Chapter 366 365. A Raid.
----------
A week later.
The brutish plan to push back the prototypes had worked, as only not-much-stronger prototypes were present to fend them off, who rushed at them like roaches.
Meanwhile, Seo Hana had developed a strange phobia of being terrified of THAT gaze, she assumed to be gazing down at her always. The world from her eyes had distorted with a glaring eye in the sky, whose pupil seemed to have stretched to however long her eyes could see.
The eyes gazing at her in her surroundings too had began to bother her, though she tried her best to calm her anxiousness, she couldn\'t and would always cover behind Frostine, who had teamed up with Hana to kill their loved one, who instead loved another.
First, it was the prototypes, whom they barely managed to push back and scatter all over, without actually killing their head, who could copy the skills he saw, understanding which, they----Hana, Katline, Grace, Neal, Reynolds, Hannah, Louie, Core, Arngrim, Frostine, Amanda, Gerry, Greg, Simon, Ash, Clifford, Dominic, and Belinda----used the least amount of strength, and when they lacked enough strength, they used their abilities, limited to which they assumed to have already been revealed.
And when with their conditions being as such, they succeeded and broke through the encirclement of the prototypes.
Though, the rest of the survivors scattered, most of them remained with the [Hunters], a moniker they gave to themselves, as their group had gotten bigger. They allowed no new member to enter their group and were very sophisticated with their rules, so they, rest of the survivors, just became side characters, with support characters and main characters already being in the group.
From then on, when they took a breather of relief, without any forewarnings, the dungeons----the un-cleared dungeons to be precise----broke. The now broken dungeons oozed absurd amount of high ranked monsters, culling the numbers of the survivors again. The numbers which were in a very few, two or three, billion head culled to half or three fourth of a billion.
The monsters were persistent in their endeavours to cull the number of survivors, due to which the saying "whatever doesn\'t kill you, makes you stronger" was proved to be right, as the survivors, who were being named "survivors" again and again, became absurdly strong, which, unfortunately for them, was the same with the monsters, who were getting stronger as the days passed, a few stronger monsters even occupying their own territories, as if imitating the gods themselves.
The survivors who were getting stronger with each passing day, one day resolved to try hunting down a god, no, a Fallen.
They contained the strongest of the survivors, of course, they didn\'t have any of those from the [Hunters], but they were confident that they could defeat a fallen, hence, they neared a Fallen\'s dome.
"Huuu..... Now that we are actually here, I\'m feeling kinda nervous ~" A man amid the group of 500 muttered, which was agreed unanimously by those around him.
They could feel the pressure, a certain kind of pressure bore down on them, which increased the closer they got to the dome, or an "area" assigned to a fallen.
"... We will move as planned!" With a mana infused voice, a man at the vanguard roared, confidently. Boosting the morale of the group he managed to gather, while attempting to solidify his own.
He soon touched the dome because he thought that if they spoke outside the dome anymore then this, their morale will flatter due to the pressure which would leave them with no other option, but to retreat, even he was nervous and anxious, if he spoke trying to boost more of their morale, his own would flatter, and he wasn\'t sure if he could keep his tone strong and smooth, without a tremble or a stutter, hence he chose the most optimal solution and directly touched the dome, which transferred them into it by the next instance.
Solidifying his trembling heart, he opened his eyes when his feet came in contact with something.
TIP-!
PITTER-PATER-!
WHOOOOSHMMM-!
And it was downpour.
The moment they stepped on land there was a downpour, due to which the time they needed to adjust themselves to the terrain was longer than intended.
Foiling their scouting plan as soon as they entered, but they didn\'t have time to care about things like that, as they positioned themselves as they gazed around, asserting their terrain, which was blurry due to the harsh downpour.
\'It\'s.... The rain drops....\' The raindrops that rained down on them were as hard as the rocks, which only pricked them due to the strength cruising through each and every one of them, which was only natural, because they too were survivors, and they were proud of that fact.
"An island!" A roar was heard from behind, which was clouded by the downpour, but the words travelled from him and soon reached the vanguard\'s ears, to which he nodded in affirmation.
They were on a strange Island, whose surroundings were filled with water, from the scent of which, they could understand that it was salt water, seemingly an ocean, which had stretched to the horizon.
The island seemed to be able to hold at least 5000 people, of course, it was only an assumption and an approximation, but they had no other choice but to accept that assumption as it is.
Many received encouragements , gifts, blessings, and even quests from their gods, accepting which in gratitude, they focused on the things ahead of them.
DHOOOOM-!
The island abruptly trembled as an ominous boom resounded throughout the ocean as an humongous, immobile silhouette was seen at the northeast cover of their gazes, and just as one would expect, they stiffened, their irregular breathings trembled as they nearly halted.
With cold sweat dyeing their backs and foreheads, they moved their eyes as they stared at the silhouette in a distance, as their breath involuntarily got stuck in their lungs, as they didn\'t even dare to breathe, which a natural, and to be expected, reaction.
DHOOOOM-!
Again, the island trembled, and they understood the reason for that.
The silhouette in a distance,
It was moving!
With each step it took, the world tremored.
DHOOOOM-!
They didn\'t know before, but now they could feel it, just like the world, they assumed to be trembling with each step it, the silhouette, took, their existences themselves were trembling in front of such an ambiguous existence, which they assumed to be a Fallen.
*
They were breathing through their mouths in utter fear of being discovered, the first to snap out of their daze was the one, who gathered them, regretting his actions, whose responsibility was much bigger than his small broad shoulders, that clearly couldn\'t really bear the responsibility of his actions.
But,
He didn\'t intend to run away, so
He gathered courage and turned to look for the portal which they entered to get here, and he found,
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing!
His body trembled violently, but this fear dyed gaze still hadn\'t lost their vigour of life, that seemed to be too strong to burn out by a feeble amount of fear.
Overcoming his fear,
WHOOOOSH-!
With a strong, vigour filled body, he stretched up his sword held hand, garnering the attention of all 500 of them. Their gazes naturally followed and found him, a person whom they could pin all the blames onto, without a shred of care about his feelings.
But,
Just as they were about to spew curses at him in every language they knew,
"Everyone!" He, who gathered them together, roared!
"That thing is the cause of our families being fallen to the ruins!? Should we let such an existence live any longer!?" He roared again, much more vigorously then before.
His words carried a certain hint of confidence, forcing their consciousness\' to shut it and listen to him!
*
After a few seconds of speech, he gazed at people in front of with fierce, blazing, eyes!
"... We shall! Exterminate this monster and avenge our families, relatives, and friends!"
""""Yeah!!""""
With a roar of unison, he turned to face the silhouette which was facing his back just a few moments ago.
"Mages! Assemble!!!"
"Tanks! Guard!!"
"Archers! Positions!!!"
He commanded the numbers, thinking of the most efficient route to clear the predicament they were "forced" into. His tactic was the most basic yet effective one. If the impact was bigger than that of their expectations then they would gain a huge boost in their morale, of not, then they would call their death,
Begging for death to come to them sooner than for the one next to themselves.
Insane amount of mana concentrated behind him as different coloured, power packed blobs dyed the dull, gloomy world with magical colours, but he couldn\'t and didn\'t have any leisure to be mesmerized by such a scenery. He glanced back, noticing the last mage nod his head in affirmation,
"FIRE!!!!"
With a series of dense streaks of lights dyeing the dull world in colours, the moment before the wave of an absolute destruction was spent in a trance of amaze, excitement, enthusiasm, and anticipation.
Though they could feel it, they couldn\'t tell that their actions could lead to an awake of the devastation itself.
---------