Chapter 114 – Power Game (part three)

(Hannes’ PoV)

“Is it ready, everyone?” I asked my party members as we were killing the monsters attacking the capital of the Empire… To think that woman is crazy enough to attack this city with such an absurd amount of monsters… She’s crazy.

“I’m about to reach the kill threshold!” Ryne replied as he killed another monster.

“I’m at the threshold already!” Said Myra as she helped a child reunite with their parents.

“Alright, this should be enough.” I told them.

“We’re going to the castle then?” Kellin asked me while grinning. I checked my own status one more time and nodded.

“You’re going to help out every NPC on the way, aren’t you?” Eleanor said with a sigh.

“Well, that’s just like Hannes.” Cherry commented.

“Oh, come on…” I replied. I mean, the NPCs live just like normal humans do… Isn’t it normal to want to help them? Besides, “In those conditions, isn’t it natural to want to save the capital? Even if our original plan was to attack it?”

Eleanor nodded while heaving another sigh, “I suppose that’s true.” After all, the only thing that could be better than beating Rena, would be to beat her while also crushing all of her plans!

“Then let’s go!” I shouted and we charged towards the castle. The number of soldiers was clearly way too small for what a capital should have… Just how much destruction did she already cause? We have to get rid of as many monsters as possible on the way there!

That said, it was a bit frustrating to compare my progress with the rest of the group… Ryne and Kellin have much higher AGI, so they kill monsters much quicker; Eleanor has an unmatched firepower; and Myra can kill aerial monsters far faster than anybody else… Even though my STR is pretty high and lets me kill monsters with only a few blows, the only one whose kill count I can beat is Cherry, our support who is more focused on saving NPCs than actually killing monsters…

“Thank you for the help!” A child told me as I killed a monster near her.

“Oh, please evacuate quickly, it’s dangerous here.” I told her.

“Alright, mister…?” She seemed to be asking me something, but we needed to be quick, so I already hurried up to the next monster. Even if we already reached the threshold, it’s better to raise the number as high as possible after all… And this also helps cleaning up the city from those monsters that Rena brought, so we definitely can’t stop.

“By the way, do you think you can win?” Kellin asked me.

“Well… I’m not confident I can beat her without this kind of irregularity, but I think there’s a real chance now!” We leveled plenty and we have our own trump card now, it should definitely be enough! And if not… Then we’ll just challenge her again!

“But really, how many monsters did she even bring here?” Cherry commented in disbelief as she saved another NPC.

“It’s quite absurd…” I replied.

“I guess she used some sort of monster lure?” Eleanor commented.

“It wouldn’t be surprising if she could make something like that.” Ryne replied.

“Hurry up, the imperial soldiers might close the gate if we take too long!” Kellin shouted.

I used <Earth’s Rhythm> to make a slam on the ground that knocked off a bunch of monsters that were in the way at once, then continued rushing forward.

“An apostle!” A woman shouted!

“… Who?” I asked back.

“That’s you, Hannes.” Myra commented with a giggle… Some other NPCs seemed to also be talking about things like ‘apostle’ and ‘angel’ while looking at me… Is this because of the Karma?

… It’s a bother if they get close to me while we’re clearing monsters though, so I used <Divine Soil> to keep the monsters away from us. It will get in the way of increasing the kill count, but it’s fine as we’re saving more people like this.

Nonetheless, I told them, “Please evacuate quickly, it’s safer this way!”

“Thank you!” A man said.

“I’ll be sure to remember this favor.” A woman said.

“Good luck, uncle!” A child shouted… So embarrassing. My friends were laughing at me even… Why am I the only one embarrassed when Cherry is being called ‘Saintess’!? I shouldn’t be the only target of mockery!

“Don’t compare yourself to Cherry.” Myra said, as if reading my mind.

“Damn it!” Was all I could say as a reply… We were near the castle though, so it was no time to worry about this kind of thing.

“There seems to be a rough battle going on over there.” Ryne commented while looking at the castle… It seemed to be on the verge of crumbling, and some people that looked like they were captains or generals of the army were running in fear from it.

“It has to be her…” I said.

“Time for the boss battle!” Myra shouted.

“Well, she was recognized as an official raid boss.” Eleanor commented.

“She’s really amazing.” Kellin said.

“She’s certainly quite famous.” Cherry added.

“It’s only natural for her to be recognized after all this, I suppose.” Ryne said… And he is right, I mean, she even got her name on an Epic Quest! We have to knock her down this time around! We won’t lose!

“She’s still just a player in the end, that’s no raid boss, and there’s no reason for us, or any other player, to be unable to beat her!” I told them all, “Let’s do this!” We’ll activate the skills we have prepared while we were saving the city. Everyone gathered around in a circle to start it.

“<Guardian>!” Ryne and Eleanor said while putting both of their hands in the middle. Our skill that increases our AGI and VIT for each monster we have killed during a certain period of time.

“<Loveliness>!” Myra and Cherry said while putting their hands in the middle too. Our skill that buffs us based on the number of people we have helped in a certain period of time. It increases our max HP, the recovery we receive from skills, and also gives a built-in HP recovery effect.

“You’re gonna kill me, Hannes, do I really need to say it?” Kellin seemed to be annoyed, but…

“Of course, hurry up!” I told him while putting my hand in the middle. He begrudgingly did the same.

“<Hero>!” We said in unison while raising our hands all together.

Prepare yourself, Rena.