Unlimited Power 02 - The Ranger's Domain

                             When Daniel woke up that morning, he barely managed to muster enough willpower to get up from the bed. He had barely slept for two hours, and that night had been actually the one in which he slept most in the last two weeks. When he left his room, Daniel found Holland crossing the corridor just like him, as if he was a living corpse. Both of them were too exhausted to greet each other, so they only barely nodded at each other.

 While he was brushing his teeth, Daniel studied the image in the mirror with an absent mind. He didn't look like someone who was only twenty-three… not a single person actually aged in the last few months, but the continuous fight and the few hours of rest were starting to make Daniel looked like someone in their forties… at least when he was half-asleep.

 Suddenly, the base began to tremble, and the mirror in front of Daniel cracked. Nowadays, he hated earthquakes because usually, they weren't just earthquakes. They were an alarm informing humans of the impending doom… Fortunately, the dungeon breaks happened just a week ago, so Daniel didn't get nervous. However, the earthquake intensified, and his worries were confirmed when the alarm of the base started to ring.

"A dungeon break… shit," Daniel bit his lips in exasperation. "How? Why?"

 Daniel and Holland dashed toward the meeting room and met their friends along the way. Tristan, Anna, Cole, Natalia, and all the others they have been working with for several months headed toward the same direction. The serious expression on their faces only worsened when another intense earthquake happened.

"No way…" Luke muttered in shock. "Two dungeon breaks?"

 Mark and Hugo didn't even have arrived at the meeting room when that group finally arrived. Anna accessed the room's computer, made the satellite move and gave them images of the three dungeons in the area. Before she could succeed, another earthquake happened…

 Everyone stopped and looked at each other and waited for another earthquake that never came. That was good, but it was also bad since they had three dungeons nearby…

 When Mark and Hugo finally showed up, Anna succeeded in making the satellite show some points in Indianapolis. The first one had been the Golems dungeon, and much to their despair, hundreds of them were leaving the dungeon. Anna didn't let the shock slow her down any further, and then she also checked the situation on the other two dungeons. As expected, monsters were coming out from those two. Mark couldn't mutter a single word to say or order anything… that was the worst-case scenario.

"Why the hell are you not moving?" John suddenly appeared and then asked, already imagining why everyone was in shock. "We have to deal with this problem before it is too late!"

"... Right…" Mark said after taking a deep breath. "Hugo, Daniel, John, and Holland will lead our melee fighters and try to slow down the golems. Meanwhile, Mia, Natalia, Tristan and Luke will do the same against the Poisonous Frogs. Take everyone that has a decent aim with you guys."historical

"What about the others?" Anna asked.

"You and the other will follow me and fight off the Giant Bees," Mark replied. "Anyone know where Alissa is?"

"She said that she would clear some dungeons in Canada and will only return in a week," Daniel replied.

"Why now of all times…" Mark bit his lips in exasperation. "Zoe, you will stay behind and make sure that the other kids won't leave the base. This situation is too risky and we can only rely on you to do that."

 Although she wanted to help too, she knew that it wasn't time to argue. After giving those orders, everyone left the room and began to prepare their gear while selecting those that would accompany them. 

 The first group that managed to leave the base fast enough had been Daniel and the melee fighters who would fight the Golems. Much to their surprise, they saw a massive earth tower in the middle of the town, and at the top of it, they found Ryan lying down and watching the monsters approaching.

"Ryan?" Daniel asked, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

 Usually, Daniel would feel happy for the presence of someone like Ryan at such a moment. However, he felt that something was off. Ryan showed and said many times that he wouldn't be someone who would solve their problems. He had his own goals and would follow them no matter what happens with the survivors in the base. With that in mind, his presence was suspicious, if anything.

"I am enjoying the show," Ryan replied. "You should hurry, you don't want the Golems to get too close. They are heavy and if they fight seriously, they might damage the internal structure of the base."

 Daniel didn't even ask if Ryan would join the fight. He already had recognized the fact that he couldn't ask anything of him. Besides, he was right. Of all monsters, the Golems were the only ones who couldn't get close to the town no matter what.

"Let's get going, Daniel," Holland said. "We don't have any time to waste."

 Those who knew Ryan couldn't help but frown while looking at him, but in the end, more or less everyone in the base recognized that he wasn't one of them. It was only natural. Still, when people like John, Mark, Mia, Tristan, and Luke saw him watching the start of the fight and not lifting a single finger to help, they couldn't help but have conflicting feelings. Ryan wasn't one of them, but he certainly wasn't an enemy, so his behavior didn't make any sense.

 The three parties went all out from the very beginning. Thanks to it, they managed to slow the advance of the monsters for a few minutes, but eventually, the golems started to advance once again thanks to the fact that the survivors were running out of mana. Not only that, they were trying to slow down fifty thousand golems with three hundred survivors… it was an unavoidable outcome.