"Hiss—hiss—"
Hearing the shrill noises coming from the monsters, Akimi felt as if his heart might stop beating.
With this many of them, even if the monsters didn't resist, it would still take nearly half an hour to clean them all up.
What's more, these monsters weren't going to just sit there like livestock in a pen, waiting for Akimi and his group to slaughter them.
"You've got to be kidding me… Running into something like this right after stepping out of the labyrinth zone."
The corner of Akimi's mouth twitched as he drew his Nichirin Blade.
But he had no intention of taking these monsters head-on—if anything went wrong, things would get ugly fast.
So, while the monsters still hadn't noticed them, he kept a fixed eye on their movements and whispered to Asuna and the others behind him:
"Use Hiding first, then head back to the labyrinth zone. Once we're inside the safe zone, we'll use teleport crystals… keep it quiet."
As soon as he finished, he activated Hiding and slowly retreated.
Asuna and the others followed closely after him.
Just then, a frivolous, mocking voice came from behind them—
"Well, well… letting prey slip away like this would really be a troublesome thing, wouldn't it?"
That voice made Akimi and the rest freeze in shock, whipping their heads around.
From within the shadows of the labyrinth, a pair of glowing red eyes suddenly appeared.
Then came the sound of footsteps, and a figure slowly emerged.
He wore a black cloak, the hem ragged and torn in uneven places.
His frame wasn't tall—about the same height as Akimi.
In his hand was a dagger with a green blade, and the red eyes gleaming from the sockets of his white skull mask were chilling to behold.
"Now then—allow me to introduce myself…"
"I don't think that's necessary, Mr. PK under PoH's command. After all, knowing the name of scum like you would only make me feel sick."
Before the man could even finish speaking, Akimi cut him off without hesitation.
Hearing this, the man froze for a moment, then his body began to tremble slightly.
After a pause, he spoke again:
"…That tone of yours is infuriating! So arrogant and condescending… I wonder, what kind of tone you'll be using once you're begging for your life?"
As soon as he finished, he pulled a thin, finger-sized tube from his inventory and pressed it to his lips, blowing hard.
"Fweee!"
A piercing sound rang out.
In the very next instant, all the monsters outside the labyrinth twisted their heads in this direction.
After a brief calculation, their AI locked on, and every one of them charged straight toward Akimi's group.
"…That's a metal whistle?" Akimi was momentarily stunned, then realization struck and his expression turned grim.
"Those monsters outside… you lured them here?"
"What do you think?"
The man—Xaxa—grinned, slowly backing away.
The metal whistle was just an ordinary item, with no special effect.
Normally, only larger guilds would use it to organize formations—but now, it had been given a new purpose: attracting monsters.
"Damn it…"
Klein, gripping his katana, cursed and immediately charged toward the direction Xaxa had retreated.
But before he had taken more than two steps, Akimi grabbed him to hold him back.
Seeing Klein's puzzled expression, Akimi explained:
"You should know PoH's methods too—if we get caught in one of their ambushes, it'll be even more dangerous… not to mention all the troublesome cage traps around here. Better to fight while retreating."
Klein could only nod, though he shook his fist in frustration.
Just then, the fastest of the monsters—the Mid-Autumn Rabbits—closed in on the party.
As one of them began locking onto a target, a rapier struck its head with pinpoint precision, knocking it back.
But that single strike only reduced about one-fifth of its HP.
After shaking its head, it resumed its lock-on.
Within a single second, the lock was complete.
Its blood-red rabbit eyes fixed on Asuna and no longer wavered.
After a brief pause, the Mid-Autumn Rabbit thrust forward with the dagger in its claws, leaping straight at her.
"Water Breathing, First Form: Water Surface Slash!"
Before the rabbit could close in, the Nichirin Blade cut down upon its body midair, slicing it cleanly in two.
At that moment, another Mid-Autumn Rabbit locked onto Akimi from behind.
It leapt high and slashed down with the dagger in its claws.
But without even turning his head, Akimi simply raised his Nichirin Blade behind his neck, blocking the attack.
"Switch!"
"Water Breathing, Seventh Form: Drop Ripple Thrust!"
The moment Akimi called for the switch, Asuna's strike pierced through the Mid-Autumn Rabbit.
Just as the two finished off their targets and were caught in post-attack recovery, four more monsters suddenly lunged at them.
"Double Circular!"
"Vertical Arc Slash!"
Two dual-strike sword skills landed in perfect timing, knocking the four monsters back, breaking the encirclement, and creating the perfect window for counterattack.
Naturally, Akimi wouldn't waste the chance.
He finished them all off, then turned back with a smile:
"Nicely done, Klein, Nautilus."
Receiving Akimi's praise, Klein grinned and raised his brows at him, while Nautilus simply gave a silent nod.
But the situation was still dangerous—the monsters they had just slain accounted for only a tenth of the total.
"Phew…"
At that moment, Yuna suddenly drew in a deep breath, then gently strummed the strings of the instrument in her arms and began to sing:
"You gave me kind words, and when I was lonely, you held me close…" (Song title: "Smile for You")
As her soft, melodious singing filled the air, a full array of strengthening buffs appeared on Akimi and the others.
Seeing the buffs beneath his HP bar, Akimi blinked in surprise, then said with interest:
"So this is that 'Chanting' life skill, huh? Pretty rare."
Beside him, Nautilus explained:
"Yuna loves singing—she doesn't like fighting much, so she never really worked on raising her sword skill proficiency… Later, when she found out about the Chanting skill, she kept practicing it, and now she's close to mastering it completely."
"Not bad at all." Akimi smiled, then turned his gaze back toward the swarm of monsters.
"Well then, let's continue."
"Water Breathing, Third Form: Flowing Dance!"
— The end of the Chapter–