One's darnedest

Everybody was running as fast as they can to the cliff-climbing-point while carrying their essential belongings in backpacks. Though the scene appeared to be of complete chaos, there was undoubtedly an order, which was proof that they were highly experienced adventurers. Janet was leading the group at the front, while Filbert and a few other unwounded warriors were at the rear

Their enemies were also slowly showing up from the lakeside in bulks. But, the stronger ones were yet to arrive, so the relatively weaker ones were annihilated as before by Alderman, Alfosdor, Louis, their parties, and a few other old warriors. Occasionally an irregularly strong one would up. But Kenny would deal with them before anyone could notice.

The group reached the ladders and began the climb. The horse was abandoned because of the emergency. And then, they finally appeared: the giant monstrous undead creatures. To make the situation worse, there were more than a hundred of them.

Most of them were formed by the fusion of two or three lower undead monsters. As a result, they were huge, with more than one set of arms, they could attack with spells and weapons at the same time. Moreover, they harbored vast amounts of vile mana, further enhancing their physical strength and magic abilities.

"Everybody does a full-body-enhancement. Go with full power from the beginning." The Captain gave out his directions. "And don't separate from your partners while watching each other's backs."

Alfosdor stored away his regular hammer and pulled out a two ball Flail, a War Mace, from its case. With his blueish mana, which shows that he has endowment type abilities, he passed special skills to his mace. The large metal balls at the end of the chains glowed with yellow and white light, which hosted thunder and freezing abilities, respectively.

----

The undead monsters unleashed a war cry and charged at the group of adventurers. With a massive swing of his mace on the ground, Alfosdor managed to create a diversion by breaking their stances and creating cracks and earth spikes near their feet. Taking advantage of that, the adventurers charged in with everything they had.

The Captain engaged in a fierce sword fight with another giant boney swordsman. Though it managed to block some of his strikes, with every hit, its broadsword was chipped off, and the mana is used to buff itself was snatched away. After finishing it off with another mighty swing, he parried the next attack of another one, which was trying to slip into his defenses and assault with a dagger. Louis took care of his back by attacking with fire bullets at the undead. His butler Blacro fended off the ones which he missed. And the other adventurers, in turn, protected them. It was slowly developing into a highly organized and co-ordinated group battle.

But still, they were at a numerical disadvantage. Alfosdor's party was surrounded, and mana bullets were barraged at them from all sides. The dwarves put up their shields and counterattacked with spells of their own.

Still, the biggest threat, unknown to them, was handled by Kenny. Behind the enemy lines were three skeleton leaders who were commanding the enemy and maintaining their front. Two of them were on the battlefield while the third one was surveying the battlefield from under the water. They were similar in appearance to the skeleton knight, which Kenny defeated that day. Though in terms of strength, they were a little stronger.

Proud of their abilities, they marched on the battlefield without any fear. But, unfortunately for them, their opponent was Kenny, who showed no mercy like last time. Though they tried to put up a gallant fight, they were overwhelmed by the speed and strength of Kenny. With sword strikes, seemingly coming out of nowhere, their skulls were crushed, and weapons were broken.

With the defeat of the two, the third one came out of the water with a big jump. As if dwarfing the other giant fused undead monsters, this mega-monster bellowed like a buffalo with its croc head. The roar had spells endowed in it, which blew away almost everybody on the battlefield, both allies, and enemies.

The adventurers managed to somehow defend themselves with magic shields. But the next torrent of attacks made a heavy blow on them. The giant monster had three sets of arms. The first set held two large swords in both arms. With the sword on its right hand, it made a fast sweeping attack on Alfosdor and his party. Trying to take the full brunt of the blow, Alfosdor stood at the front with his shield reinforced with several defensive spells.

But a slight miscalculation of the power by Alfosdor opened a window of opportunity for his opponent. And the sword, which was supposed to be parried, slipped off and hit Alfosdor's head. The blow was so sharp that his consciousness flew out in an instant.

Taking the opportunity when the undead was focused on Alfosdor, Louis hit it with several earth lances from its flank. But the swift monster managed to deflect them with its strong arms. Using that small diversion, Reidrin managed to pull Alfosdor from the front lines.

But now, with the frontlines collapsed, the full burden of attack and defense fell on the Captain and Louis. The other warriors were also falling back because of their injuries. Some of them were even climbing the cliff for an escape. And though very few in number, there were some casualties too. Alderman was fending off as many attacks as he could while keeping the giant undead busy. While Louis was somehow keeping up the defenses with his spells. The conditions were dire. It was a do-or-die situation for the remaining warriors on the battlefield.

Suddenly, a massive surge of thunder emerged from a few meters behind the enemy lines. With the majority of the attack focused on the giant undead monster, it was cooked up from inside by the powerful bolt. The remaining streaks of thunder took down the other monsters. And almost in a split second, the majority of the enemies on the battlefield had been decimated.

The thunder attack was made by none other than Kenny. After defeating the first two skeleton leaders, he was caught up by their underlings. Though he was cleaning up fast, amid the action, he missed the chance to hold down the third undead leader, which immediately charged at the adventurers after coming out from under the water.

As the frontlines collapsed, Kenny realized that he has no leeway left to hold back now. So, he unleashed the most potent area-of-effect attack he recently devised.

Actually, the thunder was not something created by his magic. It was his own bio-electricity, which he managed to channel out through his hands after some precise manipulations. And the reason why the electricity was so powerful is that - his muscles and skin are extremely stiff and inflexible. Thus, his nervous system naturally creates these high voltage currents to move them. Kenny just had to feel the bioelectricity running under his skin and channel it out using his mana as a medium.

----

The Captain plopped down on his butt after watching the giant undead monster being burned down by thunder in front of his very eyes. There were visible hints of nervousness and confusion in his eyes. Louis and Balcro were cleaning up the few remaining ones which were still moving. Kenny moved closer to him to give a hand.

Seeing Kenny approaching him, Louis praised Kenny cheerfully, "That was brilliant, Kenny. You caught me by surprise there."

Kenny sliced up a nearby undead croc and replied, "Ah, well, I just wanted to be of help to everybody."

"Well now, no need to be so modest, Kenny. That was a wonderful spell. The power in it was, honestly, way out of the norm." said Louis with a smile.

"Woah, man! That was really amazing." said another familiar voice.

Alderman looked behind and found Filbert and his party at the rear, whom he had ordered to go with the retreating group. But here they are, helping the wounded with potions and magic in the dangerous battlefield. Flared up with anger, the Captain shouted at them, "Are you all a bunch of stupids? What are you doing here?"

"Don't you worry, old man. We have come to help," said Filbert with a lofty smile.

Rody, his party member, pushed him back and gave the formal report, "Captain, the retreating party has reached a safe distance from the lakeshore. We were asked by the injured adventurers who ran to us for help. Accordingly, we are carrying out the rescue mission."

Alderman looked past him by tilting his neck and saw other members of the group, who should have escaped by now, helping the wounded. Nensi was also there as well, assisting Reidrin and the other dwarves to carry Alfosdor to the top. Ryan, the ex-prince, was doing something with magic in a corner, and his guardian Mylisant was helping the healers with the few spells she knew.

He was still angry at them for defying his orders. But, as the long hard battle is over now, he couldn't help but be thankful to them for returning. It really fills your heart with warmth to know that someone is looking out for you.

----

But the beautiful moments of solace were short-lived. A few minutes later, they heard the most dreadful of roar any men could ever hear. The air shrieked with fear; the ground shook like an earthquake, and any living or non-living being in the vicinity felt like the ripper's scythe was tracing their neck. Somebody gulped, and the sound reached everybody's ears as if it was louder than the now roaring waves of the lake.

Kenny was not an exception, as well. Chills ran down his spine, and he looked up to see an extraordinary being, circling the sky at a great height as if it was the sole ruler of heavens. Kenny used his far sight abilities and was honestly amazed to find out that - it was a dragon, a silver-scaled hexapod dragon, entirely out of western fantasy. But upon further observation, he found out that it was actually a quadruped, and its wings were simply mana given shape. Captivated by romance and excitement, Kenny could do nothing but marvel in awe.

----

"Hahaha.......HAHAHA" Suddenly, Ryan started laughing like a maniac, while walking to the front. Everybody slowly rotated their heads, like a machine clogged with rust, to see why their fellow group member has started laughing like a madman in such a perilous situation.

But he didn't mind the confused gazes at all and continued his dry laughter, "HAHAHA... at last! At last, it came down. After days of secretly using the artifact and attracting those vile undead monsters, at last, my mission shall be accomplished. Those suspicious guys from Asphodel had some truth in their words, after all."

The betraying revelation made by their comrade sent despair and sad feelings of disgust through their minds. Some fell silent while others like Filbert - Filbert shouted, "Wha... what the hell are you saying?"

"Do you mean that the unnatural attacks of the beasts and the suspicious occurrences of the monsters in large numbers were your doing?" asked Alderman with calm in his voice but anger in eyes.

Ryan turned to look at the Captain with excoriation and said after a 'hmph,' "I don't care. I don't really care for anybody at all. Yes, many of the abnormal monster attacks were probably because of me, while I was trying to get that thing come down. But, it was all necessary for my mission."

"I don't know how important your mission was." said the Captain in a grave voice while slowly getting up, "But, sacrificing others for your own benefit is nothing but selfishness." and leaped towards him with his black sword in his hand, which was incessantly giving of black fumes.

But Ryan stood there fearlessly and took a stance with three red darts among his fingers. And, as the Captain got close to the slashing range, he threw them like a skilled ninja while jumping back to take some distance.

The Captain swung his sword to deflect them. But, one of them had a lower trajectory, and it did manage to hit his thigh, and almost immediately ropes made of white Ynni came out of it and bound the Captain, completely immobilizing him.

"Crime ropes!" shouted an astonished Louis. Crime Ropes, like handcuffs, can only be used by someone with an adequate government authority to catch criminals who are strong enough that they cannot be held down by conventional means. Their strength is enough to tie down people with a level of more than 700. It also has the functionality to disperse the mana used by the convicted.

Taken over by rage, Louis ordered Kenny, "Detain that criminal."

"Yes," answering to Louis, Kenny carefully approached him.

The worried Ryan now took a step back while shouting, "Don't meddle with my mission, you irregular wildling."

Suddenly, Mylisant slipped in between them with swift movements while attempting to cut Kenny's neck with a knife. Kenny easily evaded it by bending his upper body a little at the moment. And simultaneously landed a kick on her abdomen. Losing his cool for a second there, he forgot to restrain his strength, and Mylisant was flung away, bouncing on the beach like a rubber ball.

"Mylisa...." Ryan shouted with anguish and ran towards her.

In the very next moment, Kenny felt movements in the sky and saw the dragon swooping down on them with tremendous speed. Shouts and screams could be heard from the resulting chaos. And everybody, who was stiffly scared just a moment ago, had nothing in their mind now other than escaping.

Realizing that he has to take care of the more significant problem at hand first, Kenny passed mana into his sword while taking a stance. The mana overflowed, and bluish-white fumes emerged from the cracks of the scabbard.

----

A few meters away, Mylisant opened her eyes on the lap of Ryan and said with a weak voice, "My prince... complete your.. mission. This is your... chance... to get... what you always wanted."

Ryan passed a high-grade healing potion to her and stood up while facing Kenny, "I said, DON'T YOU INTERFERE, you stupid wildling. Watch me how I catch that damn thing." Wiping away his tears while taking some deep breaths, he immediately equipped his longbow and knocked a special arrow which he had taken out from a case.

The arrow, with a grey crystalline arrow tip, was shot at the incoming dragon after a careful aim, and it flew straight, leaving a flat trail of mana. And the silver-scaled dragon, proud of his strength, never tried to avoid the puny little arrow.

The arrow splendidly struck its shoulder after ignoring all of its defenses. Then the dragon let out a loud roar once again, but this time of pain. The arrow-tip grew like a wave on a pond, covering the vast body of the dragon with similar grey crystal.

The chaos once again calmed down as they witnessed a mind-boggling spectacle. The terrified people were utterly shocked to see the pitiful condition of the majestic dragon, which was now randomly gliding in the sky like an aimless housefly.

"That's what I call a good hunt," shouted Ryan with delight. And Mylisant slowly stood up, holding his hand, as her injuries were being healed by the potion.

----

But the ex-prince made a big mistake by underestimating the power of an ancient dragon, which he got to learn shortly after. The dragon writhing in pain, now released all of its power. And, after trying for a few more seconds, it managed to activate full body enhancement even in the presence of the binding force of the crystal.

As a result, a tremendous surge of mana blasted off in every direction. The grey crystal growing on its body shattered like glass and fell down on the lake. And the strong mana wave had very adverse effects on the people left on the beach. Some coughed out blood and vomit, while others were almost petrified.

Ryan fell on his knees, and his jaw dropped to the ground. "Impossible... That's ridiculous." he stuttered.

But the now enraged dragon didn't care anymore. By accumulating mana, it formed a giant blue ball of fire and shot it at the people on the beach. The imminent looming death sent waves of dismay among the people who were still conscious.

----

There was no time to waste, and Kenny acted quick. He picked up the Captain, who was lying motionless on the beach near him. And then threw him with his superhuman strength to the cliff-top, hoping that he suffers little damage from the rough treatment.

Then his eyes began scanning for people who had relatively weak to no way of protecting themselves. He saw Nensi and one other girl. He picked them up on both of his hands and jumped using the footholds on the cliff, instantly reaching the top. After dropping them there, he came down again.

But now, the fireball was close enough that its heat has begun to evaporate the water on the lake. As Kenny's skin is fireproof to some degree, he continued his rescue mission.

----

And then... the fire fell. The water near the shore was immediately steamed away. The sandy ground scorched red hot. The vegetation on the cliff walls was instantly charred, and the rocks beneath them burned.

As the flames went cold, the hot air rose up, calling in the crisp mountain air from the surroundings. The vapor slowly cooled and formed a haze near the ground. The smoke quickly mixed with the dense fog and developed a difficult to see or breathe smog.

Then, the ashes fell.