Chapter 48 – Inside the Nest (4)

It happened a few seconds after Aleen, Elvila, and Ana left the room with the now destroyed eggs.

*ROARRRRR!!!*

While they were preparing to continue towards the entrance, a roar came from the surface. It was a roar of anger and rage, mixed with a bit of panic and fear. The group instinctively stopped when they heard the roar.

But the roar was only the beginning of their nightmare.

An instant after it, another roar answered the cry of the queen.

Then, another roar sounded.

When Aleen finally returned to his senses, tens of monster had answered the queen brooder's call.

“Run!!!” Elvila shouted panicked without bothering to lower her voice. Before the others could understand what was happening, she began to run towards the direction pointed by her device.

Aleen changed his expression when he saw it. Almost immediately, he grabbed Ana’s hand and began to run behind Elvila.

“Dammit!”

“What is happening!?” Ana asked worriedly when she saw Aleen and Elvila’s reactions.

Aleen continued running despite hearing her questions. Instead, it was Elvila who replied.

“I don’t know how, but for some reason, the queen discovered that we attacked the nest and destroyed its eggs! The roar you heard just now was it asking to its subordinates to kill us!”

“How it learned about it!?” Aleen asked with a grave tone of voice.

Elvila did not reply immediately. She thought deeply about the reason before shaking her head. “I don’t know. From what I can remember, the queen is unable to feel if something happens to the eggs. We probably touched something that warned it of our presence. The most important thing now is run as far as we can before the brooders find us!”

Aleen nodded with a grave expression when he heard it.

After speaking to Aleen, Elvila increased her speed. As a level three, Elvila's speed was greater than Aleen and Ana; so it didn’t take long for the distance between them to begin to increase. Aleen frowned briefly and thought for a moment before activating his aspect, increasing his speed near Elvila's level despite his lower level. Ana, on the other hand, was unable to keep with them.

When Aleen noticed it, he grabbed her hand and helped her to run. With the support of Aleen, Ana was barely able to maintain with Elvila, but Aleen’s rate of using his mana increased sharply.

Elvila frowned briefly when she saw it, but in the end, she did not say anything. Despite it, however, she did not decrease her speed.

Different from Aleen and Ana, Elvila had more experience inside ‘Dimensional Paradise’. She knew that in moments like this, she could not afford to consider if the others could keep with her pace.

After all, if the swarm of brooders catches to them, then it will not matter if there are one or three people in the group. At most, more people will mean more food for the insects.

The group continued running and the roars around of them increased with the time. An ugly expression appeared on Elvila’s face. Aleen, on the other hand, tried to keep a calm face to reassure Ana.

At that moment, the group found that the path forward was split into two. “This way!” Shouted Elvila quickly while signaling to the path in the right.

But when the group took the right path, three brooders appeared before them.

*Screech!!!*

They were not very strong, at most level two, but it was more than enough to change the situation they were facing.

“Damn it!” Elvila stopped and cursed with a pale expression.

“Are we going to fight them?” Aleen asked quickly when he saw the three brooders. Elvila, however, shook her head and created a barrier blocking the monsters’ path.

“Take the other path! We can’t lose time here fighting them or we will be surrounded!”

Without hesitation, the group retreated and took the path on the left. Unfortunately, the barrier Elvila created was unable to stop the monsters for long. Quickly, they destroyed it and began to chase after the group while screeching loudly.

The expression on their faces worsened when they heard the brooders screeching. It was obvious that they were calling their companions towards them and before long, more brooders would join to the chase.

“We cannot continue like this!” Aleen shouted with a grim expression. “We have to kill them or all the nest will be behind us in a few minutes!”

Elvila frowned deeply with a grave expression. “We must be quick if we are going to kill them. If more monsters came while we are fighting then the situation will only become worse!”

Aleen agreed with a nod and spoke while looking towards Ana. “I have an idea, but it depends on if Ana can take the risk.” Aleen then explained quickly his plan to the two girls.

Elvila agreed once she heard Aleen. “It’s feasible, but only if the girl's skill can stop them. What do you think?”

Ana hesitated for a moment before putting a resolute expression and nodding. “Don’t worry, I will do it!”

Elvila nodded briefly and then prepared her skill. “Very well then. On the count of three, we begin… One, two, three!”

When Elvila said three, the group immediately stopped running. Without hesitation, Ana twisted her body and turned around to face the three charging beasts.

*Roarrrr!!!*

Facing the monsters coming towards her, an expression of panic briefly appeared on Ana’s face, but it immediately transformed into one of determination. Taking a deep breath, Ana looked deeply towards the beasts and circulated her mana.

The monsters did not hesitate when they saw their prey stopping. Its eyes were blood red and their expressions full of fury. Quickly, they advanced towards Ana and pounced to her.

Ana tried to keep her calm when she saw the monsters charging towards her. She knew that she could not cower now. If she wanted for everybody to survive, she had to be brave.

The claws of the monsters extended to torn her frail body into pieces, but before they could, a barrier of light appeared before Ana.

It was Elvila’s first skill, ‘Mana Barrier’.

The mana barrier could at most endure three seconds under the furious attacks of the brooders, but it was more than enough.

“Now!” Aleen shouted.

Then, Ana opened her mouth.

“Ahhhhhhhhh!!!”

With a cry, her recently gotten skill was activated, and a shockwave impacted the monsters ruthlessly. Unfortunately, the shockwave was not strong enough to kill the monsters. At most, it stunned them briefly.

But it was more than enough.

Because at that moment, Aleen moved.

“Dieeeeeeeee!”

With a furious cry, lightning enveloped Aleen’s body.

His perception of time slowed down, and the speed of his body increased crazily. Aleen had the sensation that he could reach to any place in just an instant.

But that sensation of omnipotence did not blind him. He knew what he had to do, and in an instant, Aleen was before the first monster.

“Hah!” With a thrust of his sword, Aleen impaled the monsters through his head, killing instantly before the monster could understand what was happening. But it was not everything. Instead of continuing forward, Aleen twisted his body and willed the rune inside his mind to change the direction of his skill.

It was something that he noticed recently while he was fighting, and the first clue he had to master his first skill.

With the support of the rune inside his mind, the direction of his charge changed suddenly, turning towards the second stunned monster.

It was a flawless move, without straining his body or wasting more mana than necessary. Just like a bolt of lightning that moves unimpeded inside the storm.

Then, his sword moved again.

And the head of the second monster flew.

But it was not enough. Aleen knew that he had to do more than it if he wanted to kill the three monsters quickly. So, without hesitating, he willed the rune inside his mind to change of direction again and twisted his body towards the third monster.

Different from the last attack, Aleen noticed a bit of resistance coming from the rune this time; but he ignored it. Pushing more mana towards his skill to force it to change direction, Aleen stabbed with his sword for the third time.

Unlike from the last two monsters, this one managed to react after seeing the deaths of its two brothers. With a frightened expression, it tried to twist its body out from the path of the sword.

Unfortunately, its movements could not escape from Aleen’s slowed vision.

Changing slightly the direction of his sword, Aleen slashed with his sword towards the neck of the monster at full speed; then, with a flash of lightning, the third head fell.

Aleen continued forward after killing the monsters and tried to stop his skill. It was hard, but in the end, he was able to stop after running another ten meters.

Panting slightly, Aleen stopped the mana running through his body and lowered slowly his sword.

Behind him, the bodies of three monsters fell to the ground.