"Who are all these people?"

They had been rushing towards where the lights had discovered some kind of battle occurring inside of the darkness.

Bella had rushed, hoping that the lights had stumbled upon those from their group. Following the trail of lights guiding them forward allowed them to not get lost inside of the maze. She had the idea of using the lights as a trail of breadcrumbs and prevent the hallways from shifting.

"It took more effort than I expected it to," Bella gasped, keeping a close eye on her reserves to not be in a position where they'd had no ability to fight whatever waited for them at the end of the trail. "The amount of lights I've been absorbing inside of me has been increasing and might be connected to how much I've been relying on this mysterious ability."

Pumping her arms, Bella was afraid they wouldn't have made it in time as their group raced with everything they had.

To their surprise, Bella's group stumbled upon people, not part of their group.

"Bella!" Helen called out to her, waving her arm to gain her attention, jumping and dodging attacks from strange creatures never witnessed before.

Not missing a beat, Bella shouted, "We've finally found our comrades! Let's push back those things! Show them the fruit of our training!"

Though the number of enemies appeared endless, Bella didn't hesitate to activate her abilities as she shouted out her words.

"Cynth! Take several people and attack from the left! Sin! You take the remainder and tackle the right! Olivia! You're with me!" Bella gripped her hammer tightly and rushed towards where everyone was fighting.

Putting more energy into the floating lights, Bella could already feel the effects as Catharina, and the others looked to gain strength and renew their efforts.

Feeling a drastic dip in the temperature of the hallway, Bella witnessed a flash of white light. A large chunk of the enemies was turned into statues of ice. Seconds passed before they shattered in a beautiful cascade, leaving behind a gentle white mist of ice crystals.

"Did you see that?!" Olivia had her mouth open in surprise by the power demonstrated.

Bella nodded her head in agreement. "It looks like Catharina was able to discover a group with strong abilities, dwarfing what we're able to generate."

"Squad Leader, let's show them that we won't be outdone!" Olivia shouted enthusiastically, sounding happy to find out that the group they'd been searching for hadn't met a brutal ending inside of the strange land they found themselves in.

Finding herself being infected by the enthusiasm, Bella concentrated on the balls of light. "Let's see if this will work," She muttered to herself, already feeling the energy inside beginning to be voraciously consumed.

As though each of the balls of light was light lightbulbs brightening from an increase in electricity being poured into them, the balls grew brighter.

Beads of sweat began to form on Bella's forehead as she stared at the area she wanted to attack. Feeling uncertain of the success of a new skill she'd been tinkering with, Bella made sure to experiment in an area sufficiently far enough away from those they were trying to save.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

Thin beams of light shot out from each of the balls of light and fired into the ocean of enemies. Each of the rays concentrated into a single point, which began maneuvering through the enemy. The smell of burning flesh wafted over to where Bella's group was located. Ignoring the nauseous odor, she looked at where she wanted the beam of light to travel.

The effort of maintaining the attack was taking a toll on her, forcing Bella to cease the carving of enemies. Gasping out, she gulped air and tried to quickly reorganize herself.

"Squad Leader!" Olivia looked stupified by what she had witnessed. "When were you able to do that?!"

Wearily grinning, "Though it looks impressive, I don't think I can do that again." Checking on her levels, Bella was surprised by how much she still had available. "At least I was able to take out a good chunk of the enemy, though I'll need to save as much energy as possible for whatever is coming out way." Bella thought to herself as she felt the ground tremble menacingly. "I get the feeling I'll need to throw everything I got to defeat whatever is heading our direction."

Swinging her hammer, Bella destroyed several of the monsters as she made her way towards Catharina and the others. Plowing through the enemy, like a farmer using a scythe to harvest their crops, the two of them slowly made progress in reaching those they hadn't seen in what seemed like ages.

"Squad Leader!" Catharina had a broad smile across her face upon seeing Bella. She broke away from the fight and rushed towards her comrades.

Bella gave Catharina a hug, happy to see her subordinate once again. Seeing Catharina appearing fatally wounded had made Bella think she would no longer see the woman alive again. "Get back to your position. We can catch up later, and you can report how you were able to survive from such a fatal wound."

Saluting, Catharina's face turned serious as she said, "Yes, Squad Leader!"

Scanning how the battle was progressing, she tried to see where the line of defense was weak and needed reinforcing. Three individuals caught her eyes. Though she was unable to see their face due to the helmet they were wearing, judging by the outline of the suits, Bella deduced that it was a boy and two older women.

"It looks like those three are supporting the majority of the line," Olivia noticed where Bella was looking, wonder in her voice.

The boy had been using some kind of ice-related ability, freezing and shattering the monsters coming close. His powers were enough to the degree that there was a mist of ice surrounding his body. The other two were of a similar skill level where their elements surrounded their body. It made her think of her own skill level with the lights and how she was able to cloak herself in the power.

"Agreed. It's likely the reason why Catharina and the others were able to survive for so long if they encountered the same number of monsters as we had." Bella watched the movements of the three and noticed how they weren't as skilled as her subordinates. "They probably haven't been training for that long, maybe shortly after the world turned to shit." She tried to think about what it meant for her team if people such as the three she was looking at were out in the world they currently resided in.

"It seems like there are others of similar worth in the group that joined Catharina," Olivia interrupted Bella's thoughts, pointing towards a group of people.

Turning her head to look in the direction Olivia was pointing, noticing a familiar person she hadn't seen in a while. Grinning, "Let's go over towards them and give a helping hand."

With the line defense setup, they were able to quickly make their way towards the group identified by Olivia. There were only a few monsters that penetrated the defense but were immediately eliminated.

Grinning, Bella said, "Didn't expect you to have so much difficulty in fighting such easy prey."

Katya's body jolted by the familiar voice, turning to look back at Bella before returning to killing the monsters, "I'll show you who's having difficulty," Katya yelled back.

Though she didn't wholly trust the spy, Bella felt a feeling of happiness when seeing Katya and learning the woman was okay and still had the strength to banter.

Introducing herself to the others around Katya, Bella focused on the task at hand, already beginning to see that the tide was starting to turn in their favor.

"Let's get this place all finished before the bigger enemy makes their appearance," Bella grumbled, aiming a hand at the monsters and firing a thick beam of light that sliced everything it touched.