It's been around one hour since their shift started, and the monster assault was relentless. The team barely had more than a couple of minutes rest between each wave of enemies. To avoid wasting energy, they were taking turns dealing with the incoming beasts. Thanks to Hera's court, they could split into two groups of five people. In one of them, the Empress would fight with the rest of the team, and in the other, the titled blades would accompany Vash. The split was like that because they were being overly cautious. If something were to happen and Hera got hurt while all of her court members were fighting, it was likely that they would stop trying to help her. But if they were working on different rotations, that possibility lowered a lot.

Not to mention, it was a good chance for Lurize to use his new skill. He had been testing it out during the runs against the Monarch of the Glen, but it was mostly focusing on him using the skill for himself. Using that ancient knowledge to change how he fought. Another thing that this allowed him to do was to use either a venomous weapon made by Hera or one of the other court members as his weapon. This was a bit of a revelation for everyone. Even Daskka. No one thought about letting the other titled blades use another weapon. After all, they were weapons themselves for almost everyone; that didn't matter all that much. Even if they could use another weapon, they would never be as effective as they were with their own bodies. But, for Viper and Crimson, that solved one of the biggest issues they had. The twins were supposed to work in a pair. Both agreed that they were more effective in a fight when only one of them was in their bipedal form. Not because they had to be together but because, for them, it felt natural to work as if they were holding two large daggers. Adding a blade from the [Venomous Arsenal] solved that problem completely. Sure, they still worked better when they were close to one another, but now, they could each have their own body and still be fighting at peak conditions.

'Hera, jump, tilt your body to the left, then spin. Keep your elbows by your waist and your arms steady while holding the spear,' Lurize said in her mind. Passing along the thought of the motion. He was currently using the [Whisper of the Ancients] skill to 'remember' a fighting style that was effective against aerial enemies.

The Ophidianite followed the instructions, using the side of the tunnel to get a bit more height. Spinning in the air, she cut one of the Cloudwing Strikers. It was a bird-like monster with razor-sharp talons and feathers made out of crackling lightning. Each of them would be a mix of blues and yellows with long beaks that looked like small lightning bolts from the side. Those beings were swarm monsters, appearing in the dozens at a time, and despite being in a tunnel, the ceiling was still high enough for the creatures.

Hera's spin cut the first striker, and as Lurize told her, she continued her movement. Moving at this angle allowed her to maintain her air time for longer. The extra time and motion let her slash another two of the creatures. A fourth one came closer, but the Ophidianite's tail had a venomous tail blade attached to it, allowing her to cut the monster's head off. With Tide, Autumn, and Chris getting another three. Unlike the Empress, the court members didn't have to worry about landing on the ground. As soon as the Ophidianite's feet touched the floor, a bolt of lightning came flying at her. Hera was able to dodge it by the skin on her teeth, leaning back. The electricity dragged a few of her strands of hair along its trajectory. She almost fell backward, but her tail helped her steady her body. Unfortunately, that also made her stop for a moment. And that was all the monsters needed.

After the lightning bolt, a flurry of feathers came rushing at her. All vibrating with energy. Those projectiles peppered the entire area. The court didn't struggle to avoid the attacks, but the same couldn't be said of the Empress. She spun the spear in a defensive maneuver, but her attempt was far from successful, even with the help of Dusa's defensive blade. Only a few of the feathers stopped, with the rest slamming against her. Thankfully, she had her stone elemental armor on, which not only made her scales sturdier but also stopped some of the electricity. Still, that wasn't enough to completely nullify the attacks. Some of the feathers made small cuts on her skin, while one of them hit an already wounded scale, ripping it out completely.

Hera yelled. Losing a scale was like a weaker version of having one of her nails forcibly removed. And just because it was less painful, it didn't mean it wasn't agonizing.

'INCOMING!' As the next five strikers got closer, Gale came flying from the other end of the tunnel like an arrow. The glaive was able to cut off one wing of two different monsters, which allowed Ember and DJ to finish them off.

At the same time, Ink struck one of the remaining five, letting its bonus damage repeatedly apply, 'Hit, hit, blast, hit, hit, blast, hit, hit, blast, hit, hit, and, dead!' the dagger was spinning like a buzzsaw, and that allowed it to apply the debuff several times in a row before dealing the final blow. It was a bit hard to tell if the kill was due to that skill or not; after all, the damage Ink was able to deal, even without that effect, was likely enough to end the monster by itself. With only

The next two Cloudwing Strikers were able to pass by the group, but they quickly arrived at the trap field Hera set up to protect the cave. It was a mix of a spore field to trigger allergies on the monsters. A slowing net, to slow them down, and a blinding mist, courtesy of Daskka, to hinder their eyesight.

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Ailment Mastery triggered x2

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it.

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Seeing the two monsters become slow and sluggish, Hera just fired a few poison needles at them. Before the two were even able to pass the area traps she set up, they fell to the ground, dead.

"Right tunnel clear!" Hera yelled. Skyler was in the back, watching out for any monster with Neria by her side to heal anyone who got too injured. Part of their plan was to have one person take care of each of the three tunnels while the other two would stay behind for support. That way, those who were resting wouldn't have to step up, and if needed, one of the two could help against a particularly nasty monster that was coming from the tunnel.

"Do you need healing?" Neria yelled. The right tunnel had a curve to the right a few meters beyond the cave, then a straight path for around 30 meters, where Hera was currently, before a sharp turn to the left before reaching outside. All other tunnels were mostly straight, allowing the people in the cave to see the situation without having to ask about it.

"I wouldn't say no for some healing," Hera ran past her trap fields. Thankfully, the slow net and the blinding mist wouldn't affect her. For the spore field, all she had to do was cover her mouth and nose while running, and everything would be fine.

As soon as Neria saw the Empress state, she gasped. She might not have been seriously injured, but even with her armor, the feathers did a number on her, mainly on her legs, tail, and neck. The triton quickly started healing while the remaining team members continued their fights.

Flint was facing a small group of Cinder Hounds in the central tunnel. Those were close to elementals but still had a fleshy body, with fire literally running through their veins. The black dogs that were taller than the dwarf were almost pitch black, with cracks in their bodies that glowed a fiery orange and yellow. Their eyes were not like small torches but had a glow as if the iris were so hot that they could emanate their own light. Each of them also had what looked like a metal harness around their chest. A metal harness that protected some weak points. Who or what created that armor was a mystery. Some even believed that the monsters were born with one. Yet, not one was ever able to figure that out.

The first of the hounds jumped towards Flint, who dodged to the side and slammed his power fist on the side of the monster. The pistons on his back trigger an increase in the power of the blow. Unfortunately, part of the metal was melted away as part of the creature broke open. Each drop of blood from the hound was at a temperature that could melt iron and steel. Flint quickly activated his [Item Regeneration] skill. It usually had a passive effect that slowly fixed everything, but now he couldn't afford to wait. The active version would chip away at his mana with every crack, but it had no cooldown and no drawbacks to using it.

Another of the hounds jumped towards him, flames emerging from its claws and fangs. Flint kicked the ground, making a spike appear from his foot on an angle to hit the creature before it could reach him; without being able to change its trajectory while already in the air, the monster could do nothing but be impaled by the metal and die. The third one tried a different approach. It jumped to the side and tried to body-slam Flint while he was defending against the second one.

The dwarf wasn't fast enough to stop the third attack and tumbled back after being hit by it. With the man on the ground, the fourth and final hound rushed towards him, flames appearing on its fangs. Flint punched the ground, using the impact to prop himself up and punch the fourth hard enough to cave in its skull. Turning to the final hound, the only one that was able to hit him, the dwarf lunged at it, briefly scaring the monster who jumped back. Unfortunately for it, it was close to the wall, and the jump was cut short just as Flint spun around for a roundhouse kick, boosted by his armor that made his leg move at a much higher speed than normal.

"Central tunnel clear!" Flint called between breaths. Unlike Hera, he didn't need any healing. The one hit he took barely dealt any damage, and if he was to let it recover naturally, the skills he had related to that kind of thing would increase.

Roan was the last member protecting a full tunnel, and he was facing a monster called Magma Crawler. Small versions of fire scorpions. The type that would never be bigger than a watermelon. But it could reach that size. The added benefit of facing a creature like that was that he didn't require any sort of backup. All he had to do was kill the biggest one, and they all lost control. Almost as if they were troops who had just lost all their generals and command posts.

The beastman didn't care about any of that. All he did was brandish his two hand axes and start swinging. There were so many of them that it became hard not to hit something. And unlike the smart birds that tried to rush to the research lab, those would just leave anywhere, saying that 'the universe will fix things.'

After about 10 minutes, Roan was the one to yell, "Left tunnel clear!"

"Need healing?" Neria asked.

"No, but maybe an antidote. One of the scorpions got me good back there," Roan looked back.

"Ok, come here then. I'll heal, then you can go back," Neria replied.

This was just the first day, the first few hours of the rampage, and everyone was already tired. They could only pray that their shift would end soon.