The barrier expanded so quickly that the entire tunnel shook violently. The strings quickly reached the ever-growing swarm of rats. Upon contact, blood exploded everywhere in a terrifying sight.
The sharp strings sliced through the monsters' bodies with ease as they dissected them into cubes.
The smell of blood filled the entire tunnel and made the air feel almost impossible to breathe in. The screeches of monsters as they got pushed back before getting brutally sliced into pieces were the most cursed sounds Talon had ever heard in his life.
In less than ten seconds, hundreds of rats fell dead in front of them, covering the entire place in their remains.
Meanwhile, Sophie's face was turning paler and paler by the second as she kept her fingers clasped together as if she were trying to control something with all her strength.
'I need... To push it more...' She thought to herself as she felt sweat dripping from her forehead.
She felt her entire body being drained from Aetheris with each passing second the net barrier was expanding. Each string required a part of her focus to keep up and so hundreds of these strings took an extreme toll on her mental strength.
She felt as if she was about to throw up and faint at any given moment.
At the same time, Talon didn't waste a moment as he quickly slashed with his spear, killing all the monsters left in their way before he turned around. "Let's move. Our out is open!" He yelled.
But, the moment Sophie heard that, her hands released as she collapsed to the ground. Talon quickly appeared next to her as he grabbed her by the waist before picking her up and dashing forward.
Meanwhile, all the rats that didn't die from the previous attack regained their balance and quickly chased after them maniacally. Their screeches became louder and their bloodlust reeked out of their disgusting bodies.
But, instead of feeling fear from this wave of voracious creatures chasing him, Talon smiled coldly.
"Yeah, just like that, follow me, all of you. Even those of you who are still hiding, come out and chase me." He said as he looked over his shoulder.
The number of monsters behind him returned to the thousands really quickly. But, the more they were, the more Talon's smile widened.
'I need to bring them all out.' As he moved through the tunnels, he made sure to extend his escape as much as he could. He felt an intense urge to just stop and do it immediately, but, he knew that he needed to be patient to get the utmost result of this.
"Hold on a second, Sophie, this might be a little bumpy... And hot..." He said to the girl who was still struggling to keep herself conscious.
"Talon..." She murmured.
"You gave me the perfect opportunity, Sophie. That's what I was looking for. Now, I can do this."
Then, out of nowhere, Talon stopped as he turned around and faced the swarm of monsters. Then, he snapped his finger, creating a big ball of azure flames. He spent almost 50 points of Aetheris into creating it so its weight and stability were far harder to control especially when he only had one hand to work with.
But, with a calm expression, Talon waited for the monsters to get close to him before he simply threw his hand back...
"And everything goes boom."
Then, he tossed the ball of fire. Upon the first contact with the first rat, the fire exploded powerfully as it rose in the air. Then, as if it were a gluttonous monster, the fire ate the first rat in a second before it quickly moved to the next rat. One after the other, the fire grew and grew, catching more and more rats.
Before any monster could even react, it ate a few dozen unlucky rats as it continued growing more violent.
The entire tunnel was illuminated with a blue light as Talon watched tens of creatures catch on fire and die almost immediately, leaving no trace behind in this world.
"Hey, Sophie... Can you hear me?"
"Mmm... I'm... awake..." She replied tiredly.
"You used all of your Aetheris reserves. Here, drink this." Rummaging through his storage, he pulled out one Aetheris potion.
"Mmm, I can't drink... Help me drink it~" She replied in a sultry tone as she rubbed her face against Talon's chest.
'She's acting like a sulky child...' Talon raised an eyebrow as he watched her rather adorable behavior. 'Wait, I remember seeing her this way once before... If I recall correctly, she ate some alcoholic candy by mistake once and she ended up acting completely out of character. I had to stop her from stripping in front of me out of nowhere.'
A small smile appeared on Talon's face recalling that memory. It was a rather funny incident that he was fond of.
"Heyyy~ help me drink it, hubby~"
"Hubby? Ok, you definitely need this potion now." Snapping out of his mind, Talon quickly put the potion near her mouth.
"Mmm, my lips are tired... Mouth-to-Mo-"
"No, if you can talk, then you definitely can drink this." Talon shook his head with a sigh.
"Stingy~"
But, even with her pout, Sophie still drank the potion slowly. Some droplets fell down her red lips and then down her chin. She made small sounds as she drank, making Talon frown.
'Why do I feel weird about this?!' He turned his eyes away from the little seductive devil in his arms.
Acrypha looked at him with a blank expression.
"Please don't look at me like that, I didn't sign for this, I swear!" Talon said, easily reading her mind.
"I said nothing..." She replied in an emotionless tone as she turned away.
"Sigh..." Shaking his head, Talon finally pulled the empty bottle away from Sophie's lips. "Are you feeling better?"
"Yeah, a lot better. My head was really dizzy." She replied. "I'm sorry for fainting like that, I didn't expect that attack to consume all of my Aetheris."
"You have killed hundreds of these rats and saved our lives. You did great."
"I did?" Sophie's eyes flashed with an excited glint. Just hearing Talon praise her made her heart skip a beat.
"Yeah, I owe you my life, Sophie," Talon replied in a calm tone.
*BADUMP*
The girl blinked in shock before her face turned completely red.
'Why does look so dazzling?!'
A//N: Don't forget to support the book if you enjoyed reading ????