"As a man, how could I not shield women from the wind and rain?" Those firm, earnest words seemed to replay endlessly beside Mikoto's ears. She stared blankly at Wu Yan's back, her hand unconsciously tightening around the potion bottle.
"Yan..." Hinagiku's voice had already taken on a slight sob. Thick regret welled up within her. If she had not insisted on coming along, they would not have wasted a life-saving potion. If that caused something to happen to Yan, then I...
"Don't worry, Hinagiku." Though he could not see her expression, Wu Yan somehow felt as though he could hear Hinagiku's thoughts at that moment.
"Although I don't have Brilliant Breath, I have another life-saving item called a Senzu Bean. No matter how badly injured I am, as long as I'm still breathing, it can restore me instantly. So don't worry about me." Tossing several green beans in his hand, Wu Yan smiled.
These Senzu Beans were not cheap either. One cost 10,000 Item Points. Wu Yan had exchanged for six at once, and together with the 100,000-Item-Point bottle of Brilliant Breath, he had spent a full 260,000 of his 268,000 Item Points. The remaining 8,000 had come from exchanging the Great Wolf Demon's body earlier.
"Besides, there are still so many things I haven't told you, so many things I haven't done with you. So I absolutely won't die like this!"
Hinagiku stared steadily at Wu Yan, then opened the potion bottle and poured all of the golden liquid into her mouth. Wiping her lips, she said, "Yan, if you dare lie to me, you're dead!"
Wu Yan could not help but smile bitterly. "Could you not talk about dying at a time like this?"
"Yan, are you really not going to drink it? This isn't the time to act on pride!" Mikoto said weakly, her head lowered. Though she said that, she did not hold much hope.
Although she had only known Wu Yan for a day, Mikoto had already gained a certain understanding of him. Not only from the information passed to her by the system, but also from their brief time together.
With his personality, he probably was not lying. And this was not a time when he could afford to lie.
"Hurry, Mikoto! They're coming!" Wu Yan ignored Mikoto's words and shouted at her.
At the same time, the massive monster horde finally lost patience. Amid deafening roars, monsters of all sizes charged toward them.
Like a swarm of locusts sweeping through, the monsters carved huge furrows into the ground as they rushed forward. Broken stones flew everywhere, dust billowed up, and the ground shook violently, as though a volcano had erupted!
Facing such a terrifying spectacle, Wu Yan and the two girls could not help but tremble inwardly, their heartbeats quickening. But that did not mean they were afraid.
With battle on the verge of erupting, Mikoto had no chance to persuade him further. Gritting her teeth, she pulled out the stopper and gulped down the potion fiercely, as if that could vent her resentment. Then she shouted, "Listen, if you die and drag me down with you, then..."
"Then I'll be your servant in my next life!" Wu Yan shouted. Gripping his sword in both hands, he stomped his foot and shot forward!
At the same time, the iron sand beside Mikoto began rolling faster. Under her control, it formed whips of iron sand that lashed toward the monster horde!
Hinagiku drew a deep breath, raised Bai Sakura, and charged after Wu Yan toward the monster horde...
He cut a level-20 rat monster charging at him cleanly in half. Ignoring the blood spraying toward him, Wu Yan let it splatter across his body. A deadly chill shone in his eyes as he continuously swung the Kusanagi Sword, and monsters fell one after another beneath him.
As Wu Yan pushed forward, corpses covered every place he passed. Monster bodies were scattered across the ground like discarded sacks, while blood flowed over the earth like water, forming a trail of crimson.
Monsters closed in on Wu Yan from every direction, trying to surround him to death. He leaped into the air, and a glow bloomed from the Kusanagi Sword in his hand. Wu Yan spun toward his surroundings!
Turbulent Return of Celestial Dance!
Arc-shaped blades of light formed a circle and spread outward with Wu Yan's rotation. The encircling monsters crashed straight into it. Some were sliced in half by the light blades, others were shredded to pieces, and some were even ground into powder...
Hinagiku pierced a monster's heart with Bai Sakura. Blood splashed out as she forcefully suppressed the trembling in her body and the fear in her heart, biting her lip so hard that she did not even notice when she had bitten it open.
Hinagiku knew she was weak. Any random monster from this horde was stronger than her. If this had happened before, she would have long since died beneath their claws.
However, with Brilliant Breath protecting her, whenever a monster struck Hinagiku, invisible ripples would burst from the point of impact and nullify the attack. Relying on that invincible state, Hinagiku used a fight-for-life approach, cutting down with one stroke any monster whose attack against her had failed!
Over time, Hinagiku simply abandoned defense altogether and focused entirely on attacking. If she could not defeat a powerful monster, she immediately gave up and switched targets. As for the weaker monsters, Hinagiku relentlessly attacked them until they died. Before long, if she had not killed nearly a hundred monsters, she had killed dozens...
"They aren't people. They're just monsters. They aren't people. They're just monsters!"
Mikoto kept repeating those words as she controlled the iron-sand whips to kill the attacking monsters. Every time blood splashed, her face turned a shade paler. By now, her complexion was as white as paper.
The iron-sand whips danced continuously through the air, and every swing was accompanied by a monster's fall. Though Mikoto was not charging into battle like Wu Yan and Hinagiku, merely standing in place and using her esper ability, she had killed not only the most monsters, but also the strongest ones!
Mikoto knew Wu Yan was only level 30, while at least half the monsters in this horde were above level 30. Without Brilliant Breath's protection, if he encountered even a few more level-30 monsters, Wu Yan might not even have time to eat a Senzu Bean.
Not to mention that Hinagiku was only level 18. Although she had drunk Brilliant Breath, that did not stop Mikoto from wanting to help them.
Thus, Mikoto controlled her iron sand and boxed in all the monsters above level 30 within the horde. She could not exchange items through the system as Wu Yan could, but she could use its detection function. Mikoto knew perfectly well which monsters were level 30 and which were not. Whether she had missed any aside, she had definitely taken on ninety percent of them.
It was precisely because of Mikoto that Wu Yan could charge so freely and slaughter monsters to his heart's content.
The two equally kind girls were now, for themselves and for their companion, forcibly enduring their fear of blood and slaughter as they wielded their blades and hunted monsters...
After using Turbulent Return of Celestial Dance once more to send a cluster of monsters to hell, Wu Yan finally freed up a hand and swallowed a Senzu Bean with difficulty, restoring himself to peak condition.
The battle had been going on for some time. Mikoto and Hinagiku had Brilliant Breath protecting them, so Wu Yan did not need to worry about them. He had put all his focus into killing monsters. His clothes had long since turned all sorts of colors—red, black, green, blue, and everything in between.
It was the blood of the monsters he had killed! Every single color was!
Of course, some of it was his own blood as well!
With the system's detection function active from beginning to end, Wu Yan naturally knew that Mikoto had taken on most of the level-30 monsters. It was precisely because of that that he had been able to keep fighting until now, only swallowing a Senzu Bean when he could no longer endure the exhaustion and injuries.
Although Mikoto had intercepted most of the level-30 monsters, the monsters Wu Yan faced were at least level 20. With so many level-20 monsters, even Mikoto would have needed Brilliant Breath's protection. After all, quantitative change led to qualitative change. Once numbers reached a certain point, let alone level 68, even a level-86 fighter might meet a bitter end.
While this monster horde was not yet numerous enough to threaten someone at level 86, it could still threaten a level-68 fighter. If Mikoto wanted to run, she certainly could have escaped. But asking her to abandon Wu Yan and Hinagiku was absolutely impossible!
Wu Yan silently remembered everything Mikoto had done, then continued swinging the Kusanagi Sword and cutting down monsters.
Gradually, as time passed, the number of monsters dwindled, while the Senzu Beans on Wu Yan's body also grew fewer. By now, only one remained!
The pain in his body and exhaustion in his mind constantly urged Wu Yan to fall down. He desperately squeezed out every ounce of strength he had to kill the monsters coming at him from the front, but he could no longer deal with those attacking from behind and from the sides.
His back, chest, thighs, arms, face—there was not a single part of Wu Yan's body without an injury. But only one Senzu Bean remained, so unless it was the final moment, he truly did not want to use it. Because using it meant he was nearly at the end of the road.
Against enemies in such enormous numbers, exchanging for equipment would not make much difference from the Kusanagi Sword unless he exchanged for something exceptionally powerful, and he did not have enough Equipment Points for that.
As for exchanging for an ability, what should he choose? An area attack? He already had Turbulent Return of Celestial Dance, so there was no need. A single-target ability? That was even less necessary. There were abilities capable of turning the tide, but the problem remained the same: he did not have enough points!
As for summoning a character, 11,000 Summon Points could indeed summon one, but how strong could someone summoned that way be? Even Mikoto had to rely on Brilliant Breath, or she would already have several wounds on her body. There was even less need to mention anyone else.
Just as Wu Yan could no longer resist using his last Senzu Bean, a broad web of electricity swept in from afar, turning the large group of monsters attacking behind him into charred corpses. As the current faded, a crystal longsword appeared beside Wu Yan and cut down several monsters about to pounce on him.
Wu Yan raised his head and looked at the two figures standing before him, slightly dazed.
On the left stood a pink-haired girl holding a crystal longsword. On the right stood a brown-haired girl whose body crackled with blue arcs of electricity, constantly making BiliBili sounds.
Though he could see only their profiles, Wu Yan could clearly see the fear of unknown creatures and bloody slaughter lingering in their eyes. Even with such emotions in their eyes, the two girls still stood there without wavering, cutting down the attacking monsters.
A smile appeared on his blood-covered face. Swallowing the Senzu Bean, Wu Yan stood up, walked to the two girls' side, and fought alongside them...
Before you continue