Ch 4

The team engaged into a fierce battle with the monster.

Explosions immediately erupted in the battlefield, accompanied by flashing lights.

The mage leader remained in the rear casting spells to support the fighters in front, sending barrage of fireballs and even casting buffs.

The weird monster grew in size and immediately reached the size of three adults. It lifted its fingers and bones burst out from the ground like fountains. They formed into several skeletons.

"Hahahahaha!"

Along with the creepy laughter, the skeleton soldiers shot out like a bullet. Their speed was fast and they collided with the fighters like cannon balls.

The remaining skeletons were sent to the rearguards, acting like a projectiles.

"Purify!" The spiritualist in the team immediately turned the skeletons into ashes, sweating as the the skull turned to ashes before sweeping past her face. 'Close call...'

The snow was stirred up by their battle and hindered visibility, occasionally there would be a flash of light produced from high speed blades, then there would light rays and some mysterious entities joining the fight against the weird monster.

"Aaah, Why don't you just obediently surrender your souls here and serve me?"

The monster produced unending stream of skeletons that shot out in the speed of sound. The fighters endured most of the impact, while the rear guards could barely keep their lives using barriers.

"What the heck?! Is this how you use a skeleton soldier?!"

A warrior yelled in protest as a he shattered a skeleton coming at him. Even after it shattered to pieces, the bone shards seem to have a life on their own and shot at him. Some shards were as sharp as blades and wounded him, the wounds closed soon after and he was good as new.

"Thanks!"

"Use your fist if you have time to talk!"

"It's al- Ooof!"

The warrior was rammed by skeleton and was sent flying far from the battle field.

The rest paid him no heed and maintained their composure.

Meanwhile, three summoned beings directly engaged the weird monster in a closed quarter brawl.

One of the summoned entities took the form of a bear and mauled the weird monster to the ground, making cracks in its skull.

"Annoying insects! Do not test my patience!"

The monster opened its jaws and dark energy gathered, exploding in the face of the summoned creature above it.

It was about to fire another blast, but the condensed energy was struck by lightning and exploded in its mouth.

"It's over this time right?"

This mage was the one who dished out the lightning bolt, and even after he saw the monster explode, he relentlessly sent lightning bolts like he was Zeus.

The others glared at him and told him to shut his mouth.

Areth who was watching the epic battle from the sky felt that it was a shame that he didn't bring any popcorns.

'The dude is pissed now.'

He looked at the monster being bombarded by various elements, looking like a disco ball.

"Lightning bolt! Lightning bolt lightningboltlightningboltligjtnihgbolt!"

"Starburst river! Soul annihilating slash! Occult flash!"

"Holy light! Adoramus! Adoramus! Heal! Gloria!"

"My monster attacks your life points directly!"

Firing so many attacks, the party seem to have been caught in the rhythm and now they could not stop, their screws went loose.

"ENOUGH!"

A loud voice boomed and everything dimmed.

"I've given you chances to live. I don't care anymore, I shall annihilate you!"

A powerful shockwave exploded out from the monster, the fighters were sent flying and the barriers set by the rearguards broke before they themselves were carried away, blood oozing out from their orifices.

They looked and lo and behold, the monster stood at 16 feet with two pairs of skeletal wings on its back.

Its eye sockets were literally burning in flames as black smoke trailed out.

"Er, um, master, let's go back to the palace now! I'll prepare some food!"

The rest ignored the fool and prepared for another round.

"Let's see how many forms you have!"

The monster suddenly burst in flames, the burning figure looked menacing.

The leader frowned at this and made a decision. "Let's escape."

He waved his hand and massive icicles grew from the ground and covered the monster.

The icicles did not even buy them a second, as they were pierced by large pointed bones from inside.

The monster glared at them hatefully. It snapped its fingers and an army of black skeletons grew from the ground. These skeletons were different from before. Now they were almost as large as the monster, and their bones posses metallic sheen.

The monster pointed its hand towards the team and uttered.

"Ready." The skeletons bent down.

"Set." The skeletons gathered power in their legs.

"Fire!" The skeletons shot forth with a resounding boom, the ground where they stood collapsed, large debris were sent to the air from the recoil.

Be it their durability, numbers and speed, they were on a different level compared to before.

The team stood no chance at all and was nearly wiped out after one volley.

Blood and pieces of limbs lay on the ground.

Most of them were grievously injured, the spiritualists in the team were in the worst condition and the fighters, though able to dodge, still lost their limbs from the slight contact.

Worst of all, the black skeletons did not get destroyed and were preparing for another round.

"Ready."

The mages in the team mustered their remaining energy to wipe out the skeletons before they could be launched, the tremendous explosion caused by their magic destroyed some of them.

"Set."

Despair filled their eyes. They are S rank hunters, a valuable asset for their city, if they were to fall here now it would be a major loss for mankind.

The leader gritted his teeth. No matter what happens, they could not fall here, at least one has to leave to send a message outside. Once this monster learned of the entrance, the world would be facing a calamity if they are unprepared.

"Fire!"

The leader immediately activated the magic he has been preparing. Just as the skeletons attempt to propel themselves, the ground beneath their feet collapsed. Having nowhere to counteract their kick, the skeletons fell pathetically in the pit and were buried in the snow.

The fighters who were still relatively fine knew what to do. They carried their injured teammates as well as the leader and escaped into different directions.

The leader was gasping, he cough out blood from his internal injuries.

He thought of his family and could not help but tear up in dejection. The monster was likely to catch up to them and once that happens they would be completely wiped out. 'No, we can't die here.'

Areth was finally done watching and descended from the sky. The situation was getting out of hand and it would be a pity for these talented kids to die.

Suddenly, he had a brilliant idea.

He searched for a spiritualist who was still conscious and found the lady healer.

Claire, the healer was severely injured. Her lower body has became mangled and she had no energy left to heal herself. Her eyes were already becoming foggy, she could feel death approaching.

As she was about to lose sense, a voice spoke to her.

"Child, do you want to live?"