The insect-like monsters spread around, as if in a formation, and kept distance between each other. It was like they moved that way just to ensure that Kaede's attack wouldn't damage all of them.
"Huh? Cheeky insects. Doing that wouldn't change your fate!" Kaede shouted as she sent a wave of black lightning to the one at the leftmost side.
*BUZZZZZZ!* *CRACKLE!*
Her attack did hit and kill the target, but only one of the dozens of insects fell from her attack. Seeing that, a frown covered her face immediately.
The insects moved close to the ground but didn't land. Instead, they were flying around in a circle, surrounding Kaede.
"Tsk!"
Clicking her tongue, Kaede quickly covered her body with black lightning, creating something like a black cage surrounding her. With just one look, it was obvious that anyone who came close to it would be bathed in a rain of powerful black lightning.
The insects seemed to be aware of the danger of the black cage, but despite that, one after another, they came diving in and attacking her. Just before they got electrocuted, they swung their scythes. Kaede dodged lightly, but each succeeding suicide attack was coming closer and closer to her.
After the sixth suicide attack, Kaede's clothes over her stomach were cut long cut.
"Kaede!"
Seeing that she was starting to struggle, unable to launch an attack carelessly, I turned to everyone and nodded my head. Even without talking, all of us shared the same wish: to help Kaede!
I rushed forward, swinging the lance at the weak spot between the wings as usual. As the insect's movements were quite quick, it was hard to aim properly, but I still managed to squeeze the lance through.
*SCREEEEEECH!*
As one of them fell, half of the insects turned to face us, stopping in place. Their encirclement broke, freeing Kaede.
"Over here!" I quickly called while parrying an incoming scythe. "We need to regroup first!"
As soon as she saw us come close enough, she quickly dispersed her black lightning cage. Of course, she didn't waste the skill but instead used it to try and electrocute some of the insects.
Still, due to them being quite scattered around, only two of the few dozen monsters left got hit. The opening her attack made was enough for her to reach the middle of our formation and move beside Mina, Toki, and Lily.
With her joining us, our formation became quite unbalanced. We have too many backline fighters and only two vanguards! At this rate, we wouldn't be able to defend all sides when we get surrounded.
Looking around, I quickly noticed a protruding building. It was half destroyed, but the walls seemed to be strong enough. "Let's go there, quick!"
With a wall behind us, we can at least limit the direction in which we'll get attacked. As usual, running through the rubble was hard. Due to that reason, the insects quickly caught up to us and attacked.
*CLANG!*
Matching its timing, I swung the lance and let the scythe swerve to the side, missing its target. The rubble flew, raising a cloud of dust with it. As if using that to their advantage, a horizontal swipe of another scythe came, aiming to cut me in half.
I was vigilant, so I quickly held the lance vertically, stopping the scythe. "Ugh!" But the force was too much, sending me flying a few meters away from the group.
"Ruin!"
"Mahiro!"
"G-Guild Master!"
Three voices echoed, relaying their worry for me. I quickly used the rolling force to jump back to my feet, but I could feel that my back, legs, and arms got bruised from rolling on the rough terrain.
"I'm fine! Focus on the battle!" I quickly replied before waving the spear again.
These insects seemed to have learned tactics, as they're now using layered attacks, but they're pretty repetitive. The same pattern of vertical strike followed by horizontal was tried against me, but of course, I wouldn't fall for the same trick twice.
"Haap!" Right after fending off the vertical slash, I used the back of its arm to jump up, reaching its back instantly. While in the air, I focused my eyes as I stared at the space between the wings. "Take this!"
With a single thrust, the lance went in about a few inches. It was a little short of being fatal, but that wasn't my intention anyway. Using the lance that was embedded as a jumping point, I returned to where the girls were.
'... But I lost my weapon now.'
Technically, it was Kyouya's weapon, but anyway, I could only grab my trusty scythe-dagger from storage.
We were under siege for quite a while, taking down a few while we were at it, but we still couldn't clear up everything at all. We were essentially stuck in place, unable to move.
"At this rate, we'll just get tired and fail sooner or later!" Toki roared, firing another one of her fireballs. However, the monsters were seemingly smarter, dodging the attack before it was even fired.
Toki's words were on point, but we can't do anything in our situation. Kaede, the most powerful in our group, was technically unable to clear them all at once, two or three at most in a single attack. However, their reinforcements come in dozens, so it's literally nothing but a drop in the bucket.
Right as I was starting to feel the gravity of our situation, a prominent green window, the first I had ever seen, appeared floating before me. As I dodged another attack and slashed at the monster's eyes, Toki's fireball flew, aiming for its head, killing it. During the short respite, I quickly read what was written on the display.
[
EMERGENCY QUEST!
Content: Find the portal leading to the other world and destroy it.
Reward: End of the First Alien Invasion
]
It was concise, but the content made me rub my eyes in doubt. A quest? The nanomachines, through the system, actually issued a quest?!
"What the hell is that?!"
Even Kaede, who has the highest level among us, was looking at the green window in doubt. Still, the general rule of humans says that nanomachines can't lie, so that means what was written on the screen was true.
'The fact that the others could see this means it's not some form of illusion, or a hallucination, at least.'
I was dodging another attack before pinning down the scythe, keeping the insect monster in place. As if waiting for that opportunity, Mina fired three times, creating three thumb-sized holes in the head, the chest, and the middle of the neck.
As the monster fell, I quickly looked back at the green window and gulped. This is technically the first-ever quest offered by the system, as far as I know. "Alright, I accept!"
As soon as I showed my agreement, the window turned from green to light yellow, indicating an ongoing quest, I think. As it changed within my vision, a large arrow appeared, pointing toward the center of the field.
"This... There's even an auto-guiding mechanism in place?" I was feeling that the nanomachines are being a little too generous here.
"Or... is this invasion something that the nanomachines didn't expect?"
From the way it phrased the quest description, it seems like it wants us to "stop" this invasion from its root cause. Furthermore, there's the word "first" used there, indicating that there'll probably be a second, a third, and so on.
Well, I can't extract any more information from such a short message.
"For now, let's try and head to where this glaringly large arrow is pointing!"
While defending against the onslaught of the attacking insects, I explained the content of the quest. As soon as I was done, everyone quickly said their own piece.
"We should go there now. The sooner we stop this invasion, the lower the casualties will be!"
"Hiro, I think we should retreat. Who knows how dangerous that place would be?"
"I'll follow Ruin's decision. After all, I'm a healer, so I would come with those who are going to places where more danger is present."
"Let's go. I bet we can earn more experience fighting near the source!"
"You made a powerful lance for me, so I'll be following you until I've repaid the favor~!"
It was 4 to 1, letting the "go to the portal" group win. Even Kaede, after seeing that she was the only one who didn't want to proceed, shrugged her shoulders while sighing. Seeing that there's no one against it anymore, I nodded.
"Then, Hailey, go forward and break open a path for us! With your lance, I'm sure you can do it!"
"Roger!"
"Lily, focus on healing any and all damage to Hailey. I don't care if you overheal; just make sure she doesn't get too injured."
"Got it!"
As soon as our little discussion ended, Hailey aimed her lance forward, a swirl of energy rotating at its tip. With a single, strong step, she went forward, clashing against the swarm of monsters!