Quickly returning back to the camp with Summer, I saw Bloom instructing Leon and Xeno to push the carts into a ruined building to hide them while everyone moved to pack everything quickly. Moving quickly to help, we finished quickly and started moving.

“We need to take a detour.” Following Summer, I could soon hear and smell monsters and people, causing my stomach to sink. Had this been a trap that we had fallen into? Impossible, only the Guild knew we were coming to the hunting zone, no one else did. No, even the Guild didn’t know we planned to come out to these ruins. As we all followed behind Summer, who kept spreading scent removing powder, we stopped. Taking out an eyepatch and a stone, Summer put the patch on and threw a stone high up into the air.

Her face pales as she turns her head, before taking the eyepatch off and catching the stone. “They’re coming for us, why?! It’s like they know where we are!”

She looks in a certain direction. “This way!” We follow her as she explains the situation. Hundreds of monsters and people wearing hoods had emerged from our surroundings earlier, moving towards the centre of the city. But now they were moving towards us and the way we had come in from had been blocked.

As we moved through the streets quickly, the sounds of monsters grew closer. We had distance on them, but it wouldn’t be long until they caught up. After nearly twenty minutes of moving down alleyways and streets, I soon saw the wall that surrounded the city ahead of us as Summer yelled.

“Through the hole, once we’re out we’ll make a break for it.”

Confused, I looked at the wall we were approaching. There was no hole in it, in fact it was well intact.

“Summer?”

“What?”

“What hole?”

We stopped before the hole as everyone looked towards me, confused. I was equally confused as Summer turned to the wall.

“The hole that is…” With a gasp, Summer grabbed something from her belt and threw it at the wall. A stone exploded as the sound of cracking could be heard. Everyone around me paled, but nothing changed for me. “A trap?! N-no, an illusion?! We were led here on purpose?”

Hearing sounds behind me, I turn and see monsters approaching us on the ground, in the air and crawling on the buildings. Monsters of all kinds, hundreds of them. In between the monsters I could see hooded figures that had their eyes on us. I felt my heart drop, every single living being before us was level 70 or 71, none of them were lower than that. Xeno moves in front of us while everyone else moves to surround Elizabeth, Aubrey and Leon, keeping them in the middle.

Feeling my heart beat faster, I could tell that the monsters here were not like those from the hunting zone, they had a bloodthirst to them and seemed to be waiting for something. Were the hooded figures controlling them? Besides me, I saw Summer take off her adventurer’s plate and crush it.

“I hope the Guild can get here in time.” Hearing her whisper, I knew it would be hopeless. We were months from Vale, unless they sent an executive we were not escaping this. Gulping, I took up my stance as a single truth ran through our minds. This could be our end. I had Tessa’s hairpin in my hair so I hoped that it would trigger, but she had said we would needed to have no hope.

As I thought that, I felt a terrifyingly powerful aura covering us before disappearing. I didn’t know what it was, but something truly powerful laid beyond these monsters. Was whatever released that aura observing? I knew from that second of their aura that we couldn’t face it. I didn’t know how powerful Luna was, but I knew the aura was only slightly weaker than hers.

“We’re adventures from the Guild. What are yer planning, trapping us ‘ere?” Bloom steps forward and yells out, looking towards a hooded figure. We had our backs to the wall, something I knew I couldn’t just punch through, and monsters surrounded us. The hooded figures did not speak, but the monsters replied by slowly moving forward.

“Shit, Z!” Xeno slams his shield into the ground.

“Shield Dome!”

From the ground thick metal arose, creating a protective dome around us, intentionally leaving an opening the size of a house. Xeno was out of the fight now, as he needed to focus on maintaining the shield dome. Moving with Amelia and Xia, we stood before the opening as monsters swarmed it. With a yell, all three of us started fighting as Leon worked on supporting us from behind. The others stood behind us, supporting us and killing any monsters that made it through the three of us.

Amelia and I acted as the vanguards, with Xia using her shields to prevent the monsters from spreading out. The monsters were fearless, biting and clawing even though we killed them quickly. They were strong, their attacks drawing blood as my regeneration worked to heal the wounds I couldn’t avoid. Leon’s shadow creatures would bind monsters. There were too many and as seconds turned to minutes, I knew that unless we could kill them all, we were in trouble.

After an hour and dozens of monsters being killed, I switched with Bloom as he, Elizabeth and Summer took over. In that hour of fighting, I had become exhausted. I had wounds remaining that were slowly healing and I knew if this kept up we wouldn’t survive after four or five hours. Sitting down for a moment while downing a healing potion, I rested for a few minutes before springing to my feet, using Astral Ice Spikes to spear the monsters. All this time I was gaining experience and with Aubrey’s shout, I kept it in mind to not Overlevel.

We ran into a problem very quickly. The corpses of the monsters were getting in the way, and even though Aubrey with the help of Coffee dragged them away, the limited space we had was filling and fast. I had once again switched places with Bloom and then back and taking the chance I made sure to accept the level up that I had.

You have levelled to 71!

Ignoring the rest of the message as the refresh breezed through me, barely doing anything to relieve the fatigue, I looked around. Everyone had quickly become wounded and while no one had been seriously injured, it was stacking up. No one here healed faster than I did and even the wounds I had were slow to heal. My stamina and energy couldn’t keep up. Looking at Xeno, I saw his face had paled and sweat was dripping from his forehead. I knew he didn’t have long and the moment his spell wore out we would be overwhelmed.

“Leon! Use your shadow tunnel! We have no choice!” Hearing Amelia scream, I glanced at Leon as he slammed his hand to the ground. A massive magic circle appeared and shadows started crawling up my body. But, just as they reached halfway, the shadows stopped and disappeared. “Leon?!”

I turned and saw Leon looking confused, staring at his hand. I knew that the spell he had tried to use used most of his mana and if it worked it would allow us to move a short distance from us. Were there too many people?

“Fuck, I can’t hold for long!” Hearing Xeno’s cry, I look in his direction. I felt my heart drop as the noise of monsters scraping and banging on the dome entered my ears. I looked around at everyone, they all were exhausted and trying to think of what to do I knew there wasn’t any hope for us.

At that moment, a flash came from the top of my head, and taking the hairpin from my hair, I held it close to my chest, praying for it to get us out of this situation. It’s been nearly four hours at this point, and unlike the Colosseum mutation, these monsters weren’t weaker than their levels, they were strong, matching the levels they showed.

The hairpin shone brightly as a silver mist erupted from it, surrounding everyone here, and as hope filled my heart that we would be teleported from this place, it soon filled with dread. The mist evaporated, disappearing completely at the last moment. The hairpin turned dull as a crack appeared. I felt the hope leave my body as I looked at the monsters fighting to get in. This world, it’s dangerous, too dangerous. We had been going so well recently, everything had been looking amazing, yet right now I remembered something, something I had long forgotten.

This world was dangerous. At any moment we could be surrounded and killed by monsters or people at any second. I felt my hand tremble as I heard a cry from Xeno, the shield dome slowly vanishing.

“Ellie! Summon ‘er!” Bloom yells at Elizabeth as she slams her hand downwards.

“Might Guardian of the Earth, heed our call! Arise and drive our foes from us so that we may survive! Aegis!”

A large earthen golem emerges from the ground as the dome collapses, and punching down walls of earth surround us. It then turned to the side and punched one of the walls, smashing it into the ground, on top of the monsters.

“Run!” Following Summer’s shout, I made sure everyone got ahead of me onto the earthen wall. Stepping past the walls and onto the makeshift bridge, I felt despair at the sight as the group moved back to our original position. It wasn’t hundreds of monsters, it was thousands.

The Earthen Golem suddenly crawled to a stop and as I watched blood oozed out of it. Blood? How? The blood was eating away from inside of it and seeing this I felt a chill down my spine. Was this…Blood magic? It used the blood from earth that the golem has used to rise. As the walls around us collapsed, the monsters roared as our surroundings were revealed. The monsters surrounding us stepped forward, and looking back, my eyes met Aubrey’s who had been looking at me. Both of us shared a small smile, knowing what was to come.

Aubrey claps her hands together as a huge surge of mana erupted from her. “Leon!” She shouts to Leon who nods. His Domain erupts as hundreds of claws, talons and beast mouths erupted from the shadows, binding the monsters around us. It wasn’t all of them, no there were simply far too many for that to be possible, but the goal was to buy time for Aubrey.

“Domain!”

Shouting, I released my Domain as well, when suddenly five of the dozens of hooded figures raised their hands. My Domain stopped before it could even release and hearing a shattering sound, Leon’s Domain also broke. My mind flashed back to my fight with The Blade, he had used a similar technique. Trembling slightly as I looked at the swarm of monsters who had just been freed, a giant magic circle erupted from Aubrey. But before it could form, more of the hooded figures raised their hands and the magic circle cracked, breaking while Aubrey cried out.

Looking at her, I could see her nose bleeding as she swayed for a moment. She’d been hit with backlash from her spell being forcibly interrupted? Closing my eyes, I sighed as I faced the monsters and opened them. We were going to die here, not knowing the reason why. As a monster roars, it charges towards me as I raise my fists. Like fuck I’m dying without going on a rampage.

At that moment, a heavy and dense pressure fell from the sky, not affecting us but the monsters and hooded figures. They all fell to the knees or stomachs as this pressure increased. I could see some monsters dying and as I looked up, I felt hope return. In the air stood three people. Xander, Amanda and Alexander. Amanda raised her hand as a giant fireball appeared, a burning heat could be felt, but before anything could happen, the fireball was…cut in half.

The magic explodes, but is blown away quickly by Xander who raises his palm upwards, sweeping the flames towards the sky. A heavy, thick bloodthirst and pressure then erupted from another spot in the sky, causing those three to stumble in the air as they turned towards the source, their faces paling slightly.

My eyes too turned to the source and a man stood there, a grin on his face as he held a blue sword with a purple glow to it. I tremble in fear. Why is he here?! That long pink hair, the red cape that billowed from behind him as he stared at Alexander, Xander and Amanda. Why is The Blade here?! How is he here, of all places?!

Alexander, Amanda and Xander charge towards The Blade, who lured them away from us. The monsters around us, freed from all the pressure, once again got up and looked at our group, as bloodthirsty as ever. Far away from us, powerful magic could be felt, raising the hairs on my skin. I could see far in the distance large amounts of earth and ruins of the city flying in all directions, indicating an extremely powerful fight was taking place.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

The monsters charge towards us, and with a yell I apply Lunar Blessing to myself and summon hundreds of Astral Ice Spikes, no longer caring for mana usage. All around me fights erupted as our circle quickly grew small. Standing my ground as I threw punches out, I had grown numb as monster after monster died. But they all managed to land blows onto me, my wounds getting worse as I could only continue to strike out. It was then I heard a yell, one that signalled our impending end.

“BLOOM!”

Glancing, I saw one of the hooded figures before Bloom as it swung a sword. Bloom had been completely open and as I watched in horror I saw the sword slice through his neck with nearly no effort. It was like time had frozen as I watched Amelia, who had been next to Bloom, suddenly burst with mana but before anything could happen a hand burst through her chest, her heart in those hands. Turning away from this scene on the verge of tears, I saw a hooded figure appear before me.

It swung a sword towards my waist, pivoting on my feet I dodge it but a second sword sliced through my waist, a burst of pain came from the wound. Something spread from the wound as it crawled its way into my body. Striking out furiously, I used my full strength and struck back at the hooded figure, killing him as I heard another scream. My heart sank as I turned to see Elizabeth have both her eyes slashed, causing her to stumble over backwards.

What should I do?! What can I do?! I didn’t know any way to save everyone, any Domains or big spells would be cancelled out! Other than Lunar Blessing that I had used on everyone, what else can I do?! Think! I look around and see Aubrey pulling Elizabeth away, but the hooded figure slashed down, cutting off one of Aubrey’s arms.

Coffee jumped in front of me, fighting off monsters. He was wounded badly, but kept going. Xeno moved to Aubrey and Elizabeth, desperate to protect them. Leon had at some point fainted due to mana exhaustion. Summer danced through the monsters, covered in wounds with a broken arm, desperately attempting to kill anything she could reach.

Xia arrived at my side, a big slash down her arm as she created shields around us.

“Madam, thank you.” Seeing her look at me, I smile lightly as well. I raise my fists as she raises her only working arm. My hip still throbbed painfully, not healing at all, and whatever had spread from it had been halted by my regeneration, but it was an ongoing fight, just like the one around us.

Coffee jumps back to us, whimpering but growling, his hairs stood on end. I hadn’t really spent much time with him, but he still remained at my side. As I breathe out, a sudden eruption of power comes from the fight between the four in the far distance.

Something smashed into the ground in front of us, killing all the monsters in the impact zone and kicking up snow and dust as a crater appeared in the ground. All the monsters and hooded figures stopped as we did. There, in the hole, lay Alexander, heavily wounded as he struggled to stand when two more bodies slammed into the crater with him. Amanda and Xander, only the top halves of their bodies were there, their eyes vacant. They were dead.

Looking up, I saw him once again, completely unharmed. The Blade looked down on Alexander, boredom evident on his face. Not even a drop of sweat on his forehead. He shakes his head as his eyes meet mine, an excited smile creeping up his face as I feel fear. I wasn’t his opponent. He dealt with the three who had come in minutes, leaving two dead and Alexander barely alive. As he opened his mouth, the sky changed from sunny to a night sky as a figure appeared.

Tessa. She raised a hand as a massive magic circle appeared, covering the entire city and with a flick of her wrist thousands of beams of lights rained down on the city. Covering my eyes, I waited till the shine of the beams disappeared and when I looked around, every monster and hooded figure had disappeared. I knew though, they had been killed.

Looking at Tessa, I saw her outfit had changed. She wore a light silver and gold armour and had a glaive in each of her hands. She stared down The Blade and as she opened her mouth a furious word left them.

“LEAVE!” Her voice echoes powerfully, as if wanting the city below her to hear her.

It wasn’t a request, it was a demand. The Blade however only smiled as he raised his sword. I felt fear at that moment that Tessa would die too. I didn’t want that to happen, I didn’t want to see her die. The Blade took a step forward in the air, but at that moment, a crack in the sky appeared next to Tessa. The crack opened as a man stepped out, and the aura of a Demigod flooded out. It was the Demigod of Vale. He had a long lance in his hand as cackles of thunder surrounded his body. He too stared down at The Blade.

I heard laughter, and turning to The Blade I saw him happily laughing as he kept his sword raised. In the next moment he disappeared as Tessa and Vale’s Demigod did the same. Suddenly something burst out, a massive black bubble in the sky. I knew it was a Domain and in the next second it burst apart as three figures flew from each other.

My eyes frantically looked and found Tessa, and I felt dread in my heart. A massive sword wound exposed her insides, it ran from her shoulder down to her leg. Her face was pale and the glaive she held had broken. Still, she faced The Blade with a glare that signalled she wouldn’t back down. Turning to the Vale’s Demigod, he had multiple deep sword wounds and his lance laid broken.

Gulping, I turned to The Blade. A glaive from Tessa was embedded in his chest, buried deeply and a huge hole threatened to cause his arm to fall off. He still held that grin as he held his sword with one hand. He looks down, once again meeting my eyes.

“I can’t wait!” As he says this, he turns and with a stomp, disappears quickly. Did he flee, or did he simply leave? I look around, terrified of my own surroundings. Bloom…Amelia, they laid there, dead. Elizabeth blinded, Aubrey…had healed her arm, causing me to second guess what I had seen. Xeno sat there, looking at the stump that was his leg.

Coffee was badly wounded, and kneeling as I pet him, he snuggled my chest as he disappeared into my mana realm. I knew he would be okay, he would just need time.

Looking at Summer, she was holding her throat, blood seeping out of it while chugging a healing potion. I could see some of the healing potion coming out of the hand that held her throat. Leon lay unconscious on the ground. Looking at Xia, her arm hung limply to her side while I saw one of her eyes had been cut, something I hadn’t seen before. Alexander struggled to sit up, his wounds bleeding profusely. He looked weakened, something I had never thought a man that strong could look like.

I wasn’t in any better condition. Putting a hand to my side, the pain skyrocketed and I grit my teeth. Something had been on that sword that cut me, preventing the wound from healing and looking at it it had stopped bleeding but the pain and wound remained. I was covered in wounds and I couldn’t feel an arm. I knew it had been fractured from using my full strength for too long, but it would heal, as would all the wounds on my body. I just needed rest…unlike the others, who had been permanently injured, or killed.

I stood there as my mind turned blank. The adrenaline in my body wore off as pain took over completely, exhaustion following it. We weren’t strong enough, I wasn’t strong enough. My eyes didn’t leave Bloom or Amelia, their dead bodies were the only thing I saw. If we were stronger, would they still be alive? I knew I was crying as I sat there, I just didn’t know what to do, even if we got stronger we would only face stronger opponents, when would it end?

Someone appeared in front of me and embraced me. I could tell by the smell it was Aubrey and I slowly hugged her back as I started crying. I was frustrated at my lack of strength to help everyone, saddened about the four who died, and scared that I had been targeted by The Blade, and that he would do this again. Aubrey didn’t say anything, just held me as I vented. After a few minutes, I pulled away from her, wiping my tears away.

“Thank you.” Aubrey smiles at my thanks as she shakes her head.

“No, I’m sorry. Once again, I couldn’t do anything but watch…”

“No one is at fault, you two. We lost, simple as that. No one is to blame, no one is at fault. We just lost. Now, we have many wounded, four dead and we are all exhausted. Set up camp, gather the wounded and treat their wounds. After that, we will discuss what to do.”

Turning, I saw Summer who had mostly recovered except for a gash on her neck that had stopped bleeding. I looked around and drew out whatever remained of my energy. I helped set up tents and then helped bring everyone in. Vale’s Demigod and Tessa had at some point landed with us. Tessa stood completely still with her eyes closed, focused on healing her wound while Vale’s Demigod looked over those who were injured.

I went into the crater and knelt next to Alexander. He laid there looking at the sky, seemingly lost in thought. “Master?”

“Ah, Alisha? Sorry, I was just thinking.” Alexander slowly stood up, most of his wounds healing. Looking down, he sadly shook his head at the sight of Xander and Amanda. “Too young. I’m sorry, my friends. I wasn’t strong enough…”

Hearing his words, I once again was reminded of my earlier words as I too looked towards them. “Master, I’m sorry…”

“Haha, you really drew out a monster, didn’t you? Don’t be sorry, disciple, this is the way of the world. You’re frustrated, aren’t you, that you’re not strong enough. Hold onto that feeling, use it to fuel yourself, get stronger. You’re not alone, don’t push others away thinking you’ll bring them trouble because of that man. Though they may be injured and exhausted now, they will stay by your side while you stay by their side. Don’t give up, don’t blame yourself, take this experience today and grow, flourish with those that fought with you today.”

Alexander pats me on the back then moves to pick up Xander’s body. I stood there thinking of the words he spoke and felt my mind calm down because of them. He was right, even if we lost today, we will rise from this and get stronger, together with the others and overcome it next time. I moved and picked up Amanda, the executive who had been kind to me many times, along with Xander. Alexander and I move to the camp and lay their bodies next to Amelia and Bloom.

“Good adventurers, they fought to the bitter end. I will ensure their loved ones are taken care of.” Alexander looked at Amelia and Bloom, before closing his eyes and kneeling for a moment. Rising, he and I walked towards the Demigod of Vale, who was talking to Summer.

“So can you help?” Summer spoke to him, like a leader speaking to a subordinate.

“Yes.” Snapping his fingers, a cage of lightning surrounded the camp. He turned to Tessa, who still stood still with her eyes closed. “Do not disturb her. Her wound is fatal, I’m amazed she is alive. Those of the Sisterhood of the Moon Goddess are as strong as rumoured. Even though she is only a Pseudo-Demigod, she still injured that bastard. She will recover, so you have nothing to worry about.” He turns his head to me with a knowing glance. Nodding my head to his gaze, he turned to Alexander.

“I need to also tend to my wounds. That bastard managed to break Gae Bulg and it's not repairing itself. I can’t Travel until my wounds are healed, can you?”

Alexander shook his head. “I can not, sir. I too am too wounded to Travel.”

“Ok. The net will protect us from anything that isn’t a Demigod, so everyone here is to rest. Once I can Travel, I will open a Door and bring assistance, it will take two days at least. Do not worry for those with severe injuries, I will bring one who can use Regrowth.” Vale’s Demigod spoke to Summer directly before turning and walking away. We dispersed, with Summer going to help Aubrey with treating those who had been wounded while Alexander knelt beside those who had died.

I moved and checked on everyone as well. I checked on Elizabeth first. Kneeling beside her, I held her hand.

“It’s me, Ellie. Are you feeling alright?”

Elizabeth chuckles. “You could say I didn’t see this coming.” A smile appears on her face before it fades. “Alisha, tell me, who died?”

“Bloom, Amelia, Xander and Amanda. Those four.”

Elizabeth sighed. “My bag, can you reach in and grab two bottles? They’ll be golden amber in colour, one is for you.” Doing as she said, I pulled them out and recognised them as alcohol. I hadn’t drunk any before…no, I had. A memory I had remembered, Elizabeth and I had sat and drunk like this before. Opening one, I handed it to her as I sat next to her and opened mine. In silence, we continued drinking as the others also turned in to rest for the night, making sure those injured were doing fine. Xia also sat with us, and without a word took a bottle and drank with us.

“I’m going to..hic..sleep.” Elizabeth laid down where she was and fell asleep. I stumbled to my feet with the help of Xia and moved towards a tent. Before I could get there, I saw Tessa approaching me, a serious expression on her face. Her wound had yet to heal.

“Alisha, I need your help.” Coming into the tent with us, she sat down, took off the destroyed armour and shirt. “Place your hands on my shoulders and slowly circulate your Celestial Eclipse Mana and Energy into me. Slowly, not fast, not in bursts, but very slowly.”

I sat behind her and put my hands on her shoulders. I felt slightly intoxicated so I bit my lip and started circulating everything into her slowly. Xia sat by my side as I worked with Tessa to help her.

Third Person PoV

Selenia watched as Alisha assisted Tessa from her Realm, her hand curled into a fist, tears running down her face as she bit her lip.

“Did I go too far? I've caused her so much pain…”

She continued to sit there, in silence, as guilt washed over her.

“You did. Mother wants to speak with you.”

Astraea appears before the table, looking at Selenia. “You are also forbidden from ever interacting with the mortal realm. I will take over teaching Alisha, you will never see her again. You overstepped your duties to Her, Selenia. If Alisha ever finds out what you have done, you know what will happen yet you still caused this to happen. Why did you hide it from Her, Selenia, why?”

Selenia sat there in silence as she started fading to ascend to the Divine Realm. “I thought…I thought I was helping.” Those words left her lips as she completely faded.

“You’re too young, Selenia. Too young. You should’ve told Her before you acted, you let a madman loose on Alisha.” Astraea looked sadly at where Selenia had faded from before looking at the orb on the table, showing Alisha assisting Tessa in recovering her wounds. With a sigh, she shook her head. “I can not interfere anymore, the System won’t allow it. I pray you never learn the truth of today’s events, Chosen. We do not want to lose you.”

Astraea sits at the table and continues to watch the orb with a face that showed nothing but love for those shown, and pain that she could not assist. She knew that Alisha and her friends had risen so high after everything they had gone through, and now they had fallen. So she prayed to Celestia that she and her friends would find the strength to move forward.