Far in front of the first defense line, Mary, Shanks, and Mika were preparing themselves for intercepting as many titan-class monsters from the 9th wave as they could.

While Shanks's and Mika's preparations were rather peaceful when it came to Mary...

*CRUNCH*

"MEND...!"

*CRUNCH*

"...urgh...!"

...even listening to her made the other two flinch, needless to say, looking at her while her body was ripping itself apart from the insane stat boost.

"...sorry for the disgusting performance. Though, I must say, it wasn't as painful as usual... I guess that being human(+) is actually doing something useful."

The brown-haired girl smiled, wiping the faint trail of blood from the corner of her mouth.

"Right? I also feel slightly different! My body doesn't fight back against my strength anymore!"

Mika hurriedly jumped on the subject that allowed her to not talk about near-death experiences even before they face any enemy.

"But is it wise to do it half an hour before the wave starts...? It is very taxing on your body right?"

She fidgeted nervously, glancing at the brown-haired girl.

"Oh, it's the other way around, actually. It's better for me to adjust in peace instead of jumping straight into the action - even with the improvement that the rank-up did to me."

Mary laughed and waved her hand dismissively.

"Speaking about the rank up, maybe I should tell my senior about it, I bet she will be interested. Or I better not... she would die for a chance to get stronger like that and would try and get her rank upgraded too, and end up getting herself in trouble. Don't you think so too?"

Mary tilted her head and turned to her two monsters.

"Skwee. (I don't care, either way, I don't like that woman at all.)"

"Raor. (She is way too bossy and annoying...)"

Neither the massive emperor griffin nor the large but horribly skinny black wolf did seem to like the person that Mary mentioned and just looked away after short, dismissive answers.

"Oh, I doubt that anyone would actually want to trade places with us if she knew what is going on here, unless they were completely crazy... Who is that senior of yours anyway?"

Even Shanks joined the conversation - with that it was clear that every single one of them was nervous about the next wave and tried their best to take their minds off of it for as long as possible

"Oh, she's one of the students of my adopted father, she's a really crude girl but her strength is really something. Well, at least for the southern standards..."

Mika explained with a sour even expression.

"I can think about someone who's just like that too."

Shanks nodded to himself and shrugged his shoulders, thinking about a certain red-haired girl.

"No. I don't think you can. My senior is really something else. She is a really odd person, when I asked her about the reason for what she needs to be that strong, she said that there are two reasons."

Mary tilted her head and put up her index finger.

"First of all, apparently her younger brother got killed by some nobles a few years ago - nobles who never got punished for what they've done, and there wasn't even a body left to bury, so you know there was some really suspicious business going down- my senior wants to be so strong that she can get her revenge and get away with it."

"What noble would do something so horrible?!"

Mika gasped, filled with a wave of righteous anger.

"I think that my senior knows the answer for that, but she never revealed it to me."

Mary shook her head and then raised her middle finger.

"Second, and oddly enough, more important reason - according to my senior herself at least - somewhere in this world lives a reincarnation of her most beloved person from her previous life, and she has to get stronger than anyone else to save him."

She sighed and rolled her eyes as she spoke as if even she herself was fed up with her senior's shenanigans.

"...alright... So, she fits the crazy part after all... reincarnation, huh... it seems that someone has their priorities set in an... intriguing order..."

Mika looked away taken aback.

"Putting aside the outlandish stuff like previous lives and reincarnation, what is she supposed to save that person from...?"

Shanks asked slightly curious.

"That she didn't explain. She's really secretive at times, and her timing for that is really odd - she's not very good at the role she got from the system either, you want to know what that is?"

"...?"

Mary asked making the other two look at her patiently.

"She's the heroine support character. So, you know, my support character. But I don't really recall her ever supporting me - though she did make me drop using the whip as a tamer should, although unintentionally, because of how much she was pushing into training it and scolding me for training in any other way than she devised. Something about min-maxing and meta or whatever. Still, it's also because of her that I know proper manners, even though she herself never bothered to learn them. She's weird like that."

Mary ended her speech with a defeated sigh and shook her head from side to side.

"...we still have time but the monsters are already approaching..."

/05:19:57

/05:19:56

She added with a sour expression - reacting to the tremors that were shaking the earth underneath their feet - looking at the upper right corner of her vision right at the first of two last timers counting down relentlessly.

"Whew, that was... interesting."

Shanks scoffed and smirked, picking up the enormous rifle that didn't belong to the fantasy setting of their world at all.

"Now, Miss Mary, young miss Mika, with your permission miss Blueberry and I will take to the skies to assure that none of you will have the chance to check whether the reincarnation that miss Mary's senior believes in so strongly, is real or not."

He giggled and approached the blue griffin.

"Will you lend me your help today too?"

The rat-faced man asked the emperor griffin with a serious expression and bowed his head.

"Skwee. (Just don't fall off, scrawny human.)"

Blueberry screeched proudly and lowered one of her wings so that Shanks could have an easier time getting on her back.

"Well then..."

After safely assuming his sniping position, Shanks nodded at the two girls on the ground and smirked without much positivity.

"Let's hope that we were wrong about our predictions about this wave."

*WHOOSH*

He sighed and Blueberry chose that moment to take off with just a single flap of her powerful wings.

"..."

"Lets."

As Mary nodded in silence, Mika voiced her confirmation, and her body began glowing red the next moment.