Chapter 40.3

Even though he had raised his skills with the board, Haruki was finding it hard to follow the succession of attacks.

But…

“Gah!!”

A Silver Wolf approached from a blind spot and rammed into his side.

The sound of breaking ribs echoed.

As his detection ability was low, he had not been able to react to this attack from a blind spot at all.

“Shikama!?”

“Leader!!”

Lars and Haria’s eyes widened as Shikama nearly fell to his knees.

“Concentrate!”

Haruki shouted.

This was no time to be surprised.

The monster parade had already started.

Monsters were being born one after another in the passages.

And they weren’t just Silver Wolves.

Obviously, there were Owners as well.

There was no way that they could let their guard down.

Haruki had no intention of pardoning Shikama and the others.

That being said, he wasn’t going to let them die here either.

No one deserved that.

This reasoning would probably be considered naive.

However, that was Haruki’s backbone.

And something he wasn’t going to change.

“We’re getting out alive.”

“Shut up you insolent little shit! You damned scum!!”

He was so loud that the Silver Wolves reacted.

They attacked Haria all at once.

He knew how to move.

Even when surrounded, he continued to unleash his arrows and dodge the attacks of the Silver Wolves.

Haruki couldn’t help but watch.

He was firing arrows while dodging.

And his aim was precise.

And he was so quick when nocking arrows.

The arrows hit the Silver Wolves without missing their vitals.

Their numbers went down rapidly.

However, once he had killed 20, he ran out of arrows.

Haria continued to dodge.

But now that he couldn’t kill them anymore, it was just a matter of time before they would overwhelm him.

“Gaaaahhh!!”

Haria had nowhere to run, and a Silver Wolf easily bit into his arm and tore it off.

Damn it!

Haruki ground his teeth.

Adventurers on the upper floors tended to have powerful weapons but weak armor.

Shikama was the advance guard, so he was different. But it was certainly the case with Lars and Haria.

And that was the cause of this fatal result.

Things might have been different had he been wearing an entry model.

“Ahh, aggghhhh!! Shi-Shikama! Help me!!”

“Shit! I’m…gg!?”

Shikama was about to go and help him, when an Owner’s arm swung in the air and hit him straight on.

It was another attack that was from a blind spot.

However, this time he was able to react just a little.

He planted his feet firmly on the ground and managed to avoid being blown into the air.

However, that turned out to be a mistake.

“…ggg…Ah!”

The Owner’s attack had landed on the joint of his right arm. And now it was bent back at an unnatural angle.

It was the kind of careless mistake that someone who was a shield-bearer was likely to make.

Instead of letting the force of the attack escape, he had accepted it. And that meant taking more damage than was necessary.

He would not be able to hold his sword anymore.

“Shikama, Haria! Stand together with your backs against the wall!! I’ll open a path!”

He was an impressive attacker. He expertly used the centrifugal force of his great sword as he swung to cut through the horde of Silver Wolves as if they were paper.

However, this attack lost all accuracy very quickly.

“Wha…!”

When he was surrounded by so many monsters, he was no longer able to swing his great sword, which was the only way to make it do maximum damage.

And just like that, Lars was unable to cut the monsters into blocks of meat.

“Daaaamn it!!”

He was forced to cut through the Silver Wolves with shorter swings.

However, it took him too much time to swing downward.

And his strokes were too slow.

For every wolf he killed, two more would appear.

The circle of monsters started to close around him.

Shikama and the others had been able to set wounded monsters on Oiso. That’s how high they stood in terms of combat on the 8th floor.

And yet, this team was so easily being pushed to the edge by a monster parade.

Once you were overwhelmed, there was no formation or strategy.

Once chaos took over, there was no teamwork.

Everyone was forced to fight alone.

And in situations like this, quantity easily beat quality.

This was why monster parades were so scary.

Only those who could face hundreds of monsters alone would be able to survive.

On top of that, no matter how skilled you were, human weapons such as bows and great swords were hard to use during such a chaotic fight.

Monster parades were a bad fit for the majority of Adventurers.

Perhaps it wouldn’t have been so bad if the monsters were much weaker.

However, if the enemy was the same level or higher, than there was no hope of victory.

That’s why Adventurers ran when there was a monster parade.

There was nothing they could do but run.

Of course, the monsters were attacking Haruki as well.

And when they did, he used his two daggers to cut, block, and kill.

Furthermore, Rhea supported him by firing the potato stones.

Quickly.

He could still help them.

So, hurry!

Move faster!

But the wave of monsters was thick.

And his attacks weren’t fast enough.

He wanted to help Shikama and the others, but it was all he could do to keep the monsters at bay. He couldn’t break through the wall.

It was like a nightmare

He felt horrible.