A bomb? A bomb?! Snow was baffled by what she heard. It didn’t cross her mind that there would be a powerful bomb in front of her. It was the size of her fist. Her senses told her that this was a particular case of a bomb that didn’t blow up when touched. Her magic was stirring inside her body, coming alive even more.
She could now start to feel it churning, seeping a little bit out of her fingers as if the faucet was finally turned to allow her to drink a bit of magic. Still, it was enough for her to tell that the bomb wasn’t going to blow up on her without impact.
She picked it up with a sigh, which caused the person who was shouting and waving at her to stop and froze in fear. He backpedaled a few steps back, unsure if he wanted to come near.
Suddenly, from the corner of Snow’s eyes. She saw a group of three raptors slide in from the corner, chasing a young player. Instantly, she knew who it was: Jose.
The raptors razor teeth snapped and cuddled at the small morsel in front of them, Jose yelped. Trying to get away as he cast a few weak fireball spells that barely did any damage but irritated them.
Snow snapped towards Jose’s direction. She raised up the small bomb about the size of her fist and threw it at the three raptors. The bomb made a beautiful arch, Jose saw the black grenade flying over his head. He instinctively summoned up a wind spell that boosted his speed, allowing him to pull ahead. He wasn’t able to do it for an extended period as it drained his magic exponentially.
With a clunk, the bomb hit the raptor on the side of its face, bouncing off. One second later, it exploded, sending out powerful magical shockwaves that threw everyone in the vicinity back.
Even Snow felt the powerful force, throwing her backward onto the ground with a splat. A loud buzzing sound resounded in her ears, and her head was dizzy. The cold splashes of magical energy that hit against her body had forced a bit more magical energy out of her.
Groaning as her body's aches and pains seemed to pulsate from the rough push, Snow got up shakily. She blinked a few times, trying to clear her eyes to see where she had landed, and surprisingly she was blown back a few feet away from where she once stood.
Jose was a few steps away from her on the ground, barely moving.
With heavy steps from injury and a bit of fatigue, she pushed herself to walk over. Squatting, she checked on Jose, who was knocked out. Slight blood was dripping down his face, she summoned up her magic, gently caressing him with healing.
It took a moment for her to heal, which she was grateful for being able to do. When Jose started to come back to his senses, she gently placed him down. Her gaze shifted towards the dead raptors that were torn asunder by the bomb. Pieces of their body were blown apart, leaving guts, bones, and blood that would make anyone sick if they stared for too long.
“Saintess?” Jose blinked, his words were almost a whisper. If Snow wasn’t close, she would have missed it.
“Are you alright?” She asked, making sure that there weren’t any other injuries that she had missed entirely. Snow wondered why Jose was here in this dangerous dungeon. Even though he had a particular skill for disarming traps, he wasn’t as an efficient fighter. Most of the time, he would have a guardian with him.
Jose sat up. He tilted his head. “I’m a bit sore.”
A heavy sigh of relief that she had been holding escaped her lips. To see her guild member alive made her much more diligent than before. She wanted to find the rest in this messed-up camp that still seemed to be fighting against the raptors that appeared to come at them with the revenge of destroying the whole camp in one full blow.
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With dedication resolved, Snow was bent on finding the others. Jose was healed, getting up from the ground and reaching up to hold her hand. He stuck to her closely as if she was a mama duck, and he was a duckling.
“Jose, do you know where the rest of the guild members went?” Snow asked, hoping that he would answer the problem that she was searching for.
Jose nodded his head. “The main force has gone to subjugate a field boss. They should be arriving back today,” he said antsy, shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the next. His head darted around, making sure that there were no monsters around.
“Both the Heavenly and the Gold Phoenix guild?”
“Yes.”
Snow furrowed, realizing how much manpower they had taken with them to slay a powerful monster. It told her that this wasn’t just any regular fight. Such fights could take a few days.
The man who shouted at her that it was a bomb came bumbling over when he saw both Snow and Jose were okay. With a bleeding shoulder and blood down his face, he bowed respectively towards Snow.
“Saintess, I am glad that you are okay,” the man said with a bit of a tired breath.
Snow reached out, using her healing magic to heal the man. White light glowed around his injured area for a brief moment, until finally, it went away.
“Saintess. To see that you are well brings me relief. Your blessing had kept the monsters away for an extended period, but the moment that you fell ill many things have gone wrong.”
Snow was a bit skeptical at the thought that her blessing that she had done with giving good fortune and stopping it would change such a tide. She knew that blessings were small gifts meant for temporary protection during the time and good fortune to come their way; she didn’t expect it to make such a significant impact.
Did she brainwash everybody? Snow couldn’t help but think this thought as it wasn’t her intention.
“The field boss monster started to head our direction when you fell ill. The guilds had to mobilize to counter the swarm of monster tides that were coming. We believe it was the start of an Overflow. After two-thirds of the people were gone, small pockets of monsters escaped from the main force. For the past three days, we have been fighting against them. Jack escaped a day later, which caused another mayhem of problems,” the man angrily spat. “He killed off one of the head officers and tried to usurp the command center. Which he succeeded by burning down the tent.”
Snow was bedazzled by the amount of problems that spanned in the week that she was out. Her head was spinning like crazy trying to piece everything together, from Jack to the Overflow and now the countdown of the camp's destruction.
With a stern expression, she stood up taller than before. “Gather everyone here; we need to regroup!” Snow shouted. Her magical energy was starting to flow even stronger than before; she could even feel her body listening to her better.
The man disappeared, leaving Snow and Jose behind.
Jose rummaged through his pockets, he gave her a purple veil that she had never seen before.
“This is?” Snow asked, flipping the veil in her hand.
“A high-level Magic and Health potion, aka The Drop of Life Potion. I was told to give this to you when I found you.” Jose said with excitement and pride that he had succeeded in his task even though he was almost eaten alive.
“Drop of Life?” Snow had never heard about such potion before, mostly because this was something that she had not heard before. The Red Flower Nation didn’t put out any news on such a product. It wasn’t possible yet to mix together a health and mana potion. All the time, it would end with failure, but to see a perfect success of such a thing on her hand made her wonder if they succeeded.
“A drop item,” Jose said with a vigorous nod. “Dairen found it in this dungeon.”
A soft flutter of emotions of gratefulness bloomed in Snow’s heart. She knew that Dairen would try his best to help her out. She was eternally grateful for it.
Uncorking the bottle, she pulled back her head. Drinking the bottle without a second thought. A gush of warm energy flowed through her body, uplifting her sore muscles. Even a slight stir of her magic seemed to churn around more vigorously. She could now pull out a third of her magic without too much resistance, making her a bit more relieved than before.
A sigh of relief escaped her lips. She closed her eyes, allowing the magic to run through her body.
“Saintess?” Jose asked.
Opening her eyes, she felt a bit better.
“Everything’s alright.”
“Okay,” Jose softly spoke. Twiddling his fingers.
The air around her felt softer as the magic around her hummed. How she missed magic. It was a big part of her as she fought, and being blocked by it made her feel naked. She hoped that she never had to go through that again.
Snow waited for a moment. The number of people that had started to come towards her started to increase. At first, only one or two, a handful came towards her with monsters that chased after them.
With a bit more confidence in her body, she kept the number of raptors back; eventually, allowing the people to safely arrive. A few cuts and bruises were present, but it wasn’t as bad as before, where she was left with a bit more gashes on her body.
The number of people swelled to fifty, allowing a set group of teams to appear. Some had trouble keeping up, but Snow assisted wherever she could, trying her best to conserve her stamina and magic as best as possible.
It was difficult, but that didn’t stop her. Instead, she worked a bit harder, trying to keep the monsters back and the people safe. Her sword danced through the people, leaving behind a trail of blurring light.
Many were in awe and hope at her revival, they fought harder than before as less and less people were injured.
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