Rosaline exhaled a ragged breath, sweat trickling from her temple and sliding slowly down her face.
[Effect of Domain: Enemy Skill 'Fear' has been nullified.]
[Domain Exclusive Skill: 'The Fool' is active. Due to the user's Intelligence stat being higher than the enemy's, the enemy is temporarily retreating.]
[Warning: Continuous skill usage is rapidly depleting your Mana.]
[Your Mana will be exhausted soon: 350/7500]
Blue status windows flickered in succession, warning her. Rosaline's deep blue eyes remained fixed on the front, where the swarm of insects hovered, motionless.
"These things are persistent." Rosaline felt the weight of fatigue. Using her powers consecutively for so long—both her standard mana and the Aeternum system—was draining her physical and mental reserves. Even with brief moments of respite, it wasn't nearly enough to compensate for the energy she was burning.
The lighthouse's beacon blazed under the authority of her Domain. Rosaline knew that the rest of her comrades would arrive soon, just as she knew that everything lurking in the dark was beginning to show itself. It felt like a poor trade-off for the mana spent, but in this situation, if she didn't take the risk, they might lose everything.
"I hope they make good use of the time I've bought them," Rosaline murmured, leaning heavily against her trusted amber staff like a knight planting a sword into the ground to hold her position against an oncoming tide.
The insects remained still at the edge of the illuminated boundary.
The smaller ones weren't intelligent; it was the colossal figure looming at the very back of the swarm that possessed true sentience and thought.
[Parasitic Bat-Fly Queen: 'Algeda' - LV.105]
Rosaline's goal was simple: stall. She intended to use the lighthouse's beam to guide the remaining survivors and give them time to prepare.
She pulled out a glass bottle sealed with a cork. Inside was a glowing white liquid.
It was a Mana Potion.
"I didn't think I'd have to use this today... I only manage to craft one usable bottle in a blue moon," the Hunter girl remarked before popping the cork and drinking it down.
In an RPG fantasy game, mana potions are common items. But in this world, brewing one was anything but easy. It required high-grade ingredients and complex conditions. It was no surprise that a single bottle of low-quality potion cost around 700,000 credits, while high-quality versions reached into the millions.
She had crafted this one using materials provided by 'A'. Of course, the potion was incomplete—missing several key ingredients—but it was enough to replenish her strength in this emergency.
[Your Mana has been replenished by 200 units: 550/7500]
From here on, her only way to regain mana would be to drain it from her enemies using her skills.
Suddenly, the faint, strange sound of a trumpet drifted through the air. She recognized the melody—a tune Professor Charlwind often hummed while lost in his research.
"...They're here," Rosaline whispered. She could feel movement behind her.
Two metal beds and a group of people were hurtling down the ice path at high speed. Leading the charge was none other than Charlwind, perched atop Malloch's bed. He waved to Rosaline. "Hey! Sorry we're late, Grey Hood!"
"Slower! For heaven's sake, Alka, slow down!" Amalin screamed, clinging to the metal bed following behind, which carried two unconscious, wounded men.
"Haha! This is fun!" Edgar, in Adrian's form, sat at the front of the same bed, raising both hands in excitement, despite the flashlight embedded in his forehead and the ice box containing Eugene's arm stuck in his clay gut.
In the arms of the water spirit was Eugene. She flew parallel to Alka, who was focused on the other side, neither of them speaking as they concentrated on constructing the ice path.
"Just like Professor Charlwind," Rosaline muttered, glancing back and unable to suppress a smile at their unorthodox arrival.
"Ready, Ms. Amalin?" Charlwind asked as he stashed his trumpet. He summoned two nitrogen grenades, pulled the pins, and tossed them behind him. "Time to give our beloved De-vons some presents!"
Amalin, shaking off her panic, snapped into focus. She swung her baseball bat, connecting with the grenades with a sharp clack.
Click-click! The grenades landed in the heart of the dim swarm. The insects, sensing the danger, scattered in a frenzy.
BOOM!
A freezing mist exploded, flash-freezing the swarm in a small radius. The survivors buzzed away in a panic.
"Mr. Alka, the plan is: strike first, strike hard!" Charlwind commanded in his role as the team leader.
Alka twirled the Valaris staff with one hand. The water that formed the staff expanded into a circular curtain, driven forward by a mysterious gale from behind.
The water spirit descended to place Eugene beside Rosaline, supporting the boy as he struggled to stand. His face was pale and drawn, but his eyes still flickered with the will to fight, even without one arm.
"Feeling better now that you're standing next to me?" the Hunter girl greeted him softly with a faint smile.
"...You can tell by looking, can't you? But I still have to fight... even if I don't know how much I can do," Eugene replied with a weary smile. "Ellie is waiting for me. No matter how hopeless it feels, I want to find her."
Rosaline nodded, pointing the head of her staff toward the giant queen fly. "Then you see that one? If we take her down, we might find Ellie... maybe."
Eugene looked at the monster and felt a shudder of fear. Both his body and mind were broken, and the creature before him looked like a nightmare ripped from a horror movie. His legs shook, but in this dungeon, there was no running away forever.
The water spirit floated back, winking at the two of them before stopping in front of Rosaline. The graceful figure raised a hand to summon a colossal tidal wave, thrusting her arms forward to launch it at the swarm.
The wind stripped the heat from the water, turning it into a freezing, localized storm. The area, filled with stone cobbles and seawater, turned into an icy wasteland, flash-freezing the insect minions and forcing them to retreat further into the darkness.
"Now then, what's your next move, master of the house?" Charlwind asked as the metal bed glided smoothly to a halt beside Rosaline. He hopped down, followed by Amalin, and turned to Rosaline. "Keeping a Domain skill active for that long must have drained a lot of mana."
"I can handle it for now," Rosaline replied. "But things are about to get heavy."
"I heard from Eugene that one member is missing," Charlwind noted, pausing as a smile spread across his face, as if he had just realized something. "This story is becoming more interesting than I thought."
Suddenly, the Parasitic Bat-Fly Queen, 'Algeda', let out a deafening roar. The sound shattered the air just before the tentacles from her body lunged forward.
"And now, the real show begins," Charlwind remarked excitedly.
Rosaline let out a soft sigh. "If you have a plan, Professor, you'd better hurry. My mana won't sustain this Domain much longer. If the light goes out, their assault will be even more relentless."
"Don't worry... you've been in the plan since the very beginning," Charlwind said, still smiling at Rosaline. "Just keep your skills and your staff ready. That's all I need."