Chapter 150: Reverse Battle-ball (1/2)

”Make sure not to break the line!” Layn shouted to others, making the full use of his quickly-growing translation spell. 'I wish I could ask them to keep talking to themselves as they fight, but I guess that will be a bit too much,' Layn thought before refocusing his attention back at the battle.

Because with every moment, his group was pushed out of the forest. For an independent observer, it would surely look like humans giving way to the endless onslaught of monsters. After all, they continued to give ground bit by bit.

In such a situation, it didn't really matter that for a single step Layn's party would make to the back, tens if not hundreds of monsters would fall.

”We are going through them too quick!” Layn shouted, worried about their current pace. As the things were right now, it would be no wonder if the Overlord would come out personally to deal with them.

That was the reason behind Layn's warning. As long as he managed to put a stop to the eagerness his people had in killing monsters, he could make them look like a threat not big enough to mobilize the strongest monsters that the Overlord could throw at them.

After all, they didn't come here to fight but to pull Irea and the mercenaries out of the forest. Right now, the only reason why they didn't just turn around and run was Layn's curiosity and wish to explore the limits of this place.

”Guys! We are mowing them down too quickly!” Layn shouted after a few more moments passed. He also wiped his forehead clean from all the sweat his fireballs made his produce.

Yet, at this point, only Irea listened to his plea.

Right ahead, Al already had trouble with keeping up with the formation. From how he was swinging his ax wide, it was clear that rather than making use of the line, it was only bothering him, putting a limit to how wild he could go.

On the other end of the line, Antion already lost his sense of self, clearly too focused on the fighting to hear any orders or to follow them. 'I guess he is overzealous for achievements,' Layn noted before shaking his head.

”They won't listen. You need to do something,” Irea spoke up, revealing a small hint of anxiety on her face. Puzzled by it, Layn took a closer look at her... Only to realize that she was already driving on the last fumes of her mana!

Be it some spells she cast prior to the battle, or maybe she was just exhausted from using her magic all the time. Layn couldn't know the answer to this question without asking, yet there was obviously no time for such luxuries right now.

”Irea, you fall back. We will wound and concentrate on you!” Layn ordered only for his head to rock forward when he detected a presence way stronger than the others.

So far, Layn's group was attacked by mobile monsters. With the first wave came all sorts of horses, wolves, and foxes, along with the monsters of traits clearly inspired by them. There were some six and eight-legged horses, twin-headed wolves, multi-tailed foxes...

It appeared as if the Overlord of this place took nature as a basis and used magic energy to create monsters that lived and worked in a pretty similar way.

But the thing that Layn saw finally broke that rule.

The monster appeared to be a long, gianormous balloon. It had no legs, no arms, not even teeth or anything else that one could be used to.

Rather than that, it moved around by rolling itself in any given direction. But as it continued in its path towards Layn's group, something strange started to happen.

Monsters leaping forward would suddenly crush into the ground. Those who walked slowly enough or just stood in the ground would suddenly start to float, only to accelerate quickly and shoot out of the monsters' sphere of influence.

”What the hell is this?!” Al asked, stopping in his bloody path.

For a moment, the entire battlefield turned silent and eerie, as if nobody, not even the monsters and animals, could tear their eyes away from the monstrosity.

'That's strange...' Layn continued to come up with various theories about the nature of this monster. He even went the extra mile to construct a powerful monster-busting spell. Yet, he ended destroying it halfway before he even had a chance to infuse it with mana. Rather than that, he whirled up his finger and filled this simplistic structure with his energy, sending a small pebble of condensed magic straight towards the monster.

Yet, all according to his expectations, when the pebble was scheduled to explode and cause a magic-storm on a microscopic scale... It appeared to rejuvenate the monster instead!