Seeing the panic and confusion that was spread amongst the people, Kenji asked around for details.

  From what he got, something abnormal seemed to be going on outside the city.

  Firstly, monsters were actively looking for humans to kill. Secondly, after being killed, monsters would revive and hunt humans more aggressively.

  Thirdly, monsters seemed to be becoming stronger with each human killed.

  Many parties had lost contact with their members stationed outside the city.

  That wasn't all. With each passing moment, the total count of the city’s population was going down.

  Seeing the whole block in panic, Kenji found a corner and sat down.

  __________

  “Max, hold on, I am coming.” The whole Silver Party was trapped in a cave with continuous attacks from Fire Lizards.

  Ramses arrived before Max and killed the Fire Lizard with a sword slash.

  At the moment, two members of the Silver Party were lying on the ground motionless, while the others were struggling to fight off the horde of Fire Lizards.

  “Ramses, I don't think I can hold on any longer.” As those words left Max's mouth, he dropped to the ground due to exhaustion.

  The moment they left the city, they were fighting monsters. First, it was a group of Storm-thorns, then some strange frogs, which they encountered for the first time.

  After much fighting, the members of the Silver Party arrived at their usual hunting place, the Fire Lizard caves.

  But the moment they entered one cave, Fire Lizards from all the other caves also rushed in and started attacking them.

  “No, Max!!!” Before Ramses could react, a Fire Lizard bit Max’s skull, killing him instantly.

  “Damn you!!!!!” Seeing one more of his companions die, Ramses’ anger surged to its maximum, and he started attacking the Fire Lizards without a care for his body.

  Ramses was able to kill two to three Fire Lizards before one bit off his arm. Losing his sword, Ramses became an easy target for the Fire Lizards and was soon devoured by them.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  __________

  “Retreat!!” Amare’s loud voice sounded through the grassy fields.

  “But…” Looking at the dead bodies of their companions, the members of the Ember Party were hesitant. However, before they could say anything, a barrage of Wind Blades headed their way.

  With no other choice, they left the dead bodies of their companions behind and ran away.

  But as they got away from the Storm-thorns, a massive swarm of Wind Frogs was waiting for them.

  Just as they got a few hundred meters away, extremely toxic acid rain started pouring.

  “What’s this?”

  “Burning! It’s burning!!!”

  Before the members of the Ember Party could figure it out, the acid rain easily passed through their clothes and started burning their skin.

  Only those with armor were safe.

  “Don’t stop running!!” Amare’s voice sounded again, but this time a little painful.

  Since Amare focuses on DPS, he doesn’t wear any armor, as it can restrict or slow him down. Thus, he suffered a lot under the acid rain.

  “Ahh, ahhh.” Keeping their heads low, the members of the Ember Party ran with all their might while enduring the occasional acid burns.

  “Nnh—gasp—Nnh, I… I can’t go on any longer.” While gasping for breath, one of the members dropped to the ground. Thankfully, he was still breathing.

  Checking up on him, another member wearing armor quickly lifted him onto his back and continued running.

  “Nnh—gasp—Nnh…

  Wait! Someone is missing. Nnh—gasp—Nnh.” Having difficulty breathing through the pain himself, Amare was the first to notice that two members were missing.

  Looking back, they saw two familiar faces lying flat on the ground, with the acid rain continuously eating away at their flesh.

  “Frey!!!!” Seeing his sister’s cold body lying there, Luke cried out and rushed toward her.

  “Don’t. You’ll be throwing your life away for nothing.” A member in heavy armor immediately stopped Luke from doing something stupid. His burns were already bad. If he went back in, there was no guarantee he would return.

  “So what? I’m supposed to leave my sister like this? How will I be able to face my parents?!!!!” Luke howled, ignoring the pain he felt as his armor pressed against his fresh burns.

  “No, we should leave, so that we can take revenge.” From behind the armor, the other member tried to calm Luke down.

  “Let’s keep going! We’re still three to four kilometers away from the city.” Ignoring what was happening around him, Amare continued forward with heavy steps.

  Today, many of his trusted companions, people who were like family to him, had died, and he couldn’t do anything to protect them.

  This guilt was eating him from the inside. With each step he took, the faces of his party members flashed before his eyes.

  If it wasn’t for the will to protect the remaining members of his party, Amare might have collapsed from exhaustion.

  __________

  “There is no use. I am going to die,” Anya cried out in panic as the tree she was on was constantly attacked by Boars.

  “Will you stop complaining?” Julius suddenly flew in, a pair of wings made of Ki forming on his back.

  Grabbing Anya, Julius slowly flew away from the horde of Boars.

  The skill book they had obtained yesterday from the Silver-rank Treasure Chest was a C-rank skill called [Wings of Freedom]. It was a powerful ability that allowed its user to fly at speeds exceeding the speed of sound.

  Unfortunately, it was a skill, not a Gift, meaning its speed and flight duration depended entirely on the user’s Ki reserves.

  “Almost there…” After flying for a few minutes, Julius arrived at their next hiding spot.

  Just as he was about to put Anya down, the wings on his back vanished, and both of them dropped to the ground.

  “You didn’t get injured, did you?” Marcus and Zav rushed over to check on Julius.

  Marcus arrived first, worried about Julius as a friend. From morning until now, Julius had been working tirelessly to move them from one safe place to another. As for Zav, he viewed Julius as their only chance of making it back to the city alive.

  “Let me recover my Ki.” Julius pushed both Zav and Marcus aside and began recovering.

  While doing so, he glanced at Zav and Anya from the corner of his eye. He couldn’t understand why he was putting in so much effort to save the two of them when he barely knew them.

  “Let’s go. I’ll take you this time.” After recovering his lost Ki, Julius picked up Anya again and headed toward the next location he had scouted.

  “Watch out!” As they flew through the air, Anya suddenly cried out in panic.

  __________

  Author’s Note:

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