Chapter 753 – Arrival

Chapter 753 - Arrival

When they arrived at Arkahan Volcano, it was already night, so they decided to wait until morning before hunting the monsters.
As if she was concerned with the party's strength, Maya said, "By the way, I need to warn you something. The monsters around the volcano are a bit different than usual. Have you ever fought around the volcano?"
"No." Theo and Agata shook their heads in unison. "We've got the information about them, but let me hear your concern."
"There are three types of monsters dominating the volcano. The first will be a fire-based monster. Even so, not many monsters like the fire, so they usually try to extinguish it the moment the trees catch fire.
"However, in the morning, you will see so many burned trees even if it's only a part of them."
"That's understandable." Theo nodded with a serious expression. "I mean, if you think about a volcano, it will be the magma. So, it'll directly be linked to the fire-based monsters."
"Yep. The second will be earth-based monsters. The soil around here is fertile, so it's comfortable for them. From what I know, there are many monsters hiding underground. So, if a battle breaks out, there's a possibility of them ambushing you from the ground."
"Okay. We will take precautions." Agata was the first to answer. Considering she had the widest detection range, she believed she was responsible for this task.
"Alright. I'll leave it to you. However, there's a possibility that they'll surround us." Theo raised another concern.
"Yeah. That's the problem. When there are so many monsters coming out of the ground, they're going to surround us. It will be hard to break through them." Maya nodded in agreement.
"I guess we'll use the element of surprise to disrupt their ranks and search for an advantageous place to face them." Theo glanced at Agata. "Get ready to force them out of the ground."
"Understood. The usual thing?"
"Yes."
"Well, how reliable you two…" Maya smirked.
"How about you?" Theo teased back.
Maya flinched and immediately replied, "Of course, I'm reliable. I have enough firepower to handle them with my armor. But I think I will refrain myself from using it for the time being. So, I will just throw everything I have at them. In fact, I've prepared something just for this mission."
"Okay. I'm looking forward to it." Theo nodded and asked, "What's the third one?"
"They're flying monsters. There are so many bird-type monsters around here, so we need to be careful of an attack from above us. We also need to protect the Cubicar, so our movement is restricted." Maya explained.
"My clone will take care of the Cubicar. You also need to teach me how to summon those shields."
"Should I teach you after this?"
"That'll be good."
"Still, how do you plan to kill those flying beasts? I mean, I can shoot them down, but they're numerous and flying at fast speed."
"Hmm…" Theo thought for a moment. "I will take care of them. I've told you this but just shoot whatever you can shoot."
"Alright." Maya nodded with a smile, anticipating what Theo planned to do.
"That's all. We'll be careful on the first day to get used to the environment before we kill all of them." Theo announced. "Ava will take care of the unexpected situation, okay?"
Maya, Agata, and Ava nodded their heads, understanding their role.
After the discussion, Maya started teaching him how to activate the shield. Agata also watched them while Ava was on the lookout.
As soon as they finished, they took turns to sleep.
When the morning arrived, Theo and the others finally moved toward the foot of the Arkahan Volcano, their first place to hunt monsters.
Theo took another look at this three thousand-foot-tall volcano and could hear so many sounds rumbling around the area, indicating the number of fighting in this volcano. He also saw the numerous charred branches and other marks related to battles.
The monsters in this area seemed to be aggressive, so they needed to react to every possibility.
After summoning his clone, Theo and the others finally moved away from the Cubicar.
"We'll first set up a perimeter, approximately three hundred feet away. So, let's clear the monsters in clockwise order." Theo commanded with a calm expression.
"Understood."
As soon as they learned the task, they headed straight to the south of the Cubicar, finding ten monsters on the surface. However, Agata could feel the ground vibrating, so she knew there were more monsters hiding underneath them.
When they were about to begin, Agata bent her knees and placed her hand to the ground, channeling her pink smoke.
The smoke would turn into a spike and kill them underground, but as if they could sense the vibration the cloud made when moving, they suddenly came out.
"…" Theo frowned and saw the additional four monsters. There was no doubt that other monsters would come at them the moment they heard an explosion in their area, so they needed to deal with these monsters as soon as possible.
Without getting any instruction, Ava leaped off Theo's shoulder and headed straight to the monsters before them.
'His pet?' Maya frowned. Although Ava didn't say a single word, it was clear that Ava was quite smart. Jumping in like that meant she planned to deal with those monsters first to gain their attention.
In that instant, Maya immediately took out her rifle and pointed it at the monsters.
As expected, the monsters rushed to Ava.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
Maya began to shoot the monsters from the left.
The monster sensed her bullets coming and leaped into the air. Meanwhile, the beast next to it simply waved its tail and formed a shield that blocked all the shots.
Theo used his Blink to appear on top of the jumping monster and pierced his head, knocking him down to the beast that blocked Maya's bullet.
The moment they crashed into each other, the shield disappeared, resulting in Maya's bullets piercing his body.
Maya didn't notice it, but Agata had disappeared from her side too. It turned out she teleported together with Theo.
The pink smoke was floating in the air as it released many spikes to impale the monsters, indicating the battle had begun.