"Get out of the way!" Astrid shouted as she sprinted forward, the words leaving her lips at a supernatural speed. Even so, Skandr didn't move, his eyes panicked, but his body unresponsive. Astrid watched as the first shimmerbug, a green, reached her friend and crashed into him. The sound of his bones breaking filled the air as he wheezed, and the bug's legs cut at his torso.
Muti arrived first with her teleportation, her animalistic scream of rage cutting through the air as quickly as her blades diced the green into pieces. An even stronger aura than ever before kept it together, but the Lethal Shadow, as always, lived up to her Class's name. As the rest of the shimmerbugs came closer, Astrid arrived next. Her heart thundered in her ears as she activated Body Surge, Unconquerable Aura, Heroic Aura, and Mental Fortress. She tried to encompass Skandr in her protection, though she couldn't tell if it was doing anything to let him escape whatever was stunning him.
With a scream, Astrid smashed with her shield through three shimmerbugs that swept down on Skandr's prone form, stopping them. She stood over him, his bleeding body between her legs as she swept away another two greens with a single attack. A small part of her, a part that wasn't consumed with rage and terror, noticed that there was something else helping these monsters, something more than what they'd been fighting so far. The rest of her didn't care about that, instead spending a charge of Physique to heal him as she bent over Skandr's body and checked his face.
Even before she could take in the sight of him, Astrid's stance dipped, feeling, for that brief second, the agony of the wounds he'd sustained. Plenty of broken ribs and something suffering inside of her stomach, combined with deep gouges along both legs. Her head ached terribly, and then, before she could get the full measure of his wounds, she was healed and could look down at her friend. His body was covered with his blood, and he seemed to be coming out of the stun, or whatever it was, that had kept him immobile when the monsters made their attack. As she spent that charge of Physique, Astrid noted that some of the color returned to his face, but he was still obviously in agony.
"I've got him," Benedict said as he stepped over her to start to minister to their friend. He glanced up at her, burning hatred in his eyes. "Burn every one of the bastards."
Only at that moment did Astrid realize that Felix was there as well, standing in front of the party and serving as the frontliner he was. Dozens of shimmerbugs were throwing themselves at him as he waded forward. His axe fell right and left, focusing on the swift destruction of blues. Then, as Astrid pulled herself out of her panic, she saw what she subconsciously knew was here.
The orange shimmerbug stalked out of the tree cover, imperiously watching as two yellows rushed forward to break the forward defense that Felix was presenting. That hot rage that hadn't had anywhere specific to go until now welled inside of Astrid's chest, and she didn't think for a second before she jumped into the air, pushing mana into her helmet as she flew the fifty meters towards the orange shimmerbug.
It raised its head to look at her, surprised at her brazen approach, and its shield burst into existence before she could land. From the air, Astrid crashed into the shield projected by its Skill, her hammer smashing into it with the force of her jump and the reinforcement of the charge of Physique, and even so, it was only the echo that managed to break the shield completely.
Just as soon as she broke through its defenses, the orange's cutting forelegs smashed into her legs, just below the hip, in the middle of the thigh. For the first time since she'd started to wear the Steel-tier armor, Astrid's greaves groaned in protest and bent before the blade of the monster cut deep into the flesh. Astrid stumbled just a bit as she landed, the force of her jump and the pain of her landing combining to make for a situation that could have proven deadly if she hadn't immediately spent another charge of Physique to bring herself back to her peak condition.
Astrid didn't respond with a word as she released the dragon breath right into the orange's face. Ice coated its body, immediately slowing its movements as it tried to follow up its attack on her. Its mandibles creaked as it tried to close in on her once again, but before Astrid could do anything to it, the yellows closed in on her.
Their charge smashed into her from both sides, but with Indomitability, Unconquerable Aura, and Body Surge, she stood her ground, though she could feel her bones creaking in protest. She started smashing her hammer into the latest aggressors in response. Just as with the others, it was obvious that the orange's aura was significantly stronger than that of the yellows, though Astrid was able to destroy the yellow's protective Skills without too much issue. Then, she was alone in a fight where she was outnumbered three to one, and the rest of her party was either focused on saving Skandr's life or keeping more bugs from getting at him.
"Me and my temper," Astrid grunted, though she didn't actually regret anything. Instead, she happily threw herself into this trial.
The yellows on each side attempted to slice into her, the one on her left unable to get past her shield as she fed mana into it to make it cover her entire body. The shimmering mana served as a perfect protection as Astrid's hammer smashed into the head of the shimmerbug on her right. Even with a solid hit, Astrid was unable to kill it. The echoed strike cracked through chitin, and one of the monster's mandibles snapped and fell to the ground with a clatter.
Astrid went to press the advantage against the newly wounded yellow before it could start to recover, but the orange decided it was done watching. As she tried to get back into position with her shield to brace herself against the monster, the orange smashed into her chest. The breath flew from her chest as her vision blinked with spots, and she, even with Indomitability trying to hold her there, was thrown through the air.
While she fell to the ground with a tumble, crashing into two other shimmerbugs, Astrid fed that bone-deep rage. For the first time in quite a while, she was surrounded by monsters and actually in some measure of danger.
She rolled to her feet as a half dozen sharp shimmerbug legs tried to disembowel her. These ones, though, couldn't manage to get through her armor, and Astrid got to her feet and, with some of that energy that demanded to be released, backhanded a blue shimmerbug and reduced it to so much pulped flesh.
The kill notification that followed wasn't worth her attention, and Astrid roared as she sprinted forward, straight towards the orange.
It raised its legs in a warning, defensive gesture as its defensive barrier reappeared, but just before she reached it, Astrid planted hard with her right leg and threw herself to the left. Her Alacrity, so high because of Body Surge, allowed her to change her momentum so fast that it left her ankle, knee, and hip aching, but she still caught the yellow by surprise, and that was what mattered.
Her hammer fell and smashed into the previously unwounded yellow's back. The crash of her weapon was a death knell as it landed on its back, right where its protective wings were connected to its body. The hammer crunched through defenses, sinking all the way to the haft before the echoed strike pushed it deep enough to make the manasteel head cut deeper into the creature. Though the yellow didn't die, Astrid continued charging forward, her shield smashing into its head and ripping her hammer free as she prepared to deal the killing blow.
Four legs attempted to hold it there while the two in the front reached around Astrid's shield in an attempt to spear into her. For once, the surprisingly light weight of the bugs worked against it, and Astrid's charge blew it a good ten meters away from its two companions.
It rolled across the ground, chittering screeches of pain filling the air. Astrid heard the two other highest-level shimmerbugs chasing her, but she had enough time to fill the head of her hammer with enough mana to make the thrashing deathly energy on it make her vision swim.
The heavily wounded yellow struggled to its feet, but Astrid continued charging forward, using the last of her mana and stamina to create a purely gravity-focused Spectral Graviton between her and the remaining yellow and orange. Then, though her vision swam even more and her head pounded from the mana deficiency, she didn't use a charge of Physique. Instead, she raised her hammer and dispatched the yellow.
As the kill notification flashed in her vision, Astrid finally spent two charges of Physique and turned towards the charging orange and yellow. They both rushed through the Spectral Graviton, but the gravity had slowed them enough for Astrid to get herself back in position.
"You're up first," Astrid said, tearing her vision away from the orange to glare at the yellow.
The yellow hadn't gotten its shield Skill back up yet, so she could use her boosted strike from Physique against its body instead of just to destroy a shield again. With her mana back up to full, she'd already spent four charges of Physique, and there was still the toughest opponent to face.
That didn't matter, though, and she pushed mana into her greaves to boost her Alacrity even further. Though the equipment boost didn't draw from her Alacrity as it had been increased by her equipment, Body Surge, or Steady Load, it was an additional nearly 300 Alacrity. The orange no longer seemed nearly so willing to let Astrid do what she wanted, and it used its charging Skill towards her. It moved in a blur, crashing towards her, and even with her boosts all working together, Astrid couldn't completely avoid its attacks.
One of its bladed feet caught the inside of her left knee as she stepped to the side, cutting through tendons and making the leg go limp. Astrid groaned, thanking her lucky stars that she'd remembered to activate Unconquerable Aura. As it was, she had to spend another charge of Physique to get herself back into fighting condition, and she did so.
As soon as she had, Astrid could feel that there were no more charges to draw on, and she nearly took another strike in that moment of confusion. She sidestepped the yellow as it tried to broadside her as the orange turned around. Only at that moment did Astrid remember that, in the last fight, only five or ten minutes before, she'd needlessly spent three charges of Physique.
Cursing herself for her carelessness, Astrid's next move was the strongest she could manage, and now needing to be much more careful with her mana spend, Astrid smashed her hammer into the head of the charging yellow, and then, as it tried to gather itself, she dipped the bottom point of her shield under it and flipped it onto its back.
The Spectral Graviton remained at the head of her hammer, and as she smashed it into the belly of the yellow, the body became a corpse in an explosion of gore. The kill notification told her that she was now, finally, back at a one-versus-one, though she was without her healing Skill for the first time in a long time.
"Come at me, bastard," she growled as she bounced back and forth.
The orange opened its mouth wide, a strange chittering scream filling the air before her stomach suddenly twisted. Her legs went weak. Her vision swam. Whatever the orange-exclusive Skill was, Astrid knew why Skandr hadn't been able to move as the orange made its attack. Astrid, however, was only uncomfortable, and she stood strong as the orange charged her. Again, its dashing Skill flashed, but Astrid was ready this time, and instead of attempting to dodge out of the way, she grinned widely as the tide of the battle shifted.
"You're not the only one with friends," she laughed as she braced herself against the shield just long enough for the shield to make first contact.
Unlike before, she willingly threw herself back, rocketing a dozen meters away with only a sore wrist and shoulder. Where she'd been alone, Felix was there.
With himself between the last remaining shimmerbug and the rest of the party, he, of course, received the massive boosts from Raging Guardian. With the repositioning from his Skill, his Fortitude went up by 30% and all of his other attributes by 10%, and since he was protecting the party, his Power, Fortitude, and Self-Mastery were boosted by an additional 40% on top of that.
His axe fell two times in quick succession, his shield glowing with mana that forced the orange's face to be pressed against it. Then, as his axe fell a third time, the shield shattered, and he shoved the creature away as he hopped back.
A painfully bright blue lightning bolt smashed into the broad side of the shimmerbug, knocking it onto its side. No kill notification appeared, and its scorched carapace started to heal fast enough that Astrid could see it.
Skandr was far from done with taking his revenge, though.
A lightning bolt so deep red as to be black shot out with a deafening crackle. That was one of the spells he kept stored in his ring, and it obliterated half of the shimmerbug, leaving it twitching on the ground, its entire left side burned away.
"It's still alive?" Astrid heard Benedict say behind her.
"No," Muti said as she appeared by Felix. Shadow coated her blade as she stuck it into the exposed organs of the bug. She ripped the blade through it, and finally, the kill notification flashed in Astrid's vision.
Orange Iridescent Shimmerbug slain. 4,160 experience gained, split among party.
With that done, Astrid glanced over the rest of the battlefield, seeing the dozens and dozens of dead bodies. She'd occupied herself so completely with facing the three strongest monsters that she hadn't really noticed how many of the shimmerbugs there had been.
At least thirty violets and indigos each had been decapitated in quick strokes by Muti, while another twenty or so blues had been killed by a combination of axe blows and sword strikes. Given the fact that Benedict's spear was still out, even he'd worked on taking care of the swarm there. What had absolutely taken most of Felix and Muti's attention until then were the ten greens that lay dead in front of where Skandr stood, his blood still covering his equipment.
"How are you doing?" Astrid asked as she ran towards Benedict and Skandr.
"I'm alive, and that's the most important part," Skandr said, tenderly feeling at his stomach. "Thank you for helping me out so quick. One of them... Well, that one you hit, its mouth was going towards my head."
He shuddered as he said it, and Astrid, still amped up on the adrenaline from the fight, let out a shuddering breath as she leaned forward and took Skandr into a hug. Silence descended over the party for a short while, as they all took the opportunity to remind themselves of just how close to disaster they'd allowed themselves to come.
"Skandr," Muti said, cutting through the quiet, "I am sorry for my failure. You were nearly killed, and it is my responsibility."
"No, I should have been able to protect myself," he disagreed.
"I should have heard their approach and kept the party aware of what was happening. It was my failure, and not the first time in which I have failed."
Sputtering protests filled the air, but each person quietly felt the responsibility of their own failures weighing heavy on their shoulders. For a short time, they stood there, all together, each remonstrating themselves, each cursing their own failings until, after a few moments, Astrid forced herself to shoo away the pessimism and instead called everyone's attention to her.
"Look, that fight brought us each nearly 45,000 experience," she said. "I don't want to forget what getting comfortable almost cost us. That was painfully dangerous, even with a monster only twelve levels higher than us. However, this is what we signed up for. If you think that this is too much, that we need to step out of here for now, then we can talk about it, figure out what to do from here. If not, we learn, we improve, and we emerge victorious."
The rest of the party stopped turning inward at that, and only a few seconds passed before murmurs of agreement spread.
Finally, they all stood and, with faces more set in determination than before, turned to go deeper into the forest.