~BOOOOMMM!~
As the several trees flew and crashed against their fellow trees, sending the resultant debris flying in multiple directions, a disjointed echo of destruction followed.
Layers of catastrophes caused the ground to shake violently, almost as if an earthquake was about to occur and swallow everything whole.
Britta shook amidst this literal disaster, realizing that the walls of trees that once stood beside her were no more.
She was even more surprised that, despite what just happened, she wasn't harmed at all.
"Are you alright, Miss Britta?" Jet approached the shaken Adventurer, his tone still calm despite the crazy thing that just happened.
"Y-yeah, I am. It seems the two of you are alright as well."
Britta was just as surprised—if not more surprised—by the fact that the two candidates were unscathed as well. Even if her case was luck, it was impossible for the two of them, who were right in front of her, to not have been affected.
They were literally the ones closest to the powerful winds that blew everything away.
"Lux used her barrier to shield us, so I guess none of us got hurt." Britta twitched the moment she heard that.
'A barrier, huh? That makes more sense than mere luck.'
She couldn't believe that the very two whom she looked down on—or at least, one of them—was responsible for saving her life.
'To think she would have a barrier that strong. Is it an Item?' It most likely was.
Britta also had an Item that generated a barrier around her, but it could only be used for a limited number of times, and she had to activate the shield normally.
'There's no way their reaction speed exceeds mine. They were also closer to the blast, which means they had less time to prepare.'
Once Britta thought about all of these factors, she determined that Lux' Enchanted Item had to have some sort of Automatic Response function.
'A barrier that strong should most likely have a long cooldown duration.' She sighed, staring cautiously around her.
That meant they had no way of properly protecting themselves if the same wind blast came again.
'I don't like this. I still don't know what caused the blast, but this is a Dead Zone. Nothing about it makes sense.'
Besides, Britta didn't even have the time to go over what could have caused it.
'My hands are going to be full with what comes next!'
The consequences for such a huge blast of wind was that it would literally send a signal to any Monster in close proximity to the area of impact.
Naturally, the Monsters would have to responses.
The first would be to run away. However, this reaction was only given by the weaker creatures of the forest.
The second response, which was the one Britta was personally worried about, would be to gather at the point of impact.
In essence, strong Monsters would see the destruction as some sort of beacon—an invitation, if you will.
And, as was the nature of the wild, they always answered the call.
'Ahh…' Looking around, Britta could already see the silhouettes of the Monsters that hid within the cluster of trees that now surrounded the clearing.
'… They're already here!'
Beads of sweat began to sprout from her face as she gulped down the saliva that was forming in her mouth.
'This is bad! This is really bad!' Her thoughts echoed as she struggled to find a possible solution to the problem at hand.
'Thanks to the winds blowing away the trees, which took some parts of the ground with them, we're on lower ground.'
The Monsters had the higher ground, and them being in a clearing meant they could be surrounded from all areas. By the looks of things, that was exactly what was happening.
'Just how many are they? Twenty? No… I think even more.'
The only Monsters who could possibly respond to such a loud explosion were A-Tier Monsters. Since this was their territory, it also made sense to expect them.
"GRRRRRRRR…"
Britta's body trembled as she looked up and saw the savage creatures emerge from the forest.
Just as she expected, they were incredibly large, with bodies that varied depending on their race. Fourdistinct kind of Monsters could be seen from the multiple sides that surrounded them.
There were Serocis—incredibly huge ones—to the left. Their lion-like bodies and multiple scorpion tails made them impossible to miss. Not only were they huge and deadly, but one sting from their poison was all it took to kill most people.
Then, there were Hydras to the right—each having three heads, with slithering bodies of snakes.
North and South, there were High Orcs and Rakgoblin Champions.
The former were practically giants with the biggest builds, while the latter were more nimble and lanky—though the Mana emanating from them was far superior.
'I can see about ten on each side!'
That meant the number she initially suspected just doubled.
Britta struggled to think at this point. At most, she could only handle three A-Tier Monsters if they charged at her at once. However, even those had to be of the same race, so she could predict their attack patterns and employ a less complicated strategy to win.
If you threw in Monsters of different races at her, things would get exponentially more difficult. Not only would she find it very difficult to deal with their varying attack patterns, but it would be difficult to keep up with their multiple Skills.
She would undoubtedly lose!
This was true for pretty much any Adventurer, which was why Parties were so important. If she had a reliable Party on her side, she could deal with over ten A-Tier Monsters—even if they were of different races.
As long as the Party Members did their jobs, alternating between defense, buffs, and taking the heat off her in critical moments, she would emerge victorious.
Unfortunately, she had no such thing at the moment. There was no reliable Party, and no chance of victory.
At this point, Britta was pretty sure of one fact.
'I… I'm going to die here.'
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Thanks for reading!
Well, it's about time we see Lux and Jet in action. I wonder what their abilities are.
