There were hundreds, perhaps thousands, of sounds coming from beneath the ground toward Rin. They all belonged to the swarm which had finally found its main body.

But it was only possible because of the special frequency emitted by the swarm mother. As long as that frequency could be reproduced, the swarm could be manipulated to appear anywhere.

There were a few hunters with such abilities and with their help, the swarm could be redirected. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

The plan was simple - they were going to force the swarm to appear in an open space where it could be wiped out in a single blast. And this time, the plan proceeded without delay.

However, just because the swarm had been eliminated, did not mean it was over. Another wave would appear soon to replace the previous swarm.

It was a cycle that would only end if either the monster died or the task ended.

"Let’s keep it up for another day. We can do it if we do our best."

They organized another shift rotation People prayed the task would end in time so they wouldn’t have to fight the monster.

__________

Meanwhile, Albus had another problem and that was to somehow survive when Shelly was determined to kill him

"Rin told you to take me back and you decided to follow his words without question? Is that thing between your ears just for show?"

"B-But you collapsed so what was I supposed to do? And Rin is still alright, so wasn’t this the best decision in the end-"

"I should take your tongue away from you first. It’s causing you to spout unnecessary nonsense in front of me. Now, open your mouth and stick your tongue out."

"Shelly, let’s calm down. We can talk more about it later-"

Something slammed into the wall, making it crash down. A medium-sized swarm had collided with the wall and was beginning to rise again.

That caused Shelly to turn her attention from Albus to the swarm instead.

A few more swarm members attacked their section, but Shelly used them to vent her anger." (Albus quickly took the gun away from her before she could shoot the corpses again.)

"What are these bugs and where did they come from?"

Shelly questioned once her surroundings were filled with the dead bodies of these creatures.

By then, the other members of the settlement had started to come by as well. They looked equally as shocked to see Shelly’s handiwork.

"Did you two take care of all these swarms?"

"I did nothing. This was all Shelly’s handiwork. So, what are we doing here?"

Albus changed the subject before Shelly could bring it back around to turn the conversation back on him.

The members of the settlement looked at each other with concern-filled expressions, wondering how much they should tell Shelly.

If Rin had not informed her yet, then there must be a reason behind it...

"You all can tell me instead. I will judge whether to tell Shelly or not. And if Rin does find out, I will take responsibility as well. How does that sound?"

Albus sweetened the deal and only after he said this did the others agreed to tell them what was happening.

"It’s...actually not such a big deal. We just caught the boss monster more than a day ago, so now the swarm started attacking us instead. We need to keep them at bay for as long as we can."

Albus kept his gaze at Shelly but she smiled at the speaker instead.

"Oh, I see. That makes sense. Then, can you also tell me where Rin is right now? I promise I won’t tell him that you told me everything."

The group paused and looked at Shelly. They suddenly realized they had trusted her too easily.

"Y-Young master Rin is in the temporary warehouse on the outskirts. Please don’t tell him that we opened our mouths..."

The man begged but Shelly was gone before he even finished speaking.

Albus felt sorry for the cowering settlement members who were afraid that they would be thrown out by Rin if the truth came out.

Because he felt sorry for them, he decided to place a hand on their shoulder and tell them the truth.

"Don’t worry. There’s nobody more terrifying than Shelly and even Rin knows this. He won’t blame you for it."

In fact, he might congratulate you for surviving while facing her in her bad mood.

Albus didn’t say that out loud but they could all tell what he had been thinking about.

Albus did not linger around for much longer and the group he left behind also let out a sigh of relief.

__________

"How much longer do we need to hold this monster back for? I cannot hold this barrier much longer."

"Just a little more. We are almost at the end. Rin said we needed to hold on until the countdown reaches the final 24 hours before we can let go."

"Shit! Isn’t that still 40 minutes away? Can we keep holding on for that long?"

Rin looked at the dejected but determined faces around him. Everyone was trying to give their best against the boss, but supplies had finally run out. Now, it was only a matter of time before it broke free.

[Rookie, is it time to take on a personal loan? Or, are you going to risk exhausting yourself? Well, you can always sell yourself a little more to the system and get instant benefits.]

As infuriating as it sounded, Rin was about to reach his breaking point. At this stage, he would have no choice but to rely on the system to survive this

But the cost would be steep...

"Shit, the boss broke through. It’s heading straight for Rin. Rin, you need to get out of the way-"

y the time Rin noticed the boss, it was already too close so he braced himself for the impact.

’Shit, I need to throw the core away now-’

"Hey, throw it this way."

Rin instinctively threw the core towards Albus as soon as he heard his voice and Shelly appeared on the other side, hitting the monster as hard as she could. It staggered the monster briefly and also bought Shelly enough time to yank Rin out of danger.

"So, was running away fun, Rin?"

Shelly smiled but her smile felt more threatening than comforting.