Hera could feel her sweat dripping from her face. If what they fought during the previous days were waves, this time it was a tsunami that was always crashing. Hera barely had time to kill a monster before having to switch to the next one. Blue and Kenny were dealing with three creatures at a time, while Cass, Bolton, and Tisha would kill them from the wooden wall. The damage dealers were doing their best to finish the beasts off in as few strikes as possible.

They were fighting for over one hour. Their team was defending on their own right now, with the second team resting on the camp. After that, the breaks would be as needed, with smaller groups resting at a time so the teams would have more people in the combat. When the third team arrived, more people could rest at a time. Hera had lost the count of how many monsters she had killed. She, Alex, and Martel ran around behind the vanguard to kill all the monsters that went through the five people in front.

Another frog jumped over Kenny, and Hera dove towards it. She slashed its head with her handaxe, buffed by the mana reinforcement. The attack split the monster's skull in half, and Hera pushed the body towards the entrance. As she looked back toward the horde, another five frogs had run past the vanguard. Alex jumped towards one while Martel managed to pull two to combat. Hera sent a poison needle to one of the remaining ones and attacked the other with her handaxe. She tried the same move and was able to break the monster's spine. The frog who got hit by the spell kept moving towards the entrance, but Alex sent a wind cutter towards it, finishing it off before reaching the Healers.

Looking to the walls, Hera couldn't believe how many corpses were reinforcing the barriers. A few of the piles were twice her size.

"Hera, duck!" Runir yelled.

She lowered her body, going almost completely flat on the ground as a Giant Crested Newt flew by her head. Hera quickly got up to attack the monster's tail, trying to distract it from its objective. The creature didn't seem to mind and kept running towards the entrance. Hera jumped on top of it. Holding the large fin-like protrusion on its back and started to hack at its body. Each strike slowed the beast until it finally stopped moving. Before Hera could get off from the monster, its body dissolved into the ground, together with all the bodies that were spread around.

Several materials fell into small piles, some in the middle of the area they were using to fight, others by the walls. Apart from those atop the walls, everyone scrambled to grab the materials and toss it towards the piles by the walls. It wasn't about the loot's value, but about making sure that there was nothing on the ground that could hinder the combat.

During the previous days, when a wave ended, the monsters would take a minute to reach the traps again, yet now, it took only ten seconds before the first pangolin passed through them. Hera and Alex were panting while Martel was leaning on the wall to catch his breath.

"Alex, Hera, Martel, go take a break. You are the ones that seem most tired. Take a break," Cass commanded as the other team arrived.

"Take some of the loot if you can," Jessica said as the other team got into position.

Hera just nodded and started walking towards the camp. She picked a handful of materials, not even sure what was what. Martel flopped into one of the beds inside the tents while Alex collapsed into a chair. The guild had set up a hose to wash the blood and dirt from their gear.. Hera took off her armguards and opened her armor. She took off only the top part of it and turned the hose on. Leaning forward, she let the water fall to the back of her neck to cool herself off.

Her armor was amazing, but after some time, it got very hot inside it. She was careful not to let the water inside her armor. The last thing Hera needed right now was to fight in a wet suit.

"Hera, are you done?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, do you want to use the hose?" Hera asked while the water fell on her neck.

"Not really. I just want to ask you something, and it's kind of weird to talk to your ass."

Hera got up quickly, her face turning red with the comment. She didn't realize that her butt was sticking out.

"Sorry," Hera walked towards the chairs and sat down, avoiding Alex's eyes, "What's up?"

"I know this is not the time to be worrying about this but, are you and Bonnie, ok? I mean, did you two had a fight or something?" Alex grabbed a second bottle of water. The first one was already empty by her side.

"What? No, we are good, at least I think so. Why?"

"Well, she said it'd been a while since you stopped replying to her messages. I said it was probably just you being busy and not replying to anyone, but I wanted to make sure since apparently, she sent you a couple of messages that you didn't reply."

"What? No, she hasn't," Hera picked her tablet and went to the chat app. There was no notification, but as she opened it, several unread messages appeared, "What the hell!?" she gasped.

"What happened?"

"The messaging app bugged. It didn't show a single notification," Hera kept looking through the messages, "Crap, there are things here from the day the rampage started even Leo asked about it."

"Wow, really? You should let the guild know."

"Wait. Seriously?" Hera sighed, "Apparently, I removed the notification for the app.."

"Does the granny need help with technology?" Alex laughed.

"Bite me," Hera replied with a smile.

"Don't say that here. The monsters might hear you," Martel said from the tent.

"Dude, this is a private conversation!" Alex tossed the empty bottle at him.

"I got here first," he replied.

"Anyway. Can you reply, Bonnie? She's kind of worried," Alex asked.

"Doing it right now. She left the room when the rampage started. On the other hand, Mark is working as a repairman in Brinefront," Hera said as she caught up with her texts.

"Yeah, I know. They told me about it the day this all started," Alex picked her tablet to distract herself while resting. The trio stayed there in silence for close to twenty minutes before Alex spoke again, "By the way. How many monsters did you kill?"

"One moment," there was a message from Ms. Kahele, thanking Hera and saying that Amanda had woken up. She was feeling better, and the doctors said that she could leave the hospital soon. It was a good thing. Amanda's birthday was getting close and spending it in a hospital bed would be awful. Hera replied that she would visit as soon as she could and opened the quest.

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Monster Rampage - Brinnefront

Protect the city from the waves of monsters that will attack the settlements. Any damage to the structures of the room will be deducted from the basic reward.

Rewards: 5 000 gold

Killing a monster will give you increased rewards based on the type of monster.

Giant Frog - 53 kills

Giant Toad - 22 kills

Petite Crocodile - 31 kills

Giant Chameleon - 24 kills

Prism Pangolin - 12 kills

Giant Newt - 13 kills

Giant Crested Newt - 10 kills

Giant Snapping Turtle - 6 kills

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"Here, take a look. The list is too long," she passed her tablet to Alex.

"Hum.. yeah, I have 6 turtles on mine too. I'm guessing that it counts if you hit them even once."

"I don't think so. I'm positive I fought more than 10 crested newts. But most of them reach me already pretty banged up," Hera replied.

"It's about contribution," Martel left the tent, grabbing a bottle of water.

"Like, how much damage we deal to them?" Hera asked.

"Sort of. The guild sets the quest up in a way that the system identifies if you helped with the kill or not. So like, if your attack helps to finish the monster off, it counts, but if the thing is already on death's door and has no way of recovering, it doesn't count," Martel explained while he opened the pan of stew, taking a look inside.

"How do they do that?" Alex asked.

"I have no idea. Try to ask the guild. I'm sure they have people trying to figure out what the system is," Martel picked a bowl and served himself a reasonable amount of stew.

"How are you still hungry? You went back for seconds and thirds," Hera stared at the bowl.

"Don't judge me. We are spending a lot of energy here. Besides..."

"WENDIGO!" the shout came from the entrance.

The three dropped everything and ran towards the entrance. Hera felt her heart racing. A part of her hoped that the Wendigos never appeared here and would be dealt with by the other teams.

"Where is it?" Cass's voice rang.

"Oceanside, by the rocks on the side. It looks like a white frog but moves much faster," someone replied.

"I see it!" Tisha sent a couple of arrows towards the monster.

"It's on the road. Light it up!" Bolton yelled.

The sounds of spells hitting something roared through the area. The noise kept going even after Hera had arrived in the area. She looked around, trying to see the Wendigo from between the horde of monsters in the front. The Wendigo looked like a giant rain frog but had blood-red eyes and pale white skin. Only its legs had some color, with some hints of black and purple. The monster kept jumping to the sides, avoiding most of the attacks. It tried to retreat a couple of times, but a large flaming explosion cut off its path.

"Alex, cover me," Hera said as she moved to the side to get a better angle. Even at the edge of the traps, she couldn't find a good position to hit the monster. She looked towards the side. No creatures were trying to move to the walls at the moment, which gave her a clear path. Hera jumped over the traps and kept running to the side, making sure that no monster followed her.

"Hera, wait!" Alex yelled.

She ran past the area until she was able to see the side of the Wendigo. Stopping, she charged a poison needle and aimed at the creature. The small spell flew towards it at high speed, but the monster looked at it and jumped to the side, being hit by three arrows in the process. Hera frowned. Her spell was supposed to be a stealth thing. No monster ever noticed the projectile before. For a moment, she could swear that the Wendigo was staring at her. Getting another spell ready, Hera waited for it to evade other attacks before launching it.

When the Rainfrog Wendigo was about to dash to the side, Hera pulled the trigger. The poison needle flew through the air and hit the Wendigo's head. She prepared yet another spell to keep the assault, but the Wendigo turned around in the air and jumped through the flames behind it, vanishing in the bog.

"Hera, we have to go back!" Alex pulled Hera's arm. Some monsters were starting to converge on their position.

The two ran toward the entrance, with part of the team giving them some cover.

"That was very stupid, but your distraction gave us the chance for a few hits. Good work," Cass yelled from the ramparts.

"What about the Wendigo?" Hera asked.

"It's gone. It vanished into the swamp, but I think we gave it a good thrashing," Tisha replied.

"We still have to deal with the rest of the monsters, look alive people!" Jessica shouted as the team got back into formation.

Hera stared at the bog that was spawning the monsters, trying to find the Wendigo there. Yet, this time, she didn't feel any eyes staring back.