In the dead of night, a group of 11 people were inside a cave sheltering themselves from the ongoing rain. Five of them were fast asleep while the rest were standing guard, keeping themselves vigilant for monsters which could come and attack them at any second.

At the mouth of the cave, there were Lory, Nathan, and Storm Four standing guard. Meanwhile, Storm One, Two, and Three stood guard facing the depths of the cave which was in truth an extensive tunnel network with multiple exits from which the monsters could enter. Currently there were no threats present, so most of the ones standing guard were relaxed just very slightly.

“Hey, Lory.” Storm Three spoke. “Mind if I resume our talk? While there’s no monster coming.”

“Yeah, sure. Just keep being vigilant.” Lory replied. “What was it all about again?”

“Magic. You said there’s no such thing as mana and usage limit, but there should be some kind of limitation, right? Something that prevents you from casting spells over and over.”

“If that’s what you meant, yes there is.” Lory said. “People call it weavesickness. Cast too many spells, especially big ones within a short time period, and you’ll get it.”

“Now I need you to explain what that is.”

“When you’re weavesick, your fingers hurt and feel stiff. Then you start seeing whites and your head hurts. Further in, you feel as if everything around you is spinning and you want to puke. And then you’ll eventually faint.”

“Wow, sounds dangerous especially if it happens in the middle of a battle.”

“Indeed. Adventurers perishing because of weavesickness has happened in the past.”

Storm Four suddenly intervened, raising his finger over his mouth. “Sshh! I think I heard something. Keep your eyes open.”

Nathan and Lory readied their weapons immediately and everything fell to silence. No sound was heard other than the countless raindrops. Visibility was poor due to the rain and the fact that it was currently in the dead of night. Storm Four touched the side of his helmet, and then his visor lit up. Just less than a second later, he was visibly startled.

“What did you see?” Nathan asked.

Storm Four raised his weapon forward as he replied. “It’s a huge snake! Distance is three hundred meters and closing in!”

“Lory!” Nathan immediately looked at Lory for answers.

Blam!

Without saying a word, Lory made a shot which was audibly heavier than his shots against the bat monsters back then. The muzzle flash coming out from the tip of the barrel was also visibly larger. It was still the same gun, so the implication was clear that he had just shot using a different kind of bullet.

“It’s an advanced Calamity Beast!” Lory said out loud while he kept unloading more shots.

“Storm Four! Deploy barrier!” Nathan commanded. Storm Four in response pulled out a cylindrical device which was small enough to fit in his palm. Within a second the device unfolded itself into a significantly larger size, almost as big as Storm Four himself who now had to carry it by hugging.

“Deploying barrier unit!” Storm Four said as he slammed the barrier unit down on the ground. The moment it touched the ground, the spherical top part of the unit began glowing brightly in blue and the entire mouth of the cave was immediately covered by a semi-transparent wall of light, bearing similar color.

SLAM!

Merely three seconds after the barrier was deployed, a gargantuan snake slammed its head to the barrier and reeled back from the impact. Nathan couldn’t help being startled by the impossible size of the snake. It could probably swallow a man whole without bloating its stomach, and its length could measure at least 50 meters.

The snake kept slamming the barrier with its own head, causing tremors within the cave with every strike. Naturally, the tremors jolted Renne and her assistants awake.

“E-Eeeeek! Snake!” Audrey screamed the moment she noticed the presence of the snake just outside the cave.

Nathan stepped back from the barrier and spoke out loud. “You three keep guarding our rear! Lory, tell us what you know while the barrier still stands!”

“Black Serpent. Tough scales, sharp fangs, very agile despite its size.” Lory replied.

“Is it venomous or able to spit nasty stuff at us?”

“No, that would be a different, even more advanced calamity beast. Not this one.”

“Alright! Let’s fall back a bit!”

Nathan, Storm Four and Lory took several steps away from the cave mouth while the snake was still banging and biting at the barrier. Blood drops were spattering around with each hit, clearly showing that the snake was already wounded thanks to Lory’s shots. Storm One, Two, and Three still kept their eyes on the other direction as instructed, while also covering Renne and her assistants.

“Lory, is it alright if we end up destroying this exit?” Nathan asked while pulling out a weapon from his suit.

“No need to ask.” Lory replied as he readied his gun and took aim at the ceiling right next to the top of the projected barrier.

Blam! Crash!

Lory took a shot at the spot he had aimed at. With a loud rumbling sound, the cave entrance collapsed, burying the barrier device and blocking the snake from entering.

“We still need to get away from here.” Lory said. “A mere cave collapse isn’t going to stop a black serpent for long.”

“Oh, not another running again!” Sandra said with clear dejection in her speech tone. “My legs still hurt!”

“Mine too, but It's do or die so no choice!” Audrey said.

Lory then spoke up. “You don’t need to run far.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” Sandra asked.

“Bear with it for just a little while and you’ll see.”

Nobody understood what Lory meant, but since there was no other choice they followed him running back into the depths of the cave. Just a few minutes later, Lory made a sharp turn to the right, entering a path they had never gone through before.

“Where are we going now?” Renne asked.

“There. We’re here.” Lory replied as he slowed down his pace and then stopped running.

“Is that a trolley?” Renne said as she looked at a bunch of metal carts suspended on ceiling rails which lead further down the tunnel. There were three, and each of them had enough space to fit four people.

“When you’re against a black serpent, this much is needed. Hop on!” Lory spoke as he linked all three carts together in a line and jumped into the front cart.

“Storm One, stay with Miss Alphen! Others, hop on the back cart with me!” Nathan commanded.

Everyone then hurried to get on the carts. Renne and Storm One shared the front cart with Lory. Anton, Hilda, Sandra, and Audrey were all occupying the middle cart. And as instructed, Nathan and the remainder of Storm Squad were all in the back cart.

“Hang on tight.” Lory said as he quickly moved his hands in a pattern. His hands both began to glow yellow, and then he pushed a lever in the cart.

Click! Whoosh!

“Whoaaa!”

Some people immediately screamed the moment all three linked carts accelerated together within an instant. The constant screeching sounds of the wheels running on the rails above were worrying, especially with the fact that right now they were at the speed in which falling would probably be fatal.

“Prepare armor piercing rounds!” Nathan commanded, and immediately everyone else in the same cart readied their rifles, setting them into armor piercing mode. It didn’t take long until those rifles were needed.

The carts passed a side tunnel, from which the black serpent emerged and immediately went on pursuit. Despite how fast the carts were currently running under the suspension rails, the black serpent still could keep up.

“Open fire!” Nathan shouted his command.

Bang! Bang! Blam!

Nathan and the other three riding the back cart opened fire against the pursuing black serpent. The rattling ride in the winding tunnel didn’t help with their aims, but a number of rounds still hit their mark. However, the scales of the black serpent proved to be significantly tougher than a green drake’s. The rounds hitting the serpent at an angle would just ricochet off, while the rounds which hit dead on only made small dents which didn’t faze the serpent.

“It’s not even flinching, Vice-Captain sir!” Storm Two said.

Nathan gritted his teeth. “I know! Storm Four! Switch to Crusher Gun MZ!”

“Yes, sir!” Storm Four replied, quickly folding his rifle and tucking it away before pulling out a different gun. The new one he pulled out was shorter and more bulky than the rifle, not to mention the fact that it had five barrels.

“Storm Four, shoot on my command. Others, keep firing!” Nathan said.

“Yes, sir!” All three others replied in unison.

Nathan quickly threw a glance forward to assess the situation. The three linked carts were still speeding through the winding tunnels at a high speed. Lory and Storm One were firing at swarms of bat monsters coming from the front. Renne’s assistants were crouching low, keeping themselves away from the havoc as much as they could. The black serpent didn’t waver in its pursuit despite being under fire from Storm Two and Storm Three.

Nathan focused his attention back on the pursuing black serpent. The distance between the serpent and the cart kept shrinking and it would be just a matter of time until the serpent got close enough for a lunge. Its thick scales made it nearly impervious even to armor piercing rounds, but Nathan and the other three knew that there was still a chance to deal fatal damage to it. The window of opportunity would be very small, but it was the only chance they would have.

The black serpent was finally right behind the back cart. It reared its head for a moment, and then it lunged forward with its mouth opened wide, showing everyone the insides of its mouth, into which a human would meet their doom.

But this was the chance Nathan had been waiting for.

“Now!”

KA-BLAM!

With a loud bang, Storm Four’s gun shot out hundreds of pellets forward at once, each having more than enough destructive force to blow the brains out of an unprotected human. Over half of the pellets struck the insides of the black serpent’s mouth, and within a second it vomited blood all over the place, ultimately falling down motionless.

“Yes! We did it!” Storm Three shouted in excitement. “Great job, Storm Four!”

“Whew!” Storm Four let out a blow of relief as his Crusher Gun MZ folded itself back into the tiny compact form which he tucked back into his suit.

“Keep your eyes open.” Nathan said. “There are more of that snake monster. All of you noticed, didn’t you?”

Storm Two, while still aiming his weapon forward, replied. “Yes, sir. The one we just killed didn’t have the wounds from Lory’s shots. It was a different snake monster.”

“How many of them are there? Lory, can you hear me?” Storm Four asked.

“Yes, I can hear you. Your convenient technology is still active after all.” Lory replied from the front cart. “As for how many, beats me. At least I’m sure there won’t be a swarm of them.”

Storm One then chimed in. “I wonder why no snakes appeared back then in the village.”

“They mainly live underground.” Lory replied. “No rain would reach them until they get outside.”

“Guess that makes sense.” Nathan said. “By the way, where are we going?”

“Nowhere for now.”

“What?”

“We’re on a loop.”

“Ah, I see. Keeping ourselves on the move.” Nathan nodded and smiled with one hand under his chin. “How long can you keep this up?”

Lory glanced back at Renne’s assistants in the middle cart. They were all asleep, and nobody knew whether they fell asleep from exhaustion or fainted from the recent tense experience. “At least enough for them to get proper sleep.”

“Speaking of that, you should get some rest too, Miss Alphen.” Storm One said to Renne who was next to him. “We will keep you safe.”

Renne yawned right after Storm One finished speaking. “Yeah, guess I’ll do just that.” And then she sat down on the corner of the cart, falling into slumber within seconds.

“So quick.” Lory said, looking at Renne and then at Storm One. “Either she’s extremely tired or it’s another feature of your technology.”

“I say both.” Storm One replied.

“Hey, Lory.” Storm Three called. “What is this tunnel actually? And these metal carts we are riding. Or trolleys, whatever you want to call them.”

“I dug the tunnel and made the carts and rails.” Lory replied. “Took me over 10 years.”

“All by yourself?” Storm Two asked, not hiding the astonishment audible in his tone of speech.

“I had some help, but mostly yes.”

“That’s awesome! What do these carts run on?”

“You mean the fuel?”

“Yes.”

“Heh.” Lory smirked, then he glanced at Storm One. “You tell them.”

Storm One visibly chuckled, and then he spoke. “Pedals.”

“Like what!?” Storm Three asked with her body leaning forward and her mouth visibly agape. “You mean-?”

“Yup, he’s been pedaling ever since the beginning of our ride.” Storm One said with his eyes on Lory’s legs, which had been pedaling at a humanly impossible speed. His upper body was perfectly stable and his facial expression was normal, so anyone not riding the same cart wouldn’t believe that he was pedaling hard right now.

“Magic sure is something.” Storm Two spoke his remark. “I don’t think our technology can make any human being able to do what you’re doing.”

“We can make sʇoqoɹ to do that for us, though.” Storm Three said. “Oh, a new word for you. Hmm... how to describe it...?”

Storm Four chimed in. “Golem made with technology, I guess?”

“Automaton.” Lory said.

“Not exactly the word you’re looking for, but that can still work.” Nathan said. “In any case, will you be alright pedaling for us like that?”

Lory replied while keeping his eyes looking forward. “I can do this all day.... is what I’d like to say. Sadly doing this for too long will put me in a tight spot.”

“How long do you have before then?”

“Like I told you before, long enough for them to get proper sleep.”

“Right.”

The ride through the looping tunnel system continued being uneventful for the next three hours. Nathan and all four members of the Storm Squad kept their guard up all the time, but no monsters showed up. They had passed the carcass of the black serpent and crimson bats they had killed a good number of times, and it was after the tenth or so laps all the carcass began decreasing in numbers and ultimately disappearing without a trace.

After some more minutes of silence, Storm Three then spoke out, although audibly hesitant. “Hey, Lory.”

“Yes?”

“Thank you for doing all you’ve done for us so far, even though you didn’t have to. We’re very indebted to you, especially me.”

“Well... I have my own reasons...” Lory replied, visibly glancing at sleeping Renne for a very brief moment before looking forward again. “Why especially you, though?”

“Well,” Storm Three said. “It’s easy to guess if I say that my name is-“

“LOOK OUT!” Lory suddenly shouted and then the carts tilted to the side at a dangerous angle. At the same time, a huge, scaly body passed overhead at an incredible speed. The feeling of shock was, to an extent, akin to the moment when one was sitting inside a high speed train looking out of the window, and then another train passed by from the opposite direction all of a sudden.

It didn’t take long for Nathan to register the fact that another black serpent had just attacked them with a frontal lunge which Lory had narrowly avoided by tilting the carts sideways. As the black serpent turned around and began its pursuit, Nathan noticed that there were gaping wounds on the head of the serpent, clearly telling that this one was the serpent which they had encountered back then in the cave entrance.

“Everybody alright!?” Nathan asked as the carts went back to the normal angle without slowing down.

“Everybody’s still here!” Storm One replied while looking over the middle cart. Renne’s four assistants were thankfully alright, although the sudden maneuver had woken them up quite violently. Renne herself had been jolted awake as well thanks to it.

“What just happened?” Renne asked, still audibly groggy.

“The other black serpent!” Storm One replied. “Stay low while we take care of it!”

“Battle stations!” Nathan commanded, and once again the ones in the back cart readied their weapons towards the pursuing black serpent.

“I’ve got bad news!” Lory said. “That one has evolved while we weren’t looking.”

“In short, it’s tougher and more dangerous than the one we killed? Got it! Thanks for the warning!” Nathan said. “Open fire!”

The black serpent pursued while being under fire from Nathan and the three Storm Squad members. This time, unlike the previous black serpent, the rounds that hit the gargantuan snake head on just bounced off harmlessly.

“Tch! AP rounds aren’t working anymore! Let’s try fire! Everybody switch to Unstable Napalm!” Nathan commanded.

“Inside a cave, sir?” Storm One asked from the front cart.

“What choice do we have now!? Either we take the risk or get eaten by that snake! Just focus on guarding the front over there!”

“Yes, sir!”

Everyone in the back cart including Nathan himself then switched their weapons into a new one that looked like a grenade launcher.

“Ready to fire, sir!” Storm Three said, followed by Storm Two and Storm Four saying the same thing immediately.

“Aim... and fire!” Nathan shouted.

All four people on the back cart fired their weapons at the same time, launching flaming canisters at the pursuing black serpent.

Bwooosh!

All the canisters hit the serpent’s head directly and blew up into balls of scorching flame. There was so much flame on that spot that the serpent was completely engulfed, disappearing from view. The brightness and heat of the flame forced everyone to take cover within their respective carts, except Lory who remained unfazed. The flames then violently expanded through the tunnel at an explosive speed, catching up to the running carts and making the heat felt by everyone more and more intense by the seconds.

Bang!

Without looking, Lory did a single backward shot with his gun. The bullet he shot hit the ceiling of the tunnel right in front of the expanding flame. And then, with loud crackling sounds a massive wall of ice crystals formed, blocking the tunnel completely within an instant.

“Whoa! Was that a magic bullet or something?” Storm Three asked as she looked at the ice wall behind.

Crash! Hisssss!

There was no time for anyone to reply to her because the black serpent bulldozed through the ice wall with its head completely on fire. There were visible burn wounds and parts of its scaly head were already charred black. It was in pain, but it still pursued the carts relentlessly.

“This thing never knows when to give up!” Storm Two said as he pulled out a shoulder-mounted cylindrical weapon. “Permission to fire, sir!”

“Granted!” Nathan said. One second later, the burning black serpent reared its head a little and went for a lunge with its mouth wide open just like the previous one.

“Eat explosives!” Storm Two shouted as he shot out a rocket almost as big as the launcher straight into the black serpent’s mouth.

A thundering sound of an explosion occurred, followed by the sound of flesh chunks splattering everything around. The ground, walls, and ceiling of the tunnel at that particular spot had just been dyed red with the blood and flesh chunks of the black serpent. There was no mistake that the black serpent had been slain, its headless body lying motionless on the ground as the three carts slid away from the place.

“Good job, everyone.” Nathan said, and everybody else breathed a huge sigh of relief. He then noticed that the carts slowed down, and therefore he asked. “Hey, Lory. You alright?”

“I’m alright.” Lory replied. “But it seems the battle just now has damaged some parts. We better get off soon.”

Lory then pulled a lever before reaching a fork where the carts usually turned left during the laps they had done. This time, the carts turned right into a smaller tunnel and stopped not long afterwards.

“Time to get off.” Lory said as he jumped out of the front cart. Everybody else stepped off from the carts as well and followed him into the side tunnel. “We can simply walk. No beast is chasing us for now.”

“We’ll keep our guard up in the rear.” Nathan said. “Can never be too careful in this situation. Storm Three, take the front along with Storm One.”

“Affirmative, sir.” Storm Three replied, and then she repositioned herself to the front of the group. “By the way, Lory.”

“Yes?”

“What was it again that I said? Before the snake monster interrupted.”

“I think you were about to tell me your name. But is it alright for you?”

“It’s not like it's classified info or such.”

Renne then barged into the conversation. “You’re still at it? Come on, Marge!” She shrugged and shook her head with her eyes rolled.

“But Mo- Miss Alphen, I’m on duty, therefore right now I’m Storm Three.”

“Yes, but the fact of your name being Margaretta Alphen doesn’t change.” Renne folded her arms with a smirk on her face. “And the fact that I’m your foster mother.”

“Oh.” Lory said. “I guess I get it. Trying to separate work from family ties, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, exactly.” Storm Three replied with a sigh.

“Maybe not my place to say this but...” Lory said before lowering his head. “You better don’t. It was my biggest regret.” He then pulled out a bottle of booze from his cloak and drank its content whole, throwing the bottle aside afterwards.

“What happened?” Renne asked.

Lory glanced at Renne briefly before looking forward again and replying. “I’m sorry. I don’t feel like sharing it.”

“Is that so? Okay, I won’t push you for it.” Renne said. “I just hope that it’s not been ruining you from the inside.”

Lory then suddenly halted, and everybody also stopped walking by reflex. There was a complete silence for the next few seconds.

“Umm, what’s wrong?” Hilda asked hesitantly. She was the most visibly worried among everyone.

“Heh. Hahahahaha!” Lory smirked, and then he laughed in a way that looked worrying to everyone seeing it.

“Lory, are you alright?” Storm One asked while Storm Three put Renne behind her. Everyone else took one step backwards, away from Lory, and felt alarmed looking at his sudden strange behavior, not to mention the maniacal laughter he kept doing.

“Too bad, it already has.” Lory said right after he stopped laughing. “Everybody sure hates me now for it. After all, I’m just a worthless being who’s let his own family die. For what? For work, nothing more than that. My parents may disown me and my brother sure doesn’t want to consider me his family anymore. I’m already beyond help now and there’s no going back. Not that I want to go back. Hahahahaha...!”

Lory once again laughed maniacally, but this time everyone else was neither intimidated nor frightened. Instead, most of them now looked at each other with varying degrees of sadness and empathy written on their faces.

“But... did they really do that?” Renne asked, slowly coming out from Storm Three’s cover and approaching Lory. “Your parents and brother I mean.”

Lory didn’t immediately respond. He kept himself silent for at least ten seconds before he shook his head while still looking away from Renne.

“No. They never said any of that. But they definitely have a grudge against me. I just know it and it’s true. I’m just a worthless, good-for-nothing waste of-”

“Cut it already!” Renne intervened with a raised voice and her hands on her hip. Lory was visibly startled, but he still didn’t look at Renne in the eyes. “Look, I’m sorry for your loss and I have zero idea on what happened, and also what the circumstances around your family is. But there’s one thing I’m very sure about. They hate you, but not you.”

Lory turned his head at Renne with his mouth slightly agape, while the others mostly tilted their head in confusion.

Renne then immediately resumed. “What they hate is not you as a person, but your behavior of constantly looking down on yourself. You know them better than me, so think about it for a second. What kind of person are they, and what would you do in their shoes?”

Lory looked away from Renne again and lowered his head with his arms folded. But then, he shook his head. “No, don’t do that. Don’t give me hope.”

“Heh, it turns out you’re beyond help if it’s just words.” Renne said while rolling her eyes. “Alright, how about some nice meal later? I still have this special thing I’ve been keeping for special occasions, and I’ll let you have it.”

Hearing Renne’s words, Lory turned his head to her with his eyes visibly going wider. After being briefly silent, he then began laughing again. However, this time his laugh didn’t sound maniacal like before. Instead, his laugh was audibly more like the laugh of an intrigued and somewhat happy person.

“Is there something funny?” Renne asked.

“No, not really.” Lory replied. “Sorry for making the commotion. I’m good now.”

“Now that’s more like it!” Renne grinned and gave Lory a pat on the back. “Shall we resume walking?”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

The group then resumed walking through the tunnel. Their source of illumination was still the glowing wisp floating above each person’s head, courtesy of torch feature. Naturally Lory didn’t have one, but he didn’t seem to be troubled by it.

“The monsters haven’t been showing up.” Storm One said. “Not that I want them to, of course.”

Without changing his walking pace, Lory spoke in response. “I dare to say that a vast majority of them have been slain by those automatic guns of yours, including their explosive self-destruction.”

“I guess that’s good news?” Nathan asked.

“Hmm.” Lory nodded. “So it turns out you have the firepower to level mountains after all. Not to mention that you still haven’t used your last resort weapon. I honestly feel worried about how dangerous you’d be if we were not allies.”

“I say we better not talk about that.” Renne said.

“Right.” Storm Three added. “Oh, by the way. I think I asked something else back then. Was the thing you shot a magic bullet or such?”

“Yes.” Lory replied. “I can load either regular bullets or magic bullets into my gun as needed.”

“Ooh, cool!” Sandra commented. “Could you show me?”

“Hush, Sandra.” Audrey said. “It’s probably his trade secret, and he'll have to kill us if we know.”

“Audrey!” Anton nudged Audrey with his elbow. His eyes glanced at Lory with a visibly worried expression.

Renne then whispered to Lory with a wry smile. “Please forgive her. Sometimes she doesn’t know when to joke around.”

Lory chuckled before replying. “We’re good. And it’s not a trade secret so I can show you.”

Lory then pulled out a hollow-looking bullet which looked exactly the same as the little objects the group had found back then near the carcasses of the lizard monsters. He held it with his left hand, showing it to everyone nearby.

“This bullet is also a magic canister. It’s empty for now.” Lory said. “To make it into a magic bullet I do this.”

Lory then put his right hand near the bullet. That hand was glowing in light blue and nobody knew since when. The light gradually flowed into the bullet, ultimately filling the hollow space within with a pretty brilliant light blue glow. After the filling was complete Lory inserted the bullet into a metal casing, completing the entirety of what looked like a sniper round.

“Wow...” Storm Three looked at the completed bullet, not hiding her astonishment.

“And this is exactly what I shot back then to make the ice wall.” Lory said while presenting the single round. “You can take a good look. I assure you that it’s harmless unless fired from a gun.”

Storm Three then gently took the round from Lory’s hand. Being curious, Renne and all her assistants gathered around Storm Three to take a look as well. Meanwhile, Storm One stood next to Lory and leaned on the wall.

“Is what you did just now common for the people?” Storm One asked.

“Not really.” Lory replied. “Guns aren’t common to begin with, and those who have the capability to load magic into a bullet usually become magic casters instead.”

“Can you tell me more about that? While the others are still absorbed.”

Lory folded his arms and leaned to the wall next to Storm One. “Loading magic into a bullet falls into the Enhancement Weave category, which is not a common field of expertise in the first place. For the few who delve into this field, it is more practical to become a support mage in an adventurer party.”

“I... honestly can’t imagine you being a support mage.” Storm One said before laughing a bit.

“My forte is self-enhancement anyway. Even if I try, I won’t be optimal in that role.”

“Ah, right.”

“As for guns, there are generally two types. One which doesn’t require magic and one which does. The latter is like I said in relation to Enhancement Weave magic, while the former is impractically expensive to produce. Nowadays only nobles have them, mostly for emergency self-defense weapons.”

“Hmm, yeah. Makes sense. By the way, what magic did you use to kill the green drakes before we met? We only found empty bullets on the ground back then.”

“Hardening.”

Storm One nodded slightly. “Simple and effective. Anyway, we should resume soon. Hey! Are you done there?” He spoke out loud to Storm Three.

“Yes, sir! Sorry for the delay!” Storm Three immediately came and returned the sniper round to Lory.

The group then resumed walking, and it took only ten more minutes until they reached the exit, which was also a cave mouth like before but visibly smaller.

“Wait, what?” Renne asked in a surprised tone upon having the outside within sight. Most of the others also showed their surprise to varying degrees.

There was no rain.

“You told us that the rain is supposed to last three days, didn’t you?” Nathan asked, looking at Lory.

“It should, but since most of the calamity beasts have already been slain, I guess the cloud saw no point in continuing.”

“You speak as if the cloud has awareness.” Storm Three said. “Oh wait. You did tell us so.”

“No concrete proof, but it’s the most widely accepted theory.” Lory said, going out of the cave and looking up.

“Has anyone tried to slay the cloud somehow?” Nathan asked.

“There have been a number of attempts, but none produced any visible result sadly.” Lory replied. “Anyway, now that the rain has stopped this island will be at peace for another year.”

“So the onslaught is over? We’ve won?” Renne asked.

“Hmm, yeah. Guess you can say it like that.”

Renne smiled wide, and her assistants suddenly cheered together.

“Yeeahh!!” Anton shouted.

“Did you hear that? We won!” Sandra spoke out loud to Hilda.

“Yes, yes! I hear that!” Hilda said with a wide smile and some tears coming out from her eyes.

“It’s finally over!” Audrey said.

Nathan and Renne smiled at the celebrating assistants before noticing something at a far distance.

“Oh look, the sun is rising.” Renne said.

“It’s beautiful, more than ever somehow.” Nathan said, gazing at the color of the dawn sun beyond the horizon.

“We’ve been having an intense night, so it’s natural.”

Nathan and Renne continued gazing at the rising sun while the others behind them celebrated their victory. The supposedly three-days long defensive operation ended in their victory by the beginning of the second day, and for the time being they would have nothing to worry about. But Renne knew that this was just the beginning of her journey to reunite with Elana.

***