One Last System

"Do you need any help?" Levi came from the back and asked. His spiritual spear was already in his hand, both its blade and its handle extended.

The man was ready for the fight that was coming.

"Not yet," I replied, watching how the flurry of my wardens' produced bolts mowed down the monsters in front of us. "How about cleaning all the ones that get too close?" I then suggested.

This fight wasn't about killing the monsters. It was about obtaining materials from them and then harvesting the antimana from the antimana monsters that were coming in the second wave.

Yet... If Levi were to suddenly receive a massive boost to his power, would he be able to accept it if he didn't even lift a finger to obtain any of it?

'It would be tough for him,' I decided before pointing out at a random stone laying on the ground before me. "Let's consider this stone as the marker. Anything that goes beyond it, I need you to kill," I explained while pointing my hand out.

"Sure thing," Levi replied with a smile as he took two steps forward and stood between the approaching wave of monsters and me.

"What about me?" Mia asked, approaching me from the side.

"I think doing the same as Levi will work?" I suggested, not exactly sure how I was supposed to react this time.

She wasn't weak by any means. Not a single of the monsters I recognized in the first wave would do her any harm.

But the same couldn't be said about an entire horde of them.

"Hey, Artur," Levi called out. "At the current rate..." he hesitated to continue. And then, he turned his head around and gave me an uncomfortable look. "At this rate, not a single of those monsters will even get close."

Hearing Levi's words, I turned my eyes toward the scene where the monsters were dying to my bolts. And just like he said, whenever a single one of them would make it past the furthest killzone, it would only be able to make a single step before another wave of bolts would turn it into scattered bloody pieces.

"How about I save some energy then?" I suggested, recognizing just how broken my abilities were.

And what was even more important, there was a chance we would struggle to find more monsters after getting rid of the ones we already managed to attract.

'They shouldn't be here in the first place. Hardly any monster would leave its habitat in the wilds in the first place,' I thought, recalling the stuff I learned while still being an exploited contractor.

But, in spite of what I knew about their nature, the monsters were rushing at us. Or rather, they were rushing to escape from the anti-mana monsters that chased after them.

Still, if the monsters appeared here, it could only mean something forced them out of their natural habitat. As such, my idea of going to hunt in local danger zones could prove pretty much futile.

"Okay guys, get ready!" I called out. "I will let some of them come now!"

I lowered four out of a total of my five wardens. Obviously, with the anti-mana monsters coming soon, I didn't deactivate them completely but simply made them act as barriers, two for each of my companions.

"Eh?" I then had no other choice but to give out a small moan of surprise. Because the only change that this brought was that the bolts no longer fully obstructed the view of what was going on with the first wave of the monsters.

No.

Right now, I could see how just two of them would be more than sufficient to hold back an entire horde of monsters!

'Maybe only the weak ones ended up leaving their habitat?' I attempted to rationalize the situation, lowering three more of my wardens.

And yet, even this proved to not be enough.

Only when only a single of my wardens remained to blast its bolts did the monsters start advancing.

Sadly, by this time, their number was so low that I had no other choice but to disable even the last one, all for the sake of letting my companions do anything at all.

"You are really too strong for your own good," Levi muttered under his nose as he stepped forward, looking at the few monsters that were left with a strange look on his face.

"How is that a bad thing?" Mia countered, leaning her head over her shoulder with a puzzled look on her face.

Contrary to me, she had no history with Levi. As such, it was far easier for her to call him out on whatever he said.

"I don't think I'm too strong. It's those monsters that are too weak," I then pointed out what I could finally confirm.

All this time with the monsters unable to get closer, I could only assume how strong they were. But now that I allowed them to get closer?

The level of those monsters was below some of the stronger ones that I fought while still being a damned contractor!

"That's weird," Levi commented, accepting my words at a face value. "Why would they rush to their deaths like that, then?" he asked, turning his face towards me only to turn it right back when it was time for him to get some fun too.

"I think I understand," I said, watching how Levi started to swing his spear around, stabbing and cutting any monster that dared to approach.

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Then, Levi twitched... and allowed two of them to pass by him.

'So he is leaving some for Mia too,' I thought, my lips curving up in a small smile.

"Leave one of them," I quickly called.

And it was right in time. Because despite having her cultivation lag behind me and Levi by a huge margin, Mia still managed to blast one of the monsters into smithereens with just a single, leisurely smash!

"What?" Mia uttered a small cry, although she obediently listened to my request and allowed the last of the monsters to pass by her.

The monster headed directly for me. And even though I could stop him with a single thought, I allowed it to keep on running.

Only for the monster to run right past me and then keep on going without even the slightest wish to attack me at all!

"They weren't trying to kill us," I then revealed what I figured out. "They were all escaping from the monsters behind them," I explained, only to raise all my wardens up again.

"So...?" Levi then asked, turning his head to look at me again.

"Yeah," I nodded my head. "Mia, get back," I then ordered only to look at the approaching second wave. "The real fight is only about to begin."