Gareth: WATCH OUT!!!

Grabbing Alice by the shoulder, Gareth roughly pulled her towards him. As she did several pairs of parasite claws slashed through the space behind her. Looking back at them, Alice realised that they'd snuck up behind her. Before she could say anything to him, Gareth had dragged her back to the row of Goblies. Looking at her minions, Alice felt a little anxious. Since the beginning of their fight a little while ago, 40 of her 70 subordinates had died. looking a the measly group of 30 thirty remaining, Alice felt the anxiousness in her heart grow stronger. As the number of Goblies was steadily being reduced, the defensive line had to fallback in order to fill in the gaps. At this point, the Goblies were only a few meters away from the tunnel they were protecting. Looking at her vulnerable teammates, Alice felt pressured to protect them.

Alice: Thanks Gareth. I owe you one.

Looking Down at her body, Alice once again inspected the thin layer of rock surrounding her body. Having been used for a long time, the armour had grown several times weaker. As she relied on the spirits in the air to form the armour, she couldn't do anything but curse to herself when that supply of spirits ran out. Making her situation even worse, Alice had a blistering headache. The mental strain placed on her from Summoning Hackmon and Necro combined with the intense concentration needed to form the earth armour had left her mind drained. Taking all of these factors into account, she knew that the last attack of the parasites would have easily been enough to injure her. if she was unlucky she might have even lost her life.

Gareth: Don't sweat it, but this fights starting to turn against us. If Solomon and Pluvia can't pull something out of the bag soon, were gonna be in real trouble.

Looking at the severely damaged troop of Goblies, then the unending waves of Parasites, Gareth knew that they wouldn't be able to hold out for much longer. Tightly gripping a black orb in his pocket, Gareth had a dilemma. The black orb he was holding was the monster core that Pluvia had given him before the mission. According to her, it would replenish his energy and give him a huge boost in strength. Knowing this, he was considering using it to help them deal with the current situation. Because he was had been forced into a corner, the temptation to use it had become huge. But keeping a clear head, he calmly considered his options. On one hand, he didn't want to waste the precious item. Considering the many dangers present in this mission, he didn't want to be left without an emergency item that could save his life. Remembering the towering figure of the creatures above ground, he felt a chill shoot up his spine. If he had to escape from them later on, he'd definitely regret using the core now. After carefully some careful consideration, Gareth decided to hold off on using the orb. he'd keep fighting until he'd been pushed to his limits. Only then would he use it.

Alice: all we can do now is wait and hope. when Solomon and Pluvia return it'll be a piece of cake to deal with these guys. But it's up to us to survive until then.

Having his thoughts disrupted by Alice, Gareth looked over at her. Seeing that her eyes were looking far away, he traced her gaze. Unsurprisingly, she was looking at the distant Figures of Solomon and Pluvia.

Gareth: You're right.

Responding absentmindedly, Gareth began observing Solomon and Pluvia aswell. Though their fight had yet to start, the tension between them and the Queen was felt even by Alice and Gareth. Watching them stand silently for several seconds, Alice and Gareth were confused. But seeing the outline of Pluvia suddenly Dash forwards, they knew that the fight had begun. Moving at a speed that was difficult for them to keep up with, Pluvia's blurry figure approached the Queen. Just as Pluvia's sharp claws were going to reach the Queen's head, her huge black body disappeared.

Guild bot: Encountered hidden mission, kill the parasite Queen. Requirements. The user must kill the parasite Queen themselves. Any outside assistance will invalidate the mission. Reward. 1500 points and 2 G rank rewards for each participating team member and 500 points and 1 G rank reward for each non-participating team member.

At the same time as the Queen's disappearance, a message from the system rung in Alice and Gareth's ears. Unlike the usual cold voice, it was just an instant flow of information. When they'd sorted out the contents of the message, Surprise flashed across their faces.

Gareth: this, this is!?

Looking at the astonished face of Gareth, Alice was sure that he'd also received the message.

Alice: you got it too?

Gareth: Yeah, but isn't this a little too much.

Thinking about the huge rewards this hidden mission was giving, Alice panicked slightly. She knew just as well as anyone how difficult the hidden missions were normally, let alone one's with huge rewards like this up for grabs. Refocusing on the distant fight against the Queen, Alice found that her worries weren't unfounded. The massive figure of the queen was hovering several meters above Pluvia. falling towards her. As soon as she entered the Queens range, Alice had not doubt that Pluvia would be dead.

Alice: WATCH OUT!!!

Though she knew her voice wouldn't reach pluvia from this distance, Alice couldn't help but shout towards her. Watching on in horror, Alice could only spectate from afar. When the Queen's range finally reached Pluvia, Alice saw a blur shoot out from its claw. Looking at the insane speed of this attack, Alice though she was about to witness the death of her friend. As the pain in her chest became almost unbearable, Alice was surprised to see the situation take another turn. A few meters behind Pluvia, where Solomon was standing, a torrent of flames came into being. Quickly forming into the shape of a lizard, the flames were shot towards the Queen. Having appeared so suddenly, the Flames took her completely off guard. But with her insane speed, she managed to quickly react to the flaming lizard. Shifting her claw away from Pluvias back, the Queen planned to slice the flames in half. As Alice watched this scene, should could only make it out as blurs of movement. But even so, she had got the general gist of the situation. Briefly catching the enthralled face of Gareth at her side, she knew that he was watching the nerve-wracking battle as well. Taking her attention back to the fight, Alice saw the Queens blade-like claw meet with the flaming lizard's snout. Surprising both herself and the Queen, the little lizard almost instantly shattered the deadly claw into pieces. Continuing towards the Queens huge body, Alice thought it was going to claim her life. But before it could, the massive insect hastily shifted its heavy body to the side. Missing the Queen's body by a hair's breadth, the lizard flew past her.

Alice: SHIT, it's coming towards us.

Having missed its target, the lizard was heading in Alice and Gareth's direction. Panicking, Alice wanted to quickly retreat into the tunnel. Turning around, she was about to dash into the tunnel. But before she could, Gareth stopped her. Holding down her shoulder, he stared at the lizard's body.

Gareth: calm down, it's not going to reach us.

Analysing the lizard's trajectory, Gareth calculated that it would land a couple hundred meters away from them. Calming down the panicking Alice, he watched the flaming lizards sail through the air. Having witnessed several of these attacks before, and having been on the receiving end of a couple, he was waiting to see what kind of damage it would do. As it would land in the parasites attacking himself and Alice, he was hoping that it could clear some of them out for him. If he was lucky and it could kill 50 or so of them, he might even be able to rearrange the Goblies formation. So as he awaited the lizard's explosion, his eyes scanned the parasite's formation. As they didn't have any sort of sophisticated leadership, their formation was more like a single block than any strategic positioning. But even just observing that block, Gareth could see a few patterns that the parasites were following. Using those patterns, he was beginning to form a plan in his mind. Taking stock of his own energy, h realised that he there was a little over half left. Having used his gun almost constantly, the burden on Gareth was almost nothing. Even after wiping out over 200 parasites, he still had a huge amount of power left. But looking at the trembling body of Alice, he knew that she wasn't in the same state. Though he'd only seen her use her card energy once, the continued use of her bloodline had put a huge dent into her fighting ability. Even though she probably had a lot of her card energy left, her mental strain would limit a few big moves before she burned out. On top of his worries about Pluvias condition, Gareth had to consider his own. though he hadn't used much energy, his transformation was putting a constant burden on his body. Having activated it almost ten minutes ago, he only had five minutes or so before it would run out. At that time he would revert to his human form and become extremely weak. if they hadn't resolved the situation by then, he'd be left completely defenceless. Without his support in holding off the parasites, the remaining Goblies and the weakened Alice would quickly be swept over by the horde. Though Hackmon might be able to buy them some time, he couldn't replace Gareth. At best he could give them a minutes grace.

Facing down the possibility of them being overrun, Gareth's brain went into overdrive. The partially formed plan in his brain quickly consolidated into a solid idea. though it wasn't certain that this plan would work, it was the best option he could think off at the moment. But the whole plan hinged on one uncertain factor, the flaming lizard. The amount of time it could give them to prepare would heavily affect how likely the plan was to succeed. Placing all of his hopes onto the lizard, Gareth watched it finish its course through the sky. When the lizard hit the ground, a cheek splitting smile appeared on Gareth's face. When it first hit the ground, the lizard's form broke into several pieces. Then condensing together, the pieces formed into a tiny ball. Only being the size of a baseball, the condensed flames suddenly became very hot. But before that heat had time to spread, there was another development. The ball exploded outwards, sending huge plumes of fire out in every direction. As the flames continued to grow in size, they eventually formed a mushroom cloud. It was like someone had set off a small nuke inside of the massive cavern.

Explosion: BOOOOOOM!!!!!

Shaking the whole cave, a Sonic boom emerged from the centre of the explosion. The ripples from that boom pushed against the nearby flames, spreading them outwards. When the momentum was finally lost, the Flames had managed to cover an area of 100 meters. Everything in that area was instantly reduced to ashes. But that wasn't the end of it. Just as the mushroom cloud was about to disperse, a sudden burst of power come from within it.

Explosion: Boom!

letting out a much smaller explosion than earlier, the mushroom cloud explode. All of the flames contained within it were sent flying up into the air. Flying out in every direction, the flames spread out to cover a huge portion of the cave. Looking up at the sky, Gareth noticed a moment of silence fill the cave. Hovering in the air for a brief second, the flames loomed over the parasite horde. Then like the flames of Olympus, they came crashing down. The whole cave became as bright as day as the fire fell onto the parasites heads. Landing onto the bodies of the parasites, the patches of fire would spread over them. But before long, the fire would consume the weak parasites and disappear. As the last piece of flame finished burning a parasite to death, the cave once again became covered in darkness. Now that the fire had finally disappeared, Gareth looked at the devastation it had caused. Counting up the rough number of parasites that had gone missing, he concluded that over 500 parasites were killed in that single attack. that was over 20% of the entire horde gone in an instant.

Looking to his side, Gareth saw Alice's amazed face. Staring out towards Solomon, her mouth was drooping open.

Gareth: Alice, listen to me!

Using the time that Solomon had bought them, Gareth Explained his plan to Alice.

Alice: Are you sure it'll work? What if they don't take the bait?

Gareth: I'm about 80% certain. Even if they don't buy it I've got an emergency plan.

Fiddling with the monster core in his pocket, Gareth didn't elaborate on what his emergency plan was.

Alice: Alright then, I'll trust you.

Smiling at Gareth, Alice agreed to his plan. Though she didn't have the same confidence in it that Gareth had, she believed in his judgement.

Having decided on the plan, they began setting it up. By the time the parasites had recovered and went on the offensive, They were ready for them.

Kneeling down in front of a triangular formation of Goblies, Gareth gathered all off his remaining energy into his gun. Aiming it down the middle of the Parasite horde, Gareth let an evil grin settle on his face.

Gareth: EAT THIS!!!