Teamwork

Natsuo twirled his scythe and cut the first silent monster in a half. William unsheathed his daggers and killed another monster, back to back with him.

Alice defeated in an instant the remaining monsters that rose up from under their carriage and ran to help the other soldiers.

“She could leave something to us, too” commented Natsuo.

The situation was getting worse: an army of humanoids completely surrounded the soldiers, who immediately started fighting. But, this time, there wasn’t Natsuo’s music to support them.

William crossed his daggers towards himself and a dark aura surrounded them. Under the closest group of silent monsters a dark substance rose from the ground and grabbed the humanoids, crushing them.

Alan held his halberd and it suddenly caught fire. He leapt forward toward a group of monsters and twirled the halberd, creating a vortex of flames and burning the humanoids.

Knowing that three members of Unit 7 were with them, the soldiers were reassured and fought better.

Gregory ran among monsters and molten metal surrounded them, transforming into spikes and skewering them.

Natsuo was about to join the fight, but Alice suddenly stopped beside him.

“Natsuo, soldiers need your music. A lot of them are getting injured” she said.

“But I can’t play the guitar with this mess” replied Natsuo.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got your back. Monsters won’t scratch you.”

It’s not that he didn’t trust Alice, but he needed concentration to play the guitar. Natsuo opened the Rockstar System menu and read again his skills, looking for an idea.

His eyes fell on the skill PLAYBACK and he suddenly thought of something.

System, give me speakers. He asserted.

New skill unlocked: SPEAKERS.

Natsuo used the new skill and two big speakers appeared next to him. Alice glanced at him with an interrogative expression.

Natsuo smirked. “We should be fine now.”

He started a song on the speakers and turned the volume up to the maximum. The music spread through the battlefield, immediately healing and boosting the soldiers.

Silent monsters froze for a moment and trembled.

Alice’s eyes widened.

“This is absurd. I don’t understand the mechanism, but it seems to work.”

Hearing her voice, Olive turned to the speakers, flabbergasted.

“That’s my voice! Why is it coming from those boxes?”

Natsuo chuckled. “There’s no time for explanation now. Let’s end this soon.”

He ran towards the monsters and waved his scythe, releasing vibrations. The red sound waves hit the humanoids and pierced them.

Now that Natsuo’s music was playing, the soldiers healed from their injuries and their strength was significantly boosted, so the situation turned in their favor.

“The giant is here!” someone screamed.

Natsuo looked up. A giant humanoid was walking toward the caravan. It was faster than the giant they defeated at the North Castle.

Alice, William and Alan exchanged a knowing glance and prepared to defeat it.

William pointed one of his daggers toward the giant. A liana formed by a dark substance came out of it and wrapped around the monster’s leg. William used it to pull himself toward the monster and spinned around the leg, slashing its thick skin with the other dagger.

The giant shook his limb, throwing William away, but he used his system again to summon another liana. This time he pulled himself toward the monster’s shoulder and cut off its arm.

Alice jumped onto the falling arm, ran on it and threw herself toward the giant.

“Alice!” exclaimed Olive.

She threw some ampoules in her direction. Alice understood the assignment and, in mid-air, she cut them with her sword.

From the ampoules came out oil that fell on the giant’s body.

After that, Alice thrust her sword in the beck of the giant neck and descended down the monster’s back, skewering it.

“Alan, set it on fire!” Olive exclaimed.

Alan did as he was told and set fire to the monster’s body, which was smeared in oil. The fire lit up immediately and ran through the giant, burning it alive.

Even though it was dying, the monster continued advancing, undaunted.

Natsuo smirked. It was his time to end it. He drew a cross with his scythe and launched two vibrations toward the monsters. The red waves pierced the giant’s body, leaving holes where they passed.

Since the song that was playing had the STRENGTH attribute, Natsuo took a run and jumped toward the monster. He charged a blow and slashed the giant’s neck with his scythe, landing at its back.

The giant’s remains fell on the ground.

William ran toward Natsuo and high fived.

After defeating all the remaining monsters, the soldiers got into the carriages that were still in good condition and reached the closest abandoned fort.

To celebrate the victory against the monsters’ wave, after dinner Olive prepared drinks for everyone.

“I don’t think it was a good idea” said Alice.

She glanced disapprovingly at the soldiers who were a little tipsy and were having fun.

Olive chuckled. “I knew you wouldn’t approve of this.” She handed Alice a glass. “You should try it too, I’m very good at making drinks!”

Alice glanced at the glass, skeptical. She didn’t want to lose her composure, but she was sorry not to taste it, since Olive was so proud of it.

“Just one sip” she stated.

All of a sudden, the two girls heard the soldiers' cheers. They paid attention to what they were up to and saw Gregory giving high fives and celebrating, while Alan was standing next to him, upset. He gave an annoyed glance to Gregory and walked away.

“Ridiculous” he muttered.

“Natsuo, we’re doing a push up competition, come and challenge me!” exclaimed Gregory.

Natsuo went pale. “No way I’m doing push ups, I’m sorry.”

Gregory burst out laughing.

Alan passed close to Olive, intending to go to another room, but she stopped him.

“Would you like a drink?” she said, handing him a glass.

Alan glanced at her and accepted the invitation.

“And while we’re at it, why don’t we talk a little?” she added with a cunning smile.