/00:02:41

"I-it's almost over..."

Mika gasped, breathing heavily while sprawled on the ground, all tired and beaten up.

Summing up the monsters who died from Shanks, Mika, Mary, Arion, and Blueberry's joint effort, nine in total fell before they've even reached the first defense line.

As for all the others, as soon as they were even nicked by any of the five, they would rush forward, completely focused on getting to the second defense line as if they didn't want to give even a slither of experience to the forward group.

In the end, the three humans and two monsters - more than simply exhausted - laid in wait by the possible retreat route for the monsters - though, with how keen all of the 8th wave's titan-class monsters were to run headfirst into the deadly artillery fire, it was doubtful whether there will be any titan-class that would be even able to retreat.

"Their behavior is really odd... even those freaks of nature never acted in such crazy way before..."

Shanks shook his head, resting his giant rifle on his skinny shoulder after jumping off of the blue emperor griffin.

Out of everyone there, the rat-faced man was the one in the worst state.

As he revealed after some questioning, the sloth's charge cannon was ridiculously overpowered but at the cost of chipping away not only at the user's mana, but at their health too.

Even with health and mana regeneration, there was no way to continuously use it for a prolonged time.

"..."

He began patting Blueberry's side with a cloudy expression.

...but while staying on the subject of the powerful attacks that could only be used sparingly...

/00:00:00

Up until the very end, the terrifying golden beam that became the nightmare of each and every human on the battlefield for the past few days never arrived.

/Quest update

*push back the 8th monster wave (00:00:00) (completed)

Reward:

Calculating the reward...

(8/11 completion - rank upgrade)

/Reward granted

Human »»» Human(+)

[Level cap upgraded

Status point cap upgraded

Skills cap upgraded

Affinities cap upgraded

Titles cap upgraded]

What came instead was a message for the two girls showing them something rather ridiculously over the top.

"Human(+)...? Did... did you two got the same reward as I did...?"

Mika's eyes widened and she even forced herself to get up and looked at the others amongst who the brown-haired girl was no less shocked than she was - but that wasn't the same for the rat-faced man.

"It didn't even show us the participation percentage this time..."

Mary tilted her head in confusion, staring at her messages - since she was a tamer, she also saw the messages that popped up for Blueberry and Arion.

"Sorry, I don't have that quest active - remember? But I will check it for you in with Sophia."

Shanks shook his head and smirked, before closing his eyes as his body begun glowing pale blue.

"What are you...?"

Mika and Mary looked at each other in confusion, but the rat-faced man didn't pay them any mind.

"...nothing... Sophia knew nothing about such thing! Nothing showed up even when I directly asked about human(+)...!"

Shanks clicked his tongue and clenched his fists on his rifle.

"Hey, kind sir, sorry to disturb you, but didn't you say that you will be keeping an eye on any stragglers that would try to get back into the mountains?"

Mary groaned and pointed behind her with her thumb.

"What stragglers? Every titan-class chose to become the mincemeat under the artillery fire on the second line. Those beasts truly are crazy, why would they completely changed their pattern so late into the quest?"

Shanks shook his head in disbelief and glared behind Mary's arm - where the thunder of the artillery and flashes of the explosions were piercing through the fog.

Up until this very wave, with the exception of the 7th one where the monsters were all led away, the titan-class monsters would all retreat once the quest timer turned to zero - the beasts wouldn't even react if someone attacked them from behind, the surviving ones would simply ran away to return at the forefront of the next wave.

...yet all monsters of the 8th wave chose death...

"...there was something really weird about it... that none of them tried to back away... as if they had no reason to return anymore..."

Mary furrowed her brows and pinched her lips deep in thoughts.

"Raor. (They seemed just mad to me.)"

The black wolf, Arion, looked away and growled with indifference.

"Skwee. (There was no pride in today's big uglies.) Skwee. (The ones before felt like they were having a purpose.) Skwee. (Those today just seemed desperate.)

The large blue griffin, Blueberry, had a slightly different, more insightful, take on the situation.

"Raor? (Desperate?) Raor, raor? (Like what, do they know that the quest is about to end and want to win at all cost or something?)"

"Skwee. (Yes, especially the fast one that arrived at the very end.)"

"...!"

Hearing the exchange between her tamed monsters, Mary ended up flinching as she realized something.

"Your familiars seem very talkative, what do they think about this whole mess?"

Shanks asked curiously looking at the two monsters and their master.

"..."

Mary glared at him but in the end, she sighed and explained.

"They suspect that the titan-class monsters are aware that the end of our quest is near and are getting desperate to break through our defenses..."

She groaned and started combing her hair with an uneasy expression.

"Oh, isn't that good then? If they are getting desperate that means that our chances are pretty good, right? That's why they are panicking!"

Mika smiled and clapped her hands.

"..."

Sadly, she was the only one there who saw their position as a favorable one.

"Young miss, this wasn't the final wave - as always, there will be more titan-class monsters to come. What if the ones from the next wave will completely ignore us and just rush straight for the third defense line?"

Shanks asked with a sour expression.

"Then they will get blown apart by the artillery... isn't that what you told me, Miss Mary?"

"...so you haven't noticed... ah, right, you were incapacitated for most of the 7th wave..."

Mary furrowed her brows and glanced at the rat-faced man.

"Noticed what?"

The ashen-haired girl tilted her head in confusion.

Shanks looked back at the brown-haired girl and nodded.

"The number of the defense and attack-oriented titan-class monsters that we fought today disproportionately smaller compared to the ones from yesterday's wave that Cinnamon had led away. And as you could see, or would see if you paid attention, most of the ones that showed up were more agile and speedy."

He explained turning towards Mika.

"What will we do if the next wave is made out of only the speed-oriented ones? And faster ones than those today?"

"...!"

He added and Mika understood what he and Mary were implying.

"And we can't forget about the golden beam either. Why hasn't it arrived today? What if - and I hope to the system that I am wrong on that - what if whatever is shooting those beams can stockpile the charges and is preparing to unleash two at once for tomorrow or even three during the last wave...?"

Shanks's words send chills down the spines of everyone else...