Another roar shredded through their ears and made their eyes look in a completely different direction from what they expected. It wasn’t around them, nor even at their level. Instead, it was…
‘Up!!’ Arthur’s eyes widened in shock as his eyes drifted to the sky above his head. Looking at the large trees surrounding him, he saw a silhouette hanging up in the air on one of the tree trunks.
“ROARRR!!!”
The Yeti had its large claws stabbed into the wood staring at them with outraged madness. Its bloodshot eyes pierced through the darkness and reached them, sending chills down their spines.
“What the hell…” A mercenary muttered in horrified bewilderment. “How is it hanging in the air?!!!”
“What?” Arthur looked down at the man. “Aren’t they able to climb trees normally?”
“No… This…” The man seemed completely speechless.
“Grab your weapons!!” That was when Deka cut him off with a loud yell as she saw the Yeti starting its descent toward them. Leaping down with immense flexibility, it used its claws as a way to stop itself. Its agility and the way it was doing it alarmed everyone there.
However, as if the situation wasn’t already bad before the monster could even reach the ground, the group heard several other roars pierce through the atmosphere as several other silhouettes appeared high up in the air in different trees all around them.
“You have got to be kidding me…” Arthur muttered as he slowly unsheathed his sword warily. ‘It wasn’t alone… Why would it be?’
In a matter of seconds, he counted a dozen Yetis appearing in his vicinity and the number was increasing with each passing moment.
“We’re completely surrounded!”
“No! Nooo!!!”
“Don’t panic! Keep your positions!!” Deka yelled again, trying to regain their composure. However, the sight was simply horrifying. Never in their lives did they think the Yetis would descend on them from the sky.
“Tsk…”
*Swish*
Arthur was the first to spring into action as he dashed forward, unleashing all his mana in the form of an explosive pressure of aura.
“Arthur!” Deka’s eyes widened when she saw the boy approaching the first Yeti in a flash.
“ROAR!!” Seeing the boy, the monster roared before it released its grip on the tree trunk and started descending down at top speed, aiming for Arthur with its sharp claws.
In a split second, Arthur found himself mere inches away from the monster. So, he immediately activated Iceborn on his sword and slashed up, creating a large arc of ice.
“ROARRR!!!” The monster was instantly caught in the ice and shrieked loudly, feeling immense pain. But, Arthur didn’t stop as he dodged the large claws and punched the monster’s throat. A large chunk of bloody flesh splurted out of the Yeti’s mouth as it got slammed into the ground.
Arthur didn’t hesitate and stabbed the monster from the back, instantly killing it.
[Ding!]
[You have killed…]
[+2 Stamina.]
“ROARR!!!”
Arthur ignored all the notifications as he pulled his sword out of the monster’s dead corpse and looked up. A large number of Yetis saw what happened, and their howls only grew more savage and angry. Like flies, they quickly moved from one tree to another with large leaps, going down quickly.
“Deka!” Arthur looked at his companion. “Try to distract as many Yetis for as long as possible. I will kill as many as I can!”
“… What?! There are way too many for you to-“
“Just do that. I will figure it out.” Saying that, Arthur dashed away, trying to get to the closest Yeti before it landed on the ground.
‘Is he insane?! There are way too many! He will die!’ She thought to herself. Forget about a group of Yetis, two or three of them would be enough to pose a huge threat to most mercenaries out there, even the best of the best.
Yet, Arthur was asking her to simply distract them while he dealt with the rest. It was pure insanity. But, then again, this was no normal human being Deka was dealing with.
“Tsk!” Clicking her tongue, Deka forced down her worry and looked at her group. “Get ready for battle! We will hold them back as much as possible! Don’t let them break the formation!”
Her orders were clear and quite simple but doing them was the hard part. The group condensed into a small circle as they faced the army of Yetis coming at them from all places.
“We’re going to die, aren’t we?” One asked as he stuck to his friend.
“… Goddamit, we aren’t! Don’t let that into your head! We can make it!!”
“ROAR!!!”
At that moment, the first Yeti leaped at them like a hungry predator, slashing down with its large claws.
*CLING*
Immediately, two mercenaries tried to stop it, putting their weapons up to block the attack. The power of the claws pushed them back a few steps, but they were able to stand their ground. Their injured bodies made it way harder to move, but they forced down that pain. The adrenaline rush was more than enough to keep them on their feet.
At the same time, two other Yetis attacked from a different angle. Deka quickly stood there to block the first one with the help of two others. Then, the battle started.
The rest of the Yetis spread across the area, chasing after their fellow kin. Their bloodlust reeked out of their bodies. That made their strength especially more noticeable and the group immediately felt it.
“Strong… I can’t… hold on!!!” Pushing against the monster, they deflected and tried to protect each other from the claws and fangs. Their arms were taking the weight of full-blown attacks, and they rumbled through their very bones. It was immensely painful.
“ROAR!!!” Deka kicked one of the Yetis back as she channeled her mana. Then, she clasped her hands together. Immediately, a powerful energy condensed in the palms of her hands as the sound of sizzling heightened.
Pushing them away from each other, one could see lightning bolts flashing through her hands. The lightning bolts were white in color. Slowly, it formed into a sphere the size of her hand. The sheer energy put into that sphere made the atmosphere around it almost hot.
“ROAR!!!” The Yeti stood up from its fall and dashed toward Deka. The latter stared coldly at her enemy. Waiting for the perfect moment, she stepped forward and slammed her hand forward, sending the ball flying toward the monster.
*ZZZZZZZ*
The moment the ball made contact with the Yeti, it exploded, sending the arms of lightning everywhere around it like a bomb.
The monster’s entire body froze and started spasming visibly as it fell to the ground, unable to move. It tried to stop the pain, but the attack had wrecked its muscles from inside out, making it completely numb and useless.
Immediately, Deka attacked the monster and stabbed its neck, killing it on the spot.
“Hah… Hah…” The woman heaved up and down with extreme exhaustion. Her already battered body was now even more exhausted.
‘I haven’t had the time to recover from activating the Burst Blood Crystal… I can’t use my lightning more than a few times… But…’
Looking up, all Deka could see were more and more Yetis coming at her from every angle. The scene was soul-crushing, to say the least. She was so tired, that a small idea formed in her head.
‘Why even bother to fight, Deka? This is clearly a losing battle before it even starts… There is no escape either since they closed every path and even if you somehow open a path… Can you really outrun them with your injured and exhausted team? The river was at least a few more hours away. There was simply no way of running that long while being chased by these creatures.’
Every single possibility seemed so devastatingly far-fetched that she felt her entire body lose strength. Looking to the side, her team was relentlessly clashing with the Yetis, fighting for their lives.
They didn’t seem to have any intention of giving up. However, she knew deep down that nobody believed this sudden situation was something they could deal with. They were simply fighting because what else could they do? At least when they die, they won’t feel the crushing regret of giving up soon enough.
Clenching her teeth to the point where they started shaking, she looked up. “TO HELL WITH IT ALL!!!”
Find your next read on My Virtual Library Empire
“ROAR!!!”
At that moment, another monster found her and attacked her, not caring for her despair. However, before it could even do anything, a silhouette flashed before her eyes.
*BOOOM*
Deka blinked widely as she saw Arthur’s sword stabbing through the monster’s left side, sending it flying back as he landed in front of her. His entire body was covered in blood but… it wasn’t his.
Staring at the boy’s back, she suddenly was snapped back to reality with a cold, cruel feeling emanating from the boy.
“I said… distract them while I handle the situation. You’re not doing what I asked.” He said coldly before he dashed forward.
A//N: Thank you all for the gifts, golden tickets, and PS. Let’s keep it up!