"Shit, Skyler! Help me out here!" Roan yelled he was struggling to keep a Molten Elemental in check. It was a large liquid being with no set shape or color. The monster came alone, but it was powerful. It could meld not just the ground but also items and even monster bodies. With each thing it could melt, it could increase its power. Elementals were much closer to magic, which also meant that they were more vulnerable to Skyler's interruption spells.

"I'm busy!" the elf replied while she spun around. Whacking a few tiny gray monsters with long limbs and claws. They would constantly cackle and jump around. Their attacks didn't damage as much, but they were annoying. Each strike from the Ash Gremlins would leave behind a small clump of ash that would stick to whatever touched it. Every single party member was able to break free from that, but the 'ash glue' lingered and forced Skyler to jerk her limbs in order to break free.

The main problem when dealing with those monsters was that the gremlins would use the ash glue that was already on a target to spread it around more. If left alone, eventually, they would start spreading that on Skyler's face. That's when things would get dangerous. If the ash glue was stuck to her mouth and nose, it would be hard to breathe. And if she accidentally got that inside her throat, it could be a death sentence.

"Just kill those things! Roan gasped as he dodged a full body slam from the Molten Elemental. Its form covered almost all of the tunnel, and even a few of the monsters who were stuck in the cave's entrance were caught by the attack and started to melt inside its body.

"I got it!" Hera yelled and made a venomous javelin before throwing it while using her 'break combo.' This is how she was calling the mix of a venomous weapon, with something from the Grasshopper series and the [Weapon Break] skills. What made her confident in the skill was her mana sense. She could tell where the core of the elemental was located. The only reason why she didn't intervene before was because she had to clear out her tunnel before helping everyone in the cave. At this point, she had fought against a few Cinder Hounds that proved to be more resilient than expected. There were a couple of bruises around her body and a few fang marks from the places where the monsters managed to pierce her armor.

Her attack missed the core, but it was close enough that the blast created by the combo damaged the core enough to make it visible to the naked eye. Roan didn't waste that option and grabbed a large rock before jumping at the one solid piece of the monster. Using the rock as a weapon, the beastmen threw it at the core before landing on it with both feet. The impact finished crushing the heart of the monster, and it was finally destroyed. At the same time, Roan continued his movement, using the rock as a stepping stone to jump to the cave, far from the molten body of the creature. It would still take a few moments before all that liquid cooled off and became solid and harmless once again.

He watched as a large bird-like creature, with green wings coated in orange flames and dark metal talons, and a pair of large yells eyes, came flying from a tunnel to his right, diving towards their healer.

"Neria!" Livy yelled and pushed the monster down with one hand. The towering sea serpent almost reached the ceiling of this cave. Ember Garuda tried to break free, but the Leviathan was able to hold it in place for long enough to bring her waraxe from her side and made a large cut against one of its wings. She even wrapped her weapon in an elemental strength spell. A version of it that created a tiny aura of pressurized water around the blades of her axe. However, this was one of the strongest creatures that could appear on the rampage. Losing only for the Forge Lord.

The monster tried to bite Livy, but she pulled away and replied in kind. Biting its already wounded wing before using her [Leviathan's Torrent] to create a massive burst of water, ripping out the wing completely. Even so, the monster was still moving. Taking a deep breath, the Ember Garuda was ready to use its own breath attack, but Lurize jumped on top of it, using all his weight to sink the large zweihander into the bird's torso. The attack stopped, and before the beast could try anything else, Livy used the [Grasshopper Slash] to open a large gash on the creature's neck, dealing the finishing blow. Still, just for good measure, Lurize brought his own weapon down on the back of the garuda's neck and finished decapitating it.

"What took you so long?" Livy groaned with a smirk.

"I waz helping the twinz," Lurize gestured to the side, where Viper and Crimson now fought against a small group of Sky Leavers.

Those monsters were, in essence, butterflies that traded their wings for a set of eight spider-like legs coming from their backs. Using those, they could attack, defend, and even attach a small membrane together to create an illusion. Each of those creatures had sharp pincers, and their antennae had a barbed tip that could deliver a poison capable of burning people from the inside. Dealing with those was complicated for a multitude of reasons, but the biggest one was their speed. Each of those wingless butterflies was incredibly quick, and hitting them was a struggle even for the two fastest members of the group. It was easier to fight them with big weapons or spells that could cover a large area, making them the natural counter of the twins.

"Vash, Skyler! We need an AOE!" Viper called.

"Got it!" the elf replied as she took a deep breath and played a single note on her harmonica, sending a cone of sound waves toward the Spymasters.

Seeing that, Crimson jumped at her brother, tackling and pushing him out of the way. While in the air, both of them returned to their weapon form, increasing their speed as they flew off, dodging the spell. The monsters behind them were not so lucky, and all those Sky Leavers died due to the strength of the sound waves.

Flint was tossed back into the cave by a small wyvern. The dwarf tumbled back and got to his feet quickly, his armor assisting with his movements. Just as the monster's snout peeked beyond the tunnel, Hera started running towards it. She jumped and spun, this time with Gale in her hand instead of a venomous weapon. A few cuts appeared on the wyvern's neck as the spinning Ophidianite delivered a couple of quick blows with her glaive and her tail blade. The monster looked around and opened his wings to roar. Or at least tried to. Daskka was with the Empress, and just as she arrived, the snake quickly turned into mist and wrapped herself around the wyvern. When it tried to move, she became solid to hinder its movements.

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Seeing the opening, Flint didn't waste time and rushed the creature, slamming its jaw and neck repeatedly with the piston punches. Hera didn't stay behind, calling all of her regular court members to come attack this monster. Each of the blades slammed against the glowing leather of the creature. It took a few moments, but the wyvern succumbed to the numerous wounds being created by Flint, Hera, and her court.

Dropping to the floor for a moment, the Empress asked between breaths, "How… Long… Until… we… leave?"

Skyler glanced at her tablet, "They are three minutes late. But that's not much. Especially in a place as confusing as this one."

"Should we be worried?" Roan, who was one of the first ones to finish his enemy, was looking over the tunnel he had to cover. If the next team was late, they might need to continue defending this area for a while, and dropping their guard wasn't something that would be helpful.

"I don't think so. Like Skyler said-" Neria was cut off by someone knocking on the door leading to the city.

With a sigh of relief, the triton rushed over and opened the door.

"Hey, sorry for the delay. We took a wrong turn in a tunnel back there… Is everything ok?" a male triton, who was seemingly the leader of this next group, looked over to the rest of the team and saw how they were all on the floor, close to the monster's bodies. While a large armored man and a giant lizard woman pushed monster bodies toward the drop shaft.

"Yeah. We just got a stream of enemies in the last few hours. We couldn't even rebuild some traps. And we don't know if this is going to keep happening. So be careful. Also, try to stay in the cave and not in the tunnels. It's harder since the monsters can clump together, but in the tunnels, we got screwed more than a few times," Neria explained as she called everyone to follow her.

"Thanks for the help!" Crimson said with a smile, making the new team even more confused.

As they were finally leaving this place, a dwarven woman who arrived with the triton couldn't stop staring at Hera and her court, "What are you? Like all of you. Since when have we had people like you in the MAZE?"

"Me? Since I was born. Them? Probably a few thousand years," Hera snapped her fingers, and all the court returned to the legacy, with the exception of Livy, who turned into her Sea Serpent form to carry the Empress back to the hotel.

"Wait, what? Where did they go?" the woman asked again.

"Nowhere. They are still here. Good luck. I need sleep," Hera jumped on Livy's back and the two started moving through the tunnel. The Leviathan was nowhere near as fast as Nimbus was on land, but her regular pace was already faster than walking. And even better, she could carry six people when on land and only get a bit slower. After all, when on land, the difference between her top speed and that slow pace was negligible.

When arriving at the city, the group played a round of rock paper scissors to decide who would shower in the hotel and who would stop by one of the gyms that were open for that specific reason. Unlike the previous place they stayed, their current hotel room only had a single bathroom.

Vash ended up being the winner, but they were too tired to complain. Every member of the team took a shower, and in less than 20 minutes, they were all back in their hotel room, already lying in bed.

Just before going to sleep, Hera took a moment to check the quest's progress. She wanted to know how many monsters she ended up killing today.

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Monster Rampage - Core Spire

Protect the city from the waves of monsters that will attack the settlements. Any damage to the structures of the room will be deducted from the basic reward.

Rewards: 250 000 gold

Killing a monster will give you increased rewards based on the type of monster.

Cloudwing Striker - 25

Magma Construct - 3

Void Weaver - 8

Gloom Bat - 93

Cloud Serpent - 8

Magma Crawler - 13

Ember Wyvern - 2

Ash Gremlin - 15

Soot Golem - 9

Magma Spider - 53

Whispering Crystal - 12

Ash Reaver - 8

Molten Elemental - 1

Smoke Weaver - 3

Cinder Hound - 24

Forge Magma - 2

Sky Leaver - 12

Skystone Watcher - 0

Ember Garuda - 1

Forge Lord - 0

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In a single day, she had killed or participated in the kill of almost 300 monsters. Those numbers seemed to be counting her blades since she never fought the Ember Garuda herself. The Molten Elemental should also be the one that Roan killed. Unless she managed to get rid of one before even realizing it.

Still, if things kept going like this, they would have problems. If this happened again, she would have less than 2 minutes to kill each monster as she fought nonstop. She had to figure out a way to make this easier. But that would only happen in the morning. Right now, the Empress could only think about the soft pillow under her head and the warm blanket covering her body.