"Move out of the way now!" Chegyaeyi instructed everyone around her as the giant boulder descended from the sky.

All the players scattered to avoid getting hit by the massive stone, including Hazel, who used Telekinesis to propel herself away from its range. The boulder struck the ground, scattering into tiny, jagged pieces of stone that flew around and pelted the nearby players.

Dust was kicked up from the collision, spreading all over the area and obstructing everyone's view. Hazel let out a cough after inhaling some of the dust. She then scanned her surroundings, trying to see what was going on, but couldn't with all of the dust in her way.

"Any mages that possess some kind of wind spell, blow away the dust now!" Hazel ordered, coughing some more after saying that.

The mages that fit Hazel's criteria soon followed her orders and cast various wind spells from heavy breezes to miniature whirlwinds that erupted within the dust cloud. Due to the various wind spells being invoked, the dust surrounding them quickly dissipated, allowing the players to finally see.

But it wasn't long after that that the group was faced with another problem. Multiple black blurs appeared around them, killing a couple of players in the group. The blurs were swift and deadly with their kills, taking down one player before moving on to the next right after.

One of the blurs lunged at Chegyaeyi, attempting to kill her as they did to the others. The lizardfolk warrior immediately reacted, bringing her spear up to block the enemy's attack. Upon doing so, she and Hazel were able to get a good look at what was attacking them. And it was exactly what they expected. The black blurs were the Reapers.

"Everyone, get into formation now!" Chegyaeyi's voice boomed. "Stick together and do not let your guard down!"

The players quickly grouped up with one another, making it so everyone had each other's backs while they faced the reapers. As for Chegyaeyi, she pushed her reaper off and prepared to strike it.

To make sure that it didn't run away, Hazel cast Telekinesis on it to obstruct its movements. The reaper was momentarily stuck in place, allowing the lizardfolk warrior to pierce its body with her weapon, killing it.

Before Hazel could rest, a reaper appeared from behind her and attacked. Enveloping her body with Telekinesis, the witch hastily moved to the side, dodging the reaper. As soon as the death spider landed, it turned around and prepared to launch another attack. But it was met with a barrage of mana bolts hurtling toward it.

The bolts of energy killed the reaper on contact, leaving it riddled with holes as blood pooled from its corpse. A kill notification popped up in Hazel's line of sight, but she mentally dismissed it, focusing on the reapers instead.

She watched as the remaining ones zipped around the checkpoint, picking off players one by one. If this slaughter fest lasted any longer, they wouldn't have enough allies to combat the rest of the horde. Taking action, Hazel once again cast Telekinesis on the closest blur she saw, suspending it in the air.

A moment later, several spells were fired at the floating reaper, eviscerating its body and killing it instantly. Hazel looked over at Astrid and watched her shoot her arrows at the fast reapers, miraculously killing them with one or several arrows. Considering that the dark elf was a trained warrior, she wasn't all that surprised by her skills.

Hazel and the other players continued to kill off the reapers one by one, much like how these spiders were doing to them. A few moments passed until all of the death spiders were finally taken care of.

All of the players were already exhausted, breathing heavily, and even leaning on one another to prevent themselves from falling. Despite the wave of fatigue overwhelming them, they were far from done.

Chegyaeyi peered over the wall of cars that was used as a barricade before her eyes widened in alarm. "The enemy is coming! Get back into positions, now!"

Everyone was in a panic as they struggled to get back into their stations in preparation for the fight. Meanwhile, Hazel could hear the thuds of the numerous spiders currently making their way to their checkpoint as they became louder and louder with each passing second.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

She looked at the current state of their group, watching the players getting to their positions at a snail's pace. Fear and panic gripped her heart after witnessing how horrible things were going. She could tell that her members weren't going to make it before the swarm got to them. And if someone didn't do something, their entire checkpoint was about to be swarmed with spiders in a few moments.

Hazel bit her bottom lip anxiously as beads of sweat trailed down her face. She then let out a heavy and urgent sigh.

"Dammit all!" She swore before rushing toward the car barricade.

"Hazel?!" Astrid and Evelyn called out to her; their voices filled with alarm.

"Hazel, what are you doing?!" Chegyaeyi questioned with a sharp and anxious tone.

Despite what she heard, Hazel ignored their voices and focused on the swarm itself. As soon as she got close to the barricade, she immediately enveloped her body in Telekinesis and willed herself into the air. As she hovered over the wall of vehicles, her astral eye trained on the swarm rapidly approaching their checkpoint, rushing toward them like a sea.

As soon as Hazel saw the black swarm, she started conjuring multiple curse bombs that were the size of a watermelon and hurled them at the spider horde. She didn't bother making them explode with a snap of her finger and simply let them go off as soon as they made contact. Multiple explosions erupted from the swarm as they were bombarded with her curse bombs.

She didn't relent, though, and continued to throw bomb after bomb at the swarm, taking down as many as she could. The explosions were strong enough to keep the swarm at bay, even if for a small moment. Even the spiders that tried to attack from the side, rushing through the dirt and grass outside of the interstate bridge, weren't safe from Hazel's cursed bombardment and were thrown off into the water beside them.

With each curse bomb she threw, a good portion of her mana was drained, slowly depleting her energy. It didn't help that she was also making her float in the air with Telekinesis, further draining her mana reserve. Her breathing became rough and raspy, making it difficult to focus. If she kept this up any longer, she was going to pass out from exhaustion.

Thankfully, the cavalry soon arrived. Behind her, multiple spells and arrows appeared and were hurled into the swarm, causing significant damage to the swarm's numbers. Hazel turned around and saw the other players finally get into their stations and assist in attacking the spider army.

Even Astrid was positioned in one of the car towers, rapidly firing her arrows at the spiders with the help of her skill. Now, with the aid of the other players, they were able to talk on the spider swarm like before.

After realizing this, Hazel flew back down to the checkpoint and attempted to rest while she could. As she landed on the ground, she glanced at her hand, which was trembling like mad. She was cutting it close with that stunt just now. If that bold move of hers lasted any longer, she would've collapsed on the spot.

After a couple of seconds, the trembling lessened ever so slightly, showing Hazel that her mana regeneration was kicking in a bit. But it wasn't enough. Because of the current circumstances, she needed to be fully recovered to get back and help the other players in the fight.

Hazel soon raised her arm that wielded the storage bracelet. Then, with a thought, she summoned a mana potion from the item as it materialized in her hand. Just as she was about to drink the potion, she stopped when her mom suddenly rushed over to her.

"What in the world were you thinking, Hazel?!" She shouted while kneeling before her. "You could've gotten yourself killed by pulling that kind of stunt."

Hazel smiled slightly at her mother's concern. "Well, it wasn't like I had much of a choice. If I didn't do something to hold off the swarm, we would've been overrun by them."

"Even so...!"

"You told me before not to voice any complaints about you joining this swarm extermination. So, just this once, please let this go, okay? I had no choice and needed to do something before it was too late. If you want to scold me, then all I ask is for you to do it after this thing is over."

Evelyn bit her bottom lip, similar to Hazel from before. But instead of arguing, her mother simply lowered her head in defeat.

"Alright, you win."

Hazel's smile deepened. "I'm glad we came to an understanding."

Evelyn raised her head and slightly glared at her daughter, causing Hazel to flinch in response. "Don't get cocky, young lady. I'm letting this go, but I will not tolerate another one. Is that clear?"

Hazel nervously nodded. Once again, despite winning the battle, she still lost the war. She likely never would win entirely against her mother.

Before either of them could say anything else, one of the players screamed in fear, causing the two to turn toward the sound. That was when they saw a lone figure vault over the car wall while knocking back a couple of players standing in its way. One of the mages fired a spell, but the figure swung its weapon and easily deflected it.

Getting a closer look with the help of her Astral Eye, Hazel realized that the figure was the last thing she needed to deal with right now. It was one of the Arachne.

The spider/human hybrid scanned the checkpoint as if searching for something. Or someone. Then, it locked eyes on Hazel, designating her as its target. And a moment later, it blurred toward her, much like its Reaper siblings, and closed the distance between them in a split second.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.