Dragon's Wrath: The Cursed Returnee

While Ethan was playing mage for a change, he noticed that it took quite a while for some wounded soldiers finally appear and be carried back to the support team behind the backline. That happened around 09:00 AM, but then after that, at least one soldier or hero was forced to retreat every five minutes.

"That is good," Isaac said. "Keep it up, everyone! Today we are going to teach those motherfuckers that they shouldn't mess with us!"

Although he was getting even tenser by the minute while watching wounded people retreating and then rejoining the fight, Isaac was in good spirits. As expected, he did the right thing in becoming a plain warrior… or perhaps because he became a plain warrior, he couldn't calm down in such a position.

"Isaac, do you have any idea about the summoned hero that was supposed to appear alongside the dungeon is?" Ethan asked when they received another break.

"No," Isaac shook his head. "Considering that the flow of monsters was this intense since the very beginning, many think that he died as soon as he returned, but I can't say for sure."

That would make sense since the summoned hero somehow let the population of monsters grow to that point. It was only obvious that he was incredibly weak. However, Ethan, Emily, and Ian had the intel to believe that such a thing probably wasn't the sole explanation. The weird figure they met in the other world probably brainwashed the hero or made them join their side. In any case, all what Ethan knew was the fact that things weren't that simple.

"What do you guys know about those three dungeons that appeared in the past?" Ethan asked. "Did only a single type of monster spawn in those places?"

"I don't remember very well since two of them appeared before I returned," Emily said.

"Same here," Ian nodded. "However, I do know that at first, some treants and those birds left the dungeon at the beginning when the dungeon appeared in Greece."

Isaac's situation wasn't much better, he only returned when two dungeons had already appeared, and since most of the information about those incidents was kept hidden, few people could answer Ethan's questions.

In any case, Ethan smelled trouble. Although he saved Hedo, the situation in that world was similar to the world of the devourers. The demons were the vast majority on the enemies' side. So, maybe he could find a pattern somewhere. He found a certain pattern, but not where he looked for.

"The type of foes I faced while I was in the other world?" Isaac frowned. "Not anything fancy, just the population of monsters had increased faster than the people there could deal with."

"Same here," Ian said.

Ethan already knew about Emily. She also had to fight in a war against monsters. So, put in simple terms, they had to fight against savage monsters that wanted to get rid of the main sapient species. Weirdly enough, Ian said that Anna also dealt with something similar.

"Now that I think about it, Hannah also said that. There is a pattern, but not exactly where I want it. However, I feel like I am bound to find one in those worlds that were failed to be saved."

Although Emily spent a lot of her time looking at the position of the support team, nothing really happened behind the backline. In the end, thanks to everyone's work, the perimeter stabilized and decreased in size, and now the camp was more or less three kilometers away from the dungeon. However, after that, the heroes didn't advance even a single meter, and they only focused on slaying the monsters.

"I guess it can't be helped…" Isaac said and then sighed.

After the sunset, the army of the country took over the job of facing monsters, and things started to get noisy again. Somehow, not a single person died, but many got seriously hurt. Despite that, the heroes and mercenaries that fought during the day celebrated and laughed for several hours while they were having dinner. Meanwhile, Ethan, Ian, Emily, Carter, and Isaac were in one of the tents talking about the things they saw during the day.

"The flow of wounded people decreased quite a lot today," Carter said.

"I wanted to say that our change of strategy to use ice magic was what made the difference, but I would be lying," Isaac said. "Your daughter and her crazy magic were what made the difference today. You two should try harder. Hahahaha!"

Although Isaac said that, he was very aware that he was only a few levels above Ethan and Ian in terms of magic attacks. However, he was light-years behind Emily.

Name: Ethan

Class: Hero/ Omni Hero

Level: 76 (269.333/1 M)

Health: 1060+ 1120

Mana: 325 + 1250

Stamina: 210 + 581

STR: 150

MAG: 60

PHY: 20

END: 50 + 21

RES: 05

SPE: 70

DEX: 05

EVA: 05 + 13

ACC: 05 + 5

Coins: 99.752

Status Points: 30

Skill Points: 58

Skill List

Physical:

Magic: Mana Tracking Lv 25 (+ 03 UP), Ice Arrow Lv 28 (+ 18 UP), Mental Boost Lv 19 (+ 09 UP), Concentration Lv 11 (+ 04 UP), Focus Lv 09 (+ 03 UP)

Passive: Eagle Eye Lv 25 (+ 06 UP), Archery Lv 25 (+ 03 UP), Dual Dagger Lv 05 (+ 04 UP),

While they were talking, Ethan was checking his status. He could make his Ice Spears have the same power as Emily's giant arrows if he wanted, but he would have to spend a few skill and status points. That seemed like a waste, given that he could train them naturally, but it was also a good idea since he and the others couldn't stay there for long.

"I heard some rumors that the big shots want to change their strategy," Isaac said. "They are probably trying to come up with a plan decent enough for that."

"That is good. We can't fight those monsters for an indeterminate amount of time," Emily said. "The question is: what are they planning to do, and if that is going to be enough to solve the whole problem."

"Well, don't worry too much about it," Isaac said. "Unless they can convince the leaders of each squad, they won't be able to do anything, and even though we have some idiots on our end, they will not sacrifice their men in a suicide mission. If the worst comes to the worst, we will act independently while retreating and making sure the citizens of the capital will have time to escape."

That was very noble of Isaac, but then Ethan couldn't quite believe it was a sound plan. However, the position of the capital was a problem. The citizens were wholly surrounded, and there was the ocean behind them and a battlefield in front of them. Suppose the worst really comes to the worst. In that case, they won't have time to evacuate… even if they do, for a country to abandon its capital was like a king to abandon his castle.