As the bone sword descended on Aika, she instantly burst into a flurry of black feathers and smoke. The cloud converged high above, reforming into Aika holding her katana raised. She then plummeted down, delivering a swift, clean slash through the center of the creature before it could even register her absence.
'She can do that?' I thought as I watched the scene with bewildered eyes.
But I didn't have time to be impressed because more and more ghouls kept lunging at us from all sides, threatening to overwhelm us.
'Shit. This is getting bad.'
I immediately snapped into position and began preparing to rain down another wave of flames of decay.
***
In the distance, Dion took a few gulps of his alcohol and swayed, then spun his spear like a drunken master, aiming it at seven ghouls that had lunged at him and Evelyn. He then yelled, "Lock!"
All seven ghouls immediately froze in place. He then raised his spear toward the sky and yelled, "Push!"
Instantly, as if an invisible force had shot them from below, all seven ghouls were flung high into the night sky, shrieking and flailing. Not long after, their bodies slammed back down onto the ground, dying instantly upon impact.
Dion spun his spear and hurled it in a random direction, then yelled, "Lock!"
The spear froze horizontally mid-air. Dion then swiftly turned, locked eyes on two ghouls rushing at him from the side, pointed toward his frozen spear, and yelled, "Pull!"
Both ghouls suddenly lost control of their bodies. As if pulled by an invisible magnet, they were violently dragged toward the frozen spear and, in the next instant, impaled together on its length.
"Haha…" Dion burst into a hysterical laughter in his drunken stupor, then drank more alcohol. But then, as if suddenly remembering something important, he jerked and turned back to where I and Aika were almost overwhelmed by numerous ghouls, then he cursed. "Shit!"
With sudden urgency, he raised both hands in our direction, then yelled, "Drag these sons of bitches into our symposium, Ino!"
***
I raised my right hand to use my exclusive skill, when suddenly, every ghoul rushing at us froze mid-lunge.
Then they began lurching and swaying like drunken sailors. Some foamed at the mouth, some crashed into each other, and others simply fell face-flat onto the ground.
'Huh?'
[The character Dion Athamas has activated the bonded ability: Maenad's ecstasy.]
I quickly turned back to see Dion waving at us with a large smile on his face. I returned a genuine, thankful smile, then quickly turned back, raised my arm, and began expelling mana into the air. Just like before, ten magic circles began to form high above, in preparation for the next wave of ghouls.
On my map, I could see over twenty rushing out into the central plain, while even more were still on their way to the plain.
I swallowed as my heart raced faster.
At this rate, we'd just be overwhelmed again.
Plus, it was just me and Aika.
…Wait.
Just me and Aika?
I quickly turned to the side where I could see Celeste crouching some few feet away and covering her ears like a scared child.
What?!
I hadn't noticed it earlier because I was so engrossed in stopping these creatures, but... Celeste was doing nothing but crying and shivering by the side.
'Dammit! What is this?!'
We were about to be overwhelmed by a flood of ghouls and she was just… crying?
I began to grow frustrated, angry even.
What exactly was her problem?
But before I could even speak to her, the flood of ghouls was already upon us.
Gritting my teeth, I looked above to the ten magic circles that had fully formed, then locking my gaze onto the approaching ghouls, I snapped down my hand toward them. "Descend!"
Instantly, black flames rained down from the magic circles engulfing ten of the approaching ghouls in fire that quickly turned them to dust and black smoke.
At the same time, Aika resumed her duck-and-slash tactic, weaving through the ghoul horde and cutting down as many as she could.
A series of notifications rang in my ears, but I ignored them. I was out of mana and desperately needed to use my skill again, so I instantly reached into my inventory for another mana elixir.
However, just as I was chugging the elixir, I caught movement in my periphery: a ghoul was sprinting toward Celeste with its spear outstretched for the kill.
"Hey!…" I had already begun shouting, but seeing as she wasn't even in the right frame of mind, with her eyes shut and her hands pressed hard against her ears, I instantly knew that the warning was useless and she was going to die.
Gritting my teeth, I flung away the mana elixir I was holding. Before my mind could question why I was about to help her, I lunged at her, grabbed her out of the way, but just at the end, the ghoul's spear caught me, slicing my side as we went down.
"Ack!"
'Shit! She ended up being a burden, after all!'
I could have just focused on myself and let her die, but… I couldn't.
'Damn it.'
I immediately clutched my injured side, my breath hitching, and whirled toward the creature. It had already halted its charge and was turning back to us. Ignoring the sharp, burning pain, I raised my hand toward it, and activated my exclusive skill.
[Flames of decay]
Instantly, a magic circle formed in front of my open palm, and a massive burst of black flames surged toward the creature. The creature leapt sideways, dodging the main blast, but it wasn't quick enough. A part of its hand was scorched by the edge of the fire.
But that was enough. In the next instant, the black flame instantly spread, consuming the creature entirely and reducing it to dust.
Panting, I whirled toward the panic-stricken Celeste. I grabbed her shoulder with my bloodied hand, looked into her wide, terrified eyes, and yelled: "Hey! Get a hold of yourself, or we are all going to die! You are strong, aren't you?"