Chapter 192: Chapter 192 - Second Wave(Part 4)

Point-of-View: Ilex Sarralot

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Almost...not quite yet...wait for it...aaaand...now! Here goes, Initiate Skill: Shadow Bind!

"Do it now!" I exclaimed, as I paralyzed a Giant Taratect as it got within the range of my shadows, before Lynks slashed at its neck with his ring blades, slicing open its throat.

"Gotta say, I’m really not a fan of this strategy, it almost got me with its webs, that was way too close for comfort," He frowned apprehensively, as he dealt the finishing blow, slicing its head off with a rapid spin of his ring blade.

The two of us paired up and we’ve been hunting down the rest of the Monsters that’ve spread throughout the town, by having Lynks provoke them as we come across them, and then lead them into a dark alley, where I lie in wait and ensnare the Monsters with Shadow Bind, before he deals the finishing blow.

It’s worked decently well so far, this Giant Taratect is the third Disastrous Grade we’ve managed to take down with this strategy. We have the other Adventurers and Knights team up in groups of four based on their strengths and had them go out and hunt the rest as well.

We’ve kept in touch by texting updates whenever we encounter and defeat a Monster. So far, two of the groups have reported that they’ve each killed a Disastrous Grade Monster. One group hasn’t responded for a while, they’ve probably run into a Catastrophic Grade. They’re most likely dead.

"Oh, looks like a Minotaur has been taken down. Two men in the group that took it down were killed in the process though, one Knight and one Adventurer," Remarked Lynks with a grimace.

"We’ve taken down six of the Disastrous Grades, so far. This is going a lot better than I thought it would. That leaves the three Catastrophic Grades and just the one more Disastrous Grade," I surmised warily.

"Yeah, it’s the three Catastrophic Grades that I’m worried about," He sighed in response.

Same here, it’s strange that we haven’t come across them...considering the potential widespread damage they’re capable of inflicting, it should be a lot easier to track them down than it’s turning out to be.

"Let’s get going, we’re not done yet. The sooner we kill them all, the better," I replied, as I stepped out of the alley. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"Kinda stating the obvious there."

There are corpses everywhere, brutalized with their entrails all over the place. This isn’t how Monsters usually act...they see humans as food, so they don’t typically rip them apart and scatter the dismembered body parts all over the place.

Which likely means that they’re doing this on the will of the person controlling them. I kept my gaze forward, to avoid looking at the corpses...there were women and children among them, and a lot of familiar faces.

"Hear that? Sounds like there’s a Monster just around the next corner," Muttered Lynks, as we approached a turn and a roar echoed out from around it.

I recognize that roar, looks like it’s another Disastrous Grade.

"Yeah, that sounds like a Hypnosaur. Make sure not to look into its eyes, or you’re as good as dead," I informed him, as I ducked into an alley.

"Hey, don’t treat me like some amateur, I know what I’m up against," He responded indignantly, as he ran around the corner.

I took my place in the shadow of the alley, staying hidden so that the Monster wouldn’t notice me, at least not before it’s too late. The roars and stomps are getting louder, sounds like he’s managed to get it to chase him.

Almost right on cue, he came into sight, with the Hypnosaur close on his heels, leaping forward into the alley as it began to close in on him and snapped its jaws at his legs, narrowly evading its razor sharp teeth as he scrambled into the alley, losing a few shreds of fabric off of his trousers.

I stepped forward onto its shadow and quickly activated Shadow Bind as the Monster entered the alley, stopping it in its tracks as it opened its jaws, before Lynks wasted no time in slitting its throat with one of his ring blades.

"Nicely done, that takes care of all the Disastrous Grade Monsters," I remarked, as the Monster collapsed onto the ground with a loud thud, blood pouring out of the deep gash on its neck

"Yeah, I really don’t like this strategy one bit," He grumbled, as he kicked at its head.

"It’s working great though, we haven’t taken any damage at all since we began doing things this way," I pointed out wryly.

"You’re not the one acting as bait, so-...woah!" He began to protest indignantly, before yelping in alarm as I suddenly leapt forward and tackled him to the ground, the two of us skidding forward as we hit the ground, right as a massive fireball sailed over us and hit the spot where we’d been standing, a fiery explosion bursting out as it set the Hynosaur corpse and garbage in the alley ablaze, a dark plume of smoke rising up from the alley.

"That was way too close," I muttered with a grimace, as I stared up at the Flame Dragonoid perched atop a building ahead of us, wisps of flames flowing out of its jaws as it narrowed its eyes at us.

"Well, this isn’t good," Frowned Lynks warily, as footsteps echoed out from around the corner...before a Viciousaur came into sight.

It’s a massive reptilian Monster, resembling a Hypnosaur but was much larger, standing on two legs with long arms and sharp claws and fangs, it’s said to have comparable physical strength to that of Dragons. It can’t hypnotized people with its eyes though, but that’s a small silver lining in this situation...

"And it keeps getting worse, it looks like they’ve all come for us," I replied, as a Mega Taratect appeared on the side of a building, crawling across the wall.

"Don’t suppose you can use your Soul Weapon Ascension again?" He inquired hopefully.

"Not anytime soon, no," I shook my head.

"Yeah, I figured that might be the case. Well, guess we’re doing this the hard way, then..."

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