/05:11:02

Mika glanced nervously at the timer, in the upper right corner of her vision, there was still time... for the first defense line that is.

From their current position, the titan-class monsters should start showing up for them any time now.

Mary was crouched down, with one hand on the ground and her eyes closed as if she wanted to sense the tremble of the faraway steps of the gigantic beasts.

Mika was standing straight up, clenching her fists and staring at the thick fog in the distance.

As for Shanks...

"Say, young lady... I reckon that you don't really wish to encounter more of the spider-type titan-class, am I right?"

He asked while lying on the ground, sticking close to the massive rifle looking way too complicated to actually belong into a fantasy world.

His eyes and ears were glowing with intense pale blue light instead of the usual white and it seemed that he was completely still, his body didn't even budge when he spoke towards the ashen-haired girl.

"...! I-I...!"

Mika flinched and stuttered.

Even though that was already enough for an answer, she did took a deep breath and explained things further.

"In my berserk stage, I won't be able to feel fear so it will be alright, sir! I think..."

She tried to make a brave smile and even succeeded, but that didn't change the fact that she basically admitted that without her class-exclusive skill, she was very much afraid.

Getting stomped by one of the arachnid's legs and waking up over a day later only to learn about how many people have been killed during the time that she was unconscious had clearly traumatized her.

"Can't have them walking around during today's wave then, can we?"

The rat-faced man smirked in a very nasty way as he tilted his head to aim through the optics of the rifle.

"Are you saying that you can already spot the wave approaching, kind sir? Even through all that fog?"

Mary did try to sound sarcastic, but instead, she ended up sounding impressed.

"I was designed to counter basically every trap and problem that could arise on this very battlefield - and the higher-ups convinced the avatar to unlock all of my powers just until the waves are over and I can show off the utmost of my combat capabilities with this pretty girl right here."

He said while gently patting the side of his rifle.

"What would make you think that I couldn't see through the fog?"

The amount of smug was off the charts, and the confidence that the declaration was spoken would make even Cranberry acknowledge it, so obviously Mary wasn't going to retort with any snarky remark.

"Ah...! They are coming!"

The brown-haired girl stiffened and took off her hand from the ground, glaring at the horizon, a few hundred feet away from the spot that Mika was observing.

"They are still slightly out of reach. I know I boasted about my MAT, but the charge cannon skill actually takes a lot of time to get ready and uses an insane amount of mana... and HP... I don't want to waste even a single shot."

Shanks responded in a serious voice adjusting his aim, only muttering through one part.

"How many times will you be able to shot it before they will reach us, sir...?"

Mika asked unable to hide how much her voice was trembling.

"Enough to get rid of the spiders for you, kid - whoops, I meant, young lady."

Shanks smirked and giggled, concentrating all of his attention on a single spot.

At that time...

"¥€¤«>£€£^#"@¡"

A beastly roar pierced the heavens and a first titan-class monster broke through the fog.

"!!?!?!?!?!!!"

Mika shuddered so hard that she had almost fallen down.

Even from afar, the beast was enormous, it has had the lower body of a gargantuan spider with thick scales instead of hair and from where the head with many eyes should be, a nightmarish human-like torso without a head but with dozens upon dozens of grabby arms growing out its sides and back, all with a bloodshot golden eye in the middle of their palms, was growing. The disgusting beast's chest was also covered with thick scales that looked way too sturdy for anything that could be grown naturally by a living body.

But those were the titan-class for you, their very existence went against nature.

"Armored demon spider hybrid! Seen only once and from a much farther distance than this! Ah, what a splendid first meal for my little girl!"

But when Mika and Mary were stunned by the gross appearance of the first titan-class monster, Shanks's smirked grew into a bloodthirsty grin as his whole body and his rifle emitted a blinding pale blue light.

The next moment...

*¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤*

*THUMP*

The pale blue ray of light erupted from the rifle's barrel with a low hum, while a shockwave was emitted backward by its body as it released the energy causing a cloud of dust to raise up.

The perfectly visible ray of light reached its targets faster than Mika's eyes could register it and...

Pierced right through it...!

"÷€$±{"

The armored demon spider let out a short inhuman yelp and it keeled forward and crashed against the ground completely lifeless.

The tremors and a slight breeze reached the three humans only after a good couple of seconds.

"Holly system, and here I thought that you've said that it will be enough for us to kill only one! With you here, we can kill every single one of them!"

Mary jumped up excitedly, supporting herself on the shocked blue griffin.

"...whew... haa... wait... give me a second... to recharge..."

Shanks's winded-up response was a clear enough response as to why the scenario that Mary just said was impossible.

The rat-faced man wiped his forehead while gasping for air.

"Sir Shanks, are you alright?!"

"It's okay."

Mika hurriedly ran to him but he waved at her to stop.

"You better be ready for going in... and watch out for that mysterious beam that helps the monsters... you don't want to get hit by it... I will be fine... I can regenerate health and mana rapidly... It's just... been a while... since I've used charge cannon... I need to get used to... the recoil... and pain..."

Shanks's face was beginning to regain color, but even so, he got out of breath just from speaking for a bit.

"Health? Did you say health, sir? Does that skill actually takes not only your mana but your actual HP too?!"

Mary was so shocked that she didn't even try to mock the man on the ground and let his skill influence her speech.

"You two don't have to worry about anything. I'll be sure to take down two other spider monsters before they will get in the mele range so the young lady won't have to be scared... the only problem is my ATK isn't all that impressive, so close combat is out of the question for me... oh, and I got one other titan-class behind the armored spider too, though I don't know what kind it was."

He smirked already preparing to take another shot as more and more grotesque giants kept appearing out of the fog one by one.

"..."

Mary looked at the wall of monsters and then back at the rat-faced man.

Then she nodded to herself as if she decided on something and walked over to the short man.

"What the...?!"

Shanks yelped in confusion once the brown-haired girl grabbed him by the back of his chest piece and lifted him up like a kitten.

"Miss Mary...?"

"..."

Mika stared at her wide-eyed, but the older girl frowned and walked over to her griffin while carrying Shanks and his rifle like a handbag.

"Blueberry, let him ride you and fly around for as long as you can, you saw the recoil of his weapon, you can handle it, right?"

Mary spoke looking straight into the violet eyes of the blue griffin.

"..."

Blueberry raised her hair proudly and looked down at her master.

Then she looked at the rat-faced man in her arm and...

"Skwee."

She nodded and lowered her wing so that her master could put the bewildered Shanks on her back.

"Well then, kind sir. After you'll deal with the spiders, continue supporting us from a distance. Blueberry will keep you out of harm's way."

Mary smirked and patted the rat-faced man's back reassuringly.

"...I thought that she doesn't allow anyone other than you to ride her, that's why I didn't even suggest such a thing..."

Shanks was looking all around the griffin with utter confusion.

"She said she'll make an exception because you know her parents or something. Anyway, she won't cause you trouble, right Blueberry?"

"Skwee!"

Mary shrugged her shoulders and Blueberry screeched in confirmation.

"Fly now."

The brown-haired girl said and waved her hand.

*WHOOSH*

Without further ado, the griffin's wings begun glowing, and with a single flap she and Shanks were already high in the sky.