Chương 143: The Edge Of Life And Death

"Move," I ordered. While it was tempting to find another route. It was an enormous hassle to back the war mech up and turn around. We rushed into the next chamber to fight the monsters in front of us. Giant armored flying beetles, with smaller armored bugs on the ground, crossed our path.

"Acid spit!" Harren called out." Ward." His spell skill began quickly apart under the yellow liquid. He brought out his axe and began swinging at the nearest bugs on the ground. I had flashbacks to the Abnormal Face Bugs.

"Clear the sky! Don't hold back!" I shouted." Lightning Beam. Lightning Beam. Lightning Beam."

"Great Gust," Stormy called out. It was helpful to call out skills when you were in a team, so everyone was aware of what you were using and the risks." Dazzle," Sam said as bursts of light and Mana occurred further back in the chamber. Ozy began unleashing bursts of fire, combining with Stormy's spell skill." RLC firing!" April called out from The Indomitable. The crack and burst of lightning began ringing out multiple times each second. My sword cut through the monsters.

The Reforged Beginner's Blade was incredibly strong against these level 55 monsters.

"Support!" Harren called out as a surge of bugs rushed towards him." Ring of Fire!" Stormy proved her talent as an elemental caster as a ring of fire surrounded Harren perfectly and expanded outwards, giving him a moment to center himself." Dazzle," Sam used the spell skill again, but at closer range. Disrupting the rush of bugs that were headed to our front line. I leapt back as acid spit landed where I had been." Lightning Beam!" I twisted my sword as I focused the spell skill through it.

The attack curved and struck two flying bugs, locking up their wings and sending them plummeting to the ground." Switching to FAB, five seconds," April called out. She had gotten her weapon down to a much quicker timing than she had when we had first started clearing chambers. Little things like that were why we needed practice as a team." Whirlwind Slash!" Harren spun around and swung his enormous axe.

Several blades shot through the collapsing fire ring and into the air, taking down the acid-spitting large flying bugs. A white-hot beam of flame lanced forwards from the war mech. Harren and I quickly backed up as April covered the entire front line. The warmech quickly incinerated the horde of bugs. The fight slowed down as we finished the rest. Just as we relaxed as the last monster in the chamber had been killed off, I quickly sensed danger and warned everyone. Everyone was immediately on guard.

I couldn't tell where the danger was coming from as I cycled through my sensory skills. Where? Where was it coming from?

"The other chambers! We unleashed too much Mana and now monsters are rushing through the tunnels!" Stormy shouted. It took me a moment to process what Stormy was saying. Five other tunnels connected to this chamber, excluding the one we exited and blocked with a trap.

"Potions everyone. Defensive emplacements for the casters, Stormy. Full power, April. Sam, prepare distraction points. Harren, get ready," I said. I pulled out a Mana and Stamina potion from my spatial pouch and downed them. Better to do this now than in the middle of combat. Pillars of stone rose behind us, with Stormy and Sam on one each. April was switching out to the HIC, High Impact Cannon. Sam created pulsating glowing pillars at several locations in the chamber to draw monsters towards." Stone Wall.

Stone Wall," Stormy protected our flanks some more by creating stone walls out from the edge of the chamber. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. I began drawing runes in the air while keeping my eyes on the five tunnels across the chamber. That was all we had time for as monsters poured into the chamber from the five other tunnels. Furred bipedal creatures that looked like rats with a range of weapons.

Then there were massive spiders that looked incredibly agile as they began climbing up the chamber's wall by their passage exit. That was going to be a problem as they attacked from above and from the sides. The third tunnel had floating eyes that were already gathering Mana. Their colors most likely indicated different spells they were going to unleash. The fourth tunnel had lizards with weapons as well, mostly bows. The last tunnel had skeletons, which were too low level.

Undead on this layer indicated a necromancer-type monster was probably present. It was likely a sub-champion.

"Look for the necromancer, far right tunnel. Priority target. Secondary target spiders," I shouted out quickly. It was a struggle to divide my focus, and I had to slow down on my runes, but it was important I called the information out. Otherwise, my team might get confused on what was important to target." HIC firing," April called out. The dungeon shook. The explosion obliterated the tunnel the spiders were racing out of, along with the spiders. Only a handful of spiders remained, climbing up the walls."

Switching to RLC," April called out. The HIC could not be fired rapidly. The weapon needed service after each shot. It was one and done, but it killed anything and everything near the target. It made sense to use it to wipe out the most annoying monster horde first. Spells began flying, cutting into the target-rich environment. No one was holding back. I finished up the last rune and pushed more Mana into the runes. A large torrent of compressed wind blew through the aerial runic array.

Ozy flew up behind me and ignited the massive wind current. While it wasn't as powerful as The Indomitable's FAB, it was much more widespread and had a longer range. A sea of flames engulfed the monsters heading towards us." Ward!"

"Ward!"

"Ward!" We were all shielded as the floating eyes rose into the air and began unleashing Fireballs, Fire Beams, and Fire Lances in our direction." Stone Wall! Stone Wall!" Stormy provided Harren and me with some cover from the flame attacks. Arrows rained down, hitting our armor. That was part of the joy of being on the front line. I was grateful for my heavy armor. The war mech suddenly stopped firing the RLC." Weapon failure. Switching to melee and FAB. Advancing," April called out.

She was only to do this if our position was collapsing, and it was the right choice. We were being overwhelmed while the war mech was taking the attacks like a champ. It dropped its lightning weapon and pulled out its fire weapon with its left hand and its massive mace with its right hand. It advanced forward, the flight engine lessening the impact of its massively armored clawed feet on the ground.

I cut off my runic circle, and it broke apart with a burst of air.

"Ozy cover the ceiling!" There were still some spiders up there. Ozy flew upwards to deal with them and prevent them from dropping on our heads.

"Forward!" I roared. We needed to support The Indomitable. While it was impressively strong and armored, once monsters got close, it would have to use its Aura Shock System, ASS. That would drain a tremendous amount of fuel and only stun the monsters. We also couldn't risk getting close to the war mech, but we could race out to the sides, drawing attention while Stormy kept the area around the war mech clear.

Sam made more decoys, distracting the monsters and diverting a large amount of their ranged attacks, proving his immense worth in a large-scale battle like this where everything was going wrong. I felt myself break through on several skills as I cut my way through the monsters. My armor took blows I couldn't avoid, but I couldn't stop moving and killing. To stop was death." Ward. Lightning Beam. Lightning Beam. Ward. Fireball." I unleashed one spell skill after another as my sword never stopped.

My reserves were quickly getting low. Harren was advancing as well on the left flank. The Indomitable had turned the center of the chamber into a raging inferno as it spun about, unleashing flames everywhere and swinging its mace. If we had been close, the flames would have incinerated us. Even at a distance, the temperature was rising along with the Mana in the air. But there was no helping it. The fight continued, and the monsters seemed endless.

While it would have been nice to take a step back and see the overall situation, I was in the thick of it and my Danger Sense was slowly decreasing.

"Necromancer! Chain Lightning!" Stormy used the powerful Tier 4 skill since a summoner-type monster would use its minions to shield itself from single-impact spell skills. Chain Lightning got around this by hitting a target and then transferring to nearby targets. She was the only one who could do this because of her elevated position and being able to take down targets at a distance. Unfortunately, since she focused on the necromancer, the war mech became exposed at close range.

Several of the rat monsters had raced in through its legs." Lightning Beam. Lightning Beam. Lightning Beam." I removed them myself. A grunt escaped me as a skeleton's spear pierced my armor, which weakened my right arm as I took a minor wound. I quickly transferred my sword to my left hand. I wasn't as skilled fighting with my left hand with a sword, but I had enough practice to still know what I was doing and fight. My Mana and Stamina reserves were running low, which was not a good sign.

I kept fighting regardless, since there was no time to take some potions. Thankfully, the battle seemed to end. My Stamina recovered as Ozy used Greater Refresh on me. That boost carried me through the rest of the battle. As I cut down the rat creature, there were no more monsters. The war mech was standing in the middle of a circle of flames. The armor plating on the war mech was dented and smoking in places. It had drawn numerous attacks. That was with Sam distracting large groups of monsters.

"How is anyone supposed to do this alone," I muttered while thinking of my mother's legacy. I slowly made my way back to the casters. Harren stumbled along and looked in worse shape than I did as he took several potions.

"That was rough. Very rough," he said as we slowly regrouped. The war mech slowly made its way back towards our group and Stormy and Sam got off their stone pillars. Sam was bleeding, and I noted a dead spider on his pillar. Even the casters had been in danger, but they hadn't panicked, which was impressive. The rotations in team formations we had done had paid off.

"I didn't think we would be pressured so hard on the 11 th layer," Stormy said while having a worried look on her face.

"It's all the Mana. The Indomitable is like a mobile monster caller once it uses its weapons." That was when I felt my Danger Sense rising again.

"Oh, no," I muttered as I looked at the tunnels leading towards other chambers. Those chambers had tunnels of their own leading to other chambers beyond them. This recent battle had been intense enough; more monsters were surging in our direction from all those chambers. That meant 20 to 30 chambers worth of monsters, or 4 to 6 times what we had just faced. This was bad, very, very bad.