Logan held his breath as the raging water waves turned into a massive tsunami, heading straight for the city.
"If that thing hits, it’ll drown most of the lower-ranking mercenaries," he mumbled, face darkening.
He didn’t even want to imagine what would happen once the beaches were completely submerged.
As the tsunami headed for the city, Logan noticed something strange.
’That thing isn’t moving,’ he thought, narrowing his eyes at the crab.
The massive crab’s eyes were locked on the air far in the distance.
Following its eyes, Logan spotted the same figures from the news feed floating silently in the sky far away from him.
’S-rank hunters,’ he thought, raising an eyebrow.
Logan took a step back as the pressure in the air grew heavier, even dark thunderclouds gathering above him.
The sheer size of the tsunami made his instincts scream at him to turn back and run.
Glancing around, he noticed most of the mercenaries had bolted towards the city barrier.
’Smart choice,’ he thought, tightening his grip on the glaive.
While he was still contemplating what to do, a loud mechanical voice echoed over the battlefield.
"All mercenaries are to hold their positions!"
Logan froze.
"Desertion in the face of a potential city-level threat is a Class-A offense. Survivors will be prosecuted under martial law!"
The mercenaries that had just scrambled back to the barrier came to a halt, their eyes filled with uncertainty, fear, and betrayal.
Meanwhile, Logan’s mind started churning, searching for reasons why this was happening and what the consequences would be.
’If all the mercenaries leave now, the military will suffer immense losses,’ he thought. ’They might not even be able to defend the barrier.’
Once the creatures swarmed the barrier, Logan could only imagine what would happen.
Many more questions raced through his mind.
Why weren’t the S-ranks helping here?
Are there more S-rank creatures that they need to be aware of?
How are we supposed to survive this many A and B-ranks?
...
Suddenly, Logan slapped himself in the face.
’I don’t have time for this,’ he thought, glancing at the approaching wave of creatures.
The A and B-ranks were still far in the distance, but the C-ranks had pushed through the craters created by the mana turrets and walked several hundred feet without anyone blocking them.
They advanced in clusters, not as a solid wave. Fishmen sprinted ahead in loose groups, Thornshells slowly followed behind in formation, and Earthcrabs crawled forward like living tanks.
The mercenaries behind him still hadn’t moved, most unsure what to do.
’There is no way back,’ Logan thought, a fire lighting on the edge of his glaive. ’Then I can only go forward.’
Logan took a deep breath.
He glanced at the nearby creatures with immense focus, everything around him slowing down, before dashing forward.
Logan quickly closed the distance with the nearest group of eight C-rank fishmen, stabbing his glaive towards the first one before they could even notice.
With one clean motion, Logan sliced through its leg.
As the first fishman let out a pained screech, Logan jumped up, his glaive already heading for the second one’s throat.
His glaive plunged deep into the alarmed fishman’s throat.
Logan planted his feet against its body and kicked off hard. His glaive tore free from the fishman’s throat, spraying green blood through the air.
The fishman fell back from the jump, gurgling blood as it struggled to get air.
Logan spun through the air, his glaive plunging into the back of the first fishman’s head.
’That’s two,’ he thought. ’I have to save as much mana as possible.’
Six more fishmen surrounded him, none of them oblivious to his presence anymore.
They rushed toward him—four charged up water beams at their spear tips, while two more stayed back and formed a large purple orb above them.
’That one is new,’ Logan thought, glancing at the purple drops melting the ground beneath the orb.
He didn’t want to sit around and wait for them to finish.
Dashing towards them, Logan quickly felt his instincts warn him as several water beams shot straight for him.
He gritted his teeth and jumped back.
The four water beams crashed into each other barely a few feet in front of him, a large splash of water blocking his vision.
Determined to keep fighting with just his burning glaive and brute force, Logan jumped to the side, heading for one of the other fishmen.
The fishman in front of him swung its spear, a wide water arc shooting out at high speeds.
Logan couldn’t dodge in time at his current speed.
Without hesitating, he swung his glaive down, breaking through the water arc before jumping up.
Sending a little more mana through his glaive, it easily slashed deep into the fishman’s chest.
As the fishman burned, Logan noticed a group of twelve D-rank Thornshells closing in, and not far behind them, a group of five C-rank Earthcrabs.
’They’re piling up fast,’ he thought, frowning. ’I need to be faster and more precise.’
’Fighting without using any mana, while effective, isn’t going to cut it.’
While dashing to the next target, Logan spotted another fishman to his left charging up a water beam.
He quickly created a small bone spike, shooting it towards the fishman’s eyes.
At the same time, his other hand held his glaive at the very end of its handle.
Logan leapt into the air, spinning sideways mid-flight as he brought his glaive down with full force.
His glaive slashed deep into the fishman in front of him, its organs spilling out on the snow.
At the same time, the bone spike pierced into the eye of the other fishman, interrupting it from making a high-pressure water beam as it immediately let out a screech while its hands headed for its eye.
’Five down... three more to deal with,’ he thought, locking eyes with the last fishmen.
Logan’s eyes widened as he noticed the massive poison orb flying towards him.
’I can’t let that hit me,’ he thought, darting behind the body of the fishman he’d just killed.
The acid orb hit a second later, melting straight through the body, continuing towards Logan in a smaller size.
Logan jumped back, summoning a bone wall that barely held off the orb.
As his bone wall dissolved, he couldn’t help but shiver as he saw the half-remaining body of the fishman.
Before Logan could glance at the remaining fishmen, a deafening crash echoed through the battlefield.
Everything came to a halt at once.
’The tsunami...’ Logan thought, eyes widening.