At the danger zone, flocks of lion-head gators swarmed down on buildings, bringing them down to rubble. The buildings in the area behind the advancing swarm had been reduced to crumbles.
The explosive sound of a shotgun cracked relentlessly. The targets were blown along with a dozen of its swarm members. But it was a tiny effort to control the swarm of uncharted beasts. Never the less, Blue reaper continued shooting down at the swarm from a safe distance at the peak of a high-rise building.
Blue's Tiger sliced the head off a lion-head gator. He glared at the corpse of the uncharted beast—a 2-metre-long trunk and tail that resembled those of an alligator, but the head was nothing like it, as it resembled the head of a black-coloured adult male lion.
BOOM! Something crashed beside Blue's Tiger, and he instinctively turned his back and ducked his head, protecting his face and chest from the debris of the impact. Reverend of the blade groaned beside him. He was whipped across a distance by a lion-head gator using its tail.
Blue's Tiger noticed that Reverend's katana was not with him but was amidst the stampeding beasts, stuck in the ground. Controlling the beasts was now a massive headache because their numbers were ten times the previous number from previous raids. Blue's Tiger feared that these beasts were going to overrun the minicity and go to the next settlement in its path.
'Only after this minicity is overrun and poses a stronger threat to the next settlement will that stupid prince send reinforcements.
'I hate this country!' Blue's Tiger mused.
He had received news that the situation at the northern end was worse and that the swarm had migrated into the central area. The official armed forces of the settlement had no choice but to invest most of their resources in the northern part of the settlement to control the swarm.
Suddenly, a burst of red light blinded him, coming from the right. He shifted his attention to the direction of the light. The familiar silhouettes of Take down and Knock down stood, each of them gripping their light sabres within thick smoke in the centre of more than 400 carcasses of lion-head gators lying around them. Blue's Tiger recognised the attack—photon fission! The sisters charged out of the smoke and, from behind, into the swarm of beasts that failed to detect them.
Blue's Tiger felt a bit motivated. He saw a brawny man who had a pot belly appear beside Blue Reaper. He was a hunter who went by the name of Pension Gunner. He had a minigun and had chains of bullets stipped over him. He supported the Knife edge member with rapid gunfire. Beasts fell at a faster rate, and it seemed that the uncharted beasts would be resisted and vanquished within this area.
Blue's Tiger impromptu offered Reverend of the blade a hand and pulled him up to his feet.
"Follow me. Let's go get your katana and kill some damned beasts!" Blue's Tiger said to his comrade.
Reverend of the blade was hyped. He followed his comrade, and they both charged into the swarm. Reverend used his fists to fight since he had high vitality and hence enhanced strength.
####
"Get the civilians to safety within twenty-five minutes. The situation is barely being controlled," Niklas said to the two orcs in black uniform who were standing near the entrance.
One of the orcs went into the building and began to urge the people ahead in line to move quickly, reminding them of the dire situation.
Niklas was satisfied, and he sprinted away, towards the danger zone.
'I wish I had a bike. I would have used it to drive myself to the danger zone,' he mused as he sprinted at a speed of 60 km per hour.
####
At the southwest danger zone, the swarm of lion-head gators got more aggressive, making it difficult for the six top hunters to deal with. The beasts came close to toppling the building where Blue reaper and Pension gunner stood. It took the combined efforts of the duo and the rest of the Knife edge crew to keep the building standing. The building was used to set boundaries for controlling the swarm.
'The beasts have gotten more aggressive,' Blue's Tiger mused as he struggled to set free his Viking sword from the grips of the tails of three lion-head gators.
'And smarter!' He finally set his sword free and agilely eliminated the three beasts that were contesting against him with it.
To Blue's Tiger, the beasts around him seem to have realised that the source of his strength was his sword. His sword was a buff object, which improved his physical qualities, placing him five numbers ahead of Niklas.
Reverend of the blade swooped in to support the leader of his hunting clique, Blue's Tiger. He too noticed the anomaly in the uncharted beasts' behaviour.
Roar! Roar! Roar! The beasts at the base of the building where Blue reaper stood on screeched in pain as they were hacked up from the ground by a new hunter bearing a longsword. The hunter weaved his way through the front line, making nonsense of the beasts.
"What in the world!" Blue reaper paused and awed at the savage display.
"He is pushing back the beasts!" Pension gunner said excitedly. "I'm going in."
The pot-bellied man jumped down from more than 100 metres. Blue reaper still maintained her position and fired at the swarm.
Niklas arrival turned the battle in favour of humanity.
[You have a new mission!
Mission: Kill 100 lion-head gators. Status: 22/100.
Punishment: Nil]
Niklas saw the system interface appear in the corner of his view. It was not obstructing, but it looked like it was. He could focus on his surroundings while he read the information from the bar.
He and the other hunters went on a rampage. His presence had grown zeal within the minds of the other hunters, and they all participated with a strong desire to win.
Twenty minutes later, the swarm had been reduced to a number less than half the number it was before Niklas' arrival.
'This is very weird! The beasts are not retreating despite our domineering push!' Blue's Tiger was alarmed. He had a good deal of experience dealing with swarms of beasts under his belt. These gators were Rank C uncharted beasts, and when they faced domineering opponents, they instinctively retreated all the time. But now, it wasn't happening.
Meanwhile, Niklas had completed the mission some minutes ago.
[You have completed a mission!
Mission: Kill 100 lion-head gators. Status: 100/100.
Reward: 2 points added to the strength stat.]
He felt stronger, but at that moment he didn't have the luxury to check his general info. As soon as he completed the recent mission, he received a similar one.
[You have a new mission!
Mission: Kill 100 lion-head gators. Status: 2/100.
Punishment: Nil.]
Niklas knew not sword-bearing, but his enhanced physical qualities made up for him in battle.
Back to normal time, Niklas had pinned in place a lion-head gator with his left on its trunk, waiting for Pension gunner to ridicule the gator's head with bullets. Suddenly, the land trembled as Pension gunner aimed to shoot. Then, hundreds of pillars of earth sprang out from the land, knocking away the hunters and impaling hundreds of lion-head gators.
Pension gunner and Niklas lay on the ground unconscious, a good distance from where they originally stood. A huge pillar of earth ripped the building that Blue reaper stood on into two, a left and a right portion that later fell to the ground. Blue reaper survived the long fall, but she bruised her knees and elbows. Her shotgun was fine.
As she stood up, she noticed that Blue's Tiger, Reverend of the blade, and the twins were standing before her with their backs turned to her. They were looking at something. Unfortunately, she didn't have high perception. She was an awakened who had a regular system and high vitality. She peered into the dust ahead like her crewmates, and after a while, she saw a rank-A uncharted beast,
The lion-head bison!
The twins individually tucked away their deactivated light sabre into a holster on their waist belt. Individually, they clinched their fists, and it ignited a sustained red fire that burned over the fists. The twins were awakeneds attuned to the fire element!
Reverend of the blade was also an awakened person who just had a regular system that could appraise and identify objects and nutrients that would improve his body. He used his katana to make a cut on his shoulder. He let the katana blade into the cut and chanted,
"Ancient skill: Warrior's call! Take my blood and make me strong!"
The katana's blade absorbed some of his blood and grew four times thicker. His muscles became a bit thicker because of the spell.
Blue's Tiger clenched his sword tightly with two hands. Blue reaper retreated behind the crew, as she was the weakest. She pulled the safety catch, nervous but ready for action.