CHAPTER 131: NEARING THE CLOSURE

[30th city, against the Swarm: ]

-Swish! Swish! Swish!

-Swish! Swish!

-Swiiiiiiiiiiiiiish!

The movement technique that she used to get past the frontal head of the bugs was pretty unique.

She did not waste any excessive movements, she did not use any simple movements either, and she either jumped, backflipped, or flew all the way to the middle of the swarm of the strange, bloodthirsty monster mosquitoes.

"SKAAAAAAAAA!"

The Swarm that was focused on the things at the front, at the gate, and the people, did not seem to notice her at all.

It almost seemed like she was invisible to them despite being right there. If it were any normal circumstances, she would be facing off against at least a few of these buffed mosquitoes.

It would have been their natural instinct to attack something that was closing in on their formation, an instinct that would not be something they could avoid in any manner.

But, they ignored her completely as if she wasn’t there to begin with. As if she were completely invisible to the swarm.

-Swash! Swash! Swash!

Even as Captain Rose continued slicing off the creatures in the middle, killing many of them with her powerful, sharp, icy Aura, they remained unaware of her presence.

-Swish! Swish! Swish!

She continued using her movement technique and moving around the swarm instead of staying in a certain place. She wasn’t killing them from the inside; she was doing something else right now.

-Swish! Swish! Swish!

She divided her attack regions. She covered the area with a few attacks and then changed the region, trying to cover as much of the damage area as possible.

She moved as quickly as she could, almost desperately, trying to do something that didn’t really seem logical even to her student.

The Swarm was approaching the city at a speed that wasn’t slow in the slightest. It would reach the city area in less than a few minutes, so she had even less time if she wanted to achieve what she was trying.

-Swish! Swish! Swish!

She moved.

-Swash!

She used her Aura blade and attacked.

-Swish! Swish! Swish!

She moved to the next place again, and again, and again, trying to find something in the haystack. She didn’t really have any deep strategy right now; she was merely leaving most of it to her luck and perhaps fate.

She was simply focusing on a wide area of damage with her Aura attacks that froze up anything that it touched.

The attacks were not as powerful as they could be, either. The destructive force was limited, and the AOE was focused more.

-Swash! Swash! Swash!

The sword technique that she used almost created a swirling wind that covered an even wider area, something that was made possible thanks to her higher stats and skill bonuses.

-Swiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiish!

She even imbued her Aura into her movement technique and killed off anything that she stepped on, destroying the land and sky along with the monsters.

-Ooooooooooooooooong!

The use of Aura from her end was excessive. She was using too much of her powers right now, something Ziggy could see very well from the distance the swarm had reached.

’You’re being reckless, master...’ He thought as she shook his head, a bitter smile present on his face.

And she was being reckless. She knew that very well.

But it did not stop her. She was doing something right now... she somehow knew it was possible as long as she was quick enough.

The area of effect of her attacks was good enough, and she had adjusted to the output in a few minutes as well.

As a few minutes passed, she was able to defend herself without needing to use Aura to wrap around her body. She stopped worrying about the poisonous little hair of the creatures and moved faster.

-Swish! Swish! Swish!

She attacked and moved faster, increasing the efficiency of the attacks with each step she took.

There was no delay between her attacks and steps after a few moments passed, and exactly when it seemed like the Swarm would reach the city... something happened.

-Oooooooooooooooong!

Just as an attack landed in the designated area, the resulting swirl of chilly winds spun, and something that had not happened before was seen.

"SKAAAAAAAAA...!"

The bugs that were only focused on the city before them changed their attention completely, now focusing everything on the female swordsman who had been chipping away at their numbers.

’Found you.’

Captain Rose was after the queen, the one who was controlling the swarm.

With the attacks until now, she was trying to pinpoint the location of the creature in charge, and with the last attack, she had almost found the target.

-Oooooooooooooong!

It wasn’t among the ones that were attacked, but somewhere around the surrounding group since the previous ones were already dead.

"SKAAAAAAA...!"

From how a few of the buffed bugs attacked her, it was most likely that the one that had stayed behind and was glaring at her right now was the actual queen she had been looking for.

’She really is identical... or is it some kind of ability the queen has? The ability to change form?’

The queen of any bug kind would have some kind of distinct features for many purposes. They weren’t beasts for them to have near identical features as the rest of their kind.

They were superior and the rulers of their pack, so they were supposed to be distinct from the rest of their kind, but this one was not... and the captain thought it to be a strange thing.

Not that it mattered anymore.

-OOOOOOOOOOONG!

She used her Aura to its fullest this time and created a long, very long ice crystal that was the condensed form of her elemental side of the Aura.

Aura was surrounding this ice crystal, and she was aiming her blessed sword at the one who tried to escape into the swarm, shifting her position now that she was discovered by the enemy.

-Swish!

-BANG!

But Captain Rose did not give the monsters any chance.

The attack was launched just in the nick of time for it to hit the target.

"SKAAAAAAA...!"

The others were used as a shield by the queen to lessen the impact, but the efforts were futile.

At the end of the day, they only had numbers as their greatest strength. They were nothing before absolute power individually.

-Thud.

As soon as the queen was taken down, the scene that followed stunned the entire city’s forces, who were looking at this whole thing with raised heartbeats.

-Thud! Thud! Thud!

Each and every one of the monster flies fell to the ground as the entire swarm was scattered and crashed down to the forest grounds along with the red raindrops.

-Thud.

It took a few seconds for the sky to become visible again, just showing how many of those damned flies were present among the Swarm.

Had those bloodthirsty things reached the city and attacked them, or breached through the magical barrier somehow and made their way to the citizens in hiding, it would have been disastrous.

But thanks to their captain, they were all saved once again...

-Swish!

But there was still a need for someone to save her in the middle of that forest.

"Master... that was dumb." Ziggy made his way to the forest where she was. The falling flies would have buried her alive otherwise, and the venom from them would have been dangerous to her as well.

"I know... but I also knew... that my good student would save me..."

She smiled at him, in his arms, like a princess.

This would have been a dream-come-true moment for her had she been a decade younger. Sadly, she was too old now. Far older than the years she had actually lived.

-Swish! Swish!

Ziggy took her out of the forest and made sure she was alright when he gave her to the medics.

He already knew his master enough to know this stunt should have been something within his expectations.

{ "We will clear the forest front and prepare for the next wave!" }

She saved them, at least.

Maybe it was simple luck or perhaps something else, but she did deal with the biggest trouble that even he would have failed to deal with.

In the other cities, the others must have taken care of the other calamities as well, but just in case, he opened up his system channels and checked the forums.

Everything around the floor was being reported to them, and according to the reports that induced the appearance of a divine messenger in the 12th city, something that made Ziggy smirk, everything seemed to be fine.

"The waves are coming to an end..."

With the end of the biggest calamities, the following waves were going to be a little tough at the start, but with the corruption of the red rain’s Mana, the finishing creatures would all be much easier to deal with.

Perhaps they wouldn’t even have anything left for the last wave, with every creature in the center of the forest being dead after fighting amongst themselves.

"Kai must have secured the core by now as well, so things will come together soon."

The real battle would come after the waves are finished, but not every player will fight that battle.

’She had been fighting that battle on her own until now.’

The 3rd floor was more complicated than the 4th, 5th, or 6th floor when looking at it from the tower’s perspective.

It was the only floor, except the 10th floor, among the initial floors that had an event involving the entire floor.

There were, at most, a dozen events throughout the 10 floors, but this one was important because it not only decided the fate of the entire floor, but it was also the stepping stone for the players going forward from here.

"So now..."

With the waves coming to a close, the three hidden pieces that KiRA had put so much importance on all this time would also come together.

Why Captain Rose was important.

Why did they need that fox creature...

As well as why he took down the calamity like monsters at the very start.

They would get the answers to those questions soon.