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Chapter 157: Pinewood Forest (4)

With heavy steps on the snow of the tundra plains, Shinto and Ethaniel rushed forward through the pinewood forest whilst having a horde of monsters chasing them from behind.

"Hah... You sure this will work?" Ethaniel questioned Shinto as his attention slightly diverted over to the back of them where he noted that the monsters were still persistently making haste towards them. "I'm not sure if they're stupid enough to go elsewhere..."

"I-It seems to be our only option..." Kon whimpered in reply to him.

"If it fails... Well it fails," Shinto sighed through his teeth. "We only have so many options."

"Ugh... If we end up in a place like this for the third time before the hundreds, I'm just going to buy equipment way above my level at that point," with reluctance to follow through with what Shinto had thought of, Ethaniel helplessly quickened his pace as he headed towards a pinewood tree upfront.

"Let's just hope it works..." With time running thin, Shinto glanced around the area and noted that Ethaniel had reached into position. Moments later, he looked at Kon who seemed to be ready as well. "Sigh..."

Taking a deep breath and heading towards the tree where Ethaniel was, Shinto began to chant out a verse of the spell: [ Shadow Fields ] which had levelled up to the second level.

[ Shadow Fields Lv 2 ] [ 20 Shadow Gauge ] [ Cooldown: 6 Minutes 40 Seconds ]

The Shadow Diviner creates a veil of shadows that covers a wide area of a 25m radius for 32 seconds.

Whilst doing so, enemies within the field will be inflicted by blindness and have their stats decreased by 6% (Stackable with other abilities). Not only that, those that you deem allies will gain a 6% boost in stats (Stackable with other abilities) as well as have their vision enhanced within the darkness.

*When the Shadow Diviner stays within his own field, 1 shadow gauge point will be regenerated every 5 seconds until the duration of skill ends.

...

Moments after Shinto finished the chant, he heeded no time as he casted it out into the surrounding areaIn turn, a veil of darkness appeared around him.

"Grr...!!" The wolves slowed down at their footsteps as they entered the field that Shinto had created. "..." With the skill effects inflicting blind onto them, the canines began to use their senses. Though, they didn't need to as the wolves heard a loud shout from their front.

"Get it done, now!" Shouting out his command, Shinto immediately leapt forward through the darkness as he latched himself onto the tree, soon beginning to climb it up with his strength. "Ugh... Grip strength's horrible," with a silent curse, he placed 19 stat points into Strength, thus bringing it up to 50.

"Kek!" Noting the shout that was coming upfront from Shinto, the goblins began to rush up towards the direction of it, ignoring their inability to see. However, as they took a step forward, a slight laugh came from their sides.

"H-Hey!" A black fox uttered out with a slightly shaky voice. "Over here!"

"Kek..." The goblins laughed as their attention now focused on Kon.

"E-Eep!" Confirming that the goblin's aggro was now on Kon, he started running away from the tree, quickly moving out of the area of the field.

Whilst he was doing that, from the top of the tree, stood Ethaniel who had his eyes plastered on the ground, noting the wolves on the ground pampering at the tree.

"The goblins are out of the way... Now it's the shitty wolves and elementals," counting the remaining head numbers of the monsters, a handful had started chasing after Kon instead. Moments later, Ethaniel began taking out the countless spears dropped by the goblins from his inventory.

"Sigh..." Averting his eyes away from the wolves, he soon turned over to the surrounding trees within the area. "...this will work? How would the aggro divert away from here to there?"

"Huff... Huff..." Letting out a tired breath whilst successfully climbing the tree, Shinto answered. "It should work if a large amount of sound resounds out into the area upon impact with the spears to the tree. Or if possible, just destroy the tree as a whole."

"..." Hearing Shinto's reply, Ethaniel looked at the spear in his hand as he was contemplated on the thought. "Ugh... How long do we have?"

"The fields running out in 10 more seconds. I hope you're good at throwing," Shinto stated.

"Bah... Whatever!" Pinpointing his gaze over to a suitable direction to throw out the spears, Ethaniel began mustering up all his strength as threw the countless weapons out into the air.

...

As he threw it out into the air, only the sounds of the rustling leaves could be heard. It seemed as if the spears that he threw out was futile.

"...we're so dead," Shinto sighed. "I guess we can wait for the inevitable before the branch we're standing on eventually breaks..."

"Argh... Just wait!" Ethaniel clicked his tongue as he began to search through his inventory, taking out the countless swords that Shinto had never seen him used. "Tch... I'm gonna lose gold for this, but better than dying!"

"Wait... Why do you have so many swords?"

"Don't question it and just, I don't know, shoot out your spells or something into the air as well!" With slight hesitation, Ethaniel began throwing out the swords through the leaves of the tree into the direction of where the spears had been thrown out.

In turn, the moment the countless swords were thrown into the air, loud metal sounds began resounding out. With the help of Shinto's [ Hallowed Crest ] and [ Divinity Point ] that only hit the ground but still created certain sounds that alerted the wolves, the monsters below them began to abruptly move away.

"...it's working!" With slight joy on his face, Ethaniel just continued throwing out the remaining swords until the few weapons that remained in his inventory were the ones important for him. "...tch. I'm out."

"It's fine, I think," Shinto reassured Ethaniel. "The horde is rushing over to the other side, so now's our chance to get away from here."

"Right behind you," Ethaniel stated as the two players jumped down from the tree. From the height they were at, the two didn't need to worry about falling flat on the ground as they landed just perfectly.

Soon after, without looking back, the two hurried down the snowy paths as they made their way to the direction of the caverns. Meanwhile, at the side of them, Kon frantically rendezvoused with the group with a tired look.

"I-I did it..." Kon tiredly muttered out. "The goblin's took the bait..."

During the time when Kon had exited out of the field of shadow created by Shinto, the fox immediately used his ability: [ Shadow Play ] and lured the goblins that had their aggro on Kon far from the tree the two players were at.

At the same time, Kon then activated [ Camouflage ] and escaped over to the other side, soon grouping up with the party.

"Hah... Good job," picking up Kon and placing him on his shoulder, Shinto as well as Ethaniel began to quickened their pace as they made their way towards the caverns.

...

Through a dark cave that had two slimes sitting by the side of the walls looking bored, Erith and Minister Yer's gaze locked onto the outskirts of the cavern, waiting and waiting for the return of the party that had gone out to explore.

"Ugh, it's been an hour! An hour!" Minister Yer cried out. "Are they dead? If they are... We're dead!"

"Ahem. Just calm down... It hasn't exactly been an hour," Erith sighed. "There's still time."

"There's still time?!" Minister Yer frowned at Erith's word. "No way are they going to come back here with such a short amount of time left!"

"How would you know?"

"I know when I know!" Minister Yer clicked his tongue. "Argh... Let's just go back into the caverns and see if Madam Ru placed down the veil since she might have noticed it's taking a long while for us to come back!"

"What, are you crazy?" Erith asked. "You're just going to abandon everyone like that?"

"They're dead! What am I supposed to do?!"

"...we're dead? Could you get your facts checked?" As the two slimes discussed with one another, a male's voice protruded out.

"...?!" Turning over to the direction of the voice, they noted that Shinto and Ethaniel had safely arrived back into the cavern. Though, at the sight of them, their eyes shook.

"H-Hey... What are you!?" As Minister Yer was about to barrage questions upon questions to the two humanshe was soon interrupted by the abrupt action of Ethaniel, where he walked past the slime and fell down to the ground, soon beginning to close his eyes.

"...just, let me... Rest for a bit before I hear your complaints..." Ethaniel mumbled out with little strength as his eyes shut closed.

"Huh? Hey, what the hell? Oi! Where's Reru and Rustly?!" Minister Yer cried out. However, Ethaniel had seemed to have already drifted off into slumber.