Finding The First Portal (2)

"Ruin, it went to your side!" Hailey shouted as she finished the Troll before her.

I wasn't slacking off either, quickly moving to intercept another Troll, waving the slightly bent lance at its feet. The monster lost balance, tripping on its own legs, and rolled on the ground.

*BAM!*

A loud thud echoed as it fell, causing a small tremor.

"Fireball!"

Now that it was prone and completely vulnerable, Toki's spells rained down, burning the troll to ashes in an instant.

"Phew, that was intense." I sighed, wiping the sweat covering my forehead.

Who would've guessed that the first one we'd find was actually the leader of a large horde? We needed to fight twelve of them simultaneously—a back-breaking task!

Without even the intention to, we finished the performance check of all equipment quickly.

Hailey's weapon, the Rhinoceros Lance of Death, was able to literally split the Trolls in half with a single swing. It was so powerful that rather than feeling amazed at her performance, we were more concerned about friendly fire. It's scary, after all. If that lance hit any of us, then we'd be the same as those trolls, split into two from the top down.

For the armor, Mina was the one who managed to check its performance. While we were busy fighting against the Trolls, a singular Shadow Liger pounced, trying to claw at her neck.

Fortunately, she was fast enough to take a few steps back, letting the claw land on her chest armor. The claws simply slid past the hard carapace, causing sparks to fly. After that close encounter, I finished the Shadow Liger with a single stab to its throat.

Oh, by the way, the claw attack couldn't even leave a mark on the armor, a testament to its toughness.

Next was Lily's cape. After a few Trolls made it to the back, Lily turned to a sub-tank and fought directly, holding back the advancing Trolls. The enemies used their thick arms to strike Lily, but she simply stood on her spot, holding on.

Rather, she was even surprised that she didn't take any damage at all, no matter where they hit. The cape's bonus to defense wasn't only applicable to the area covered by the cape but rather to her whole body!

Although we unintentionally tested their base performance, we still don't know their maximum tolerance. Well, stress testing the armor should be performed within the safety of laboratories and not out in the field while fighting monsters.

"For safety reasons, we can conclude the testing of the weapon and armor here. What should we do next?"

We could go and thin the number of monsters around. We could use that to level up further. I was, for some reason, not leveling up at all after reaching level 6. I could see the exp-bar about to be filled, but that minuscule space felt like a few kilometers long.

'Just how many monsters should I kill before I level up?' I lamented inside my heart.

As I was lost in thought, Toki placed her finger against her chin, thinking. "It's still early, right? Let's continue hunting until lunchtime."

Right now, the time is around 10 or 11 a.m. So we still have more or less an hour. I'm not sure if we can hunt many within that time, but I guess we can enjoy this IRL party-play for a while longer.

---

As we were roaming around, we found that of the three most abundant monsters around, the bats were the most troublesome. Why? Because they could fly!

Among us, the only ones with long-range attacks are Mina, Toki, and Lily. In short, whenever we encounter bats, which flock in hundreds each time, only the three of them can fight against them.

"F*ck restraint! F*ck environmental damage! Explosion!"

In the end, Toki ran out of patience and used the Explosion spell with a Blast Wand. The effect was tremendous, as all the bats, each spanning a meter, fell down like bugs sprayed with insecticide.

Mina and I were the ones who went around and took the lives of the unconscious bats. Soon, midday came. After we killed about two hundred monsters, the hunting was temporarily concluded.

"Will, take out the food quickly. We can't waste time, as we're still in the middle of a monster territory."

While getting treated like a food server, or more like a refrigerator, we all enjoyed a short meal as we chatted lightly. 

Ten minutes was short, but it was more than enough to regain a little energy, at least. After our break time was over, I quickly stood up and dusted my bum as I stood... But I noticed an anomaly.

"What's that?"

I looked up at the sky, which should've been a pristine blue. However, in the exact middle of the sky above the city outskirts, a black spot appeared.

"...!"

The spot started expanding, from a small area up until it was wide enough to cover the entire sky. As soon as I saw this change, I notified everyone immediately.

"Hailey, come here! You three, prepare to attack at any second. Those alien monsters are coming!"

… Wait... Why do I know that?

*CRACK!*

Just as I was lost in thought for a moment, the black "thing" that spread as wide as the sky started cracking like glass. A presence, the same one I felt from the bug-like monsters that attacked a few days ago, could be felt beyond the crack. Moreover, it wasn't just one or two...

"There are thousands of them!"

The sky was immediately swarming with those monsters. The same as before, they quickly spread around and attacked anything that moved within their range.

Of course, since we're right below the central part, dozens of those level 40 bugs surround us. It was already too late to escape!

"Kaede!" I called her name, looking behind where she was supposed to be. But before I could even completely turn around, a black flash went past my side and toward the swarms of monsters.

*CRACKLE!*

Black sparks were left in the air, tickling my skin.

"You vermin, don't you dare touch my Mahiro!" Kaede shouted, standing on top of a fallen monster with her phone in her hand. Black sparks were still coming out of her body, creating a surreal and scary scene. "For trying to harm what's mine, you're all sentenced to death!"

Kaede waved her hand downward. At the same time, a large bolt of black lightning fell right above their heads. The lightning spread around, even on the ground, and electrocuted every single monster that was within range.

"A-As expected of an intermediate class level 9!" Mina sighed with admiration, looking at the dozen or so corpses at Kaede's feet. She literally owned them, killing every single monster around us in an instant!

"A Black-Lightning Mage..." I muttered Kaede's class out of respect.

Despite having problems with her personality, I really do respect her strength, at least. She even possesses a rare job that nobody has yet to achieve other than herself.

Will I be as powerful as her when I reach intermediate class too?

*SCREEEEECH!*

Just as we were frozen in awe, a loud screech brought us back to reality. Looking up, more than a dozen monsters were rushing down, heading for us as if to take revenge for their fallen comrades.

"You're all in the way. Get lost."

Black lightning started racing all over her body once more. However, this time, the monsters quickly spread out as soon as they saw her preparing to attack. "...!"

The monsters... Are strategizing?!