After Vanye and I managed to retrieve Yuki, who had stupidly lunged into the horde of monsters to enact revenge on my behalf, the three of us fought side by side near the protective dome, receiving support from Lazuli, who was casting a plethora of spells of various elements, racking up the highest kill count among us.
"Tsk, dammit." "What are you cursing for? You're fine." Cutting a small reptilian monster resembling a Velociraptor, I glanced at Yuki, who swung her shields, knocking monsters back as if they were children. "Lazuli, she's killing more than me!" I was so taken aback that I nearly failed to block a tree's vine attack; killing the three with a [Wind Blade], I looked at Yuki, whose expression was of utmost seriousness.
'Is this woman being for real?' I didn't need to ask Yuki, as her actions confirmed them for myself; she grew more aggressive, ensuring every monster that got too close was crushed under her immense might. As I watched her, my face twitched; if we weren't in the middle of a war, I'm sure I would be rubbing my face in exhaustion.
"Vanye, did you hear–" My words were caught stuck in my throat as I looked at Vanye, who was practically dancing through the horde of monsters, her blade a silverish blur, every monster she cut slowly dissolving into ash. Now, while Vanye's attacks were well within her usual actions, what gave her way was that she constantly glanced at where Lazuli's spells landed, seemingly assessing the number of monsters each spell killed.
Gazing at my two wives, who were both over the age of fifty, partaking in a childish challenge amongst themselves during the middle of a war, to see who could achieve the most kills, I heaved the most profound sigh imaginable, disbelief etching itself onto my face. 'Please don't tell me Lazuli is behaving the same.' Through [Heroes Gaze], I was able to observe Lazuli without needing to turn around, though what I saw caused me to feel a sense of normalcy amongst my wives.
'Thank goodness… At least one of them has common sense.' Subconsciously sighing in relief, I internally promised to reward Lazuli, which should hopefully spur Vanye and Yuki to act with common sense. 'I'll also reward Jasmine; she's been diligently healing the injured.' Jasmine wasn't a combatant, but she was arguably the most important one among our party, and during a massive battle like this, she'd truly shine, though I would rather her never be put in a situation where her talent needs to shine.
Anyway, I stopped splitting my focus, shifting it all back to the battle I was fighting in; every movement of mine was to dodge a monster's attack, and every swing of my swords killed whatever monster happened to be in the path. Given the sheer number of monsters, I knew this battle would last for hours, so I didn't wantonly use mana unnecessarily; other than reinforcing my body, I only used mana when I had to.
The battle persisted for a long time, and as it continued, more people arrived to help, making it easier for all of us. Although it was a bit crude, we created a united front against the sea of monsters, keeping it away from the protective dome and killing any that got too close. Yet, everyone wasn't like me; they didn't have unlimited stamina, they didn't heal infinitely, and they weren't used to emptying their mana.
After the two-hour mark, by which time we've made a big dent in the monsters, but now, coupled with everyone growing fatigued and injuries, we were slowly getting pushed back as everyone slowly but surely fell back into the protective dome. My wives, and Talis, weren't much different either; Vanye, as an incredibly skilled swordsman, knew how to efficiently wield her sword, and Yuki simply had an enormous amount of stamina, but even they had their limits.
As for Talis, Lazuli, and Jasmine? Talis always had good endurance, but that was for flying; when it came to constantly fighting, it wasn't exactly her specialty. She was already within the protective dome. Lazuli had emptied her mana reserves; her powerful bombardment of spells wasn't there to help us anymore, and we could feel it. Jasmine was in a similar situation to Lazuli; she had very little mana left from nonstop healing, pushing herself any further would only incur unnecessary pain and risk damaging her heart.
Besides a few knights and a few powerful B-rank adventurers, the only ones that remained fighting were A-rank adventurers and the Guild Branch leader, who stood out the most. The A-rank adventurers were already strong enough on their own; amidst the sea of monsters, there would be a small clearing around them with nothing but bodies. Not only that, but while it was clear they were also being pushed, it was apparent they still had more in the tank; they could probably keep fighting for another hour before some of them started to drop out.
However, the Guild Branch leader was something else; he was a Horse demi-human, a spear user, and seemed attuned to the light element. At first glance, everything about him seemed random, but it was clear as day that he blended everything perfectly together. He was a blur of light amidst the sea, and his spear was even faster; it was a steady stream of bright light. If it weren't for the fact that I could slow down my reaction time, I would've never have realized that was him thrusting his spear.
Though, despite all our efforts, the monsters wouldn't disappear any time soon; from what I could see, we were just reaching the halfway point, meaning we were encountering mostly reptilian monsters, which were overall stronger than the tree-like monsters, not by a whole lot, but it was enough that it was noticeable. 'The Monsters from the Abandoned Forest came from an Epic dungeon. These reptilian monsters could've only come from a Legendary Dungeon… Did they really come from Hyphen?'
It didn't actually matter where they came from; what mattered was killing them. 'Tsk, halfway? With these monsters being stronger, we've merely reached the third-way-point.'
With a grim determination, I continued to fight, swinging my swords in an almost robotic action from having done it so much. Fifteen, maybe twenty more minutes passed, and by then, Vanye and Yuki were both on their last legs; their movements had grown slower and more sluggish compared to before. Fighting any longer would just increase their chances of dying.
Making my way to Yuki, who was now barely resisting the monsters, rather than smashing through with overwhelming might like usual, I grabbed her armor, which would need serious repairs after this, and tossed her backward with a grunt. "A-Alex!?" "Recuperate, Yuki!" Paying Yuki no further heed, I performed [Blink], navigating through the monsters before I arrived beside Vanye, nearly getting decapitated in the process.
'Fuck me.' Internally sighing, I grabbed Vanye by the nape and threw her out of the encirclement of monsters, tossing her into the protective dome, which had regained some of its luster during our united front, though with most of the combatants recuperating, it was receiving brutal punishment. It was holding firm, but it wouldn't last forever.
With just me in the near vicinity, I had to deal with all the monsters, blinking whenever I couldn't dodge or evade an attack; eventually, I was forced to use some of my skills, like [Strength Augment], [SpeedAugment], and [Lightning Cloak]. With the boost in strength and speed, I was much more agile and managed to hold out against them for another hour, where, by then, some of the A-rank adventurers started dropping back, entering the protective dome, which had lessened to a faint dim, seemingly minutes away from breaking.
My mana was nearing its limit, using those skills continuously, along with several other skills, and maintaining [Fire Storm] had its toll; I could probably push for another five minutes, though by then I'd be empty, and fighting with a heart in pain wouldn't be fun.
Clicking my tongue, not knowing how we'd ever manage to overcome this, I slowly maneuvered towards the last remaining group, where a handful of A-rank adventurers were resisting alongside the Guild Branch leader at the forefront. When I arrived, none of them even paid me any heed; their focus was solely on taking out as many monsters as they could before they finally succumbed to exhaustion, and it was clear it wasn't far away.
"Dammit! W-Why does it seem like there are more monsters!?" "F-Fuck, I'm nearly out of mana!" "Shit, I won't even be able to escape after they break through." I wasn't really paying them much attention; they could speak all they wanted, so long as they continued to fight.
Just as I slashed through the neck of a reptilian tentacle monster, I suddenly widened my eyes as I witnessed everything that happened behind me. The one who had been complaining about being unable to escape, an elven mage, pointed his staff at the ground, directly in the middle where our last-standing group stood, and cast a spell of compressed air, a simple spell, but the power contained within it was powerful.
"Watch out!" When the attack collided with the ground, it erupted into a powerful pushing force, knocking everyone who was still fighting into the air, towards the monsters. "Protect my retreat!" With nothing but a few words, the mage grabbed something from his space pouch and teleported away.
'Tch, fucking bastard!'