Ethan and Ian rushed to the frontlines since even some tanks were being buried but those new weird monsters. At the same time, the ghost armors were making sure to attack and destroy the vehicles. There was no one nearby to help Ethan with potions, so he couldn't use his mana recklessly. A hammer would be the most appropriate weapon in that situation. However, after using some buffs, the first ghost armor that got attacked by Ethan still died with a single strike. His hands were trembling due to the impact of steel against the pieces of armor, but at least he confirmed that his strength was just enough.

You received 500 experience points.

You received 100 coins.

"A few more points in endurance should do the trick… or I can always…"

One of the ghost armors finally took notice of Ethan and leaped to split him in two with the sword. However, Ethan blocked the attack and grabbed the collar of the armor. After that, he hit it against the ground several times.

You received 1.500 experience points.

ραпdα nᴏνa| сom You received 100 coins.

The skill Swordsmanship obtained 2.500 points of experience.

"Not much impressive… but that at least confirms that they can't curse or do anything aside from controlling those pieces of metal."

Ethan looked around and confirmed that everyone was too busy running or fighting, so he stored the armor and the sword in his inventory. He felt a bit bad by thinking about the loot in such moments. Still, in the end, Ethan had to consider since his strength wasn't like before, and he had to make the most of every situation. By doing so, maybe he will be able to decrease his problems in the future.

While Ethan dashed to face another ghost armor, he began to hear a weird sound. When he looked around for a second, he saw Ian with a machine gun firing Ice Arrows… he really bought a prototype weapon for the battlefield. In any case, no one will probably complain or question him since his attacks were easily freezing the ghost armor and slowing them down completely. To annoy Ian a little bit, Ethan kicked some rocks and then broke the ice layers and finished off the monsters. However, that didn't annoy Ian in the least since it looked like he was having the time of his life while using that gun.

You received 100 experience points.

You received 10 coins.

You received 100 experience points.

You received 10 coins.

You received 100 experience points.

You received 10 coins.

"What a weirdo," Ethan frowned.

"Don't advance too much. The priority now is to help the soldiers stuck on the tanks."

"John?" Ethan frowned when he suddenly heard his voice in his head.

"Hannah left the earrings behind since she wouldn't need them. Anyway, keeping the perimeter around the dungeon is impossible now. Your job is to support the retreat while making sure that no monster will reach the capital at any point."

"What about the other areas?" Ethan asked. "Surely, some monsters are bound to run in other directions. Those who stay underground might cause some issues even if they don't head to the capital."

"We are working on it. Soon enough, some reinforcements will arrive. One of them is a specialist in fighting this kind of foe, so you don't have to worry. Regardless, that doesn't mean that you don't need to keep your identity hidden. Continue to work as usual."

Reinforcements… while that wasn't so bad since it meant that the chances of Ethan going home early might increase, he couldn't help but worry about those reinforcements. Regardless, Ethan did as he was told. He attacked the monsters that were surrounding the tanks and covered those who were retreating. Fortunately, he and Ian weren't the only ones doing that, and those who had worked in different turns during the day also came to help.

"Although we were done for when those weird monsters appeared," Isaac suddenly appeared said. "Thankfully, we reacted fast enough, and we have you guys on our side."

"Don't celebrate yet," Ethan said. "As you already know, the plan of stopping the monsters from spreading around is over. Let's hope that the inhabitants of the nearby cities will have time to evacuate."

"Although this is a problem, the situation won't escalate any more than this," Isaac said. "I have some lookouts in the area, and they confirmed that the monsters' sole goal is to fight. They want to decrease our forces and only show interest in civilians when they are doctors or nurses."

All doubts inside Ethan's head disappeared. There was no mistake. The monsters were being controlled by that strange creature or by someone related to it. Its goal was probably to weaken the human race, but its plan was so bad that Ethan couldn't even laugh at it. Ethan wasn't the only one who had a leveling-up system, so this kind of event will only help people like him to grow strong. However, despite that, he only grew more worried since that was just too weird…

Since Hannah was powerful and worked faster, the number of casualties was kept to a minimum, and the full retreat started just after a few minutes. Those who could use magic and magic items slowed down the monsters until some hunters began to bombard the horde from the sky. However, despite that, things didn't get much easier since the underground ghosts were beyond annoying.

However, they only bothered everyone for a while. Suddenly, Hannah disappeared, and two individuals took her place. Those two didn't even try to hide their faces… they were a boy and girl around Ethan's age, and he knew them. They were: The Super Awesome Hero and the Beautiful Princess. As expected, the guy had a great sword on his back. It was golden, but it was emitting a blueish aura. At the same time, the girl was wearing some rings that even ordinary people could sense a lot of energy inside of.