Dragon's Wrath: The Cursed Returnee

Ian and Emily were trying to cover the holes that were starting to appear since their allies were exhausted. Although the corpses down the mountain created a barrier, some devourers were getting closer and closer since both of them needed some time to concentrate on causing enough damage and killing the beasts once and for all. It was really weird to see Emily concentrating on firing a single Ice Arrow, even though those arrows were much faster, sturdy, and sharper than the others. As if that wasn't enough, Ian was mimicking Emily's movements, but he wasn't firing anything. Despite that, whenever he pointed his hands toward a creature, that creature died after two seconds.

"Just what the hell is he doing?"

Although it wasn't fair, Ivan was by far the most impressive. He was flying over the monsters and firing those energy beams that could make several of them explode in a single moment. However, he only used that when the monsters concentrated on a single point. Still, now and then, he would go down and kill the monsters using his hands. His flying speed was so high and his armor so sturdy that all he had to do was to hit the monsters once or twice to kill them.

"Yeah… more than a few hours passed since the battle started. For some reason, all the monsters of this direction focused on attacking me… was that a coincidence?"

Ethan looked behind and saw that his fight caused quite a bit of destruction, and there were many corpses in all directions. Still, despite that, Ethan felt like he didn't have enough since the pile of monsters on the other sides of the mountain was easier to spot.

"What the heck…" Emily frowned when she finally noticed Ethan's presence. "Did you really get possessed? You looked like a monster."

"How many times have I already said this? I am a warrior," Ethan declared. "Getting dirt with blood and sweat is absolutely normal to me. Or do you still believe after going to another world that a fancy sword style can make a melee fighter win battles without this kind of sacrifice?"

"I am not that naïve, still…" Emily stepped back since Ethan was really smelly.

"Listen, ladies and gentlemen," Ivan said via their wristwatch. "We just defeated half of their forces. However, the real fight starts now. Spread around the mountain and hunt the devourers like your life depends on it because that will be the case. Just defending our base won't grant us the victory, and we must exterminate all the monsters."

pαndα,noνɐ1,сoМ As expected, it was time to take some risks. Even though pretty much everyone was exhausted, they had to make sure all the devourers would be exterminated. Given the morale of the mercenaries and the Clannian people, Ethan thought it was possible to do that. However, there was a big problem… the night was fast approaching and, in such a period, the devourers had total advantage.

"We will have to split in order to decrease our losses that are bound to happen," Ian suddenly appeared and then said. "I will help the mercenaries; Emily should work with the Clannian. Can you use that again? What do you call that anyway? Auto-pilot mode?"

"… I don't want to use it today again," Ethan sighed. "If the necessity arises, I will, but until then, I will avoid it."

"I guess it can't be helped," Ian shrugged. "Anna, you should help Ethan. Father is probably planning to do it on his own, so he isn't going to need our help. Just to make sure to transport potions to everyone now and then."

"I…" Ethan said, but then he was interrupted.

"Why me?" Anna protested. "Can't you at least ask me to help someone less crazy and dirty?"

Ethan frowned, but in the end, he couldn't say that this impertinent little brat was wrong. He was quite insane, and he was very dirty, after all. Regardless, he actually didn't need help, but he decided to punish Anna for her harsh words.

"I don't need help, especially from a brat," Ethan said. "She will probably only get in the way, anyways."

"What did you say?" Anna said and bit her lips in anger.

"You are just going to use potions, right?" Ethan asked. "I can do that myself."

"Are you an idiot?" Anna asked. "We are proceeding to the next part of the plan; we will use other potions that I developed after learning what these monsters can do. Let's go. I will show you that I am not your average alchemist, and after this, you will beg to become my student."

As if someone in their right mind would beg to become the student of a twelve-year-old kid. Still, Anna's words made Ethan become a bit more interested. Despite that, it was weird that Ivan didn't mention those potions, and it was probably due to the fact that Anna didn't have enough time to mass-produce them.

Ethan never saw any alchemist fighting, so it was only natural he had no idea what Anna could do. He only said those things to mess with her, and as far as he was concerned hero who was also an alchemist was capable of unknown things.

When Ethan and Anna reached the middle of the mountain, the monsters finally reached them. Ethan picked up his sword and then prepared for the fight, but his tension decreased when he felt something on his back. He knew that feeling… Anna used a potion, but he didn't feel his health, mana, and stamina being recovered.

"What did you do?" Ethan frowned.

"You will see," Anna smirked.

As expected of Ian's little sister, even her smirking was annoying. Or perhaps Ethan hated to see people showing that to him. Regardless, soon enough, he learned the effects of the potion Anna had just used. Although she was the most obvious target, the devourers' eyes never left Ethan's body. Anna used a potion to make Ethan the sole target of the monsters.

"This brat…" Ethan muttered.

Before even the monsters could do anything, Ethan saw some small bottles passing by him and then hitting the monsters. Some of them began to scream in agony while an unknown liquid was eating their flesh, while others were trembling as if they had been possessed by something. Unlike Ian, Anna apparently never does something without reason.