[Objective: Defeat the Shadow Army wave 1/10]
Out of the shadows, wild boars started to appear, one by one. Their bodies were covered in darkness, and their eyes were glowing red. Slowly, their numbers grew, and they started charging straight at Rondo.
"Rondo, behind you!" Kenta yelled.
Rondo spun around and stabbed the shadow boar with his sword. The boar he stabbed slowly disintegrated into dust.
"We gotta stay sharp, don't let any of these boars get past us!" Rondo said, while busy fighting off the shadow boars swarming him.
Kenta grabbed his bow and arrows. He saw a few shadow boars start running his way. He took a deep breath. His gaze locked onto the boars. He grabbed an arrow, then launched it at them. The arrow he fired split into 3, then 5, then 7 arrows as it sailed through the air.
Meanwhile, Tira held her staff horizontally. Her lips moved, chanting a spell. Her eyes glowed a bright purple. Her hair whipped around in a sudden, strong wind.
"Ila litho portu fokusie. Brim hador brim hador litho godhia axpartua!" Tira shouted, pointing her staff forward. A powerful, glowing purple energy shot forward, knocking over trees and making the shadow boars shriek in pain. A few moments later, the shadow boars slowly faded into dust.
But, Tira let her guard down. There was still one left, about to attack her from the left.
"Crap, that one!"
Rondo stabbed the remaining shadow boar with his iron sword.
"Calm down, I got this one," Rondo said.
They looked over at Kenta, who was still busy with the last few boars. They ran over to help him. As soon as they got close, Kenta collapsed, weak. Tira caught him and let him rest his head on her lap.
"Thanks, Tira," Kenta said, his voice a bit weak.
"We're not done yet, don't thank me now. We still have 9 more waves," Tira said, using her healing magic on Kenta's leg.
Meanwhile, Rondo charged forward into the woods where Kenta had been. He faced the shadow boars there all by himself. Again and again, he heard the clank of metal as the shadow boars tried to bite his body. But luckily, it wasn't easy for them to get through the iron armor Rondo was wearing.
Rondo swung his sword quickly at the boars. He also skewered a few of them on his sword like pork satay. The boars stabbed by his sword just vanished into dust. Not a trace left. He then sheathed his sword at his side.
Not long after, a UI popped up in front of Rondo.
[Wave 1 Objective Complete!]
[+350 Exp]
[Next Objective: Defeat Shadow Army wave 2/10]
Still... so many more to go, huh?
Rondo thought. His eyes stared seriously at the UI. The UI closed automatically. A few large shadow bats and more shadow boars with glowing red eyes started appearing in front of him. But suddenly, 3 arrows shot past him and hit the shadow monsters. Rondo immediately looked back.
"Hey, don't have all the fun by yourself, knight-boy," Kenta said, smiling and holding his bow.
The shadow monsters started appearing in even larger numbers now. They began to swarm the trio. Tira was chanting again. Small bolts of her purple magic shot out, hitting the shadows quickly, again and again.
Kenta followed up, drawing an arrow. This time, it had electric energy that spread out—making the shadow monsters instantly pass out. Then, Rondo was the one who executed all the fallen monsters.
The more monsters attacked them, the more skilled the trio became at using their abilities. Tira kept firing her magic energy fast. Kenta kept shooting arrows with all kinds of different energies. Rondo's sword got faster. He was like, dancing with his sword among the monsters.
Rondo's body spun, his sword moving unpredictably—stabbing the monsters with steel that flashed by like the wind.
After fighting nonstop for a while, things finally got quiet again. The monsters stopped coming. They were all panting, drenched in sweat.
"Phew, wave two is finally over. If we keep this up, we can make it to wave 10, right?" Kenta said, collapsing onto the grass.
"Haha, yeah, maybe. Hope so. Btw, drink this," Tira said, tossing Kenta a bottle filled with blue liquid.
"What is it?" Kenta asked.
"Mana Potion. Drink it so you don't run out of mana," Tira said, opening another one for herself. Kenta and Tira both chugged the potions, then closed the bottles.
"Refreshing, right?" Tira asked.
"Kinda bitter, actually," Kenta said.
"Ahaha, of course it is, jeez. Anyway, where'd Rondo go?"
"Dunno. Looks like he's still in the woods, standing guard."
"Hmm... he's so serious."
"Yeah but he's pretty good, he was slaughtering them earlier."
"Really? Well, let's get going then. Don't wanna make him wait."
[Wave 2 Objective Complete!]
[+400 Exp]
[The first boss will now appear. Do you want to spend your exp to upgrade available equipment?]
[Yes] [No]
[Note: If you tap 'Yes', your equipped items will be upgraded. If you tap 'No' and save it, your collected exp will be converted into Growth Points. Exp will be lost if you die.]
"Hmm... I think I need an upgrade," Rondo said, looking at the big UI. He tapped 'Yes'.
[Upgrade completed!]
[Iron Sword → Excalibur]
Rondo looked at his iron sword, which was now changing. It became Excalibur, an elegant white blade wrapped in black, with a much sharper edge. The grip felt more comfortable in his hand.
[Proceed to the next wave? (2 other players are waiting)] [Yes] [No]
Rondo tapped 'Yes'.
[Next Objective: Defeat Shadow Army wave 3/10]
[First Boss starting! Shadow Giganoa will appear this phase. Get ready!]
Suddenly, a deep roar echoed from the distance. Its footsteps made the whole forest start to shake. The booming sounds made trees sway like crazy. The giant monster appeared in front of Rondo. It gave a heavy roar, calling more shadow monsters. Rondo could only see its legs and arms.
The monster tried to punch Rondo. But Rondo was fast, dodging its kinda slow punch.
Meanwhile, Tira and Kenta were busy with countless shadow monsters. They were attacking them from all sides.
"Hey, looks like Rondo's fighting the big one," Kenta said, busy shooting arrows.
"Looks like it. We'll help him after we finish with these minions," Tira said, also busy casting spells.
"But how long will that take? These minions probably won't stop coming until we kill the big one," Kenta said.
"If that's true... then cover me," Tira asked.
"Cover you how?"
"Just... anyway you can."
"Geez... okay, fine. I'll cover you."
Tira then held her staff straight up, parallel to her body. Her eyes were closed tight. Her mouth started chanting.
"Espardia axatus la vaillo sour ethornum. Hurikana huricana axantenia!" Tira shouted, opening her eyes, which were glowing purple. A purple energy exploded outwards in a circle, blasting away and killing all the shadow monsters that got close.
"Come on, we gotta hurry and help Rondo before it's too late," Tira said, adjusting her staff.
---
Meanwhile Rondo was still busy fighting Giganoa. Rondo tried running up Giganoa's body, starting from its leg, then when he got to its shoulder, he slid down while stabbing his sword deep into its body.
The Giganoa shrieked in pain. But its right hand immediately grabbed Rondo, trapping him in its giant fingers. His sword fell to the ground below.
The monster started to squeeze him. Rondo winced in pain, it was tight and hard to breathe.
But a few moments later, a magic spell and an arrow shot quickly towards the monster's eye.
The attack made the Giganoa loosen its grip, and Rondo fell from high up. Luckily, he hit a few trees on the way down, so the fall wasn't fatal. He groaned, his back hurting as he tried to stand up. Tira and Kenta ran over to him.
"Are you okay?" Tira asked, using her healing magic on Rondo.
"Yeah... I'm mostly okay. But that monster, honestly... I don't know how to beat it," Rondo answered weakly.
While Rondo was being healed, Kenta was busy distracting the monster. He kept shooting arrows at parts of its body, making the Giganoa wince in pain.
"Hey stupid! Where you looking, huh? How's it feel to be blind, huh?" Kenta taunted the Giganoa.
The Giganoa roared. It called more shadow monsters to chase Kenta. A whole bunch of them started running after Kenta.
"Geez... He's so sensitive," Kenta said, putting away his bow. He started running, trying to get away from all the shadow monsters chasing him.
Meanwhile, Tira heard the sound of the monsters chasing Kenta. They were moving pretty fast, and Tira noticed.
"How strong is that big monster, anyway? Why don't you know how to fight it? Weren't you just fighting it?" Tira asked Rondo, who was still lying down.
"Yeah, I was fighting him. But the weird thing is, even after I stabbed and cut off parts of his body, it just grew right back," Rondo replied.
Tira was shocked to hear that. Her eyes went wide, not believing what Rondo just said.