"For the start… Let's go with unarmed combat…"

Only thanks to my keen senses I was able to pick up what Eve told before she started trodding towards the incoming wave of the monsters. Just a quick look forward was enough for me to recognise several species and types of the monsters, yet the closer I looked at this mass of weird monsters and animals, the harder it was for me to understand just what the hell was driving them mad like that!

SLAP

Before I could form any real thought about the underlying cause for the current situation, Eve reached the end of the narrow corridor created with my barriers, and sent her first attack forth, bitchslapping the unfortunate wolf-like monster. Unable to even let go of a simple whimper, this seven-legged monster was sent flying through the tight mass of its own compatriots, creating a long scar on the face of the monster's army.

Yet right as Eve's arm returned to its natural position, pulling Eve's eyes along as she stared at her own palm, amazed at what she could achieve with just a simple slap like that, the stampede acted like this small disturbance wasn't even possible to stop their advance for a second.

This was the difference between conscious being like humans or greater monsters, and those poor beings that were possessed with something that forced them to form this stampede in the first place.

Yet even when forced to regain her focus on the battle with how unrelenting this assault was, Eve didn't seem to be phased by her situation by even a tiny bit. With her sword still safely protruding from the ground where she nailed it before pushing towards the entry of the narrow corridor I made, she kept trying all sorts of punches, kicks, slaps and hits. Every time her limbs moved in what looked like choreographed move, a new valley in the mass of monsters, using the corpses of the beast she attacked as a way to put a hole in the tight formation of the stampede.

"How do you like it?"

Sitting on top of the barricade with my legs freely handing in the air, I inspected the barrier in order to make sure no monster managed to break even through its first layer, before looking back at the nimble movements of my beloved one, that despite being openly unrefined, were still filled with grace.

"It's quite fun!"

With another, simple barrier set a single meter in front of the entry of the corridor, all the sounds and noises made by the rest of the massive army of beasts were blocked, allowing the two of us to still communicate with words, as even despite our union reaching even higher tier after our breakthrough, we were still too used to this form of communication to just give it up.

"You should try it for a bit as well!"

As her moves turned smoother and smoother, Eve could even allow herself to occasionally turn around after pushing all the monsters just for the sake of showing her expression filled with happiness and joy.

"I'm sorry, but let's stick to the plan. I don't want to take Bonger's advice lightly."

With how Eve already knew about my system from the memories I shared with her, not to speak about how he already possessed a body on his own, speaking about stuff related to his advice was now a lot more natural for me. Rather than trying to turn his words into half-truths of mine, I could just openly point out at his stickman body, instantly adding weight to what I was saying!

"Ah, right… Wait, can you take a look at those slightly bigger monsters a bit further down?"

With her eyes switching between the corpse of some kind of giraffe looking beast that ended up being split in half between her hands and the line of the slightly bulkier monsters in a distance, I could tell that she was starting to take Bonger's words seriously. After all, there was no way this stampede was completely powered just by the instincts of those beasts! In the end, they were already at the level where at least some small bits of intelligence and sane mind would develop in them, making it hard to believe that they would just throw themselves into the meatgrinder that Eve was slowly turning to be!

Yet with her request indicating that she was taking her life and safety seriously, I moved my attention beyond the first line of the monsters after making yet another quick scan of the state of the barrier. And just like Eve instinctively noticed, the balls of energy that powered up the movement of those beast's big and heavy bodies, were far bigger than what those at the front could pride themselves with!

But as soon as I realised this part, I couldn't help but look even further into the distance, even ending up floating into the air a bit to push the line of horizon even further.

'They even go as far as collapsing spirit realm… huh… Do I see an initial sage one?'

With my eyes penetrating deeply into the ranks of the stampede, I could finally confirm that the further I looked, the stronger the monsters would be. In fact, after spotting just how many high spirit realm ranking monsters there were before the absolute elite of the five sage realm ones would appear, I couldn't help myself but prepare a huge hailstorm of fire created by the mix of my shockwaves, fireballs and all the others spells I had on hand so that rather than wasting our energy on those small fries, we could save it up for the real fight later on!

"Eve, I have both good and bad news."

After descending back to the ground, I moved forward, picking my fiancee's sword on the way. Yer rather than letting her take it, I momentarily created a temporary barrier that cut off most of the monsters from the entry to the corridor, got rid of those who were unlucky enough to be caught inside the cage of the barrier with us and only then passed the handle of this elegant blade to Eve.

"It seems that the power of those monsters grows further down the line we go. Yet what worried me, is that they have at least five sage realm individuals, that I think are controlling the entire stampede. Are you still sure you want to test your limits, or should we clear all the small fries and focus ourselves on the real threat?"