NOVEL NEXT Chapter 165
Chapter 165 – System (5)
‘Those horrible monsters. But if it weren’t for those guys, I would have still been living the same old life.’
Monsters thrashing about at all costs to kill them. Riena, who had been watching those guys from the now mostly evacuated city, gritted her teeth.
To her, the Bugs were both a bane and a boon. They were relentless foes trying to take the lives of her and those around her, but they also served as the very catalyst that pushed her into realms she could never have dreamed of.
The skills and equipment harvested from various games. Without them, it was clear that they wouldn’t stand a chance against not just the Bugs, but even the raiders targeting them.
Just like her mother and mentor, who she had helplessly lost.
“So I’m not afraid. Those guys are just sacrifices and trials for us in the end.”
Changing her expression, she smiled at her companions beside her. They all nodded in agreement with her words. That was precisely why they were chosen as Paladins.
“There are special ones among them. Those who dare to imitate us. We must eliminate them—it’s our mission.”
Riena raised her sword, instructing her companions to snipe the enemy variants. These special variants evolved by mimicking their sworn enemies, the Arin Tribe.
Their fighting methods and strategies were strikingly similar. They were smaller in size, but the mana they held inside was potent enough to make it hard for seasoned warriors to take them on one-on-one.
“Let’s see if you can block this!”
Holding her sword tightly, she charged alongside the Paladins, swinging her blade toward the entity directing the attacking foes.
“—…!”
Even with an ant-like face shielded by a helmet-like carapace, she could sense the flinch. Riena’s eyes sparkled as she forced the enemy’s weapon aside with sheer strength.
“They’re a bit weaker than those with spider legs.”
In a flash, she unleashed a golden slash that cleaved the enemy in half. The foe hastily raised a Defense Barrier made of Black Mana, but no entity from the Arin Tribe could withstand the weight of Riena’s sincere strike.
At their level of mimicry, they simply couldn’t block her slash.
“Ugh.”
With the existence capable of raising the barrier gone, the allied bombardment began to take effect.
While she frowned, a Fireball soared past her and exploded right in front of the charging enemies.
However, Riena, engulfed in flames, suffered no burns. This was because those fighting upfront and the ones bombarding from the rear were designated as the same unit by some unseeable force.
To them, it felt like a miracle and a blessing.
“Commander, are you alright?”
“Yeah. Shura, as you saw, we must hold these guys off so our allies can provide support.”
After taking down the designated enemy, Riena grabbed Shura, who had rushed over, and surveyed the unfolding situation.
While the warriors blocked the enemy variants, the soldiers formed a formation, coming together as a solid mass to halt the foes. Behind them, Mages and Archers unleashed their firepower to take down the enemies.
The Bugs managed to breach the castle walls through aerial assaults, but still hadn’t figured out this fundamental combat method.
“Poison!”
“Fall back! Fall back until you’re purified! If you’re poisoned, hurry up and drink a potion!”
Of course, the battle wasn’t decided yet.
As the soldiers huddled to form a wall, enemies spewing poison emerged, attempting to sweep away the grouped fighters in one fell swoop.
It was deadly poison even for warriors. For the ordinary soldiers, it was lethal if ingested or getting on their skin, and for those who had to group together to fight off the Bugs, it was an extremely dangerous attack.
“Trust us, we’re fine.”
That’s why the powers of those who had advanced to Paladins were crucial there.
One of their skills, the power of Purification, could neutralize the poison emitted by the Bugs.
“We are still stronger.”
As she watched the soldiers coughing behind her, Riena’s eyes shone as she unleashed a massive and subtle golden glow around herself.
A faint halo began to appear above her head, but the light was so intense that no one had noticed yet.
“So this is how it is…”
The light burst forth. It was the light of salvation rescuing those in dire straits. The warm glow enveloping Riena didn’t just drive away the enemies’ poison, but also purified the charging Bugs in reverse.
The soldiers, emboldened as they cheered, believed in Riena and pushed themselves to finally drive the enemies back.
A bit further away, Eve, who had been diligently firing, reloaded and sighed as she observed. She had known Riena was a strong warrior, but this was the first time witnessing her true divinity.
‘If such creatures were to invade us…’
However, what truly startled and worried Eve was something else.
Of course, she had fought against Bugs that invaded her homeland, but those she had faced back then were entirely different from the ones now.
Not just in appearance, but also in their fighting style and the sheer strength they exuded.
Eve trembled as she imagined what would have happened if this assault force had dropped into the Elves’ Central City.
The Bugs had inflicted severe damage on the Elves, who had no aerial forces to speak of. Central, where the World Tree stood, had come precariously close to falling, with countless villages crumbling and kin being slaughtered.
With the power the Elves currently possessed, they had no way to repel the now wildly growing Bugs competing fiercely with the Arin Tribe, let alone expand on their own.
‘We absolutely need their help. No, we must also gain the favor of that being.’
After finishing reloading, Eve raised her weapon again and began to shoot at the enemies, biting her lip. She had always been amicable toward the humans, but now her thoughts had deepened.
It had transformed from a mere friendly attitude to a mission that must succeed.
“Oh no! The right side is breaking through. It’s collapsing!”
“Oh no!”
To do that, Eve felt the need to achieve merit and gain recognition. Both for Chieftain Balun and Saintess Riena, as well as for that being who had given her a new world and opportunity.
Having gained recognition and met his divine avatar to receive new powers, she still needed more. So she raced forward, gun in hand, to save those in crisis.
“Don’t collapse! Fall back! If we go down, everything falls!”
On the right side of the front lines, places where warriors and soldiers had been blocking with the inner structures of the city were on the brink of being breached by the enemy’s assault.
“This bastard…”
“—.”
The fallen warriors lay sprawled on the ground, and the injured ones staggered. The reason for their failure to defend was a single variant that had folded its wings and landed.
Though the Paladins, including Riena, had been active, not all had achieved victory against every enemy. Serah, the Paladin dispatched to hold it back, was gritting her teeth and stumbling as she had failed to defeat it.
The divinity bestowed upon her was healing her wounds, but it was slow as it struggled to purify the poison the enemy had inscribed.
“Hold your position while falling back. We must buy time without breaking formation.”
“But if you don’t evade now…”
“If it’s just my life on the line, it’s worth it.”
Serah steeled herself for death. Since she had failed her mission to kill the enemy, her second-best option was to keep the enemy occupied so they wouldn’t break the formation.
‘If I can at least hold them off. I can only hope many survive.’
However, Serah herself had no confidence. The enemy before her was that powerful. It resembled a bipedal insect, lightweight and yet wrapped in a solid carapace.
“Attack!”
The fight resumed as they had to secure the spot. Soldiers were in chaos as they split their attention and firepower between the foes attacking from the sky and those charging from the ground.
‘You bastard!’
The variant that had injured Serah was doing the same. It kept attacking from above instead of coming head-on, causing Serah difficulty in countering.
Requesting support from Mages was impossible as the Mages working with them had become prime targets, and he couldn’t protect her in time.
Serah’s eyes narrowed at the cold corpse of the mage lying on the ground. She had a gut feeling that this strike would pierce through her body from above.
“—!”
“What the!?”
At that moment, something invisible zoomed in rapidly, embedding itself into the body of the enemy hovering above.
As Serah widened her eyes in shock, bullets ferociously pierced through the hastily conjured barrier, bouncing away.
“Oh no, this is dangerous!”
He stared dumbfounded at the Bugs, now at a loss, and shouted. The enemy grasped its spear tightly, wings unfurled, and was flying rapidly toward Eve, who was charging from behind.
‘That’s in range.’
Thanks to that, Eve intuitively recognized she was now in range. She stomped down, did a somersault in the air, ducked under the spear that came rushing toward her, and aimed her accumulated mana above the enemy’s head.
“One shot?”
Serah muttered in astonishment as she watched Eve’s skill shatter the enemy’s Defense Barrier and penetrate through its body. The enemy fell unceremoniously to the ground, breathless, while Eve gracefully landed.
“That Elf. Chosen by the Guardian Deity. We…”
“Of course, it was something we had to help with. We’re on the same side, after all.”
Joining them, Eve quickly reloaded, not sparing time for explanation, and blasted bullets toward the frontline again.
Her strikes had enough power to kill enemies in one shot if they hit a vital spot. The thin-shelled flying entities crumpled like bugs doused in pesticide, dropping lifelessly from the skies.
The firing speed, incomparable to bows or magic, along with the firepower it produced, was sufficient to handle the small number of foes they were facing.
“Do all Elves use such weapons?”
“No, only I can use them for now…”
“Only for now? Then soon other Elves will gain such power. That would be a huge help.”
Eve awkwardly responded to their sparkling eyes fixed on the rifle she held.
At least there was no trace of the suspicion they initially held against her as a member of another race.
‘That means if our own kin are friendly, that’s all that matters.’
A spark of hope blossomed in her heart. After all, both sides needed each other’s strength.
“Come on, regroup! We’ll push forward with the main force!”
And hope wasn’t limited to that. With their nimble use of daggers and the steadily accumulated skills, they plunged into the fray once more, ready to finally drive the enemies back.