream was not just for show. It might be the guardian's skill, and all these monsters are under its control."
Ignis paused after speaking those words, as if the conclusions he had just drawn were merely hypotheses. He continued after a moment of silence.
"So no matter which direction we choose to escape in, we'll be facing an uncountable number of monsters."
Kate processed the information and came to the conclusion that they were in for a long and difficult battle. Despite this, she spoke up: "Shouldn't we try to move towards the north? There may be a better chance for us to escape that way."
Rex chimed in, adding his thoughts to the discussion. "Yes, that would be our best option. We had planned to head north from the beginning anyway."
At that moment, an excited voice interrupted the discussion. "Isn't it better for us to hunt down the monsters and get some loot?" Everyone turned their heads to see Ethyn, who was looking at them with an innocent and hopeful expression as if expecting them to agree to her proposal.
Ignis also glanced at Ethyn, taking in her innocent and expectant expression, and couldn't help but think, 'Does she not even care about the warnings she might be receiving?'
As Ignis thought about the potential rewards of taking down the monsters, he couldn't resist giving Ethyn a thumbs up and voicing his agreement. "Great idea! We'll be gaining tonnes of experience points!" His eyes sparkled with a hint of lunacy as he spoke about the potential gains.
The rest of the group was incredulous. They were struggling just to survive, and yet Ignis and Ethyn were already thinking about loot and experience points.
However, Ignis wasn't deterred by the group's lack of enthusiasm. "If we want to make it out of here alive, we should take this opportunity and hunt these monsters down. We can't afford to let it slip by."
He continued, "Besides, we don't even know if we'll be able to escape. Why not take down these monsters, earn some system points, and use them to buy something good from the trading area that might help us?"
The group remained silent, all eyes on Kate. Whatever decision she made, they were ready to face the consequences.
Kate knew she had to make the decision, but she also knew she had to consider her group's condition. Despite being together for only four days, her groupmates had complete trust in her, and she didn't want to let them down.
As she thought about Ignis and Ethyn's proposal, she couldn't help but notice her group's fatigue. They needed rest to restore their stamina, and engaging in a battle right now might not be the best idea.
She also found it strange that despite their intense battle, none of them had any visible injuries such as bleeding or broken bones. But she pushed aside that thought for now, as their current situation was more pressing.
Turning towards Ignis, she spoke in her angelic voice, with a trace of fatigue, "I understand the opportunity, but we're low on stamina. Engaging in a battle right now might not be the best idea for us."
As soon as Kate spoke about their low stamina, Ethyn's urgent voice interrupted them, "Guys, they're coming!"
Kate observed the movements in the forest and knew that they had no choice but to fight.
As they looked in different directions, Ignis took charge and assigned everyone a position. "Supporter in the centre. Shield guy and Kate are on the left side. Ethyn and the vine girl take the back, and I'll be taking the right. We'll form a triangle to fight."
With the positions assigned, they all nodded in agreement, preparing for the imminent battle.
Unfortunately, Zen's talent was on cooldown, making him anxious about his inability to contribute to the upcoming fight. "My talent is on cooldown; I won't be able to help!" he exclaimed.
Ignis immediately asked, "How much time until cooldown, and what's your talent?"
Kate gave Zen the go-ahead to share, and he revealed, "It can double the attributes for three minutes, and the cooldown time is half an hour."
Ignis was impressed by Zen's support ability and understood how they had managed to handle the guardian. He patted Zen's shoulder and spoke in a cheerful tone, "Nice buff you got there. You'll be very helpful when the cooldown is over, so just chill in the center for now."
He then looked towards Kate and continued, "Oh! and yeah, add us to the group."
And soon Ignis and Ethyn were added to the group.
Everyone was surprised when they saw Ignis and Ethyn's level in the group interface and somewhat more reassured.
_______________
Ignis (Level 9)
Kate (Level 8)
Ethyn (Level 7)
Rex (Level 7)
Hannah (Level 7)
Zen (Level 6)
_______________
"Dodge!!" Ignis saw four rays flying towards the group and shouted, but before anyone could react, the rays had already reached them. Rex quickly deployed two shields, but he couldn't block the other two. Ignis, seeing the impending attack, swiftly grabbed his kusarigama and used his skill [stinger] to neutralize the rays.
There was a loud bang as the rays hit the shields and kusarigama, but they couldn't harm anyone.
"Get into position!" Ignis reminded everyone, and they quickly got into formation.
Suddenly, the ground began to quake more violently beneath their feet, and the sound of stampeding monsters grew louder and more terrifying by the second. The group could feel their hearts pounding in their chests as the pressure from the hundreds of charging creatures bore down on them like an unstoppable force, threatening to overwhelm and crush them in an instant.
Everyone was tense and serious, except for Ignis, who suddenly started laughing like a maniac. He began shouting and swinging his kusarigama around, looking like he was relishing the impending battle.
"hahahaha!"
"This will be a blast."
Upon uttering those words, Ignis sprinted towards the incoming horde of monsters. Observing the level and ranks of the monsters, which ranged from level 3 to 5, and all being of bronze rank, he knew that this was merely the first wave, just to test the water.
The group was taken aback as they watched Ignis charge alone towards the horde of monsters.
Kate, who too saw this, turned to Ethyn and asked, "Is he going to be okay?"
Ethyn responded with a chuckle: "I would worry about those pitiful monsters who are about to face him."
The group couldn't keep their attention solely on Ignis, as the horde of monsters was now closing in on them.
As he charged towards the horde of monsters, Ignis swung his kusarigama with a flurry of horizontal and vertical attacks, seamlessly combining them into an infinity-shaped strike that struck multiple monsters at once. His weapon moved with such speed and precision that he struck one monster after another without any of them coming close to him.
The sound of Ignis' kusarigama striking the monsters' bodies echoed through the forest, and every third consecutive took the lives of multiple monsters simultaneously.
Bodies after the body was disintegrating, and group notifications were ringing like music to their ears as Ignis killed the monsters.
Soon the whole group was engaged in a battle with the monsters. Kate used her firey sword, which was dull compared to her grey-orange inferno, as this fire was just the tip of the iceberg of the talent she had.
Rex built every shield to defend Kate from the monsters' attacks; because of his low stamina, he wasn't helping in the attack but rather in the defence.
Hannah and Ethyn appeared to be playing a game as they used their respective skills to great effect. Hannah used her vines to create distractions and confusion among the monsters, while Ethyn unleashed swift and deadly strikes, easily taking out each monster with a single hit.
As the group massacred the monsters ranging from level three to level five, the only sound that could be heard was the notification of experience points gained from various kills. Zen, who was seemingly doing nothing but still gaining experience, began to see these monsters as the holiest beings in the universe. Surprisingly, this was not only Zen's thought, but the entire group had started to view these monsters with a newfound reverence.
As the wave continued, Hannah spoke to Ethyn with a cheerful and respectful tone, "This feeling is amazing!"
Ethyn, turning her face towards Hannah, continued to shoot arrows at the monsters with a smug expression on her face, "There's soooo! Much loot and experience!"
The wave of monsters lasted for more than five minutes, with monsters ranging from levels three to five appearing without end, like endless rain.
The battle raged on, with the group fighting off the never-ending swarm of monsters. Kate swung her fiery sword, igniting the air with each stroke and sending sparks flying in all directions. Rex summoned shield after shield, using all of his strength to protect Kate from the onslaught of monster attacks.
Ignis continued his rampage, striking down multiple monsters after another with his kusarigama. And Hannah and Ethyn worked together, Hannah using her vines to distract and entangle the monsters while Ethyn picked them off one by one with her arrows.
As the minutes ticked by, the group began to feel fatigue set in. Their muscles ached, and their breath came in ragged gasps. But still, they fought on, driven by the thrill of the battle and the promise of loot and experience.
Despite quickly receiving a lot of experience points, the group hadn't gained enough to level up yet. As the hoard of monsters began to thin out, the first wave of the battle ended.
The battlefield was divided into three areas. Kate and Rex fought on one side, looking serious as they battled against the monsters.
On the second side, Ethyn and Hannah fought with joy and greed evident in their eyes.
Meanwhile, on the third side, where Ignis was, the air was thick with the smell of burning and charred monster corpses. Ignis stood amidst the carnage, his usual lunatic laugh echoing in the air as he continued to kill monsters left and right.
Everyone soon looked towards the piled-up loot.