It was a pain, but he would have to let the monsters get closer. Still, Ryan fired Flame Arrows toward the group while he was picking a mana potion. Aiming with his left arm was easy, but much to his surprise, three of his seven Flame Arrows got repelled by water spears that suddenly appeared in the monster's hands.

You obtained four coins.

You obtained four coins.

You obtained four coins.

…

Ryan watched, shocked while he was drinking the mana potion, the water becoming solid like iron. In just two seconds, that happened… even though they were monsters, Ryan didn't imagine that they could create their weapons like that.

"Weapon materialization… that is convenient," Ryan muttered.

Still, since the Sahuagins were aquatic creatures, their running speed wasn't that impressive. Besides, they were aware of Ryan's attacks, so they weren't charging like goblins. Thanks to it, Ryan had a lot of time to recover his mana.

"Let's see if I can combine some attacks…" Ryan equipped his crossbow again and then aimed.

Suddenly, a high pitching sound exploded from Ryan's crossbow. Despite that, he barely felt the kick of his attack. Two bolts suddenly left his crossbow and flew into a straight line toward the Sahuagins heads. This time the two died instantaneously without having the chance to react, the Lesser Wind Enchantment enhanced the speed of the bolts, and Rapid Shot duplicated the power.

You obtained four coins.

You obtained four coins.

"Twenty mana points… this will be hard," Ryan frowned.

Much to his surprise, the four remaining Sahuagins stopped twenty meters away from Ryan. Although he was thankful for the chance to recover more mana and attack again, he didn't lower his guard. It was clear that the Sahuagins were preparing something. Ryan equipped the buckler that was on his back on his left arm and unequipped his crossbow, his movements matched with monsters that they aimed their spears at him. A moment later, some water balls that appeared in front of them were shot toward Ryan.

Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Shield Mastery.

Effect: Decreases the power of all types of attacks by one point per level when blocking them.

You obtained 01 status point.

Ryan rolled to his left side while making sure to protect his head, but he still felt the shield getting hit two times, and all the air inside his lungs left when he got hit in the stomach by the third one. He couldn't tell what happened to the fourth Water Ball, but Ryan couldn't care less at that moment.

Somehow, Ryan had enough time to get up and see the Sahuagins preparing for the next attack. Ryan checked his health and saw that he lost twenty percent of it. Running away wasn't an option, and dodging wasn't something he was used to. So, Ryan used all his mana and fired seven Flame Arrows. His magic projectiles made the Water Balls evaporate, and the remaining three hit the heads of three of them.

You obtained four coins.

You obtained four coins.

You obtained four coins.

The remaining Sahuagin tried to throw his spear toward Ryan, but he shot an iron bolt on the creature's head. Ryan sighed in relief, but he was forced to drink a mana potion since he was slightly lightheaded. That was the price of using all his mana, but it couldn't be helped given the situation.

You obtained four coins.

Congratulations! Your class Elementalist has leveled up.

Elementalist Lv 2 ➞ Lv 3

Intelligence + 2, Mana + 2, Health + 1, stamina + 1, recovery + 1, control +1.

Ryan approached the monster's corpses only to see that they didn't drop anything. To make things worse, their weapons evaporated… It looked like raising his luck wouldn't make things all that convenient unless Ryan allocates all his status points into it.

"I guess this explains why people are hiding…" Ryan rubbed his chin while he looked around. "I probably didn't see them near the river of magma because they dislike high temperatures. Still… it is weird that they can move in high numbers when the velociraptors dungeon is supposed to be closer."

Maybe there was a dungeon even closer than Ryan had imagined. He then recalled the Cross Lake… Ryan was pretty sure Sahuagins only lived near the ocean. Then again, his knowledge was based on games, so it wasn't a good idea to use them as an absolute source of information.

In any case, it looked like with his current amount of mana. He wouldn't be able to fight without relying on mana potions. Although he had bought them to use, they wouldn't last forever, so Ryan had to think of a way to fight without spending too much mana. Since the Sahuagins could block his attacks, a half-assed measure wouldn't help.

"I can't just create a stock of iron bolts, reloading the crossbow with a single arm in the middle of a battle. It is impossible," Ryan muttered. "My spells won't help, perhaps…"

Ryan turned around the very moment he heard a step coming from behind. Even though he wasn't used to it yet, his left arm aimed his weapon at the head of the individual behind him. However, he relaxed a little when he saw a single unarmed and tired middle-aged man wearing what seemed to be a clerk's clothes. His whole body was covered in dust and ashes… almost as if a building had fallen over him or if he had hidden underneath some rubble.

"Please don't shoot. I just want to talk," The middle-aged man raised his hands nervously to show that he didn't have any weapons. "You are one of them, right?"

"One of who?" Ryan frowned, still pointing his crossbow at the man.

"Are you not one of the people who are sheltering survivors?" The middle-aged man asked, visibly surprised.

"… I just arrived in this city." Ryan replied. "If there is a group helping survivors in this city, why didn't you join them?"

"We only heard about them on a radio," The middle-aged man said. "It looks like they are looking for survivors, but they are located in the northern part of the city. We heard that they would look for survivors in this area this morning, but until now, they didn't appear."