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“What the fuck is going on?” Havel shouted.

A soldier wearing heavy plate metal sprinted forward as if the heavy armour had no bearing on his movement.

“Havel, the shadow monsters are attacking from the rear,” The soldier said.

“Shit,” Havel spat. “They’re attacking through the bubble.”

“If they can attack through a separate dimension,” Lisa continued, “then water also has no effect on their movement.”

Havel shook his head. “I should have thought of that.” He turned to the soldier. “Have everyone camped out return to the wall. From now on, no one travels beyond what Brett can see.”

The soldier nodded and ran back to the camp grounds. Soon, everyone was ushered back to the wall. Wayfarers, Seafarers, Humanity Corps, and powerful adventurers simply looking for a landfall had their head on a swivel. Left to right, front to back, they had no idea where the monsters could pop out next.

It was the same for Brett. He had to constantly look beyond the wall, and behind them so his neck was busy.

Daniel walked over to Brett and held his shoulder. “How are you holding up?”

“Well I’ll be turning into an owl soon, but it’s better than dying, I suppose.”

Astrid, being right next to them, asked. “The ones that fled, were they all going in the same direction?”

“Pretty much,” Brett said. “What are you thinking, lass?”

“She’s thinking that they are returning all to one place,” Losef added. “It makes sense. If they weren’t together, then they would retreat in every direction. Not just one.”

Astrid nodded. It was indeed what she was thinking. Like an army, they moved together.

Brett moved his head back to the front, but the moment he did so, a scream appeared from a warrior not too far away. He was at the edge of the group, and in a flash, his body disappeared.

The warriors next to him already had their weapons brandished, but it was like their vision turned blank. They couldn’t react in time to save their friend.

“Frank!” One of them shouted, sprinted into the distance before someone else pulled him back.

“We need another plan,” Daniel said to Havel.

He responded, “If you have anything, don’t be afraid to speak your mind.”

“They are all heading in the same direction. Retreating together, it’s clear they are taking our warriors somewhere,” Daniel continued. “Whether that’s a camp of some sort, I’m not sure, but we should follow them and attack with everything we’ve got.”

“That’s a huge risk.” Havel frowned.

“Better than losing all our warriors before the big battle has even begun,” Daniel said. “But it’s your call. Stay here, defend, and lose our soldiers one by one, or risk the attack.”

Havel stopped for a moment as he gazed into the distance. His finger tapped against the magic crafted battlement as he made the tough decision. To defend, or attack.

To Astrid, neither was right or wrong. People would die regardless, and it seemed that Havel had made his decision.

Turning to them, he was about to say something, but a powerful voice interjected.

“We will all attack.” Noah arrived, each step as powerful, and as dense as the deep ocean. “If we leave some to defend and some to attack, then what’s stopping them from annihilating us all at once when we leave?”

Astrid agreed. Perhaps the only thing stopping them from attacking en-force was their numbers. It was why they were resorting to quick attacks. To wear their numbers done one by one. However, she was surprised by Noah’s resolve.

Her decision meant that many would die.

Noah gazed below the wall, to every face that looked at her in uncertainty. “What? Did you all come to a city just to sit behind a wall? No, you came here knowing that you had a high chance you would all die. So, would you rather die here, or out there?”

She pointed ahead, to the distant buildings, and what lay beyond. “Untold riches are yours to be taken. How else do you think the nobles of Rebirth have been able to hold onto their positions for so long? Do you honestly believe that it’s just because of their classes?”

“No, it’s their heirlooms!” Someone shouted from below the wall.

“That’s right,” Noah continued. “The nobles may be many things, but once, they were the bravest of all warriors. They faced annihilation within cities to obtain their wealth. Their power. And who’s to say that they obtained their classes from their bloodline?”

Astrid perked her brows at the words. Does she know something about the black blobs? It was an alarming piece of information, and although the warriors below knew nothing about the class giving symbiotes, the pirate king of kings words were like magnets.

Anyone could decipher them. Could they obtain rarer classes in the cities? That’s what everyone was thinking. Hands pumping in the air, they shouted, screamed. They had accepted their fate.

Noah mentioned nothing of fighting for Rebirth. A lot of them were adventurers that had no ties with Rebirth, so she had to spin her words in a way that would rouse everyone, not just one select group. It was the promise of wealth and power.

Astrid took it all in. She always wanted to learn how to properly lead. Would she have said the same words?

She shook her head. She would have most likely attempted to persuade them to fight for Rebirth, but now looking at the warriors, that wouldn’t work.

“We will be sacrificing our information network, so this will be a mission of speed,” Noah said. “Demolish the shadow monsters and return as fast as we can. That is the objective. Does everyone understand?”

Weapons were thrust into the air and shouts followed.

“Mages in the middle, rangers behind them,” Noah ordered. “I shouldn’t have to explain the rest.”

With the plan decided, Noah wasted no time as she leapt off the wall, and onto the corpse ridden battlefield.

Isn’t she injured? She must have barely recovered. Astrid thought as they moved at a lighting pace. The mages were carried by their warriors, it was a bruise to their ego’s, but Noah was right. They needed speed. Some of them had other means of travel; like movement skills for instance. Whether that was gliding across the land, flying, or riding water underfoot.

Astrid was responsible for Rachelle. Lifting her up with her mind, they soon found themselves miles away from the wall.

Led by Brett, they stopped just outside the city. Astrid had heard legends of Apocpyhpia. The walled gardens, waterfalls crashing down the buildings, heading into the underground water recycling below the earth.

It was a city created by the greatest craftsmen of their generation, but now it was a husk of what it once was.

Buildings were broken, and now the bricks, and debris floated in the air. It was the same for the water, like all the rules of gravity were shifted, and shattered. Instead of running down, the water was now heading upward, toward the surface.

“What a sight,” Lisa said in shock, and a hint of excitement.

“Yeah, if there wasn’t reality warping shadow monsters after our necks.” Rachelle tightened her grip around her new staff.

Noah controlled a huge ball of water, then fired it in the air. She followed it up with a bullet, and when they contacted each-other, the ball of water exploded into a mist.

Astrid wondered what she was doing.

“Approaching from the left–” Brett readied his blade, but the moment the words left his mouth, Noah had already acted.

A bullet of water shot through the air faster than Astrid could blink. It was followed by a stream of red, then a thud of flesh, and bones. The monster appeared, dead.

How? Astrid was shocked. Her own Intelligence was incredibly high, but even she couldn’t react that quick… unless the pirate king knew it was there herself. Astrid’s brows rose as she thought back to the use of the water spray.

Noah didn’t move her eyes from the dark alleyways. “Even if you don’t have a scouting class, everyone has their own techniques to find enemies that can’t be seen.”

Although it was just a hint, it was enough for Astrid to understand. With her high water control, she was probably telepathically connected to the water in the surrounding area. Perhaps it was her own domain, and when the monster walked through the spray of water, it let Noah know where the shadow lurker was located.

Astrid’s mind wandered. Being in the centre meant she was the safest and with Noah by her side, she could afford to.

Deciding to test something out thanks to Noah’s inspiration, Astrid connected to the matter in her surroundings. It was exactly what she did when she was ready to [Crash] it, but this time, she didn’t sweep it into a highly condensed mass.

Instead, she created little balls of loose matter that hung in the air. She made hundreds all around her, and then hundreds turned into thousands. It was the limit of what her mental capacity could afford, but it was enough for her test.

“Four o’clock,” Brett warned.

Astrid didn’t know whether Noah was aware that Astrid was testing something, but her lightning reaction to slay the monster was delayed.

In the air, despite the shadow lurker being from another dimension, it couldn’t bypass matter. It walked through one of Astrid’s mines, and her mind twitched.

She immediately [Crashed] the area where it passed. Its entire body was split apart. Its low constitution couldn’t handle the devastating attack as blood and body parts scattered the surrounding area.

You defeated a Shadow Dimensioner - Level 281!

| Extra experience is granted for defeating an enemy many levels above!

You have Levelled up!
| Oculus Witch Level 184-> Oculus Witch Level 190
| Voidmare Level 184 -> Voidmare Level 190

You have gained 60 stat points.
| You now have 1666 Intelligence.

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