Another night had passed in the wilderness where Renne and her group, along with Lory, fortified a part of an abandoned village in preparation for the imminent monster attack. Pretty much nobody among Renne and her assistants had a good sleep knowing that soon their lives would be in danger.

“Uwaaahh...” Renne yawned in the middle of breakfast.

“Didn’t sleep well, Miss Renne?” Nathan asked.

Renne squinted her eyes at Nathan before replying. “Despite what I said yesterday, you think I could get a good sleep knowing that we will be fighting for our lives soon?”

“Right, you have a point.” Nathan said. “But we’ll be the ones fighting, so don’t worry and leave everything to us.”

“Alright.” Renne folded her arms and lowered her head for five seconds before speaking again. “Nathan, Storm One.”

“Yes?” The two guys said in unison.

“Use your own judgement, but if the situation calls for it I authorize both of you to use Conflagrator.”

“Roger that, Miss Alphen.” Storm One said.

“Affirmative.” Nathan said. “Although honestly I would prefer not to resort to that.”

Lory chimed in right after Nathan finished speaking. “I assume that’s a dangerous secret weapon? Is it alright that I heard about it just now?”

“Secret? No. Dangerous? Yes.” Renne said. “If it was secret I wouldn’t be speaking about it right in front of you, or anyone else irrelevant for that matter.”

“Right.” Lory said. “How dangerous is it?”

“Well, to put it simply.” Renne replied. “Friendly fire can easily happen by accident, and it totally vaporizes everything it hits.”

Lory didn’t immediately reply. Instead, he pulled a bottle from his cloak and drank a good portion of its content before speaking. “I just hope it won’t be me.”

Crackle! Crackle! Drrddd...

Suddenly there was a sound of thunder echoing throughout the place. Everybody, including Lory, immediately went to full alert and looked at the nearest window. Within a second later, Lory and Nathan went outside through the front door and looked at the gloomy sky. There were more flashes of lightning among the clouds as they looked, followed by distant rumbling sounds.

“It’s starting.” Lory said. “We better get ready.”

Nathan immediately went back into the house and did a single hard clap with his hands.

Clap!

“It’s starting! Proceed as planned!” Nathan shouted.

“Yes, sir!” Storm One said before he and the other three members of the squad went out through the front door. Nathan then looked at Renne, and their eyes met.

“Nathan.” Renne said. “Godspeed.”

“Affirmative, Miss Alphen.” Nathan said as he gave a firm salute. He then closed the front door from the outside, and a few seconds later he could hear the sound of Renne and her assistants barricading the door from the inside with furniture and other stuff they could use for the purpose.

Nathan looked at the sky once again. The overcast still kept letting out flashes of lightning and rumbling sounds of thunder. In addition, he felt the occasional sensation of little water drop on his face.

“It’s really starting to rain.” Nathan said to himself as he pulled out a compact cube which soon unfolded into a sniper rifle. “Three days straight... I sure hope it will be shorter.”

Nathan then climbed to the rooftop of the house and looked around at his surroundings. Storm Three was already on the same roof, Storm One was on the roof of the second house along with Lory, and Storm Two and Four were on the roof of the last house. The walls made from wooden logs stood firm, connecting the three houses in a triangle and completely blocking the path from the outside except one part between the other two houses where there was a small gap just wide enough for a person to squeeze through. A number of portable gun turrets had been set up on the roofs, but they were in manual control mode so for the time being they were inert.

Before long, the tiny drops became a drizzle, and then the drizzle became a rain. Nathan felt nothing physically weird about the rain. It made his hair and skin wet like how a rain was supposed to do. Still, it was a fact that being perpetually wet would negatively affect his combat performance, and therefore he took a small mechanical white sphere from his pocket and threw it upwards. The sphere floated above the roof he was standing on and emitted light before covering the roof with an energy barrier which repelled the rain.

“Do we have enough for three days?” Storm Three asked.

“Not if deployed all the time.” Nathan replied, looking at the other two groups which had deployed the same energy barrier over each. “We’ll prioritize night time for deploying this thing later.”

“Roger that, Vice Captain.”

While still looking at the other two groups, Nathan spoke. “Everybody else can hear me right now?” Then he heard replies through the nanomachine link.

“Loud and clear.” Storm One said.

“Perfectly audible.” Storm Four said.

“Same here.” Storm Two said.

Nathan nodded once before looking at Lory in the distance. “What about you, Lory?”

“I don’t have your convenient thing, but yes. I still can hear you just fine.” Lory’s reply was heard through Storm One’s nanomachine link.

“Alright! Keep your eyes open, and good luck!”

And so the three-days long defensive operation started. Their plan was to spread in three groups of two like right now and maintain that formation throughout the entire duration of the rain. At least Nathan hoped so by keeping all the monsters at bay using long range weapons.

“Are you sure you’ll be able to stay awake for three days straight?” Lory asked. “No normal human can even do half of that without significantly losing performance.”

“Yes.” Nathan replied. “We have this technology planted within our body that allows us to do that. It still has its limits, but it’ll do.”

Storm Four then chimed in. “What about you, though? With magic?”

“Yes. I’m specially good at self-enhancement spells. Keeping myself awake for three days is a cinch.”

“Hey, that’s very handy.” Storm Three said. “Can you cast it on us too?”

“I can, but it won’t be as effective.” Lory replied. “I said self-enhancement, didn’t I?”

“Ah, right. Better save your mana, then.”

“Mana?” Lory asked, sounding audibly confused.

“I mean, whatever resource within your body that you use when you cast magic. What do you usually call it?”

“There’s nothing like that.”

“Oh, so you’re limited to casting a certain amount of spells each day or something?”

“No, there’s no such limit.”

Before the conversation between Lory and Storm Three could continue, Nathan intervened. “Continue your talks later. Enemies may show up at any second.”

“Enemy spotted!” Storm Two spoke.

“Fire at will!” Nathan ordered.

Blam!

The loud sound of Storm Two’s Alexander Z rifle echoed all over the place for everyone to hear, and after that there was a silence for a few seconds.

“Target down.” Storm Two reported.

“Good work. Keep your eyes open for more hostiles.” Nathan said. “Remember that we’re going to do this for three days without rest so conserve your stamina.”

“Roger that.” All members of the Storm Squad replied in unison.

Less than two minutes later, Nathan noticed something at a distance. It was a group of hostiles consisting of three quad-apes and a green drake, marching towards his position at their dashing pace. The distance was still at least one click away, but at their current pace they would reach the fort in a couple minutes.

“Enemy spotted.” Nathan said as he aimed his own Alexander Z rifle. “Engaging targets.”

Blam! Blam!

Nathan’s shot hit a quad-ape square in the head, blowing it to paste. At the same time, Storm Three shot a different quad-ape and hit it at the neck. Its head was immediately separated from its body and rolled on the ground.

Blam! Blam!

Nathan took down another quad-ape while Storm Three took a shot at the green drake. Her shot hit the green drake’s head, but the bullet ricocheted and didn’t deal fatal damage. The green drake staggered with a pained wail and there was a visible wound, so the shot still meant something.

Blam!

Nathan took a shot at the staggered green drake and the bullet entered the head through the open mouth. A fountain of blood gushed out from the nose and eyes of the green drake and it fell down on the ground, never moving again.

“Enemy down.” Nathan said before looking towards the sky. “Flying enemy spotted.”

Bang! Splat!

Within an instant, a loud gunshot sound was heard and the lone flying monster, which looked like a red giant bat at a glance, got its head blown off. Its lifeless body fell down at a distance and disappeared from view into the woods.

“You can ignore the crimson bats. As long as I’m here, not even one will get close.” Lory said. “Unless they come in a huge swarm. In that case I’ll let you know.”

“Alright. We’ll be counting on you.” Nathan said. At the same time, he pondered about Lory’s gun. The firepower of the gun was impressive, possibly harboring comparable destructive force to Alexander Z sniper rifle, if not better. But what impressed Nathan even more was the fact that Lory had shot a distant flying monster with a gun which had no scope.

However, there was no time for further pondering because more enemies showed up in short order, and thus the defensive operation continued. As Lory had predicted, the monsters didn’t come all at once, but in small waves which could be picked off one by one with sniper rifles before they could get close enough to be a threat.

“How many hours have passed?” Storm Two asked while still scouting for monsters using the scope of his Alexander Z.

Storm Four glanced aside briefly before replying. “A little over three.”

“Three days doing this... Hey, Lory.” Storm Two spoke without taking his eyes off from the scope.

“Yes?” Lory said.

“It’s not going to stay like this all the way to the final day, is it?”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Lory replied. “The waves will just get bigger as time passes.”

“So now’s the best time to talk, isn’t it? Mind if I ask questions?”

“Go ahead.”

“How come there are so many monsters on this island? Do they multiply quickly or something?”

“Calamity beasts aren’t natural creatures. They still can mate and bear offspring like animals, but they also simply spawn. You notice the ones you’ve killed at the beginning, don't you?”

“Now that you mention it...” Storm Three chimed in while still looking through her rifle scope. “The number of carcasses I see doesn’t match our kill count. Some of them have gone without a trace.”

“Yes.” Lory said. “Kill them and their bodies will disintegrate after an hour or two. Their essence will assimilate into the ground, eventually gathering together and spawning a new one somewhere else.”

“What? Doesn’t that mean they’re infinite?” Storm Four asked.

Bang! Splat!

“Perhaps, but not really.” Lory replied while shooting a distant crimson bat right on its face. “Respawning a beast takes the essence from multiple dead beasts of the same kind. Also, it doesn’t happen instantly.”

Blam!

“So if we kill enough of them constantly they will gradually go extinct, then?” Nathan asked right after shooting a blue goblin.

“That’s what we hope, and that’s also what capable people have been doing for decades.” Lory said. “But killing a large number of beasts too quickly gives birth to corrupted lands like this one we’re on, so culling their population isn’t that simple.”

“Hmm...” Storm One broke his silence so far. “I honestly fail to see what makes this land corrupted. The trees are lush and green, waters are as clear as they’re supposed to be, and wildlife seems to thrive despite the presence of monsters. Is there something I miss other than the strange cloud?”

“Actually, there are other corrupted lands which look close to what you probably imagine.” Lory said. “This one is a bit special because what’s actually corrupted is not the island, but the lake.”

“Oh, so that’s why the cloud is like that. The vapor from the lake, isn’t it?”

“Right. The cloud is chock full of calamity ardor. You could even say that it’s a calamity beast itself in a sense.”

“What did you say again? Calamity ardor?”

“Energy, essence, whatever you want to call it. Most people just call it calamity ardor.”

Bang! Bang!

Lory shot down two crimson bats in quick succession before resuming his speech. “It accelerates the spawning rate of calamity beasts in the area beneath, and about once a year this happens.”

“It’s like growing an army and then proceeding to attack.” Nathan said. “And you said you’ve been doing this for years. Has nobody done anything other than what you’ve been doing to address this corruption?”

“Oh believe me, people have tried.” Lory replied. “But cleansing a giant lake from corruption isn’t an easy feat. All we have managed to do so far was to ensure the corruption stays in the lake.”

“Containment, eh?” Storm Two said. “Yeah, better than having it spread everywhere.”

Right after Storm Two finished speaking, Storm Four spoke out. “A large group of monsters spotted! At least ten combined! No, make it twenty!”

“Storm Two! Use the MAX-5 Ruby!” Storm One ordered.

“Affirmative!” Storm Two replied, and then he pulled out a mechanical cube from his soldier suit. The cube quickly unfolded into a missile launcher which he held above his right shoulder. “Locking on targets!” He said as he aimed the weapon towards the group of monsters. “Targets locked! Firing!”

Within the span of two seconds, a number of missiles were thrown forward by the missile launcher in quick succession before their thrusters activated and propelled them away with great whooshing sounds. The missiles went upwards for another few seconds before turning towards the group of monsters and charged straight at them at high speed. Their white smoke trails were briefly visible for everyone to see before being washed away by the rain.

A chain of explosions took place at the point of impact, ringing everyone’s ears with their loud bangs. Along with the blown up dirt and rocks, pieces of flesh and blood flew from the spot, and once the dust settled there was nothing on the spot other than small craters made by the explosions along with lifeless bodies of monsters, all of them having been blown to pieces in parts.

“Alright, I must say that it’s quite impressive.” Lory said. “How many times can you do that?”

“Not too many.” Storm Two said as he folded the missile launcher and put it back into his suit pocket. “But we still have more up our sleeves.”

“Good to hear.”

“By the way, sometimes I heard distant explosions. Do you know what they were?”

“The traps I’ve set up at random places on the island. Should be enough to thin their ranks a bit.”

“Speaking of traps...” Storm Three said. “Did any of us walk past some of them before arriving here back then?”

“Actually, yes.” Lory said. “But only calamity beasts can set them off, so there’s no worry.”

“Great, I’m glad to hear that.” Storm Three said with a small relieved sigh.

Bang!

Lory shot down another crimson bat, and then he spoke while reloading his gun. “There’s something I’m wondering if you don’t mind me asking. Why are four of you addressed with numbers even by the people inside?”

“It’s what we’re used to.” Storm One said. “Not that our real names are secret or something, but it’s easier to maintain discipline this way. My name’s Joseph Marhanser by the way, and everybody knows it.” He pointed at himself with his thumb as he said it.

Blam!

Storm Four took down two quad-apes with a single shot, then he spoke without lowering his watch on his front. “Christopher Hill.”

Storm Two was checking up on his Alexander Z rifle when he chimed in. “Domhnall Lennox. I bet you think it’s a mouthful, don’t you?”

“Yeah, kinda.” Lory said.

“I knew it.” Storm Two let out a wry grin and one could easily guess from his tone of speech that he was rolling his eyes under the visor of his helmet. “Simply Don will do. But better continue with Storm Two.”

“Alright.” Lory said. He then briefly glanced at Storm Three who was still silently watching her front along with Nathan. She kept herself silent, so Lory finished reloading his gun and resumed his watch.

“You’re not gonna ask?” Storm Three spoke, breaking her silence.

“I could tell that you were not inclined to say your name, so I won’t.” Lory replied.

Storm Three didn’t immediately respond to Lory’s answer, keeping herself silent for five more seconds before speaking. “Sorry about it.”

“You’re never at fault to begin with. You must have a reason not to tell other people your name, and I’ll respect that.”

“Thanks.” Storm Three said.

The defensive operation continued through the day without much trouble. As Lory had told, the waves of monsters gradually got bigger and more frequent, but the growth rate of both aspects was slow and by dusk the monsters still came in manageable amounts. Not a single monster had managed to come close to the walls.

“It’s getting dark soon, get ready to activate night vision mode.” Nathan said.

“Affirmative, Vice-Captain sir!” All four members of Storm Squad replied in unison.

“What about you, Lory? You good?” Nathan asked.

“No worries. I’ve got a spell for that.” Lory replied.

Storm Two then chimed in. “Magic sure is convenient, eh?”

“Your technology is also convenient.” Lory said. “Look at us, separated on three different roofs in groups of two, yet we’re now talking as if we’re next to each other.”

“There’s no such magic in your place?” Storm One asked.

Bang!

“Last I heard something similar was in development, but the project was ultimately called off.” Lory replied while shooting another crimson bat.

“Heh, guess I’ll have a lot of questions to ask once this is over.” Storm Two said.

“The waves are letting up for now.” Lory said. “There’s something else I’m wondering, if you don’t mind me asking again.”

“You may ask, but we may not answer depending on the question.”

“If Nathan is vice-captain, where’s the captain?” Lory asked, and there was a silence among the group. After ten seconds of continuous silence, Lory spoke again. “Never mind, then.”

“We were separated...” Storm Four spoke up. “There’s no telling whether Captain Mayer and the others are still-“

“They’re alive!” Storm Three intervened. “I’m sure of it!”

There was no response to Storm Three’s intervention. Nathan himself had exactly the same wish as Storm Three, but it was a fact that the average survival rate of a planetary crash was under ten percent. Some of the remaining crews within Martin Alphen might have survived, but there was no guarantee whether Captain Mayer was among them.

“I think I have to apologize for bringing up a difficult topic.” Lory said. “Sorry.”

“You’re not at fault here.” Nathan said.

Boom!

Suddenly, a distant explosion sound was heard. Not just one or two, but a great number of them in quick succession from all directions. Everybody was instantly alerted and Storm One could readily notice the change in Lory’s facial expression, which was definitely not a good one.

“What just happened?” Storm One asked.

“All my traps have just been triggered at once. That can only mean one thing.” Lory replied before taking a deep breath and resumed. “The beasts are coming altogether in a huge swarm.”

“What? You told us they’re coming in waves!” Storm Three shouted.

“It was what happened all the time in the past!” Lory replied in a similar tension.

“Alright! Don’t fight!” Nathan intervened. “The situation’s evolving so we must adapt! Lory, what’s your suggestion? Should we stand ground or evacuate? And how much time we got before they’re here?”

“We’ve got about twenty minutes, and unless you have enough firepower to level mountains it won’t be a good idea to stand ground.”

“Sadly we don’t have such firepower if it’s just us five.” Nathan shook his head. “But where do we run to? You said they know where we are no matter what, didn’t you?”

“Yes, indeed.” Lory said, glancing over the gun turrets installed on the roofs. “By the way, you said these things can go automatic, don’t they?”

“Yes, but automatic control mode is dangerous if you don’t have good cover.”

“Hmm... maybe this could work.” Lory said with his left hand under his chin.

***

Night has fallen, and rain still continued pouring their corrupted water over this particular island, blessing all the calamity beasts with the ability to know the direction towards which the nearest human was located. With their natural enmity towards humans the rain was a great boon for the calamity beasts, and thus they marched according to the guidance given by the corrupted rain.

The beasts were by nature not as mindful as humans when it came to organized march. They waited for no one, and they never tried to catch up to the ones ahead. They simply advanced as fast as their legs or wings would comfortably allow. At the very least, they had enough awareness not to trample smaller fellow beasts in their march.

However, this particular occasion was different.

The rain falling from the perpetual overcast above the island came down in a way that it soaked the outer edge of the island first and then gradually advanced inward before finally covering the entirety of the island area. Because of this, the calamity beasts naturally converged into a huge swarm encircling one particular abandoned village, where the blessing of the corrupted rain directed them towards. There were a number of stragglers which had already been close to the village to begin with, and therefore reached their early demise. However, none of the others cared. For all they knew was the fact that there was a human in the direction their blessing was guiding them too, and slaughtering humans was their nature.

After a long march which had taken casualties by a sudden chain of explosions, the abandoned village was finally within sight of the swarm’s vanguards, which mostly consisted of quad-apes and blue goblins. Most of the green drakes, being bigger and thus slower than others, were left behind a pretty far distance. Nobody cared, for all they knew was the guidance of their blessing which they instinctively followed.

Splat!

A flash of light appeared, and within an instant a blue goblin lost one eyeball. As the poor goblin fell down motionless, a bunch of other calamity beasts nearby suffered similar fates. They were all struck down by unseen projectiles coming from the continuous flashes of light right above the abandoned village. However, the beasts were not fazed. Instead, they kept marching forward with more ferocity, knowing that there were humans right there, fighting back against them.

Three more blue goblins met their early demise with holes drilled through their body or losing their entire head. The surviving ones didn’t care and increased their pace.

Chunks of bloody flesh rained down on the marching beasts, coming from the crimson bats which had been shredded to pieces by the flashing lights. The living beasts remained unfazed, never slowing down their advance.

The green drakes were the ones with the least amount of casualties, having tough scales which could repel the small projectiles shot out from the flashing lights. Their few casualties were unlucky ones to which the projectiles hit their most vulnerable spot, namely their eye sockets. The blue goblins realized how useful the green drakes were as cover, and so a number of them marched while keeping themselves behind the green drakes.

Boom!

But a chain of explosions blew away the green drakes along with all the beasts nearby. Whatever were shooting the beasts from afar with small deadly projectiles now shot explosives as well. Thanks to their toughness, some of the green drakes survived the blast and rose to resume their advance.

Despite the massive casualties, the swarm of beasts proved their strength in numbers. By the dead of night, a bloodied, battered, and burned green drake crawled slowly towards the final obstacle standing between it and the humans it despised: the tall fence made from wooden logs. Then, with the last ounce of its strength it charged at the fence. Its steps were heavy, each one leaving a trail of blood behind. One would wonder why the green drake was still alive with all those wounds, but the answer to that question was soon taken to the grave, as the said green drake did a single weak headbutt on the wooden fence before falling down motionless in front of it. This marked the first time a calamity beast managed to touch the wall.

What happened to the green drake was irrelevant to other beasts behind it. While under the perpetual heavy fire, the gravely wounded ones mustered the last of their strength and charged directly at the wall just like the green drake before. In the meantime, the ones that were still healthy advanced around the wall, looking for possible holes in the wall.

And a hole was what they found soon enough, because on one side of the triangular wall there was a gap between two logs wide enough for a human to pass through. Noticing this, the blue goblins and quad apes charged directly at the gap. However, the heavy fire coming from the flashing lights above the corners of the walls slaughtered all the goblins and apes before they could get close, and the green drakes were blown away by explosive shots so they couldn’t get close to the gap either.

But after ten minutes the swarm proved their strength in numbers once again. They pushed the carcasses of the dead green drakes, utilizing them as shields which they also used to bulldoze through other dead bodies. They ultimately crashed through the wall, bringing that side down.

However, their objective was not there.

The guidance of the beasts’ blessings told them that there were humans right ahead of them, but all they saw was just an empty patch of land and the remaining sides of the wall that were still standing, along with the sources of the flashing lights on the roofs of the houses around, none of which were human. The beasts inside the wall were then slain in short order by those shooters, but there were still more coming.

***

“They have breached the wall.” Storm One said while looking at a holographic display projected by his arm bracer. “Turrets are still in full working order.”

“Are we actually safe here?” Sandra asked with a worried face, and the rest of Renne’s assistants sported similar expressions.

“Safer than staying inside the house, at least.” Renne said with her eyes at the holographic image, and then she glanced around. “Didn’t expect that there’s an underground tunnel right under the village.”

“It’s one of my escape routes when things go wrong.” Lory said. “But it isn’t fully safe. Calamity beasts may have entered any of the other exits.”

Right now, all ten people were gathered inside an underground tunnel right beneath the abandoned village. Particularly, they were under the center point of the triangular area within the wooden walls. The tunnel itself was not too wide but still spacious enough for their bodies not to squish each other. The air was stuffy and stifling, thus forcing everyone’s nanoms to do extra work in regulating their bodily functions to adapt to the less than ideal condition of the environment. Everyone except Lory had a light wisp floating above their head providing illumination.

“Will they know that we’re right under them?” Hilda asked.

“They eventually will.” Lory replied. “And once they do, they will start digging.”

“For now we only can put our hopes in the turrets, then.” Nathan said.

“Speaking of those, how could they keep shooting all this time? Where do they get the bullets?”

“In short, similar to how we can pull out guns from our pocket. It’s part of our technology, and I suggest that you don’t think too much about it.”

“I’ll take your words on that for now.” Lory folded his arms.

“Sir!” Storm Four called out. “Turrets are down! The monsters brought the houses down and the turrets with them!”

“Alright! Time to run!” Nathan said. “We’re counting on you, Lory.”

“Alright. Follow me!” Lory replied before he began running off.

“Nanom sync on! Activate long-distance running mode!” Nathan spoke to his wristwatch right before everybody, including Renne and her assistants, began running with a pace matching Lory’s.

“Is that another technology of your people?” Lory asked without slowing his pace.

“Yes.” Nathan replied. “Not good for our health, especially for untrained civilians like Miss Alphen. But this is a do or die situation so there’s no question.”

“I see.”

“Storm Four! Now!” Storm One shouted while still running.

“Affirmative!” Storm Four responded and then he pressed a few buttons on his bracer.

BOOM!

Everyone could easily hear the sound of explosion behind them and felt the shockwave tremor which soon followed. Everyone had difficulties maintaining balance and therefore they had to stop and lower down, except Lory who still stood straight as if the tremor wasn’t there. Things calmed down ten seconds later, and everybody stood up.

“That was massive.” Lory said as he resumed running and everyone else followed.

“It should have bought us some time, at least.” Nathan said.

“Do you still have more of those turrets after losing the ones you made to self-destruct?”

“Yeah, I still have some and I can always make another.” Storm Four replied. “Though that doesn’t mean the turrets are easily expendable. Three machine guns and three launchers, it’s a pretty big loss.”

“Enemies ahead.” Lory said. “I’ll take care of them.”

Lory increased his running pace, quickly approaching a group of blue goblins which blocked the path ahead. Within an instant he pulled out his weapon, which was the same gun he had been using, and slashed the goblins with its blade. In a series of flashes, all the goblins within his range lost their necks and fell down lifeless.

Seeing how skillfully Lory had eliminated the monsters, Nathan couldn’t help being wary about him. Right now he was an ally, but there was no guarantee if it would stay that way. For all Nathan knew, there was still the possibility of Lory having been playing friendly for an ulterior motive. After all, he was the only native the group has met so far, thus nobody could gauge the general situation and common sense of this planet’s civilization.

After carefully wading through the goblin dead bodies, the group resumed running through the tunnel.

“We’re almost at the exit.” Lory said.

“Does that mean more monsters ahead?” Nathan asked.

“Possibly, but I believe most of the beasts have already been slain by your turrets back at the village.”

Renne, with her breath running short, chimed in. “I sure... wish it would be the case...”

Nathan glanced back. It was clear to him that Renne and her assistants were already at their limit after pushing their body through the synchronized long distance running mode. They needed to find a place to rest, but with the rain working like Lory had told them, there would be no rest until it stopped.

Soon, the exit of the tunnel was within sight. Unlike the trap door located inside one of the abandoned houses back there, this exit was more like the entrance of a cave. The rain was still pouring outside, so the group didn’t immediately come out of the exit. Lory was the only one walking out, looking around and scanning the surroundings with his eyes.

“Can we... Can we take a break?” Audrey asked while trying to catch her breath. “My legs are killing me.”

Before anyone answered, Lory returned and spoke. “I sensed no beasts in the vicinity. We’re safe for now, so yes. You can take a break.”

Renne and her assistants immediately dropped down sitting on the ground leaning to the cave walls with a huge sigh of relief, while Nathan commanded the nanoms to revert everyone to normal mode.

“For how long?” Storm One asked Lory.

Lory made a light shrug in response. “I don’t know, but staying here for now beats wandering in the rain at least.”

“And we only have to be wary in two directions.” Storm Three said, pointing back to the tunnel with her thumb.

Everybody else agreed, and therefore the group set up camp near the cave entrance. Renne and her assistants fell asleep quickly due to their fatigue, while Lory along with Nathan and the Storm Squad stood guard.

Day one of three, and we already had to evacuate. This is not going well...

Nathan thought to himself while gazing at the constant rain drops outside the cave entrance, hoping that no monsters would come and force the resting ones out of their sleep.

***