“What’s the situation, brother?”

  Mathros, the green-scaled lizardman with a cloak over his adventurer clothes, expanded the wind swirling around his body to create a shield barrier around him and his allies.

  It prevented even the countless Nightmare Creatures, in the form of spectral sheep balls and malformed six feet goats, from attacking. Not letting the opportunity slip, Fala and Naga’s clones, along with the Grudgekeeper pieces, devoured any who dared come close.

  “Isn’t it obvious? We’ll have to take care of these pawns and find the one who killed Benji!” Lulu, the bunny girl, tapped her feet a few times, readying herself for the inevitable clash.

  Between her two long bunny ears stood a little pink and blue creature that resembled a gentle flower. With its little arms, it held tight on its master’s pink fur, an expression of dread anxiousness was stuck on its face.

  “What she said.” The scarecrow turned his head slightly toward his Grodran friend. “Leave the rest to me.”

  “...” Mathros looked down at his palm reflexively, then curled up the scaly corners of his mouth. “So be it.”

  Both of them have already ranked up and become Savants… Somnu thought, noticing the ever so slight, but clear change in his friends’ facial features too.

  Just as human’s features became more refined with a rank up, non-humans received the same General Abilities upgrade. Mathros’ scales looked more controlled, while Lulu’s fur seemed tailored, as if neatly and naturally brushed.

  I can rely on them now. As much as I wanted to do this myself… Somnu pursed his faraway lips. I’m still not strong enough.

  The scarecrow suddenly summoned all the crow and serpent clones he could, covering the area around him and his friends in black smoke.

  Even so, I’ll ensure we all make it out of this alive! I’ll drag the Blood Fiend out of his hiding spot, the plan is still salvageable.

  “Finally! Now we can at least kill his friends in front of him!” The werewolf growled as he lowered his massive figure into a running position.

  “...”

  “But he’s still…”

  “It doesn’t matter. Work together and get this over with quickly.”

  Noticing the anxiousness of both the red-scaled lizardman and the shadow assassin, the one-legged elf stepped forward with full authority, twirling her oversized hammer in preparation. With one swing, she knocked half a dozen goats out of the throne room and into Lethe’s emerald embrace, their distant figures catching on fire.

  While the werewolf had devoured some Climbing Goats, only the remaining two pawns had been able to make contact and slay the floating semi-transparent sheep balls.

  Now, they were ready to refocus on their common enemy and his allies.

  “The big wolf can regenerate, the assassin can slip through shadows and has poison, the other lizardman can fly and create a barrier around him. He has different types of arrows, so watch out for that.” Somnu gave a quick rundown of the most important skills to watch out for, preparing his friends. “For the hammer-wielding lady… Beside igniting things on fire, she likely has incredible body enhancements.”

  This had been clear to Somnu based on multiple factors. Her raw strength was beyond anyone with such a lean and delicate figure, allowing her to easily wield the hammer that likely weighed much more than herself. Not to mention she had not lost a single step, despite being on one leg the entire time, moving around the throne room with complete ease.

  “Understood. To think another fellow Grodran would ally themselves with such a despicable killer.” Mathros summoned his Grimrazor Sling, the slingshot that doubled as a brace knuckle with protruding spikes. Using his [Quickdraw Combat], he immediately loaded, and aimed it at his flying kinsfolk through the clearing smoke. “Have you forsaken Lord Trado’s teachings?”

  “What nonsense are you sprouting?” The red-scaled lizardman cried out in response. “You still believe in such outdated concepts despite everything you’ve witnessed? Our great ancestor can’t help us survive here! Only he can, and easily!”

  To the side, the bunny girl and the werewolf were glaring at each other with anticipation. She, along with Somnu and the two familiars on his shoulders, suddenly glowed green as they felt a rush of new energy envelop them.

  “Spirits tainted by the lure of a helping hand, easily led to the embrace of sweet lethargy.” Mathros released his hold on the string, shooting a small rock at his kinsman. “We are indeed far from alike.”

  As if sounding the signal they had been waiting for, Lulu and the werewolf dashed towards each other, the wind violently howling in their wake.

  “Boundless Momentum!” Boosting her incredible speed even more, Lulu became faster than even Mathros’ shot, closing the distance in a blink of an eye. As the flowery creature on her head held on for dear life, Lulu jumped for a flying drop kick. “Seismic Stomp!”

  “!”

  The werewolf barely followed the movements before quickly grounding himself and suddenly stiffening in place like a statue. Despite the great shockwave the kick released on impact, it only served to push the werewolf to the back of the room, his stance never wavering.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  At the same time, Mathros’ shot had hit the barrier around the other lizardman, making him scoff at the attempt.

  “Really? A small rock?” He released a glowing yellow arrow at the explorer.

  However…

  CRASH!

  “?!”

  “My compass has shown me the way to victory.” The green-scaled lizardman said, dodging the arrow by suddenly appearing right behind the bow user just as his barrier shattered into pieces. “And you stand in the way of my brother’s reckless plans.”

  “Shut up!” The red Grodran immediately whistled through the air backwards, towards a window, and shot another arrow at his opponent. “!”

  “You’re no longer needed here.” Mathros spoke, appearing right in front of the opponent and using a strong gust of wind to launch him out of the throne room, and out of the fort.

  As a Climbing Goat jumped at the explorer from his blind spot, he disappeared once more before it could reach him.

  “Fala, send a crow outside and keep an eye on Mathros!”

  “On it, Master!”

  “Give Lulu a hand too!”

  “Can you really afford to worry about others?!”

  As the scarecrow dodged a swing of the long hammer, the shadow assassin and his clones rose up from the ground, surrounding him upon landing a distance away.

  However, this time around, Somnu’s borrowed eyes were seeing things clearly. Not only able to distinguish the real body amongst the clones, but following it as it tried to sneak around under the cloak of invisibility.

  Is this… Mathros’ new skill? Somnu guessed, noticing the sudden upgrade. I figured I couldn’t hide this from you…

  Although the blind Sleeper could no longer see the Systems of his friends and check their new skills, he could at least guess what Mathros had been thinking. He hadn’t simply boosted his familiars because Somnu was blind now, but the Grodran likely noticed his friend hadn’t been here in person due to his compass.

  Either way, considering Naga’s thermal vision only hadn’t picked up on the opposing skills, Somnu was grateful for his friend’s helping hand.

  Keeping an eye on the shadow assassin with the flying Fala, the strawman leapt forward at great speed, passing through the shadow clones being devoured by serpents, and aimed his sickles at the one legged-elf waiting for him with a sharp, piercing gaze.

  “!”

  Suddenly, as the invisible assassin attempted to attack from the rear, two disks appeared to slice him in half. It made the elf twitch her eyes ever so slightly, missing the new presence behind her. A plum, leathery outfit with jagged teeth for a hood.

  The elf suddenly dropped her hammer to the ground and held her glowing arms at each end, stopping both the strawman and Grudgekeeper in place.

  Crow-Shit! Somnu cursed inwardly, realizing the lack of strength in his two proxies compared to him.

  “Now!” She shouted, not wasting time and grabbing the arms of her attackers.

  “!”

  In an instance, the assassin appeared once more, covered in shadows as he cut through the scarecrow’s torso.

  Dammit! I killed you already! Can he just recover from everything?!

  Once again, the pawns had managed to force Somnu into resummoning his doppelganger and exhausting more of his energy. He quickly put on the cloak again as his old straw dummy collapsed to the ground. He hoped Lulu hadn’t noticed, but she seemed focused on her own fight.

  The constant resummoning had stacked up, costing him another use of [Distorted Fallacy].

  Only three left. I have one level up to replenish some, but I have to save it up for later. Somnu considered, taking the constant rise of Terror Cores into account.

  “You can still do that?! How many clones can you summon and control?!” The shadow assassin blurted out in unmasked exasperation.

  “That’s rich coming from you…”

  “... Fair point, I guess.” The assassin fixed his posture and nodded his head. “I can summon them, but I can’t control them the way you do. At least in a way, it’s still kind of balanced-”

  “Stop analyzing and attack him, dumbass.”

  “Right.”

  “Let’s stop this.”

  “!”

  Somnu suddenly suggested.

  “We can do this forever. In the end, you’ll run out of energy far faster than me. You see my familiars?” The strawman pointed toward the serpents and crows devouring Nightmare Creatures. “I can keep leveling up and reuse my skills, unlike you. I’ll choose to let you go if you stop here. I’ll even drop the exit to the Layer as a freebie. What do you say to my kind, merciful offer?”

  “...”

  As much as I want to take down all Pawns, I have to stay in good shape for the coming fight… Somnu considered cutting his losses. “Leave this Layer and be free of his control. You’re the one he’s been communicating with the most here, right?”

  The elf’s sharp eyes narrowed, then tightening the grip on her hammer, she held it to the side.

  “Asking us to betray our benefactor was not the way to convince us!” She cried out, a red flame igniting around her, contrasting her smooth, almost white skin.

  “Hey! Speak for yourself! I want out!”

  “!”

  The shadow assassin cut in, holding his arms up in full resignation.

  “I’ll stop, tell me where the exit is.”

  “...” The strawman glanced his way, then sighed. “I guess I’ll have to kill you both after all. Remember that I gave you a way out. Ah, I guess you won’t need to remember it for long.”

  SWING!

  No choice but to use one more now…

  Barely dodging another invisible attack from behind, coming from the lying assassin, the scarecrow grabbed the head and decided to use the most powerful skill in his arsenal.

  “?!”

  However, a sudden shift in atmosphere stopped everyone in their tracks.

  A gust of wind, so freezing, it paralyzed the nerves, so hot, it made eyes water… So quiet, it made the air howl in silent terror.

  Its arrival marked by a crimson flash, the green hue of the emerald moon was no more.

  “That’s what you get!” The assassin spoke with a wide, crazed grin, his voice turning hoarse, deeper.

  John Doe!

  “It’s all thanks to your help! I’ve achieved one of my dreams! And now, everyone on this Layer will perish!”

  “?!”