At this point, Chen stopped, making the rest of the group do the same.
After a few moments, a few figures suddenly made themselves known, appearing on top of buildings, just like how Kairos originally introduced himself to Chen’s group. Though, the only difference this time was that instead of trying to blend in with the group, they were monsters that were openly antagonistic.
Four different monsters made themselves known on top of buildings roughly fifty meters away. They were able to make that distance because Chen froze, letting them go there.
But what was strange about these monsters was that their skin was a noticeably different color. Compared to the normal red-skinned monster, these ones were pitch black. If it wasn’t for the fact it was still day, it would be extremely difficult to see them at night.
Though, that definitely wasn’t Kairos’ main concern.
He closely watched the mana in their bodies begin to whirl around rapidly. In other words, they were casting spells. Kairos couldn’t help but be a little confused about how monsters were beginning to cast spells, but didn’t question it for now.
“I think we have to move.”
After saying that, he dashed behind a nearby building, while Nicole did the same.
Chen narrowed his eyes slightly, hesitating for a split second, but then dashed behind a building as well.
The rest of the group didn’t really trust Kairos’ call, but once they saw Chen do that very action, they followed without hesitation. And as they did, several small fireballs burst out of the creatures’ hands.
Unfortunately, Jake wasn’t fast enough and was blasted by one of the fireballs.
“GAAH!”
He ended up making it into the alleyway, but tumbled down right afterwards. His side was charred badly, revealing a large black splotch, where parts of his shirt melded into his blackened skin.
Jake’s eyes widened all the way as he rolled around on the floor, letting out groans of pain. Kairos glanced at it and couldn’t help but feel those cries of pain were fair, as the wound was ghastly. It looked like the fire had singed far into his body, it was a wonder if his internal organs were still ok.
As for the street that they were just on, it was completely lit ablaze by flames.
Kairos narrowed his eyes as he continued on, trying to circle around behind the monsters. As he did, he muttered his concerns.
“I don’t remember the fire spell being like that at all…”
Chen, who was right behind him, raised an eyebrow when he heard that.
“What do you mean?”
Kairos blinked a few times.
“I have the fire spell too, but I only know how to make the fireball larger. On the other hand, they were able to throw out a volley, and there was no clear sign they were casting the spell as well.”
Chen gave a small nod.
“Alright then. It looks like these monsters are mages, so I’ll try to close in on them and kill them before anything else can happen. As for the rest of you, if you’re confident, try to sneak up on another one of the monsters, otherwise, just stay hidden.”
As he was talking, a strange humming sound was coming from above. A frown formed on his face as he suddenly smashed through a nearby wall. That turned out to be the right decision, as a ball of white mana slammed down onto the ground right where he was.
Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly when he saw this. It was a spell that worked without direct line of sight. He didn’t have any spells like that. It was definitely one he wanted to copy, but the only question was whether or not he would be able to in the first place.
He continued to skirt around the edges of the alleyway, getting closer to the monsters, but still with a building blocking direct line of sight. As for Chen, he was smashed through another wall and moved swiftly in an attempt to circle behind the monsters. Though five of the people in Chen’s original group were obviously not trying to fight, one of them being Jake who was hit, the other four were actually taking initiative.
Kairos saw several of them run closer to the monsters through the alleyways, while one directly ran up a wall, facing the four monsters head-on.
It was slow, but with Chen at the back, another at the front, and others directly approaching the monsters, it looked like the monsters wouldn’t be able to hold on for long. Kairos furrowed his brows upon realizing this, but decided to observe how the mana moved in their bodies anyway, trying to learn the one spell that could be sent over a roof.
Thankfully, the monster cast it one time, causing Kairos to pay attention to it closely. By the time it finished, he heard a humming sound above his head, prompting him to move to the side. A ball of white mana slammed into the ground next to him, causing a miniature explosion.
Several other monsters began casting that same spell trying to catch the people hiding away. As that was happening, the one that had climbed up on the roof yelled out.
“They are trying to run away!”
Like what he was saying, the monsters were definitely retreating. However, it didn’t seem like they were actually fleeing, because they were still casting spells as they moved. When Chen eventually did show his face, he found himself right next to the monsters. There was a small frown on his face, as he thought this would be enough to get behind them, but decided to make do.
He rushed forward with both of his knives out.
Seeing this, the monsters hastily retreated and retaliated with a barrage of fireballs. Chen let out a long breath before throwing his daggers at certain fireballs, causing them to explode, and making a small gap. He jumped and curled up into a ball, letting most of the fireballs go past him.
As he landed, both of his knives were in his hands once more. Unfortunately, there was also a fireball that he was unable to dodge, which ended up exploding on his chest. There was a frown on Chen’s face, but he didn’t seem concerned at all. A large portion of his shirt burnt away, but his actual skin only reddened significantly, without getting burned.
The monsters didn’t seem prepared for such a situation. One of them watched helplessly as Chen’s knives suddenly began gleaming with a bright purple energy, almost like they were on fire.
He plunged the knives into the monster’s skull, causing it to wither up almost immediately. Chen’s reddened skin calmed down at that moment, almost like nothing ever even happened.
The three remaining monsters got into sync, holding out their hands towards Chen.
However, he was fully prepared to take whatever spell they had head-on, boldly rushing forth to try and kill another. But to his surprise, he suddenly found himself getting blown backwards.
Wild raging winds formed between them, pushing Chen back, and causing him to slam into a wall. Not only that, but the three remaining monsters were pushed back, allowing them to retreat further.
Chen cursed under his breath. On the other hand, Kairos let out a sigh of relief. For a moment, he thought that all of them would be wiped out immediately. He still hadn’t even gotten close to memorizing the spell, so them dying would be rather inconvenient.
Kairos sucked in a cold breath as he continued to follow after them, still wanting to observe their attacks. Chen and three other people also chased after them through the alleyways.
There was another man that was also going after them, but was in no rush. It seemed he preferred keeping sight over the monsters from a safe distance, which wasn’t all that bad of an idea.
Kairos kept watching as balls of white light were lobbed over the buildings before slamming back down on the ground.
Everything was going well at first, but someone eventually let out a cry.
“FUCK! MY FOOT!”
It was a woman that made that cry, and for good reason. Her foot was directly blown off by the spell. Although she had dodged, she was still just barely in the blast radius and suffered for it.
Chen shouted out when he heard that.
“Just go hide somewhere for now! We’ll handle the rest!”
The woman in question grit her teeth and hurriedly limped back. There was a rather deep frown on Chen’s face as he realized more of his group was getting injured. All things considered, getting injured was a normal thing, but the injuries his group usually dealt with were minor.
But the power of spells was relentless, as expected.
Chen clicked his tongue.
“Damn monsters casting spells better not become a common thing.”
Using the full extent of his strength, his footsteps pounded on the ground, causing him to move so quickly that the monsters were unable to hit him with their strange spell. None of the others seemed to be able to keep up, leaving Chen on his own, but this time he ran until he was over twenty meters behind the monsters.
From here, he popped out, intending to catch them in a pincer.
This time, the monsters stopped running as they didn’t want to face off against Chen. They all began casting spells, causing another barrage of fireballs to shoot toward him.
He threw his daggers toward some of the fireballs, but this time, they were more concentrated. Despite his attempts to dodge, he was hit by several. Once the explosions calmed down, it revealed him laying down on one knee with his knives crossed in front of him.
His shirt was in the state of rags, but he himself looked more or less fine. His skin looked red, but that was far better than having charred skin instead.
He yelled out at this point.
“Get them!”
Two people jumped out from the buildings from different sides, leaping toward the monsters.
The monsters seemed to panic, casting a wind spell which ended up repelling one of their attackers, but also pushed them into the other.
The man that they were being pushed towards had a red bat in his hands that was pulled all the way back. With a grunt, he slammed it onto one of the monster’s torsos, launching it to the side.
As for the other two, they slammed into him, and the three tumbled around before smashing into another building.
The person that was blown away earlier packed themselves back up the moment they could. It was a woman holding onto some red scissors. The monster that was hit by a bat was crumpled onto the floor not too far from her, and was struggling to get up.
She ran towards it and ran the scissors straight through the monster’s throat, decapitating it. Finally, it stopped moving once more.
The entire time, Chen was still in the same position, but he saw everything that happened. With a frown, he yelled.
“We have to save Bob!”
With legs that were slightly trembling he rose up to stand. Then after a few seconds, he broke out into a sprint and rushed into the building. Kairos moved into a position where he would be able to see what was happening.
He saw the monsters were in a tussle with Chen and Bob. The monsters stopped trying to cast spells and directly attacked with their claws.
Bob let out a cry as a claw ripped into his stomach.
While that happened, Chen plunged his knives into the other monster’s torso, causing it to wither on the spot.
Kairos bit his nail when he saw this, as the last monster was probably going to die at this point. He didn’t have confidence that he properly memorized the spell.
He had to find a way to stall for time.