Together

ROAR! The Striped Mink bared its teeth as it crouched downwards, tensing its entire body. Clank! Ethan gripped his kusarigama tightly as he stared at the monsters surrounding him. He could count about fifty monsters in the group in front of him. All of them had sharp teeth that glistened as their eyes bored into him. Whoosh....whoosh....whoosh. He swung his kusarigama in an arc, preparing to meet the monsters head on.

Whoosh....whoosh....whoosh. Ethan could see almost every single monster copy the striped mink as they poised their bodies, preparing to pounce. All of them were waiting for the perfect moment to attack. None of them could handle the two on their own. So they would all attack together. As a pack.

But Ethan wasn't afraid. Because in spite of the fact that he was wounded, that his mana reserves were low, he wouldn't die. Because he wouldn't be the one who would kill the monsters. Noah would. ROAR!!! The striped mink roared louder than ever before, signaling the members of its pack.

Screech! Screech! Growl! A wave of cries echoed around. Whoosh.....whoosh.....whoosh. Ethan spun his kusarigama faster and faster as he stared around at the monsters. This was it! They were about to attack! SCREECH! Suddenly, a rat lord screamed loudly. Ethan's eyes shot towards it. SCREECH! No, it wasn't screaming in rage. It was screaming in pain.

Fwoosh! Sizzle! The white fog started to thicken as it started enveloping the monsters completely. Grunt! Growl! The monsterd started shifting uncomfortably, their feet stamping on the ground as they tried to get rid of the fog. Sizzle....sizzle....roar! Slowly, their noises were changing from ones of bloodlust to pain. Noah's Graveyard Fog was poisonous. These monsters didn't even have tough scaled like the emerald krait. And they were ranked much lower than it. They couldn't resist the fog.

ROAR! The striped mink roared loudly as it tried to regain its control over its pack. Noah's ability was a perfect way to deal with large groups of monsters. His graveyard fog was poisoning the monsters' flesh, making their teamwork crumble. Ethan stared at the striped mink. What would it do now? Charging head on towards Noah would mean certain deatg. But that would also go against its instincts.

ROAAAAAR! Suddenly, the striped mink threw its head back and roared loudly. ROAAAAAR! All the monsters stopped making noise immediately. The alpha's overbearing presence had helped them withstand the pain. ROAAAAAR! The striped mink lowered its head, staring at Noah as its yellow eyes glowed. It knew that he was the source of the white fog.

ROAAAR! Noah's dark eyes glinted. He crouched slightly, staring at the striped mink. Suddenly, a picture of Noah's bloodied face came into Ethan's head. A shiver ran down his spine. In spite of the large numbers of monsters, he didn't feel like Noah would lose. His graveyard fog was spread too thin to hurt the monsters. It had just caused them a lot of pain. And maybe, that was just what he was after.

"Don't fight against anything." "What?" Screech! Bang! Suddenly, the entire region exploded. Small black chips of stone were thrown into the air as Noah shot through the air, heading towards the horde of monsters. Growl! Screech! The monsters screamed in vigour as they rushed forward, closing in on them.

Boom! Noah's feet landed on the hard black rock as he waved his sword in an arc. Splotch! Screech! A rat lord's scream was cut in half as its head was severed from its shoulders instantly. Boom! Noah shot forwards once again, heading towards another monster. Shing! Splotch! Noah swung his sword downwards, splitting a striped mink into two.

Ethan frowned. Noah had jumped across towards a random monster when there were so many that were close by that he could have gone for. Whoosh! Clang! He swung kusarigama, smashing it into the skin of a spiked eagle. Whatever. He didn't have ebough time to worry about Noah's attack strategy.

Scree! The spiked eagle screeched loudly, waving its talons at him as it tried to sink its claws into his body. Clang! Clang! Clang! Ethan poured mana into every corner of his body as he activated Firestorm. Splotch! Scree! His kusarigama swung downwards, sinking into the monster's wing. He yanked his chain towards him as he jumped backwards, trying to get away from the range of its talons.

"Fucking hell!" Ethan swore as he felt the chain tighten in his palms. The scythe blade was stuck in the spiked eagle's wings! Clank! Scree! The spiked eagle screamed in pain as the metal blade lodged in its shoulder dug deeper into his flesh.

Growl! Sudeenly, Ethan felt a large presence right behind him. Whoosh! He jumped into the air, pouncing towards the spiked eagle. The beast type monsters wouldn't attempt to take him on alone. The spiked eagle was the fastest monster. That's why it had reached him before the others. But now, it wasn't alone anymore.

Clank! Splotch! Ethan yanked his kusarigama towards himself, pulling it out of the spiked eagle's wing. Thud! He landed back on the floor, clutching his kusarigama tightly.

SMASH! Suddenly, a heavy fist collided into his back, throwing him forward. "Urk!" His eyes blanked out for a moment as he felt the wind flying across his face. Smash! Thud! Suddenly, he crashed into something. A shiver ran down his spine. He'd been thrown facefirst into a monster. He was too disoriented to react fast enough! Any moment now and he should be.....

Ethan's eyes cleared as he stared at the spiked eagle's corpse beneath him. Red blood was smeared on his black combat suit, dripping down as it failed to cling onto the hydrophobic material. He looked up. The red squirrel that had forced him to jump away was dead. And so was the one that had knocked him away.

"Cough....cough..." Ethan turned around as he lay on the corpse of the spiked eagle, staring at the battle in front of him. He could see Noah pouncing from monster to monster, killing one with a single blow before rushing towards another one. Ethan frowned. It seemed weird. Too easy. Maybe because he was.....because he was going for the weakest monsters?

Yes. That was it. Noah was killing all of the F-2 ranked monsters first. And he was constantly jumping from one place to another, directing the pack as he made sure the monsters never goy too close. Noah was...protecting him? No, it wasn't protecting. More like safeguarding his asset. He'd asked Ethan to come to this gate fir some reason, after all. Having him die before that would probably go against his plans.

Splotch! Suddenly, Ethan felt almost every single monster freeze. He stared at the piles of corpses littering the floor. Noah had killed every single F-2 ranked monster present here. Which meant that the number of disposable monsters had reduced. "ROAAAR!" The striped mink roared loudly, rushing towards Noah as it tried to kill him. Whoosh! He shot to the side, rushing towards another monster. He wasn't running away. No, the striped mink would die. But he wouldn't kill it so soon. Right now, he'd work his way up the hierarchy, one monster at a time. In the exact way that'd bring the alpha the most pain.