Chapter 42:

Defensive Gardening (8)

The World Is Ending, But I Still Have to Work

Chhh chhh chhhh!

"Ice Blast!"

Two voices, one right after the other, sounded out, and almost identical shards of ice flew at a crowd of rats crawling along a path about 4 feet wide.

More than 10 dog-sized rats were frozen at once, but almost immediately, the frozen rats turned into a red sludge-like liquid. This liquid began reacting within the ice, squirming as it formed a rat-sized bug.

"Ice Blast!"

Another round of ice shards flew, freezing the red roaches as they tried to form.

Then black chains swung, precisely targeting the roach heads within the ice and causing little crystals to pop up as each head was crushed.

Pop, pop, pop, pop.

Before anybody could move, the black chains snagged two crystals before moving away to attack other rat creatures, quickly absorbing the crystals that came out.

As the roach heads were quickly popped, the red sludge spread, staining the ground around it while the bulk of it rested on the surface.

"Tch. He's as quick as ever." Mathew muttered as he wiped the sweat from his head before grabbing his minuscule portion of the life energy crystals.

Crkkkk-

The walkie-talkie attached to Mathew's waist crackled, and a cold voice was heard.

- Your relief is arriving, so make an ice wall and head back. I'll cover.

"I think it's amazing that he can focus on so many different situations at once. It makes him seem superhuman." Rodney, the man who had been bitten first by the rat creatures, also collected his life energy coins before limping backward and catching his breath.

"Enough. I'm ready." Mathew interrupted him in annoyance.

Rodney then took a deep breath, held out his shaking arms, and shouted.

"Ice Wall!"

Mathew immediately copied him.

An identical wall of ice about 5 feet tall and wide overlapped to fit the gap left in the wall.

Thud!

The heavy walls of ice sank deeply into the ground, stopping the spread of the red sludge and forcing it to spill to the sides.

Chhh chhh chhhh!

As the only pathway forward was blocked, the chittering sound coming from the large rats got louder and louder as they began aggressively trying to break through whatever was in their way to surge toward the building.

Splat!

CLANG-

With no break in between, the rats continually slammed their bodies into the sheets of ice, staining them red, increasing the amount of smoke from the saliva flying everywhere, and scrabbling aggressively.

Black chains that seemed to be flying were everywhere, killing two to three of those creatures at a time, but they continually surged against the ice wall as the red roaches formed from the liquid and began biting through the ice. Some even attempted climbing the earth walls, leaping over certain flowers, but black chains whipped them down toward the defined path.

Crack-

With every second that passed, the ice wall continued to crack.

But by the time it broke down…

"Fire Blast!"

"Flame Rosette."

An older woman with greying hair, a lit cigarette on her lips, and black-stained fingertips pointed at the gap in the ice, sending forward a standard ball of fire before the grandma, using a walker beside her, pointed it and let off smaller fireballs that converged at the remaining ice wall in the shape of a flower before sequentially detonating with increasing strength.

Bang.

Bang!

Bang bang!

As Mathew froze, wanting to analyze the new skill he hadn't seen before.

Crkkkk-

- Come back, Mathew

"I'm not tired. I can still help. Over."

Crkkkk-

- Then swap with Margaret and take her shift so she can take your break.

Margaret was the woman with the unique fire ability. If she was gone, there was no point in him sticking around.

"Tsk. I'm on my way back. Over."

Mathew quickly walked back along the circuitous route up the hill. Although he was physically fit, his energy was drained after pouring out mana while fighting those rats that continued swarming.

It would be one thing if the rats rushed in at once, but they only ever came in small, orderly groups.

On the plus side, they weren't overwhelmed, but on the negative side, everyone's stamina was depleting as they didn't know when things would end or get worse.

Sighing, Mathew quickly spotted Alexei on top of the roof, his black chains whipping around in the distance as a bald, one-eyed woman manually rotated a small flood light. At the same time, a portly, round man with a snaggle tooth kept the wind flowing in different directions, clearing the fog in the areas the light didn't reach.

The woman and the man had sweat pouring down their faces, and the only one with a peaceful expression was Alexei, whose golden hair was still neatly combed while his amber eyes stared around intensely.

For a brief moment, Alexei glanced down, meeting Mathew's gaze before looking away as if he didn't matter.

Seeing the condescension in that gaze, Mathew gritted his teeth.

"Good work on defeating those Smokesnares, young man. I don't know what we would have done without you."

Clock, the homeless man with two arms of different sizes, tried to pat Mathew on the back while handing him a bottle of water.

"Ah, no thanks. I need to wash my hands first."

Hiding a grimace, Mathew quickly evaded and went inside.

[Fetid Smokesnares - Juvenile]

That was the name given by Oney, the one-eyed bald woman who seemed to be able to see through the fog and view monster details.

She had said that the Smokesnares' saliva reacted with anything it touched to create a smoky fog that dulled the senses and muffled sound and smell. When killed, the remains were poisonous to others but could be consumed by their own kind.

The only way to stop it from calling reinforcement was to freeze it or destroy the body quickly; otherwise, it would swarm mindlessly.

It was information that they sorely needed.

Thanks to the variety of abilities of the group of people here, they were doing well so far, but the issue was the owner of the base they were currently in.

Mathew walked past the dining area straight to the common area to see his sister, who was surrounded by different types of air fresheners and holding a hot pink welding helmet.

Cecilia was speaking excitedly to a man wearing oversized white clothing who nodded at regular intervals and looked as if he was going to pass out at any moment.

Cyril's pale face looked even wan despite it being flushed, and his hair clung to a face completely drenched in cold sweat.

His eyes flicked over to observe Mathew before focusing on what Cecilia was saying.

****************

"My dear Cyril! Are you listening to me?" hearing the grating voice that had been going on for hours, Cyril could only nod while grabbing his aching head and automatically filtering the nonsense in her words.

"Yes. I'm listening."

"Okay, good. The lights worked, right? Anyway, since the canisters are already pressurized and can't be touched, mana needs to be infused in the nozzle to make it magical in nature when ignited. So I will try out the air fresheners first and then scale it after accounting for the volume, calculating the particle spray…"

As she began talking about technical theory and particle dispersion, Cyril's eyes began to glaze over. Truthfully, he had no interest in this topic. At all.

Since he had been caught in another lecture about the history of welding in lighting and the effects that filaments had when mixing with mana, Cyril quickly raised his hand to interrupt.

"Excuse me, Cecilia."

"Please call me Cici, my future husband." Seeing the fervent obsession in Cecilia's eyes, Cyril held back a grimace.

"Once again, I decline. Could you just implement your guess, give it to Alexei to test, and then explain it to me later? I believe in your skills. You're a genius. An amazing, ultra-smart, super-talented genius."

Hearing the rapid-fire compliments, Cecilia looked as if she were about to ascend into heaven.

"Ahhhh, a one-on-one explanation with my male god. Isn't this just like a date?"

"I don't think so. Please explain it to Alexei as well."

"The ultimate gap moe himself. I will do anything for you, my precious. There's a reason both of our names start with C. It represents our love that will last 100 years. Wait for me." Cecilia quickly stroked a hand across his face before grabbing her hot pink welding helmet and the different air fresheners and dashing off to the room that contained her portable welding setup, which was what was contained in all of the suitcases her family had brought.

Cyril glanced at her retreating back before turning to Mathew, who looked extremely embarrassed.

"I'm sorry for her actions. She's young."

"I don't mind. She's actually been a big help, and I'm learning a lot. Thank you for your help so far. Please let me know if you need anything." Cyril replied politely before standing up to move away.

As he staggered and Mathew tried to reach him, a previously unseen black chain quickly wrapped around his torso and legs, stabilizing him.

Crkkkk-

- go and rest

A cold voice came through the walkie-talkie.

"I'm going to make food, so go fight properly without focusing on me."

Crkkkk-

- Where's your puppy?

"Here."

Cyril glanced up at Fen's dirty face, which was poking through the wall as if it was a ghost.

Finally hearing the response he wanted, Alexei's black chain retreated through a vent hidden on the floor.