Chương 70: All In

With a quick mental command to my digital pockets, my wide-mouthed blunderbuss dissolved into a harmless shower of white pixels. In its place, the long, slender silhouette of my Standard Issue Matchlock materialized between my palms, its grooved wooden stock settling against my shoulder. I aimed down the straight metal barrel, squinting beneath the tight bandana wrapped around my forehead, and squeezed the smooth trigger.

A single point of my mana pool drained away to manifest a heavy bullet of concentrated magical energy inside the chamber before the rifle barked into the chilly forest atmosphere. The high-velocity projectile hissed through the leaves, tracking straight for the nearest lumbering Shambler. The massive walking log turned out to have some surprisingly decent reflexes, though.

Instead of letting my magical bullet blast its face off in a satisfying, one-shot explosive finale, the creature violently jerked its trunk-like torso sideways at the last second, letting the projectile impact a much less vital chunk of its overgrown mossy shoulder. The beast let out a wet groan, thoroughly annoyed that I had just ruined its premium bark, and immediately charged straight toward me like an overgrown, hostile freight train.

Thankfully, its grand campaign of vengeance was cut short before it could even reach my fragile skeletal structure. Out of absolutely nowhere, Dimitri managed to leverage his massive upper body beneath the pile, his heavy Rough-Hide Gauntlets swinging forward to plant his shield directly into the center of the charging monster's chest with a heavy, bone-rattling thud that completely halted its momentum.

Seeing my favorite human meat shield successfully keeping the monster at bay, I quickly swapped my weapons once more with a fast mental command, letting the long rifle dissolve so I could summon my heavy prototype revolver right back into my palms. I turned my head toward our pint-sized berserker, pitching my voice just loud enough to clear the sound of splintering wood.

"Aiko-chan, get over there and help Dimitri hack his way out of those roots. I'll stay back here and use this pistol to soften up their armor for you." Aiko didn't even hesitate. She gave me a single, quick nod through her messy dark bangs, her wide eyes momentarily locking onto mine with absolute, unwavering trust.

Without letting out a single whimper or looking back a single time, she gripped the mountain-wolf hide wrap of her giant Spine-Breaker's Reaver and immediately rushed straight into the middle of the chaotic battle. Watching her petite frame charge directly into a literal mountain of hostile, thrashing monster limbs left me feeling a highly confusing mix of awe and mild existential dread.

For some bizarre, completely unfathomable reason, our hyper-anxious little teammate didn't mind me sending her straight into the jaws of absolute imminent danger at all. In fact, she was entirely, shockingly willing to throw herself right into the meat grinder for me without a single shred of a problem. The absolute second her boots hit the damp earth, Aiko began wildly waving her monstrous black-iron sword around like a pint-sized whirlwind of pure, unadulterated property damage.

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work. The jagged step-blade of her Spine-Breaker's Reaver hissed through the chilly forest atmosphere, cleanly cutting and splintering the thick, suffocating roots that had been tightly holding back Dimitri. Seeing our favorite vanguard finally getting some much-needed breathing room, I raised my newly summoned revolver and immediately went to work on the rest of the garden.

I squeezed the smooth trigger five times in rapid succession, watching five precious points of my mana pool instantly vanish as I fired exactly one glowing mana bullet toward each of the five remaining health-bloated Shamblers. The heavy projectiles streaked across the clearing, slamming brutally into their dense outer bark to crack open their defense stats and soften up their armor exactly as promised. Naturally, my aggressive display of long-range pest control didn't sit entirely well with the local plant life.

One of the wounded log-beasts unhinged its blind wooden face and locked its undivided, hostile attention directly onto my magnificent torso. Before I could even think about executing a cool tactical repositioning maneuver, the creature violently unleashed a pair of wet, whipping Mycelial Tethers straight toward me, intending to wrap my fragile limbs in suffocating fungal ropes. But before the sticky vines could even close the distance, Fiona decisively crashed back into the scene.

With a spectacular burst of wild roar, she instantly transformed right back into her giant crimson bear form, her massive wall of predatory muscle and fur completely eclipsing the danger zone. She didn't even hesitate.

Driven by pure, unadulterated kindness and a terrifying amount of physical force, her massive paw swung forward in a brutal vertical arc, violently punching the head of the offending Shambler with a bone-shattering thud that completely ruined its momentum and sent it staggering backward into the dirt brush. With Fiona successfully acting as my giant furry shield, I capitalized on the glorious opening without a single shred of hesitation.

I rapidly fanned the trigger of my Training Prototype-7 once more, letting another five points of my magical reserves drain away into the chamber. The bulky iron prototype barked fiercely into the forest air, launching another magnificent volley of five consecutive mana bullets that tracked flawlessly through the smoky canopy, hitting each and every one of the five thrasher Shamblers dead on target for a spectacular second helping of armor-shredding misery.

The localized thermal aura surrounding June suddenly escalated to a completely ridiculous degree, her entire silhouette glowing significantly brighter as she pumped an absurd amount of raw fire mana straight into her magical reserves.

"O spectacular flame of absolute devastation, descend upon these uncultured monstrosities and violently reduce their offensive composition to a pile of worthless charcoal!" June announced, her thick, hyper-aristocratic British accent dripping with unbelievable layers of majestic grandeur and narcissistic supremacy as she pointed her Scuffed Juniper Branch toward the clearing.

"Incinerate their primitive frames until absolutely nothing remains but agonizing regret, delivering the exquisite torment that their peasant status so rightfully deserves!" Down in the thick of the fray, my aggressive armor-softening routine and Aiko's enthusiastic hacking routine finally paid off in a major way.

With a mighty, dramatic heave of his massive upper body, Dimitri successfully shattered the very last of the restrictive fungal ropes holding him hostage, completely freeing himself from the sticky grasp of the Mycelial Tethers.

Realizing that staying in the immediate vicinity of a narcissistic princess charging a massive explosive spell was a fantastic recipe for a premature cremation, our burly vanguard immediately took off, sprinting away from the cluster of lumbering Shamblers with surprising speed for a guy built like a brick house. Seeing the plan moving into the final stage, Aiko gave a quick mental command to her inventory, causing her monstrous, light-absorbing black-iron step-blade to vanish into a shower of digital pixels.

Free from the immense physical weight of her giant weapon, our resident berserker swiftly turned on her heel and started booking it across the mossy earth, with Fiona's massive wall of crimson fur and muscle trailing right behind her like a giant, protective security detail. The three of them successfully cleared the danger zone in the blink of an eye, flying past my position like a highly synchronized team of track stars who were all mutually terrified of being turned into a group barbecue.

Naturally, the five health-bloated Shamblers weren't about to just stand there and let their favorite punching bags escape without a fight. Their blind wooden faces unhinged with absolute hostility as the entire synchronized pack lunged forward, aggressively stomping across the damp dirt brush in hot, high-velocity pursuit of our retreating teammates.