Chapter 49 – Between Hope and Despair (1)

Aleen felt an exhilarating feeling once his skill stopped. It was a sensation of ecstasy, the joy of feeling his abilities increasing and his power growing. For a moment, he felt that he could do anything.

Though it was not his first time killing a monster, it was the first time that Aleen felt powerful while killing not only one, but three of them. Feeling his sword cutting through the brooders’ flesh brought Aleen a strange feeling of accomplishment.

Unfortunately, he couldn't bask in that sensation for long.

“Hurry up!” Elvila said gravely while turning around to run. “We must leave this place quickly before the commotion attracts more monsters!”

Aleen exited from his reverie when he heard Elvila’s voice. Quickly, he turned around and caught up with the two girls that were already running.

“Well done, you two.” Elvila said with a slight smile and created a small ball of light in her hands. “Try to recover your mana while we are running. We must try to keep ourselves in our best condition if we want to escape alive.”

Waving her hand, the small ball of light flew towards Aleen and entered his body. Immediately, the mana in the surroundings rushed towards him. Elvila ignored it and created another ball of light in her hand. It was smaller than the last, but she didn’t care for it and throw it towards Ana before creating another one and absorbing it herself.

“It’s a weaker version of my second skill, but it will be enough to recover our spent mana. Unfortunately, I cannot use it again in the next five minutes, so try not to use up your mana until then.”

Aleen and Ana nodded briefly and continued running. The roars of the beast could be heard from around them, and Aleen felt that the monsters were closing in on them despite their speed. Aleen knew that it would not be long before the next monster appears.

At that moment, the cave where they were running shook.

*RUMBLE!!!*

A strong explosion was heard from the surface. Aleen understood that it was not only the cave where they were running but the entire nest what shook. Aleen could not imagine the intensity of the battle in the surface if it could be felt from where they were.

With a serious expression, the group ignored the shaking of the nest and continued to try to escape. Elvila’s device continued guiding the group towards the exit following the flow of wind.

The group faced another two attacks while they were advancing, but they finished the monster quickly making use of the same strategy. Aleen sighed in relief when he saw it, but he did not lower his guard. He knew that they were in danger yet and that it was only necessary a mistake for them to perish inside this nest.

A few minutes later, they finally exited the pathway where they were running.

A gigantic clearing appeared before them.

It was a gigantic dome-shaped room. Aleen could see countless entrances, like the one from where they came, inside the room. Each entrance led to a different cave, and Aleen could see at least hundreds of entrances everywhere, even in the walls.

Looking up, Aleen noticed that light was entering to the dome from a hole in the roof. The hole was partially destroyed, and countless cracks extended from the hole to the walls holding the dome. Instantly, Aleen knew that it was the entrance to the nest and the exit to the surface.

However, instead of happiness, an ugly expression appeared on his face.

Similarly, Elvira and Ana’s expression changed for the worse.

The entrance of the nest was at least one hundred meters away from them.

If they wanted to escape, the group had to climb the dome until reach to the exit.

That, however, was not the problem.

The problem, instead, was the tens of brooders around them, that could be seen climbing down the walls and exiting from the caves in the surroundings.

Instantly, the group was surrounded by tens of monsters.

Elvila’s expression fell, and Ana put a despairing face before this situation.

Aleen expression also turned ugly for a moment.

At the next instant, however, he put a resolute face.

Grabbing his bent sword firmly, he looked towards the monsters in the surroundings and spoke in what he thought was a joking tone.

“It looks that it will not be easy.”

Elvila nodded gravely and took the gun-like weapon from her storage pouch. Then, she activated her first skill and three mana barriers appeared surrounding every one of them.

“We must kill them if we want to survive; or at least, endure until the level five supers kill the queen. If we endure until then, I’m sure that they will come here searching for us.”

Aleen nodded briefly to Elvila's words and readied his sword.

When Ana saw it, she erased her expression of fear and looked towards Aleen boldly.

“What do I have to do?”

Aleen frowned briefly and looked towards her crippled arm. She would not be of any help fighting with just an arm, but they need all the help possible if they wanted to survive. Thinking briefly, he spoke to her.

“Keep your skill ready and pay attention to the fight. If one of us is in trouble, you must use it immediately and attack the monsters that are attacking us.”

Ana nodded with a determined expression when she heard it. Taking a deep breath, she looked towards the monsters surrounding them and exhaled.

She knew what she had to do.

Ana tried her utmost to concentrate on the monsters around them. Aleen had helped her until now, and his help was the main reason because she was still alive.

So, if she wanted to live; If she wanted for Aleen to live, now was the moment to be brave and show the monsters what she could do.

Looking at the face of Aleen for a last time, Ana resolved herself to survive this game and then, return to her daily life.