Luke lowered his head and managed to dodge the attacks, but they destroyed half of the ceiling of the vehicle. Shalia fired her Ice arrows, but the same attack repelled them. While she failed in helping on time, she gave Luke the chance to see what had almost hit his head. It was a jet of highly concentrated water. 

When Luke left the vehicle, he was attacked by the three weird creatures again, but he blocked the jets of water with his sword. However, he was pushed backward several meters. That surprised him...

Aquatic Worm - Lv 22

HP: 84/ 84

MP: 175/ 195

SP: 34/ 34

Skills: 

Spells: Water Cannon Lv 05

The monsters made Luke recall some ordinary worms, but naturally, they were much bigger, like two meters long and half a meter tall and large. The monster was supposed to be weak, but it had a powerful and very offensive-oriented spell.

Dodging that attack up close would be hard, and a mistake could as well open a new hole in Luke's body, so he attacked the monsters with his remaining needles. However, the worms repelled the attack with their water cannons. While circling around, Luke recalled the obvious weakness of monsters that live underwater, and so he fired Spark Balls. The water cannons were fired, but they didn't do a thing to stop Luke's spells. In the end, the monsters were electrocuted to death after Luke used half of his mana.

You obtained 07 experience points.

You obtained 07 gold coins.

You obtained 07 experience points.

You obtained 07 gold coins.

...

"I guess they fooled me with their attacks… they were nothing," Luke said.

"They were nothing… you hear that, Shalia?" Rina asked while smirking.

"... What is your point?" Shalia asked, visibly annoyed.

"My point is… using the same tactic you use to taunt me is pretty refreshing," Rina said. "I suppose I am being affected by you in a bad way…"

"Can't you use Electric attacks, Shalia?" Luke asked.

"No… I never tried to learn it," Shalia replied. "It is one of the types of magic that I can't use. I am fine with ice, fire, and earth."

"I suppose everyone has some bad match ups," Luke said.

In any case, it seemed that the worms were leaving the lake, so Luke would have to deal with them for a while longer, and given the power of their water cannons, they might destroy the engine. Unfortunately, Luke couldn't just leave the car behind and clear the path ahead.

Considering that Luke got froze in an instant against the big wasp when he got close and his hands hurt when he blocked the last attack, Luke realized that he was lacking in the defense department. Perhaps, he should stop ignoring his endurance and Resistance… It seemed like a waste since he was so offensively oriented, but Luke decided to put some points in them before moving forward.

Luke fixed his Posture to be able to fire Spark Balls from his seat without risking causing issues with the vehicle. His range with that spell was forty meters, and the monsters attacked him when he was thirty meters away from them, so Luke had the upper hand. As long as he doesn't miss too much, things should be fine.

It didn't take long for Luke to find new enemies, and so he attacked them with Spark Balls. Much to his surprise, Luke didn't miss a single Shot… even when attacked on the limit of his range. The same thing happened a few times more, but then Shalia warned him.

"One of the dark elves and his partner are our left side, one hundred meters away… watching you while they are hiding their presence," Shalia said.

"If they are just hiding, then it is fine," Luke said.

"He probably isn't alone… why would they ignore the chance of attacking Luke who is alone?" Rina asked.

"You think that all the ones we chose are bloodthirsty killers?" Shalia asked, visibly annoyed. "While we tend to choose partners who have violent tendencies, that doesn't mean that they are fools… they probably understood that Luke came from outside the city and since he can fight the worms alone, they think that they are out of his league."

That was incredibly convenient and disappointing. Nevertheless, Luke didn't stop to give them the chance to change their minds, so he quickly moved away from there.

After one hour, Luke had left the area of the lake behind and was quickly approaching the northern exit of the city. The number of encounters against the worms decreased, but Luke began to find zombies instead of them. He knew that there was a horde ahead waiting for him, but Luke's worries were on the sky. The region was starting to get cloudy, and the temperature was decreasing as well… it was going to rain, and the visibility will decrease even more. To make matters worse, the first worms damaged the ceiling of the vehicle… Luke might be able to protect the radio transmitter with the shield, but he still will have to worry about getting drenched.

"I need to tame a monster as soon as possible… I feel that with one, I can avoid this kind of a mess," Luke thought.

Luke asked if Shalia could use Earth magic to someway fix the ceiling of the vehicle, but while she could do it. It would take too much mana… she would need to keep spending mana to maintain the shape of whatever she created, so it wasn't a good option.

Nevertheless, Luke worried about the exit of the city and then began to hunt the zombies using the same strategy as before. So much work for trying to reach Orlando before sunset… at this rate. He will be lucky if he reaches by the next morning.

Nevertheless, Luke sighed when he began to feel the first droplets of rain… he could tell that one hell of a storm was approaching.