Chapter 23: I've Made My Decision

A blue mana arrow shot through the air like a bullet, straight towards one of the monster's skulls. The monster casting immediately noticed this, thus canceled its casting, and tried to sidestep the moment it saw Chase release his arrow.

However, the monster was not prepared for the sudden curve. There was no longer a place to dodge.

The arrow shot forth unimpeded.

Well, almost unimpeded.

Right before it hit, a tiny inconspicuous cross on the monster's belt lit up, creating a translucent blue barrier.

An ear-piercing crack rang out, like the sound of shattering glass.

The mana arrow hit the blue barrier, doing significant damage to it, evidenced by the cracks all across it. On top of that, the monster even stumbled several steps backwards before falling over.

However, there wasn't any damage dealt to the monster itself.

While that was happening, Tori had glanced at the other monster casting a spell. Although she couldn't tell how close it was to completing it, a fairly corporeal ball of mana had formed.

Now that the monster blocking her was knocked down, she dashed towards the monster, intending on interrupting its casting process. Unfortunately, that wasn't the best timing.

While Tori made it halfway, the ball of mana had condensed fully before disappearing altogether.

There was a flash of light before three red mana missiles appeared, shooting towards Tori at different angles. Though they were fast, she also had extremely good reaction time, thus could sidestep.

Unfortunately, it turned out that they were homing, thus followed her.

Tori grit her teeth as an extremely unwilling frown formed on her face. It looked pretty bad when all of the magic missiles shot towards her from all ends, giving her no chance to dodge.

Yet right before they hit, Tori dissipated into red mist, letting them pass harmlessly through her. The magic missiles proceeded to scatter randomly, no longer homing as their target disappeared.

One of them shot towards Chase, but he simply stepped to the side and avoided it.

After another second, Tori reappeared, but looked a little different.

There was a considerable amount of blood dripping down from underneath her eyepatch while her skin had noticeably reddened. She was breathing heavily and her eyes were bloodshot.

But she was still moving.

Tori continued running towards the monster. It attempted to run away, but its speed was slower. Tori gradually closed the gap, getting closer and closer.

During this time, the monster that Nicole had knocked down recovered from the fall. At this point, Nicole no longer had a weapon and was just awkwardly holding onto the monster's shoulder.

She tried to back up, but the monster was one step ahead, shoving her off before turning around.

At this time, Tori had caught up to her target. Both the monster and Tori swung towards their respective targets.

Tori's katana became a blur as it shot towards the monster's neck. However, like the last one, a cross lit up before creating a blue barrier.

Tori's sword landed with a loud clang, but was rebounded. The barrier itself was undamaged.

If that wasn't bad enough, Nicole froze like a deer in headlights as a fist rapidly shot towards her face. It all happened too fast. Other than Kairos, the other spectators could not even register what happened before it had already occurred.

Yet, when it all seemed to turn bad, the monster's fist stopped right in front of Nicole's face. Her hair blew back from the wind as she remained frozen.

Then, the monster spoke.

"Pass."

Tori had pulled back her katana, ready to swing, but held back after hearing that. As for Chase, sweat had formed on his forehead as his breathing became heavy, but he still had a confident smile. The monsters all walked back to their original positions.

Harold and Sydney seemed to be experiencing a collision of several emotions at once.

Harold grit his teeth, but also cried a little bit.

"Nicole! That was too risky!"

Sydney hurriedly nodded.

"It truly was!"

Nicole lowered her head slightly, feeling slightly ashamed.

Chase raised an eyebrow.

"I believe she did well. Her body is unharmed, what is the big deal?"

Tori walked back with a slight limp.

"But she should've at least tried to dodge."

Nicole pouted slightly when she heard that and snuck a peek at Kairos. Noticing her gaze, he simply sighed.

"Don't freeze up in fear next time."

Nicole nodded before coming back to the sidelines with her head down.

After a few moments, the last two monsters walked up.

They stood side by side near the middle of the cavern and spoke at the same time.

"Two."

"Two."

In the end, most of the group ended up looking at the only two people that haven't gone, Harold and Sydney.

Hardol's face twitched.

"I'm not going to go!"

Sydney furrowed her brows.

"This... I don't feel comfortable participating in this event."

Kairos tilted his head to the side.

"Maybe you two don't have to. Perhaps we can try it again with the same people."

He walked up, intending on participating in another fight. Then, he looked at Chase, Tori, and Nicole.

Though Chase had a confident smile, Kairos was able to tell that man was feeling weary. At most, he would only be able to shoot one arrow. As for Tori, she seemed to have overexerted herself greatly, still panting like she had just ran a marathon.

As for Nicole, she seemed a little despondent, but was still the best candidate as the others were essentially out of commission.

Kairos looked at her.

"Hey, Nicole. Do you want to try to fight this with me?"

Harold and Sydney both seemed to be against it.

Harold frowned.

"But it was too close of a call last time! We shouldn't!"

Sydney shook her head.

"Why can't someone else do it?"

Kairos sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

"I was just asking, alright? If she doesn't want to, she doesn't have to."

Nicole pressed her lips together. She avoided eye contact with her parents and looked at Kairos.

"I will try!"

Both Harold and Sydney seemed a little astounded as they watched Nicole walk up. Both of them were about to open their mouths to retort, but the monsters at the front spoke up first.

"No."

"No."

They shook their heads before pointing at Harold and Sydney in sync.

"Them."

"Them."

Kairos raised an eyebrow.

"What if they don't want to fight?"

The monsters shrugged.

"No."

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"Entry."

Kairos' eyebrow twitched.

"For all of us?"

They shook their heads.

"Only."

"Unworthy."

Kairos tilted his head to the side.

"Ah, alright."

He turned to Harold and Sydney.

"I guess you two don't have to do anything, but you won't be let in. Maybe the rest of us could go check it out?"

Sydney furrowed her brows.

"I... guess this would work. Are you sure you want to go with those monsters?"

Kairos shrugged his shoulders.

"Not sure, but I've decided I'm going to."

Harold furrowed his brows.

"But you will stay with us, Nicole. It is too dangerous otherwise."

Nicole pouted.

"But..."

Sydney frowned.

"It's too dangerous!"

Nicole looked at her parents, then looked at Chase, Tori, and Kairos. Although some of them were winded, there was still an air of confidence that lingered around the three.

It was then Nicole decided she didn't want to be one that stayed safe all the time. She looked at her parents directly and bowed slightly.

"I've decided that I'm going to go."

Harold and Sydney both seemed a little aggrieved over her decision.

"You can't!"

"Why won't you just stay with us?"

Nicole bowed.

"This is the decision I have made. Sorry, Mom and Dad."

Chase smirked slightly, interested in the conversation. As for Tori, she seemed a little bored, wanting to get over this already. On the other hand, Kairos just watched silently, without showing any expression.

Harold opened his mouth.

"You..."

Sydney looked down.

"...If that truly is the decision you insist on making, then we must participate as well."

Harold looked at her with a bit of surprise.

"You mean... fighting with those things?"

Sydney smiled bitterly.

"We can't leave our daughter alone, can we?"

Harold pressed his lips together.

"...You're right."

Kairos waved his hand.

"Hey, for now, take my axe."

He said this because Harold only had a metal pipe while Sydney had a wooden bat they picked up earlier from the bandits at the grocery store. Although they were just barely enough to be considered weapons against the regular monsters. However, for these ones, it may not be a bit lacking.

However, right as he said that, the monsters spoke up.

"No."

"Transfer."

Kairos' eyebrow twitched.

"Well... Never mind then."

Sydney smiled bitterly.

"Haha, thanks for trying anyway."

She then turned to Harold.

"Are you ready?"

Harold sighed.

"As much as I'll ever be. If we are going to fight, we can't embarrass ourselves in front of the kids."

Chase let out a faint chuckle that could only be heard by Karios and Tori. Neither questioned it. They understood what he meant by that laugh.

Both Sydney and Harold stood side by side in front of the monsters, raising their weapons. At that moment the two monsters spoke.

"Proof."

"Proof."

The two suddenly dashed forth, and each reached out with their respective claw.

It wasn't apparent at first, but both of the monsters were actually missing an arm. One missing the left, the other missing the right. This was because their black robes covered that fact up, so it was hard to notice.

Harold ended up panicking slightly, taking a step backward to dodge, but lost his balance slightly. He furrowed his brows, realizing that fighting wasn't as easy as how it seemed.

As for Sydney, she was a little more prepared, thus took a step back, dodging the attack, then promptly counterattacked.

The monster she attempted to strike ended up dashing to the side, avoiding it altogether. Then, it began to circle around, trying to pincer the two.

As for the monster attacking Harold, it took a step forward, attempting to slash him once more.

Harold furrowed his brows as he held onto the metal pipe with both hands to block it.

With a clang, the claw slammed onto the metal pipe, making Harold stumble backwards once more. He was on the verge of falling, but just barely kept up.

Sydney turned to face the monster that had circled behind them and swung her baseball bat with both hands. The monster in question took a step back, avoiding it once more.

Kairos' eyebrow could help but twitch as he saw this. He intuitively knew what they should've done, but they kept making simple mistakes. In his mind, he tried to imagine them doing the right thing, almost like how some people tilt their body as they play a racing game as though it would help them turn.

However, it wasn't like Kairos could just control the actions of others with his mind.

The two monsters swung at them again. Both Harold and Sydney were able to block, but lost a bit of their balance in the process. And right when they blocked, a strange orange light came from the missing arm of one monster while a dark blue light came from the other one.

The two monsters began to turn around and attacked at the air behind them. Both Harold and Sydney did not think too much of the colors, thus swung with their weapons, given the opportunity.

But then, the two monsters suddenly swapped positions, already mostly done with their attack.

Harold and Sydney were both caught off guard. The claws slammed against their weapons at a bad angle for them, making them stumble.

Harold, in particular, almost fell down.

The monsters didn't let up, swinging with their claws once more.

Sydney was going to use her wooden bat to block, but saw in the corner of her eye that her husband could hardly even stand, much less block the attack.

As she saw the claw shoot towards his heart, she reached out.

"Harold!"

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