Chapter 127: The Werewolf Waves
Several minutes had passed since the battle began.
And Liam’s group was still fighting.
"Take this!"
BAM!
Carol punched one of the furry monsters directly in the face.
The creature was sent flying, landing several meters away.
Before it could regain its balance, Jordan appeared behind it.
"Get out of my way!"
BOOOOM!
The enormous hunter jumped and landed belly-first on two of them.
The ground shook.
But they had barely finished off that wave...
More creatures appeared.
Ten.
Twenty.
Thirty.
It seemed like there was no end to them.
The humanoid monsters covered in fur charged toward them, their red eyes glowing through the dust.
The group had started calling them simply "werewolves."
And each new wave seemed more exhausting than the last.
"Here they come again!"
Emily appeared in a flash of electricity and kicked one of the creatures.
Then she disappeared and reappeared above another.
But even she was beginning to breathe heavily.
Sweat ran down her face.
Carol wasn’t doing any better.
Her fists remained covered in metal as she punched one creature after another.
Her breathing was becoming heavier with every passing second.
"How many of them are there...?"
She received no answer because everyone was too busy fighting.
In the rear, Liam fired his pistol.
BANG!
A bullet struck a werewolf in the chest.
BOOM!
The creature was sent flying.
Chuck threw his knives beside him.
"One!"
SWISH!
"Two!"
SWISH!
"Three!"
Another knife pierced a creature’s shoulder.
But more immediately appeared.
Liam gritted his teeth.
’We take down ten... and twenty more show up.’
This was absurd.
It seemed like the werewolves were endless.
A few meters away, Carl fought with the knife Chuck had lent him.
The hunter blocked a claw with the weapon before driving the knife into the creature’s abdomen.
The werewolf fell.
Carl took a deep breath.
Then he raised one hand, and a cloud of sparkling powder emerged from it.
The powder covered Emily, Carol, Jordan, and Chuck.
The sensation of exhaustion diminished slightly.
"That helps."
Emily took a deep breath.
"Thanks, Carl."
"It’s my job."
Carl raised the knife again.
"But I can’t keep doing this forever."
Liam heard him and knew exactly what he meant.
Carl was getting exhausted too.
Yet he continued helping.
A few meters away, several copies of Lydia remained beside the civilians.
They weren’t actively participating in the battle.
They were simply keeping watch over their surroundings.
One of them looked toward Liam.
[Lydia: Liam...]
’Yes?’
[Lydia: Do you need me to do anything?]
Liam fired another bullet.
BANG!
The explosion knocked down another werewolf.
’No.’
Liam took a deep breath.
’Sorry, honey, but not yet.’
[Lydia: Are you sure?]
’We can do this.’
Lydia remained silent.
Her various copies watched the battlefield.
They had already gone through more than thirty waves.
More than thirty, and they were still coming.
[Lydia: They’re tired.]
Liam didn’t answer.
[Lydia: Emily is tired.]
One of the copies watched the hunter.
[Lydia: Carol is too.]
Another looked at Jordan.
[Lydia: Jordan seems to have lost a lot of weight.]
Liam looked at the enormous hunter.
And Lydia was right.
Jordan looked considerably thinner than when the battle had started.
He had burned an absurd amount of fat to maintain his attacks.
Even so, he continued fighting.
◇◆◇
"RAAAAAH!"
BOOM!
Jordan crushed another werewolf.
Then he stood still for a second, breathing heavily.
"I’m starting to feel hungry."
Chuck shouted from the rear.
"That’s because you’re eating yourself!"
Jordan frowned.
"That doesn’t make any sense."
"You know what I mean!"
Lydia looked at the civilians who were still suffering.
Some were crying, while others groaned from their injuries.
One woman was clutching her bloody arm.
’I could heal them...’
Lydia watched the woman.
’But I don’t know if I should.’
She didn’t want to make that decision on her own.
James had said their decisions would be judged.
And Liam had decided they needed to conserve their strength.
’I trust you, honey.’
Lydia’s copies remained beside the civilians.
Without attacking or using any more energy.
Simply watching.
Until Chuck had an idea.
"Hey, Liam."
"What?"
Chuck reached into one of his pockets and pulled out something small.
A gemstone bullet.
One of the ones Liam had given him.
Liam’s eyes widened.
"Are you going to use that?"
Chuck smiled.
"I think I came up with a good way to use it."
Then he looked at Emily.
"Partner!"
Emily turned around.
"Yeah?"
Chuck raised the bullet.
"Hit me with a lightning bolt!"
Emily immediately understood.
"Got it!"
Chuck threw the bullet into the sky.
The small gemstone quickly rose into the air.
Emily jumped, and her body began to crackle with electricity.
Lightning bolts surrounded her.
When she reached the same height as the bullet...
She clapped her hands.
CLAP!
A massive electrical discharge shot from her hands.
The lightning struck the gemstone bullet directly.
ZZZZZZZAAAAAP!
The gem began glowing intensely.
The electrical energy became trapped inside it.
Emily smiled.
"Done!"
Then she disappeared in an explosion of lightning.
She appeared several meters away and immediately returned to the fight.
Liam smiled.
"I think you figured out how to use the bullet pretty well."
Chuck blew a bubble with his gum.
POP!
The bubble burst in front of his face.
"I’m not wasting any more of these."
He put the remaining bullets away.
"Unless it’s necessary."
The gemstone bullet began to fall.
Quickly.
Faster and faster.
Straight toward the next wave.
The werewolves charged toward them.
Completely unaware of what was falling toward their heads.
Liam looked up.
BOOOOOOM!
The bullet exploded.
A massive electrical discharge spread across the entire wave.
ZZZZZZAAAAAP!
Lightning jumped from one creature to another.
The werewolves began falling.
One after another.
Within seconds...
The entire wave had been taken down.
For the first time in several minutes, there wasn’t a single monster attacking them.
Carol slowly lowered her arms.
"What...?"
Jordan’s mouth fell open.
Carl stared at the battlefield in complete shock.
Chuck smiled proudly.
"What do you think?"
Emily appeared beside him.
"Worked pretty well."
Carol looked at the two of them.
"That was incredible."
Jordan nodded.
"Yeah."
Carl raised the knife.
"Definitely useful."
Chuck pointed his thumb at Liam.
"It’s the boss’s trick."
Liam let out a small laugh.
"Now it’s my trick?"
"Of course."
Chuck started chewing his gum again.
"Everything good comes from the boss."
Jordan took advantage of the brief break to sit down.
"I hope that Duncan guy finds and destroys the core soon."
He pulled out a bag of chips.
"I’m done."
He immediately started eating.
Liam watched Jordan replenish some of the fat he had burned.
Then he looked at the rest of the group, who were all exhausted.
’This trial is exhausting.’
There were no breaks, no time to think.
Groups of werewolves kept coming.
And even though they had managed to survive this long...
Liam had the feeling that this was only the beginning.
He looked toward the dust-covered horizon.
’How much longer are we going to have to endure this?’
In the distance...
A new growl broke the silence.
Liam slowly raised his pistol.
The brief respite was over.