The red glow coming from the clouds became so intense that no other color could be seen. The light was bright enough that it was hard to look at any surface. Instead of facing the monsters head-on, the defenders had to focus on the moving shadows and ascertain their position and nature from there. Everyone was surprised by the glow since it never turned so intense, even during previous rampages. It was like the MAZE itself was warning them of something. Hera could feel her stomach turning, imagining if the light would vanish and the clouds turn black.

To their luck, the floodlights around the area helped the group to see what was going on. When the monsters got closer, everyone was able to see them moving. The ones who had more problems were the archers who aimed at the creatures that were far away. After the death of the Wendigo, they all had started attacking monsters farther away from the traps. The team leaders checked with the other teams, and the other wendigos had appeared on the west and north sides of town. Still, they weren't shooting the ones that just left the swamp. Only after the monsters were far enough away for the bodies to be in clear sight that the arrows flew from the bows.

A Giant Crested Newt rushed towards Hera, trying to whip its tail at her. She took a step to the side and cut the monster's back with her chakram, following it up with her handaxe aimed right at its head. With the monster dead, she looked to the side. The Wendigo's corpse was still there, even after the other corpses had vanished. Could this be a new one instead of the one that came with the rampage?

It's been three hours since they defeated the Wendigo. Blue had leveled up after the kill, and sometime later, Hera's stamina skill increased its rank once more.

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Improved Stamina (Rank 3):

Increases the stamina of the user as well as its regeneration. The effect moderately increases when the user is less active or more relaxed. The effect has a minor increase when standing still and a slight increase while moving at a slow pace.

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Hera was breathing heavily. She was one of the few who didn't stop ever since the Wendigo fight. Alex, Blue, and Thomas were just the same. Even with the skill increase, it was hard for them to keep fighting nonstop. They were waiting for one of the wounded groups to come back so they could take a break.

"Hera, Tom, Blue, Alex, Jess, Ed, Al, and Kat. Your turn to rest," Cass called from the wall.

"Finally," Blue gasped.

"I must say, this constant struggle is quite tiring. I do hope that Runir is taking care of himself," Thomas said as he left the vanguard.

"Me too. He seemed to be taking this a bit hard," Hera replied while cleaning her handaxe.

Blue looked around and saw Alex fighting one of the giant toads, "Hey, do you need help?"

"I got this!" Alex replied as she moved to the side and stabbed the monster five times in quick succession. Then a small whirling formed on her daggers, followed by two slashes on the back of the creature. The attack went through the toad, creating slash marks on the floor. As the monster fell to the ground, a light blue glow covered her.

"Hey, you leveled up for killing a frog. They are not so bad after all," Blue said.

"YES, THEY ARE!"

"What is the matter with our dear companion?" Thomas watched as Alex stomped towards the city.

"She hates frogs," Hera explained.

"I see." Tom stared at Alex as they walked towards the camp.

The camp was a mess. There was no stew left, and the water bottles had to be refiled with a hose. They sat down to rest while everyone checked if they were too hurt. Runir was sitting in one of the chairs and barely noticed them arriving. He had been helping treat the ones wounded for the last hours and had finished his last patient a few minutes ago, depleating his mana yet again.

"My friend, are you ok?" Tom asked.

"What? Yeah, I'm fine," Runir replied, yet he seemed down.

"Are you sure? You don't seem your usual self," Alex sat on the chair by his side.

"It's just weird. I never had to hold back on healing or placing barriers before. My job is to make sure no one gets hurt and fix the ones who do. What kind of doctor would let sick people suffer while he does nothing?" he said.

"ER doctors," Hera said, "Doctors know that sometimes it's better to be on standby for something big than to treat every single cold that shows up. It's the same thing."

"You have a good heart, my friend. Yet, asking so much of yourself will lead to nothing. Hera is correct. This fight was unlike everything we ever faced," Thomas said, placing one hand on Runir's shoulder.

"When you put it that way..." Runir said with a sigh.

They all sat down to rest. They were too tired to talk, so the entire group, including the three who Hera didn't know, were just sitting there fiddling with their tablets.

"Hey, Tom, since we have some time. Can we talk about magic?" Hera asked.

"I would be delighted to have a conversation with someone who understands the true nature of magic as I do," Tom pulled his chair closer to Hera.

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The two started talking about how they created spells. Hera explained how she saw the spells and the two trade notes on the subject. Thomas used the chant to give directions for the mana, telling it what to do and what he expected. His magic would then form after the mana left his body, unlike Hera, who would create the spell on her hands almost like she was shaping clay. All spells he had were buffs or debuffs or something that could bring utility like the dancing light, and they all followed that structure, a chant that would guide the mana to the desired effect. The issue was finding the right wording for the spell. He couldn't say something like 'Create a light that follows me.' He had to create a chant that would make his mana respond.

They attempted to use a spell following the other's direction but were unable to activate it. Still, Hera felt that it was a productive talk. She had no idea that the subjective approach could be so broad and considering things from a different angle could help her figure out some things.

"Tom, if you don't mind me asking. What happened with the way you speak? It seems less... medieval now," Hera asked.

"Apologies, noble warrior. When I face a battle as difficult as this one, my mind becomes cloudy, and to follow the proper language of a knight takes some concentration," Thomas replied.

"Then why do it at all? I mean, just now, it was much easier to talk to you than normal. Don't take this the wrong way, but when you speak like a knight, it takes some effort to understand what the hell you want to say."

"I wish not to give an improper impression to those around me. When I feel that I'm among my peers, I tend not to worry about such things."

"Oh, so you trust me already? Isn't that a bit soon?" Hera chuckled.

"You have proven your bravery during this combat, not just that. I must believe in the hero who fought a fearsome Wendigo on her own," Thomas replied.

"Yeah, no. Go back to the casual way, please. I'm too tired to translate," Hera waved her hand.

Thomas laughed, "Very well, I'll do my very best to avoid addressing you with such formalities."

Before Hera could reply, the glow coming from the clouds vanished, giving way for a dark sky. Everyone in the camp froze. The clouds were still there, but they were dark.

Hera jumped up, "We need to take Helena out of..."

She was interrupted by a notification that appeared in front of her.

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Rampage Quest Complete

Wendigo's Assault - Hazelpond

The three wendigos are no more. The defenders managed to stop their advance. With the death of the last one, the Rampage has come to an end.

The contribution of all those involved in the fight has been tallied. Your reward will be proportional to your contribution.

Rewards

10th place - Rare weapon enchantment material

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For a few moments, no one said a word.

"Did we win?" Blue asked.

Loud cheers came from the entrance.

"I guess we did," Alex said.

"We won!" Kat, a tanned fighter, yelled as she hugged Ed.

"We did it... We really did it..." Al started laughing on his own.

They started celebrating, but it didn't take long before a voice came from the entrance, "Guys, come help us get the loot," Cass asked.

At that moment, their hearts sunk. The piles of materials almost formed a second wall by the entrance. If they were going to bring all that to the guild, it would take ages. Before the resting group went towards the gate, Tisha, Martel, and a few other scouts ran past them, heading to the guild.

"Hey, no fair!" Blue gasped. Martel was among the ones who had just rested.

"Relax, they are probably going to the guild to get some carts. We could leave it all there for the recovery teams, but this is a way to make sure we all get what's ours, and to help to get everything back to normal," Jess replied.

They started hauling the mountain of loot towards the camp. In reality, it wasn't as big as they pictured. It was still a considerable haul, but a single cart would be enough to bring it all back to the guild. What happened was that as people tossed the materials towards the back, some of the larger bones got stuck in odd angles. That led to the piles to appear much bigger than they actually were.

As they returned, Hera and her friends talked about the rewards they received from the quest. They made a small ranking of who got a higher spot among them.

Runir 35th

Alex 75th

Thomas 136th

Blue 139th

Hearing their ranks, Hera got confused. Why did she get such a better placement than the rest of the group? She and Alex did close to the same amount of damage to the creature.

"Well done, everyone. You got really nice places," Cass said as she walked by.

"Thanks! What was your position?" Blue picked a piece of leather that fell from the cart and placed it on the box she was carrying.

"I got 6th place," Cass smiled.

"That's amazing!" Alex gasped.

"Do you know how those things are calculated?" Hera asked.

"More or less. It counts the damage you deal to it and how much what you did affect the fight. For instance, Erick, the vanguard who made the shield at the beginning, got 12th place. He barely dealt any damage to it, but thanks to him, we all managed to wail on the Wendigo," Cass explained.

"Still, my rank doesn't make sense," Hera mumbled.

"Oh yeah, you never said it. What's your rank?" Blue asked.

"I got 10th place."

"I expected nothing less from the fearsome Wendigo hunter," Runir said.

"Shut up, Tom!" Hera snarled.

"Apologies, my friend, but it wasn't I who just spoke," Tom chuckled.

"I think you two are spending too much time together," Blue stared at Runir, who was laughing to the side.

As they arrived in the guild, Hera placed the materials she had on hand in a spot designated for the H teams. Since everyone fought, they all would share the spoils. Even with the third team not being there for the entire fight, no one complained about they getting their cut. Not only their help was invaluable, but it would be too much work to figure out the split.

Hera walked towards the showers, wanting to take off her armor and clean the sweat, blood, and dirt off her when coming out of nowhere, Helena jumped and hugged Hera.

"I'm so glad you're ok."

"Lena, stop. I'm a mess. Let me take a shower first."

"Shut up and stay there. I don't care about the smell."

"I smell!?"

"Like trash that stayed a day under the sun, now quiet."

Hera wanted to complain, but she had no more strength, and Helena's assessment was probably right. An entire day of fighting nonstop left her in a disgusting state. After a couple of minutes, Helena finally let go.

"Now I need a shower too. But before that. What rank did you get?" Helena asked.

"I got 10th," Hera smiled.

Helena pouted, "Oh, really..."

"What's wrong?"

"I got 20th, I was going to show off, but you beat me to it."

"Wait. Did you fight?" Hera's eyes went wide.

"Of course not, sweetie. It is probably because of the meeting we had before the fight. Our information helped everyone fight the Wendigos. I bet that if the quest were for the entire room, we would be first and second in the rankings," Helena said. She was holding Hera's hand ever since they let go of the hug.

A commotion started to form at the guild's entrance, with several gasps and a couple of yells. Hera gave up on her shower, for now, worried that it could mean that the clouds had turned black. As she and Helena got close to the entrance, they saw one of the teams carrying stretchers, all of them with someone under a white sheet.

Blue noticed the arrival of the duo and walked closer to them.

"What happened?" Hera asked.

"Team C got hit hard. Some people died."

"How many?" Helena asked.

"Twelve in total and five are in critical condition," Blue replied.