Chapter 73: Fending Off A huge Monster Alone
"The bolts of lightning guarding the Ihnasia ridge. The more we go deep, the further we will meet these bolts, and there is a legend speaking about the heart of the ridge, as there is a strange thing buried there, guarded by constant bolts of lightning, so no one could go there, no one but the one!" Ela said, narrating the legendary tale of the ridge.
"The heart of the ridge?" she muttered, softly, with some loss in thought, as she had some vague déjà vu when she heard these words, like she had these words said to her once before.
She couldn't recall when or where she heard them, but she had this feeling that she had really heard this story somewhere before.
"What are these?" Oya suddenly asked, after she managed to control her panic as she realized she was now safe.
"The bolts of lightning guarding the Ihnasia ridge. The more we go deep, the further we will meet these bolts, and there is a legend speaking about the heart of the ridge, as there is a strange thing buried there, guarded by constant bolts of lightning, so no one could go there, no one but the one!" Ela said, narrating the legendary tale of the ridge.
"The heart of the ridge?" she muttered, softly, with some loss in thought, as she had some vague déjà vu when she heard these words, like she had these words said to her once before.
She couldn't recall when or where she heard them, but she had this feeling that she had really heard this story somewhere before.
They were all worn out after passing this bridge, so they took one hour break. Oya's friends started to discuss more about her own secrets and the game other face that she told them.
She tried to answer their questions the best she could, but there were many without an answer, like who were these monsters, and why the game was so strict in covering up these facts.
She knew if Ibro was here he would have answered them all without breaking a sweat. She always had this feeling when she was with him, like he was the almighty god and she was his follower.
She also warned them about the way to leave the game, as the game wouldn't allow them to leave normally anymore. They didn't believe her at first, none of them did, and so they all tried to leave the game, and then they were able to do so.
She was speechless at first, before she realized the problem, Ibro took her outside this game, or perhaps the game had sensed the approach of the monsters to this world, so the tight protection she once had was now removed.
She didn't know, and she didn't care, as she tried to exit the game herself, to be forced back by the game.
"So, you call can but I can't," she muttered, as she wasn't feeling anything towards this matter.
"Can we start moving now?" Ela asked, as they all took their deserved rest. Oya looked at her friends as she said, "let's go."
They all moved behind her and her skeletons, which were now numbering two thousands. Oya knew the monsters up ahead were much stronger than the ones in the previous area by ten levels, so she waited, and let Ela and her master attack these monsters with their friends, killing more and more monsters, giving her the chance to turn them into her skeletons.
When she gained five hundred skeletons, she started to take the main role again. she could have done this with one hundred skeletons, supported by the rest of her army, by she thought to let NPCs have some fun first.
The addition of the skeletons made the battles easier, and she intentionally held back her main force, to leave a space for her allies to act at. They started to delve deeper like this, while this area seemed a bit different than the first one, it was broader, and gave them the feeling of being endless.
"Is this the fog of loss?" suddenly one of the NPCs asked, with some worry in his tone.
"Yes, it's," Oya's master suddenly shouted, before adding with extreme anxiousness:
"Let's go back, this area is all sealed now, we can't move forward for a whole day at least."
"What's happening? What's the fog of loss?" Oya asked, as she wanted to know what it was.
"We don't know what it is, but no one has ever entered it and came out again," her master said, before hurrying to gather everyone to go back towards the bridge again.
Just as Oya was about to move, her system came in as it said
'Hold on, this fog is very beneficial to you and me.'
Oya unconsciously paused, as she turned to look at that huge cloud of fog that was moving, silently, towards them. 'Are you sure it's good? Not harmful?' she asked, as she recalled the previous warning of her master.
'This fog is made out of death energy. If anyone touches it, he or she will die, but not you. This death energy is like a super nutrition for you, me, and your skeletons,' the system said.
'My skeletons?' Oya asked with doubt.
'Sure, it's enough to make your skeletons jump in ranks and reach heights that would take ages to reach,' the system confirmed its previous words, 'if it's up to me, I wouldn't let these monsters die in the fog and try to kill them now, turn them into skeletons, so the benefit would be bigger.'
Oya's mind was already convinced by this logic, as she asked:
'Will my baby dragons fly?'
'Sure, they will turn into their true forms,' the system confirmed her guess.
"Alright, you go ahead, and I have something else to do," Oya suddenly said, making everyone here startled by her words. she didn't wait for a second there, as each passing minute meant more monsters to lose.
"Listen up, go berserk, kill every monster you can, go!" she suddenly shouted with some urge towards her skeletons, a thing that never missed the keen attention of Ela and her master, besides many other NPCs.
They were all already considered subjects of her, and if their queen was left behind, how could they retreat?
"You heard master, let's go and kill monsters, all the monsters, now!" Ela suddenly shouted, making all the NPCs go berserk, including her and Oya's master.
Oya stood for a moment, unbelieving their risky decision, before she shouted at them:
"Just be away from the fog and get near the bridge in time."
"You too, be careful," her master shouted back.
A race against time erupted at this moment, as Oya started to run, chasing everyone, using her skill to create more monsters, ordering them to go and kill monsters with others.
The place was so chaotic, with her friends standing in the middle of this chaos, not knowing what to do.
"Just go back to the bridge, and wait for us there," Oya shouted at Salsola when she noticed their bizarre situation. They all heeded by her advice, and went ahead of them towards the bridge.
As for Oya, she kept running, summoning more skeletons, and sending them to kill more monsters.
In the span of one hour, nearly all the monsters in this area were all killed, giving them all a monstrous amount of Xp, raising their levels by ten levels at least, making them break through fortieth.
"There is no more, what do you want us to do?" Ela suddenly came to Oya as she asked.
"Retreat," Oya said, before shouting with her loudest voice:
"All retreat to the bridge, hurry!"
The massive cloud of white fog was now closing at them, and from the ground, Oya felt like standing in front of a hundreds of meters length mighty ocean wave that was coming to kill her.
She didn't stand still, as she wasn't sure the NPCs would retreat if they saw her advance. She retreated with them, while gathering up all her skeletons with her, heading towards the nearby bridge they just passed hours ago.
In less than half an hour of running, they managed to finally spot the bridge, and her friends were there on it. Oya stood nearby, faking her supervision on others, and when everyone managed to enter the bridge, they discovered she wasn't there!
"Where is the master?"
"Anyone seen her?"
"Ela, she was beside you, where is she?"
Many voices erupted asking themselves about her location, however her master managed to spot her petite figure, standing in front of the mighty fog cloud, with her army of skeletons standing by her side.
"No, come back, come back here, stay away from that!"
Her master shouted, hysterically shouted as she thought Oya was going to sacrifice herself in that fog.
"Stay there, I'll be fine, but not you," Oya shouted back, trying to calm them with her words.