Supreme Monarch

Dashing through the tunnel, the group hastily ran away from the approaching Kylyra and Lilith who were being chased by countless massive humanoid yet bat-like flying creatures with greyish black fur, and a man-like face with bat ears and bloody fangs.

The bat-like creatures shrieked loudly at a frequency that most wouldn't normally be able to hear, however, for an unknown reason, Tyler was able to clearly pick up on the sound and he completely hated it. It felt like his eardrums were going to burst even though the creatures weren't using any skills or racial traits to amplify their voice.

'Damn it, of all the resistances not to have. This is really getting on my nerves.'

Perhaps the reason why he felt the effects of their shrill so badly was that he ran quite a distance behind the group so he could easily protect them if need be. However, if that was the case the girls behind him would have been in the worst state.

Due to the monster's vast numbers, their cries seem to continuously ring in his ears. Thinking he would have to do something else risk his life, Tyler suddenly spotted a dim light coming from the distance. It would seem they were getting close to an exit or something similar.

The man bats flapped their wings rapidly and flew chaotically as they shrieked and bumped into each other, some even slamming into the walls and crashing into the ground.

Their chaotic movements made everyone assume they were blind creatures but Tyler could tell that they just had terrible eyesight, which would be the same as actual bats. Tyler was also fairly confident that they could use echolocation based on all the shrieking they were doing.

Tyler and the group finally reached the end of the massive tunnel and exited it into quite a massive expanse that seem to be slightly illuminated by blue crystals that were sparsely embedded in the walls and there were also several other entrances or exits to different tunnels in the place.

As the group madly dashed into the expanse, they did not stop immediately upon exiting the tunnel, rather, they ran further in until they got to the center of the expanse before stopping so they would give themselves more space to operate and a better view of the situation around them.

It would be a disaster if they were to get blindsided by monsters that came from a different tunnel while facing off against the Night Terrors.

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The group then promptly turned around and readied themselves while adopting their fighting stance in their usual formation with Tyler at the front, playing the role of a vanguard, a role that was generally taken by Kylyra.

With only a few seconds to spare, Tyler silently use the 'Placate' spell on the Hunter's to calm their nerves as he focused his sight on the tunnel while expanding the range of his Magic sense. He then saw Nadine being pulled by the arm by Kylyra who seemed to be in a panic but Nadine had a blank expression on her face.

'What's up with her.'

Tyler was wondering why she didn't seem panicked by the situation as the monsters that chased after them all felt as strong or maybe even slightly stronger than she was. Although strength did not necessarily equate to skills, that didn't mean that a horde of so many monsters at that level wasn't a threat to her life.

Then again, perhaps she just had that much confidence in him. With no more time to ponder what had happened to them and why they were in such a situation, the girls finally burst through the tunnel as Kylyra immediately flew while still pulling on Nadine as they both crashed behind the Tyler's group's formation.

There was no time to question the girls as the Night Terrors had already burst into the tunnel. There were countless numbers of them as most of them flew in chaotically and others rapidly crawled on the walls and on the ceiling that was surprisingly quite high in this expanse.

With more than a hundred creatures swarming into the expanse, the group suddenly felt a wave of dread sweep over them. Their raised weapons were slowly lowered as the will to fight slowly faded away and their bodies shivering with fear.

While these were also Intermediate class monsters just like the Lesser Djieien and were not particularly stronger than them. The problem lies in the fact that these were all flying vampiric creatures with insane stamina levels and higher grade resistances.

Also, unlike land-based creatures, flying creatures were a lot more terrifying. They had a lot more resistance to long-range-based attacks which were practically the only way to kill one in the first place. To make matters worst, they also possessed a variety of ranged attacks as well.

Their abilities also allowed them to kite their preys from above and wear them down before swooping in to finish them off, making it almost impossible for a party of platinum-ranked Hunters like themselves to take even one of these creatures down. 

And yet, there were more than a hundred of them hovering above them right now. Their minds had been completely overwhelmed, what exactly were they supposed to do against this many monsters.

The answer was simple, they could do nothing but stand there and await their deaths while hoping that somehow, the mysterious man known as Lix would have a trick of his sleeve that could save their lives.

*Aieh!!!

The monsters suddenly let out an audible blood curling shrill that everyone could hear, the bone-chilling shriek rendered everyone immobile and sent shockwaves down their spines.

The scream was so loud that it made their head go blank and their eardrums literally burst. A thrill of pain swept through their bodies and some of them had even collapsed on the ground, screaming in pain, others still struggling. Aine and Anne were the first to go as they could no longer handle the pain and had already passed out.

There must have been almost two hundred Night Terrors using the skill: Sonic Scream at the same time after already using their Fear Inducement skill the moment they burst out of the tunnel.

Tyler had to admit, these creatures weren't just mindless monsters like he had originally thought. Even if they did not share the same level of intelligence as the Lesser Djieien from earlier, their cunning was not far behind. They knew the best way to fight their opponents and the most effective time to use their skills and numbers to the utmost of their potential.

Even when they outnumbered them by more than ten to one, they still did not charge in recklessly and had immediately used the fear inducement skill on them so they would quickly lose the will to fight and lower their guard against the next wave of attacks.

Their sense of timing was also impressive as they had chosen the right time while the party had been filled with dread to use their sonic scream. Throwing their preys off balance before they would then decide to jump down and finish them off, most likely with their fangs, drawing their blood, or probably just ripping them apart with their talons. 

That was just brilliant. It was something that most hunters that were susceptible to their fear inducement would be unable to escape from.

However—

"Hahahahah... I'm utterly impressed... However, filthy creatures like you have the audacity to damage me. ME! Hahahaha... Know that for your sins, even death will not save you this day. Know despair."

While only Aine and Anne had passed out from the original attacks of the Night Terrors, the sudden wave of pressure that had exploded from within Tyler. A wave that contained a wave of undying anger, rage, and the arrogance of a superior being, suffocated the entire mine in a weight that felt like a planet had been placed on their backs and sent everyone except Nadine slamming their entire bodies to the ground, their minds overwhelmed with pain and a suffocating amount of power.

Even the massive horde of Night Terrors, could not escape this fate, and while the ones that had originally firmly perched themselves upon the ceiling did not fall. Their bodies felt so heavy that they could no longer move.

Unable to withstand the constant strain on their psyche, the rest of the Unrivaled party, all passed out without even knowing what had happened as they had lost both their ability to hear and their brain could not even register what their eyes saw.

Nadine, who also had a shattered eardrum but had an item that could protect her from this pressure for a while. Carefully brought out a scroll from the small spatial storage box that was in her possession and Opened the parchment.

It was a golden brown parchment that looked a bit ancient but had a slight glow about it. She struggled to raise her head to look at her master but could only catch the glims of the hundreds of monsters that had crashed on the ground all around him.

Without hesitation, she immediately activated the scroll. This was a scroll of the highest level that contained a spell that even she had never believed to exist. When she had received this item, her hands had felt like it was holding a mountain and she did not feel qualified to use such an item at her discretion.

this was a scroll that contained within it, a spell of the eight-tier, Divine Protection. As she finished activating the scroll, a brilliant hue enveloped all five members of the party including her and as though her strings were suddenly cut, she immediately collapsed on the ground as well and passed out.

"Wave of Despair."

As though on cue, a greyish black aura suddenly wrapped around Tyler's body as it immediately exploded out of him in a wave of dense negative energy that seemed like there was no end to it. The wave swept through the expanse and even into the tunnels, although it did not seem as limitless as the first time he had used this spell due to him now having better control of his Mana.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud...

Countless bodies of the Night terrors fell lifelessly to the ground with some dying instantly and others convulsing for a few seconds before their bodies finally stopped moving.

However, Night Terrors were bat based creatures with both, Mammalian Physiology and Vampire Physiology. Thus, they were part undead and could resist the wave of negative energy to a certain degree seeing as most of them had survived and were now able to take flight as the weight on their bodies was lifted the moment Tyler used the spell.

However, while only the monsters that had been further away from the initial point of the wave of despair spell had managed to survive, most of the Night Terrors had managed to survived his spell. Still, this was not a spell that generally had an instant death effect. 

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No. That had only been as a result of Tyler's uniqueness and the excessive amount of negative energy he released. So when the creatures he used the spell on had some level of resistance to negative type spells, the spell did not seem all that deadly.

However, the spell's original purpose was to inflict immerse fear on his opponent just like the Night Terrors fear inducement skill and in that regard, the spell had served its purpose as all the remaining Night Terrors no longer tried to attack and some of them immediately tried to flee and others were too scared to even move.

Seeing these annoying vermin's try to escape had only served to piss Tyler off even more as he had no intentions of letting even a single one of them leave this place alive.

"Insolent pest. What makes you think you're free to leave."

Spatial Lock