Chapter 129 - Bloodbath

"Blow the door open."

Rynold gave out an overly casual remark, but his voice was strong and backed full of confidence.

"Gotcha," Leo confirmed.

The sound of thunder crackled from his hand and enveloped the blade that he was holding. Leo was able to produce so much firepower with just a simple spell. It was uncanny how strong he actually was.

With a simple swipe of the blade, the door cut open. Then, there was a delay in the explosion that followed.

'Man, it sure is nice to have an offensive Class...'

Those were Rynold's thoughts as he watched Leo easily cut through the concrete door in just a matter of seconds. If he were the one in his place, he'd probably need a little bit more time than that.

As the dust settled, a swarm of monsters was in the hallway outside. Thanks to Axiom's earlier warning, Rynold was able to notify his companions beforehand.

And, soon, a bloodbath commenced.

Leo was the first to move. With electric currents revolving around his feet, Leo was able to skim through a lot of the enemies, standing before the strongest one. Nobody really mentioned that he needed to do that, but Leo had acted on instinct.

Move and attack the strongest of the monsters. It was how he usually fought.

Meanwhile, X was keeping the monsters at bay. Ghouls and random creatures were overwhelming the Mech Knight, but he stood steady. The Mech Knight was determined not to let any of the creatures pass.

Rynold had a clear measure of how much stronger X had gotten over his training. It was obvious now more than ever before.

As for the Mech Knight's Master, however, Rynold was struggling. It was too early for him to move and do strenuous activities when his leg was still healing. Regardless, though, he pushed on.

Shifting his weight to his right leg, Rynold resembled the fighting stance of popular martial arts. He wasn't trained in it in the slightest, but it was good enough to provide him some mobility.

Rynold grasped his fist tightly as he extended the gauntlets into Strength-form. He targeted the creatures that had escaped X's block. From there, he swung his gauntlets with a good amount of force but ultimately limited due to the lack of proper technique.

Despite that, though, it was enough to keep the creatures at bay. With every swing and punch Rynold let out, he managed to take out a few of them, leaving some to the rear.

Lissa, overwhelmed by the sudden influx of the creatures, was surprised to see her companions fight without hesitation. There was a clear gap between those who have fought and those who haven't, which was a gap that she would soon jump over.

Pulling the string of her short bow back, Lissa took aim. Fully taking use of the [Blazing Arrow] spell, she knocked her first shot. As soon as she let go of the string, Lissa felt a small shock. Following this, the arrow that she fired took a ghoul down with a headshot.

[Level Up!]

An incessant feeling.

Adrenaline started pumping through Lissa as she readied another arrow and fired. Granted that most of the monsters were relatively weak, Lissa had fun shooting them down. Each shot permeating and knocking them down one by one.

Was it skill? Maybe. Talent? Perhaps. The power of items? Possibly. A combination of all three?

Definitely.

"Are you done yet?!" Rynold shouted as he knocked a small dog-looking creature down.

Leo swung his sword with great might. Infused with the Thunder Attribute, the sword electrocuted the Evolved Ghoul he was fighting.

"Just about!" he yelled back.

"Wrap it up already!" Rynold knocked down another monster that came his way.

"Alright! Just give me a second!"

Clearing the monsters would undoubtedly give them benefits. Rynold knew that steadily killing all of them would provide them with experience and loot. But, they couldn't spend all day doing that.

Time was of the essence.

The Evolved Ghoul that was in front of Leo was on the brink of death. A single hit. That was all it took for Leo to take the thing down.

Without further delay, Leo immediately sprung into action. Moving faster than the ghoul could see, Leo appeared from behind it. He swung his sword in a beautiful arc, making a pristine cut. The Evolved Ghoul collapsed into the ground, and its body started turning into dust.

"All clear!" Leo sheathed his sword and yelled at Rynold.

"X! Charge forward!" Rynold commanded.

Just like that, X started to move with great purpose. A swing of the Mech Knight's longsword immediately incapacitated most of the creatures that were on him, killing the smaller ones in the process.

"We're following," Rynold said as he casually crushed the head of a monster that he was holding. The skull offered little to no resistance as Rynold killed the monster with relative ease.

Rynold threw out his Miniaturized Floating Platform and immediately boarded it. He had to find a way to move around without slowing the others down, after all. And, this was the best way to do it.

"You guys go ahead," Rynold commanded Lissa and X to move forward. "I'll stay behind and make sure they won't catch up to us."

As soon as Lissa and X caught up to Leo, the temperature of the room rapidly rose. The Spirit of Fire had finally decided to act.

At first, it was willingly giving his companions room to grow. But, now, with a clearer purpose, the Spirit of Fire burned through the creatures that were inside the cage.

Rynold was startled by the sudden attack that he had to activate Formless Mana Defense to cope.

"What are you trying to do?" Rynold said as he started to feel the sweat pouring down his forehead.

"Cleaning up the mess," Prominence Alpha nonchalantly answered.

"Whatever. Let's go," Rynold didn't have the time to reprimand the Spirit for being so careless. Unleashing an attack like that while he was inside the room would've proven to be a lot more problematic if Rynold hadn't reacted in time.

Regardless, the two left the cage and caught up to the party. They were a lot faster than the three who were running. With Rynold's Miniature Floating Platform and the Spirit of Fire's innate nature, the two easily caught up.

"What's the plan here?" Leo asked as he hacked and slashed while he ran, leaving a bloodbath behind.

"Head to the residential district," Rynold said as he dodged one of the corpses that Leo left behind. "Stop the invasion. Save the people. Nice and easy."

"Invasion?" Leo asked as he easily cut through a ghoul like a knife through cheese, "What invasion?"

"Your cousin and uncle are hellbent on killing everyone in your kingdom. It's going to be a shitshow of a mess when they actually go through with it. God knows what will happen then..."

Rynold fell silent for a short second before steeling his determination once more.

"Leo, you're going to need to be a lot faster than you are now if you want to save everyone. Lissa, find a place where you can be safe and take some of them down. Prominence Alpha will stay with you to back you up in case things go south. X and I will be heading straight towards the Duke himself."

The instructions were clear and to the point. Rynold had considered putting up a united front and take all of them down, but that would take too much time. It was a game where Rynold had limited pieces to move while the enemy had an entire army.

"The guards will be preoccupied dealing with the monsters here that they won't make it in time to save the citizens. And, knowing your parents, I'm sure they won't even care if most of the people die. It's all up to us. No pressure."

Leo fell uncharacteristically silent as he heard Rynold's explanation. It was a cold, brutal look towards this kingdom and its ruling party. Or, to be more accurate, his parents and how they treated the people around them.

He turned a sharp corner and faced a wall that had no exit. Leo, however, didn't stop as concentrated Thunder started wrapping his blade with great ferocity.

Then, he swung.

The sound of Thunder clapping made Rynold and the others' ears hurt. It was way too loud, and the confined space made it so much worse. All except for Leo and Prominence Alpha, both of which were unaffected.

'Fucking warn a guy next time.'

Rynold swore inwardly as his ears continued ringing. But, it seemed that Leo had made a path that led to the residential area. From where Rynold was standing, he could see the entire area in flames. It was a slaughter. A homicide. A straight-up cull.

It was then that a grave realization struck Rynold. He had gotten complacent over the past year since the New World had started. As the ringing in his ears started to clear up, Rynold realized that he had heavily underestimated his enemy.

The sound of gunfire was reverberating in his eardrums.