CHAPTER 129: IT IS A HORROR

[The 5th wave will shortly begin.]

The monsters that had become something of a calamity were approaching various cities now. It had been a tough run until now, filled with blood, some unfortunate casualties, as well as a battle of defence that was going to be remembered by the people of this floor.

Various cities were looking at something different up in the sky right now. The red moon still lingered above, and the rain continued at the same pace as before as well.

It did not seem like the red was going to go anywhere anytime soon. It had already been well over two hours into this night, and the waves had already begun getting longer and longer.

"Just... look at that thing."

"Will we survive that?"

"Can we survive that...?"

The battle against the monsters had devastated the defenders once again.

Those who had experienced a battlefield were aware of the dread that it brings.

Seeing the people you fight alongside fall to the venomous corruption of these mad monsters, failing to maintain the defense lines, making mistakes even with the relentless training they have had, even doing everything right and still falling to the stronger monsters...

The battlefield was a wretched fate that they all needed to survive against. And, this time, with the addition of the players and their new knowledge, it seems like they all will be able to make it through these battles.

"This rain just had to start now of all times..."

"The accursed land."

"He was so young... His wife will be devastated when she learns of his noble sacrifice."

The people who died on these battlefields did not die because of their actions; this time, it was inevitable.

The casualties were the lowest they had ever been; at the very least, the lost lives did not exceed two digits in any of the cities until now.

The four waves had passed, and the later waves would be easier; however, the toughest ones were going to arrive soon.

"Have you seen anything like this in your dreams?" Standing at the forefront of the battlefield, facing the calamity, walking towards the 30th city, Ziggy asked his master a simple question.

"I... haven’t. I think I have faced something like this, but I can’t remember clearly. It’s like my memory is hazy for some reason." Captain Rose did not have the answer to his question, though.

She tried thinking about it, but as horrible as this creature might be, she did not have any surface memories of defeating anything like this.

She had faced monsters, a swarm of monsters, in a land that was already being devoured by these monsters.

She had fought against these beings endlessly. Each night she closed her eyes, she would fight these hoards of monsters.

Fighting any of the monsters that had come until now was nothing new to her; she had already killed countless of them countless times. But that thing before them right now... that thing was new.

"Have you faced this?" She looked at her student, who had his eyes fixed on the creature above. And soon, she received a silent nod.

"It’s not going to be easy." Zyon knew this battle would be ugly.

The opponent was a swarm.

A swarm of bugs.

An entity that resembled a cloud, a dark cloud that was moving towards them at a slow but dangerous pace.

This swarm, consisting of countless bugs that had mutated from what one could imagine as a mosquito, was demonised into monsters that were each higher than (Level-10) and were more powerful than many of the creatures in the forest before being affected by the curse.

The red moon, as well as the red rain, had turned them into something unfathomable, something perhaps Ziggy alone had faced in this city.

"We will need attacks that affect a wide area. Winning against this will be impossible by ourselves, unless..."

The bugs had now turned into bloodthirsty beasts that were sweeping through the forest for any of the remaining life, turning the trees, the ground, and the remaining monsters within the forest into a wasteland.

Each of these creatures was as big as a human infant. There were hundreds of them, so they were casting a shadow everywhere they went.

There was a distinct bloodthirst in these monsters, and unlike the rest of the monsters affected by the red rain, these creatures did not fight among themselves.

They were a singular entity, and just seeing them from afar would give one goosebumps.

"If we can somehow find the Queen within that swarm, the one that is controlling the swarm, we will be the victors.

Once the queen dies, they will lose their connection with each other and die as well."

Zyon had not found the queen within this swarm himself, ever. Every time he had come across this monster swarm in the game, he had focused on AOE attacks in hopes of killing the queen in the line of fire.

These weren’t bees that focused on protecting their queen. The queen was, in fact, controlling the entire swarm, and, under the effect of the red rain, she must have gone crazy as well, so she wouldn’t protect herself.

"Are you telling me we can take that thing down if we just kill one of them? How’s that possible?" Captain Rose asked with a stunned expression first. "Actually, don’t tell me. This whole thing is complicated as it is... just tell me how that queen looks."

Since the whole monster swarm and the waves, the rain, the red moon, and everything were so complicated already, she did not want to know the details.

She knew Ziggy knew a lot, and he would explain to her all that as well, but right now, they did not have time for idle chit-chat.

"There’s no difference," Ziggy mumbled in a low voice while looking at the approaching swarm.

"Hmm? I didn’t catch that-," Captain Rose asked quickly since she did not hear him, but was immediately stunned to see the look on Ziggy’s face next.

"There is no distinct characteristic of the queen. All of them practically look the same... I don’t know how the queen is different, at least." The utter bitterness on his face said everything.

The captain did not have to ask him any further questions as she looked back at the swarm as well.

"It is a horror, huh?" She muttered under her breath, a twitching smile present on her face as well.

To find a certain one among the hundreds of those monsters was not going to be a simple task. But, there was a way at least, and the captain needed only that much.

’I asked Kai to let me figure it out in the past... who would have thought we would be the ones to face this monstrosity?’

The black slime, the humanoid with six hands, the monsters with nine wings, and the rest of the calamity-like beings that could appear during the red night were special bosses, and even among them, this swarm of bugs was the most dangerous.

Since these little monsters were further enhanced by the red rain and were under the control of a single brain, they were more dangerous than the rest of the calamity-class monsters.

’It’s not impossible though.’

He looked at his master and believed in her, as well as their preparations.

They had war weapons that would prove to be useful enough against such a number of opponents.

Since the monsters were taking care of the rest of the creatures in their path, they would only be facing these bugs during the next wave, and at the very least, that much was a good thing.

"Let’s see... maybe we will get lucky. Don’t be discouraged just yet, dear student." Captain Rose smiled at him and patted his shoulder.

She helped him calm down with the new look of positivity, which most certainly was effective.

"Yeah..." The opponents may be greater in number, but he was far stronger than any of them.

If he uses his Aura well, he will be able to eliminate them effectively, and even with their dangerous numbers and bloodthirst, they should be able to take care of them.

’If we do it fast enough, we will finish it just in time for the next wave...’

He did not think they would get the queen early. The thought did not even cross his mind.

He knew it was difficult, and he did not know how KiRA made it look so easy or how he knew which one was the queen each time.

’It would be the easiest one for him.’

But he wasn’t here, and right now, the fate of the 30th city, as well as his teacher, lay in his hands alone...

He was somewhere else.

[{ Master! Master, I think I found it! }]

Unity was still high up in the sky, and the black slime was approaching the city.

[{ "Show me." }]

KiRA was resting right now, helping the others with his potions.

He had taken his eyes away from the forest for a moment, leaving Uni to the big task. And unexpectedly, it seemed like she had found what they were looking for.

[{ "Hmm..." }]

When she shared her vision with him, he was able to confirm it as well. It certainly was the one they had been looking for all this time.

[{ "We have to get it as quickly as we can, Uni." }]

Before it gets killed by anything else, they need to secure that little white fox that had just crawled out of some small cave.

"Izzy..." KiRA disconnected his vision sharing and looked at Izzy beside him.

She instantly knew what was going on with him, so she nodded at him without waiting.

"Go." She gave her permission, and KiRA nodded at her.

He needed to move fast to get that one, and to do that, he needed to finish off that slime before them first.

"Causal Access."

Sadly, he knew the price of using that certain skill wasn’t going to be cheap in such a scenario.