Part Forty-Eight

“Damnit! Someone deal with that ladder!”

“Holy fuck! There are Minotaurs climbing up the walls!”

“Gah, birds!”

Pandemonium reigned. The monsters' second full assault was proceeding apace, and the mercenaries had their hands full defending the walls. Because the Mivian’s nest had been cleared out earlier, the monsters lacked any serious siege equipment, but they still possessed a few leftover ramps and some ladders. To make up for that, most of the monsters were using their natural abilities to climb the walls, much like they did during the first attack.

“Sh-shit! Is that bird floating!?”

It was indeed. An observant observer would notice that the air flowed strangely around it, and certain people would realize that they could sense mana around it. This bird was an Eclosis, an E-Rank avian monster capable of using magic. They were extremely adept at using Wind Magic and could keep themselves aloft without flapping their wings.

“Chirp, chirp!”

Blades of wind rained down on the mercenaries, cutting through their armor and lacerating their flesh. Thankfully, nearby mages launched their own spells, thereby preventing any actual casualties.

“MRAAAAAAAGH!!!”

But just before anyone could feel relieved, a Minotaur Soldier crested the wall. And unlike before, there were no highly talented individuals to deal with it. They had been reassigned.

“Don’t just stand around! Archers, aim for its eyes! Spearmen, keep out of its reach and attack its legs! Take its mobility away! Everyone else should just stay back!”

It was someone who’d been thought of as a burden who took over the role of leadership. He and his friends had seen how a certain other group fought and had decided to emulate them. And it worked perfectly.

“Mraaaaa! Mragh!”

Minotaur Soldiers were among the strongest monsters present inside the Dungeon, with only the Mid-bosses and Dungeon Boss being obviously above them. And yet this one was clearly suffering. By taking out its vision, they’d rendered it helpless. So long as the spearmen kept out of the range of its axe, they could keep jabbing it over and over, slowly bleeding it out. And without its blood, it was only a matter of time until its stamina waned.

Since they aren’t here, I’ll have to hold down the fort for them. I’ll use everything I saw to fight back.

Cameron, Alicia, and Michael had all shown him how to fight monsters stronger than him. They’d given the occasional tip on different monsters' weaknesses and how to exploit them. Of course, there was a significant difference in their respective strengths, so he couldn’t do everything the same way they did. But he’d adapted their methods so he could use them. And with others under his command, it was a cinch to kill the Minotaur.

“Ooooeeeeee!”

But before he could celebrate, several Claw Monkeys leaped at him. It looked like he had to contribute to the battle himself.

***

Among mercenaries, it was becoming a trend to not use firearms to fight monsters. Not only did you need to carry large amounts of ammunition, you also had to be careful of gun jams or parts breaking. While the System’s weapons could break, they were usually longer lived because of how simple and durable they were.

And it wasn’t just logistics that had deterred them. Firearms just weren’t as effective. While they worked perfectly fine against F and E-Rank monsters, plenty of D-Rank ones could kill someone before they could even fire off a single shot. Using guns prevented you from honing your own Skills, which meant that the more powerful monsters would trample you.

Anyway, this all meant that most of the mercenaries who fought monsters eschewed firearms for the weapons found inside of Dungeons. Not only were they durable, but they often possessed special powers or were sharp enough to pierce the hides of monsters. In essence, they were usually the way to go.

*Bang! Bang!*

So the figure on the west wall was a departure from normal convention. It was only just possible to guess that the figure was male, mostly because he wore tactical gear from head-to-toe, accompanied by a gas mask. Out of everything he wore, only the knife in his left hand and the magic bags decorating his body came from the System. In his right hand, he held a single revolver.

*Bang!*

The revolver must’ve been of a particularly high caliber, as each shot blew the head off of whatever monster he aimed at. Even Minotaurs died with their brains scattering into the air. And anytime a monster got close to him, the knife would lash out and sever its head. Whoever he was, he was a slaughtering machine.

Even reloading was done as efficiently as possible. He must’ve been counting how many bullets he had left, because he reloaded as soon as he fired the last shot. It didn’t even take him three seconds to do so. There wasn’t even time for the monsters to try and take advantage of the opening.

“Tch, I’m still only halfway………...”

His voice was lost in the din of combat, causing the rest of his sentence to go unheard. Whatever he was aiming for would have to remain a mystery.

***

“Hah, this all you got!? I’ve fought beanbags that hit harder than you!”

For some insane reason, there was a guy fighting a Minotaur hand-to-hand. Each blow rocked its head back from the impact and by now, it was quite unsteady on its hooves. And with a final blow, he shattered its face.

“Mraaaa..”

The Minotaur bleated in pain and fell backwards. It wasn’t dead yet, but it would be soon. Blood was already pooling in its head. But there were other monsters nearby too. Several Goblins headed for the man, but he simply avoided their attacks and countered with punches and kicks, each of which killed or incapacitated them.

“Come on! I want a good fistfight, not this bland crap you keep dishing out!”

The man’s name was Fredrick Tavin and before World Decay, he was a professional boxer. He’d retired early because he’d kept winning and felt that there were no more challenges to found. Until the monsters appeared.

Not only were they naturally stronger than humans, but they also possessed powerful techniques to increase their strength even further. And since the System existed to strengthen him, he could experience fights beyond what he’d dreamed possible.

“Seriously Tavin, again? Why can’t you stop this fighting nonsense? Just focus on killing these bastards!”

Ugh, can’t they see the beauty in a perfect fight? I know I agreed to this because I needed people to back me up, but they’re so damn irritating. Always trying to stop me from fighting the way I want to. They’re unworthy of being shown the greatness of combat. The fine art of battle.

He was also known as an eccentric who was obsessed with the “perfect battle". He’d constantly claimed that he’d one day find both his destined rival and cherished protégé. As for whether he’d actually find that, well……

***

*Crack! Snap! Wah-tsh!*

“Mraaaaaagh!”

“Gyaaaaaaa!”

“Hehe, heheh. This is fun.”

“Um, Serena? This is kinda weird. It was odd enough that you chose a whip, but when you laugh while whipping monsters, well it’s, it’s……. Yeah.”

“Wha do ya mean? I’m just fighting like normal.”

“No you’re not! I mean, look at that Minotaur! You’ve whipped it so much that its absolutely terrified!”

“Mraaaaaa….raa?”

An uninformed observer might think that she was the one attacking the Minotaur, just from how pitiful it looked. This was all because of the weapon she’d received, the Flesh-Tearing Whip, and the unexpected enthusiasm she displayed in using it.

“Tiff, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just fighting monsters like I’m supposed to. See?”

*Snap! Crack!*

“Mraaaaaaa!”

“Why did you hit it there!? Look at it, it’s rolling on the ground holding itself! Why do you keep hitting it in places that only hurt it, but don’t kill? And why is it even in so much pain anyway!? It’s this big muscular monster, so why is that whip so effective?”

“Oh, that’s probably the effect of this new Skill I just got. Its called Pain Aura, and it amplifies the pain felt by whatever I attack.”

“Whyyyyy!? How did you get a Skill like that!? And why did you even pick a whip in the first place? They’re very unconventional weapons.”

“Well, it was mostly because of its effects. It can extend almost infinitely so long as I supply it with mana, and it has high damage to flesh, which I thought was a really good effect. And I just got the Skill, so I don’t know why.”

“But, but! Haaah, I feel that this conversation is more tiring than the actual battle.”

What the two women didn’t notice was that all of the nearby men were slowly inching away from the two. The sight of Serena whipping all the nearby monsters had caused a certain reaction within them, one that they were in no way eager to explore. Only a certain kind of person would be.

***

“Fucking shit! Why won’t you leave me alone!?”

“Kaaaaaaaagh!”

“Tssssshhhhhh!!!”

Fuck these fucking fuckers! Why are they so damn focused on me!? There’s so goddam many of them!

Over a dozen green-eyed, armor-clad, humanoid monsters were attacking me. Analyze identified them as Kovis, a lizard-like Demi-Human monster. Though I couldn’t tell if they were like lizardmen, because of all the damn armor they wore. It wasn’t strong enough to fully block my swords, but I had to be careful or they could get stuck.

Monsters shouldn’t be allowed to wear armor! Their bodies are tough enough as it is! And why are they carrying swords? They have claws!

*Clang clang clang!*

Thankfully their swords were complete shit and broke way too easily. That at least gave me the reach advantage. As for their armor, it wasn’t very thick, especially around the joints. Watching the scaly shits squirm after having an arm cut off was weirdly satisfying.

“Ugh, and now those damn birds are back! This sucks!”

“Squawk!”

The only good thing about the wind blades that flew at me, was that they were fired indiscriminately and hit several of the (Kovises? Kovi? Whatever they were) monsters around me, giving me breathing space. I used that opportunity to kill another two lizards, before retreating back towards the others.

“Damnit Alicia! Aren’t you supposed to be keeping these birds off of me? I’ve got my hands full with these lizards!”

“I’m trying! It doesn’t help that they’re basically sparrows and are therefore so much smaller than the other birds! And their magic doesn’t help either!”

Even if she said it was harder, she was still killing the birds left and right. It was just that there were so many monsters and we’d somehow ended up dealing with them all by ourselves. And worse of all, it was just the two of us.

“Damnit! And where the fuck is Cameron!? These are the kind of monster he excels at killing!”

“I told you, I don’t know! But I really want to yell at him, don’t you worry about that!”

“Of all the times for him to go AWOL. I hope he’s got a good reason for missing this battle. It’s definitely not like him.”

“He seemed a little off while we were down in the tunnels. So maybe he’s got some kind of problem he doesn’t want to talk about?”

We’d wanted to go check up on him earlier, but no one was allowed to leave the walls once the battle began, not that we could’ve anyway. They’d reached the walls much faster this time and we hadn’t wanted to attract monsters to wherever Cameron was.

“Maybe. Doesn’t change the fact that these fucking lizards are giving me the runaround. Ugh, I hate this.”

I cleaved another lizard arm off, before stabbing a second through the slit in its helmet. More monsters kept climbing up wall, compounding the situation. It wasn’t just us either. Unlike before, there were numerous points of entry for the monsters. This meant that everyone was fighting similar battles. We were just knee-deep in shit because there was only two of us.

We’re just lucky that they’re all E-Rank. Otherwise they’d totally overwhelm us. There’s no way we could hold off this many D-Ranks on our own. Maybe if all we had to do was kill them. Then we could guerilla them to death. Hit-and-run tactics are always fun to use.

“Shaaaaaaa!”

“Oh no. Not another one.”

A Kovis Wild-Child leaped over the wall with both its arms outstretched. These guys eschewed any weapons or armor in exchange for larger claws, higher agility, and a smaller frame. One had appeared earlier and it had been extremely annoying to deal with. The damn thing had run circles around me, constantly harassing me until Alicia caught it with an arrow. Then I had bisected it, which was really cathartic.

This one though, was stupid. It leaped straight at me, but since I had Skanda, it didn’t stand a chance. Its head parted neatly from its shoulders. And again, it was cathartic.

“Shhhaaaaaa!”

“Ssshhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

“Shaaaaaaa!”

“Ah for fuck's sake! Where do you keep coming from!?”

“I don’t think they can answer you!”

“I mean, it was a rhetorical question. I know they won’t answer me, but I still feel the need to complain about, what feels like to me, a near endless series of horrible and highly dangerous situations.”

“Melodramatic much?”

Even as we bantered, we still kept killing the hordes of monsters attacking us. This wasn’t the hardest battle we’d fought together, but it was taxing all the same. I know that they say adversity makes you stronger, but this is getting ridiculous.