Chapter 47: Dire situation.

Katya and Gratya were standing side by side and saw a demon walk toward them. The demon was 17 meters tall with giant wings on its back while holding a whip made of a long backbone with sharp edges. The demon suddenly raised its right hand and swung the whip above its head.

"Everyone! Fall back and take cover!" Gratya shouted as she slowly took a few steps back and stared at the demon.

Katya tightened her grip on her shield, and then she charged forward on her own.

"Katya?!" Gratya asked in disbelief, but looking at the situation she was in, she wasn't confident with herself and decided to fall back with the others.

Katya's eyes were set on the giant demon as she dodged the other demons that were in front of her. She couldn't dodge all of them, but her unique skill made her a lot stronger in that kind of situation. Her unique passive skill was [Power Trigger] which gave her the stacks that made her stronger the more attacks she blocked or took. Her [Power Trigger] skill Sub-skills were [Power Trigger Armor], [Power Trigger Weapon], and [Unleash].

She had been tanking the demons' attacks and she already had more than 43 stacks of [Power Trigger] skill. Each stack gave her 1% to all her stats, and each Sub-skill of the [Power Trigger] skill made the armor and weapon she wore got the same buff. Lastly, her [Unleash] skill unleashed all the stacks and made the effect 3 times stronger but only lasted for 1 minute, and all the stacks would disappear afterward.

Gratya was running away with the others, but she kept looking back to check on Katya. She saw the giant demon notice Katya's presence and slowly moved its hand toward her. She then stopped running and told everyone to hold their position because Katya had taken the giant demon's attention.

They all watched as Katya blocked and pushed the demons away from her as she tried to build more stacks. The giant demon then swung his whip down toward Katya slowly, and thanks to that, Katya could react to it and try to dodge it.

As soon as the whip hit the ground, the whole ground was shattered and created a long straight deep crack. The end of the whip finally hit the ground and made the ground explode with a loud banging sound. They were petrified and thought their bodies would turn into jelly if they got hit by it.

Katya sheathed her sword and switched hands to hold the shield and used her left hand to support her right wrist which surprised Gratya. She then charged toward the giant demon and bashed all the demons in front of her with her shield. She dodged and weaved like the wind trying to get through a small gap even though she wore heavy armor and a shield. She made her way through and managed to get close to the giant demon.

"Katya, what are you planning to do..." Gratya asked as she clenched her fists and looked at Katya with a worried expression.

Katya looked at the whip slowly getting pulled by the giant demon, and then she decided to grab it. She was being dragged up into the air as she held the whip with her left hand. She and the giant demon stared at each other, but then suddenly she pushed herself toward the giant demon as she threw her shield toward the demon's right eye. The shield hit the demon's eye and made the demon flinch and roar in pain and anger.

She drew her sword and held it with both hands and then she activated [Unleash] and converted 63 stacks of [Power Trigger] skill. She converted a 63% bonus on all stats and turned it into a 189% bonus on all her stats. She screamed her lungs out as she pulled her sword back and flew toward the giant demon.

"You took the wrong path!" Katya said as she coated her sword with Aura.

She swung her sword as hard as she could and slit the giant demon's neck. Her attack wasn't strong enough and the demon's neck was still attached to its head and body. She immediately pulled her sword and swung it again as she bathed in the demon's blood which was black and thick like tar.

She had to slash her sword 3 times to finally be able to decapitate the giant demon's head. As the head was falling, she jumped and took her shield that was stuck inside the demon's left eye. She took it and landed right after the head touched the ground.

"You're crazy..." Gratya chuckled in disbelief. "Everyone! Charge!" Gratya shouted as she pointed her spear at the horde of demons in front of her and started running.

They all ran as fast as they could because it was a perfect opportunity since all the demons were focused on Katya. But the downside of Katya's [Unleash] skill was that she couldn't get any more stacks for an hour. Basically, she was vulnerable and hoped that Gratya and the others could reach her before she got surrounded by demons.

"Leave her safety to me," Violette said as she sheathed her two short swords on her back.

Violette's unique skill [Third Eye] allowed her to look at opportunities that would benefit her. It could see weaknesses, an opening, and even allowed her to look at her surroundings without having to move her eyes. She could also use that to dodge and weave just like Katya did and made her untouchable.

She managed to get through all the demons and stood on top of the giant demon's body. She unsheathed her swords and didn't hesitate to jump down to rescue Katya even though Katya still had a few seconds of her [Unleash] buff.

"Sorry to crash on your party," Violette said as she landed right behind Katya.

"You're welcome whenever Vio. I'm glad that you came," Katya replied and immediately loosened up because she knew she would be safe.

Violette swung her swords as she watched the demons charging toward her. She waited patiently and when she found an opening, she dashed forward and surprised the demons. She then fought all of them at once, but she looked so laid-back and relaxed.

"Looks like I have to go all out from the beginning..." Violette said as she jumped back and regrouped with Katya. "What a pain..." Violette coated her swords with flame and water.

Violette's swords were Fire and Water Swords, and they were a reward for clearing a vortex. The swords could be coated in fire and water which made the Fire Sword more destructive while the Water Sword made her sword sharper. It was so powerful that she could coat them with Aura which amplified the effect of each element.

Gratya and the others came in full force and helped Violette deal with the demons around her. They were turning the tide from a single opportunity that Katya had made for them. But when they thought they did, the ground shook again, and they realized there was more than one giant demon that existed in the city.

At that moment they knew, there was no hope for them as 2 giant demons walked toward them from the distance. They immediately lost their will to fight because this time they wouldn't be able to fight them.

"Gratya, what's the plan?" Katya asked as she killed the demons that seemed to be endless.

Since they had been advancing quite deep into the city, they got surrounded by demons. Gratya was the team leader and she was the one who made the call, so they were waiting for her to decide. She then looked at the situation they were in, and the longer she took to think, the worse the situation they would be.

Gratya walked toward Renata and grabbed something from her backpack. She grabbed a flare gun and filled it with a red shell as the others looked at her and understood what she was trying to do. She then pointed the flare gun to the sky and shot it up high so the other teams could see it.

All the demons were attracted by the flare, and then a green flare and a yellow flare were shot into the sky. The yellow was on their left and the green was on their right. Gratya then put the flare gun back into Renata's backpack.

"We're going to the right! Let's hurry up and team up with them!" Gratya shouted as she charged to the right side and cut the demons in front of her.

They didn't hesitate and followed her since they all agreed with her decision. They had no idea which team shot the green flare, but it was better than surviving on their own. Whoever they were, they had nothing to worry about since having more S-Rank Candidates the better.

Although it was a good idea, they had to deal with a horde of demons in front of them. The location of the team that they were going to was quite far away, and their situation didn't seem any better.

One by one, Candidates got picked off by the demons and died gruesomely which made everyone terrified. Gratya felt responsible for it, but she couldn't do anything since she was responsible for everyone's life as well.

"Don't make that kind of expression, Gratya. I hate that kind of expression on your face," Katya clicked her tongue and stopped running. "All of you! Go ahead! I'll protect the backline!" Katya shouted as she watched everyone running past her.

Violette stopped and stood next to Katya as she readied her stance and held her swords. "I got your back, and I was thinking the same thing as you," Violette said with a serious expression.

"You know, Vio. Once this is over, let's get drunk," Katya said with a smile.

"That sounds like a red flag, don't say something like that," Violette said as she watched the last few Candidates running for their lives toward them.

Katya scoffed and then charged forward as she held her shield forward. Violette joined her and protected the last Candidate who was about to get caught by a demon. Katya bashed her shield onto the demon's head as Violette leaped forward and stabbed the demon on the head with her swords.

As they both were dealing with the demons and slowly getting surrounded by them, suddenly they saw fireballs fly right past them from behind. The fireballs exploded and sent the demons away from those two. They both turned around and then saw earth spikes coming out from the ground next to them and moved past them.

"I heard there are 2 crazy ladies trying to fight all the demons, so I came as soon as I heard that," Nero said as he swung his cane around with a smile.