Chapter 73 Monster Outbreak [1]
Special Note:
Raizar the trash maker is here.
If you find this novel anywhere other than Webnovel then congratulations, you are reading in some pirated site.
Anyway, just... use fast pass. I don't mind. But, please don't read in pirate sites. I hate those sites. And I certainly never allowed my novel to be posted there.
Maybe you said "Oh, this author only write for money!"
No, I said. You can just use fast pass. If you want to join my privileges, then I am happy to get some penny from your support. I only uploaded a day, you can use fast pass to open it. It's free.
Raizar out, thanks for reading this.
***
[28 April 2023, 06:00 AM]
[Lake Hodges – In front of Mermen Dungeon]
Zaiden could be seen running on the grass, making his way toward the Rank of the Awakeners that fought above the frozen lake in the distance.
While running, he was amazed by the ranged attack that passed his head earlier.
'Is that Rai's true power? How could he become that strong even though he was only Awakened a month before me?' He thought.
The arrows that Rai possibly shot obliterated almost all D and E-Rank monsters. The flaming trail that looked like a meteor crashing down from the sky was burned inside his mind.
He couldn't help but wonder how Rai could possibly achieve more than what he could.
'Is he perhaps using the Mana Breathing Method?' He asked himself. 'But that still doesn't explain why he's so strong. Although he called himself a Regressor with future knowledge, his growth should still be slower than mine.'
As he kept lost in his thoughts, he arrived at the frozen lake. 'Let's forget about that for now. I need to concentrate on this.'
"Let me help!" He shouted loudly to get the attention of the Awakeners who fought the monsters.
One of the Awakeners heard his shout, turning to him, then answered. "Sure! You should just do whatever you can! Don't push yourself! We don't want to take care of the injured!"
"Yes!" Zaiden answered as he pulled his sword, cladding it in Mana as he shot toward the nearest E-Rank monster, a Sahuagin.
The monster looked like a Mermen combined with Goblin. It was a green monster that walked on two legs and had a fish head.
Zaiden immediately swung his sword without mercy at the Sahuagin and decapitated its head, killing it instantly.
Without stopping, he rushed toward the other monsters and killed the weakest monsters one by one, making the Awakeners around him surprised. But, they were more than happy to get help from someone with skill, so they focused back on pushing the monsters back.
Frank, the commander of those Awakeners, noticed that someone else had helped, issuing a command.
"Awakeners from the Association will be on the front line, pushing the monsters back! We just need to stall for time. One of the Six Devas, Jaro, has received my request for reinforcement! The Association has also issued a warning. Reinforcement from the guilds will arrive soon! We just need to hang on!"
His voice rang on the battlefield. The 30 Awakeners from the Association gripped their weapons tightly as they answered.
"Yes!"
The monsters slowly pushed back. A lot more Awakeners arrived to help after they heard the commotion.
Zaiden began to step on the frozen lake, killing monsters in his way. With each monster he killed, he felt stronger than before. A grin appeared on his face, thinking that the damage caused by the monsters might not be as big as he thought previously.
'We can do it!'
However, as the Awakeners killed the monsters slowly, more monsters poured out of the dungeon.
The situation suddenly worsened when around 50 Mermen came out of the dungeon at once. Those C-Rank monsters were not something that they could kill easily, so Frank once again issued a command.
"Retreat! Attack them using Magic."
Zaiden was confused as to why the front line suddenly issued a retreat command, but he jumped back regardless.
As he had a higher elevation than before, he noticed why Frank suddenly issued a retreat command.
"The dungeon entrance become bigger?!" He shouted in surprise.
The dungeon entrance that was previously only 2x3 meters wide now became around 6x8 meters. More monsters poured out of the dungeon at a faster rate than before.
'How?' He questioned. 'Demons shouldn't be able to increase the size of the dungeon entrance! The only one who can do that is…'
His thoughts trailed when he realized what had happened. He turned his head in the direction of Bernando Mountain Peak and made a gesture of a hat above his head before pointing at the dungeon.
He couldn't see Rai, who stood at the mountain peak, but Rai surely could see him from that distance. So, he was hoping that he understood his gesture, 'There is a Witch in the dungeon!'
***
[Bernando Mountain Peak]
As I looked at the battlefield from above the mountain peak, I noticed Zaiden suddenly made a strange gesture using his hands.
He created a triangle above his head before pointing at the dungeon. Then, he stopped doing that after three times and joined the other Awakeners who had just arrived to kill more E-Rank monsters that came out of the dungeon.
"What is he doing?"
Was he trying to tell me a Witch was inside the dungeon?
"Hahaha. What a funny guy."
He tried to inform me about the Witch.
I thought he hated me because of the harsh words that I spewed at him, but it turned out that wasn't enough. He did follow my instructions quietly, but it would be different from now on.
The Witch had messed with the dungeon by feeding it Dark Attribute Mana, making its entrance become bigger, and the Demons increased the number of monsters by artificially creating them with their power.
The Demons could do that as monsters were originally a creature that was born from their Mana. Of course, something else was needed to breed the monsters artificially, but…
'The original Demon in the novel has the monster breeder.'
I guess it was still the same as the original. Only, the scale was bigger due to the involvement of the Witch.
"Now then…" I looked at the Demon that was trying to pass as an Awakener from the Association and pointed my bow at him. "Let's spice the thing a little bit." I grinned under my mask.
The Awakeners from the Association and the newly arrived Awakeners were now mixed up. Zaiden was in the back of the battlefield, cooperating with the other Awakeners to deal with the monsters that escaped the front line.
The Demon was also on the back of the battlefield, only 20 meters away from Zaiden. It was the perfect time for me to reveal its identity.
So I pulled the bowstring and created a small Mana Arrow with Light Attribute Mana. This arrow was focused on piercing, to travel a long distance, instead of destructive power. So, the arrow looked thin and long and only used a slight amount of Mana to create.
The Demon did a good job posing as a Human until now. It even saved an Awakener from being attacked by D-Rank Swordfish, a fish monster with a sword-like mouth, similar to a sawfish on Earth.
Now that I have seen what he did, I could roughly guess their plan.
'The Demon that hides between the Awakeners is tasked to secure the revived girls and take them to their second hiding place.'
I could've let them take all the girls to their hiding place and destroy them at once using [Arash Bow] special effect, [Stellar] Lone Meteor, but… Zaiden wouldn't know what I did in that case.
The best way was still to kill the revived girls blindly without explaining anything. So, good luck, Zaiden.
I released my bowstring and let my arrow fly toward the Demon that saved Zaiden from Swordfish that jumped out of the lake.
Zaiden seemed to introduce himself to the Demon, but well… that relationship would only last a few seconds at best.
***
"Haa… Haa…" Zaiden tried to catch his breath as he went to a safe place.
However, before he could arrive at a safe place, a Swordfish suddenly jumped from the lake and flew toward him.
He noticed the Swordfish and was about to intercept it with his sword, but it was a little bit too late.
"Shit!"
With immediate thinking, he decided to put his left hand to guard his face from the Swordfish and prepared for the pain that followed suit.
However, no matter how long he waited, the pain didn't arrive. Instead, he heard a hoarse voice of a man from his side.
"Hey, are you okay?"
Zaiden lowered his hand and looked at his left. He was greeted by a face of a man in his thirties who smiled at him. The man was holding a sword clad in blue light.
"It seems you are okay." He said.
"Ah, yes. Thank you for saving me." Zaiden replied.
"It's no problem! Right, my name is Borba, by the way. What is yours?"
"I am Zaiden Archman. Nice to meet you."
"Oh! It's nice to meet you too! More importantly, stand up, young man. Try to look at your surroundings more!"
"Yes. I will."
"Well then, I will kill more monsters on that side. Do your best to survive!" As he said that, Borba walked away to the front line.
Zaiden looked at him and felt gratitude inside his heart. A man had saved him.
'He's kind.' He thought as he looked at Borba's back.
However, as soon as he thought of that, a white arrow flew past his head and made its way toward Borba's back.
Seeing the arrow, Zaiden extended his hand to try to reach Borba, who was already in the distance, before shouting.
"Be careful!"
Borba heard Zaiden's voice and turned around. As soon as he turned, his face met with the white arrow.
Bam!
"Borba!" Zaiden shouted and approached Borba, who was blown away by the arrow.
While running toward Borba, his mind was racing, thinking about who had shot the arrow only for it to miss? He had one suspect in mind, but he didn't want to believe it.
'There is no way that's Rai, right?'
The arrow was too small and too weak for it to be Rai's. But no other people used arrows near the dungeon. A lot of people used guns as their weapons instead.
'Let's think about that later. More importantly…'
He had reached Borba, who lay on the ground, and crouched to check his condition.
"Hey, are you ok-"
However, before he finished his sentence, he noticed something unusual about Borba.
The place where he was hit by the arrow earlier looked cracked and turned purple. A slight bump appeared on his head, and he was not injured.
'This...!'
Looking at Borba's condition, Zaiden clad his sword in Light Attribute Mana without hesitation and swung it at Borba's neck.
Alas, Zaiden was an F-Rank Awakener. He was weak. Borba noticed Zaiden's attack and parried it with the sword in his hand.
Clang!
Zaiden was pushed back and was forced to retreat a few meters away. Landing on the ground, Zaiden gripped his sword tightly and muttered. "A Demon…"
"Ah, fuckers. I never thought there would be someone who can use Light Attribute Magic here. Is that arrow your doing?" Borba raised his, no, its body, and asked.
Its skin turned purple as a horn grew from the middle of its forehead. The horn looked sharp, similar to a sword, jutting up.
"Your name is Zaiden Archman? You are a dangerous boy. But, I think they will like it if I take you alive instead. A Light Attribute User is rare. You will prove to be useful to us." It said, with a voice hoarser than before as if distorted by noise.
"What is your plan here, Demon?!" Zaiden asked, his voice was loud as he tried to intimidate the Demon.
The Demon, previously known as Borba, snickered, as if he was facing something funny.
Of course, he was. In front of him was F-Rank Awakener, not someone strong. It would be in danger if the other Awakeners surrounded him. But, they were a bit far away from the main battlefield.
"My plan?" The Demon asked in an amused tone.
At that moment, a few Awakeners noticed its presence and shouted.
"Hey look! That! Is that a Demon?!" Shouted one Awakener.
The other besides him followed suit as his voice drew them.
"Demon! There is a Demon!"
"A Demon is here!"
Zaiden heaved a sigh of relief as a lot of people began to notice. But then, he saw the Demon smiling in happiness and realized it.
His eyes widened, "No!" He shouted loudly, turning to five Awakeners who ran toward the Demon. "Turn back now!"
"It's too late." The Demon said as it extended its hand toward the Awakeners who approached them.
A dark purple ball appeared in front of the Demon's hand. It crackled with black lightning as it grew bigger at a fast rate, stopping once it became as big as a soccer ball.
The Awakeners in the distance noticed that something dangerous would happen if they came closer. One man in the front stopped on his track and shouted.
"Jump!"
As soon as the Awakener shouted, the Demon grinned. Then, the ball in its hand shot toward the five Awakeners.
The ball flew as lightning crackled around it. Shortly, it hit the ground right in the middle of the five Awakeners and exploded, sending purple lightning all over the place, engulfing the five Awakeners.
Boom!
The ones inside the area of the attack became charred immediately, turning black as they slowly collapsed to the ground, lifeless.
"Boom! Hahahaha! Weak! Humans are weak!" The Demon laughed maniacally. It held its stomach with its left hand as he raised its head to the sky, savoring the feeling of killing humans.
"Noo!!" Zaiden shouted in horror, hoping that the ones in the front line noticed the Demon. "You! I will kill you! If I can't, the other Awakeners will! You will not be able to do anything alone!"
The Demon stopped laughing as it turned its head toward Zaiden. "Huh? Are you stupid?" It asked.
Next, the Demon's face contorted into a ridiculing look as it said, "The Awakeners will not be able to help you." It pointed at the dungeon.
At that moment, two explosions followed suit right in front of the dungeon, blowing the Awakeners away as a scream of horror followed suit.
"It's just you and me alone." The Demon grinned. "So, what will you do?"