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"Make sure not to break the line!

" Layn shouted to others, making the full use of his quickly-growing translation spell. 'I wish I could ask them to keep talking to themselves as they fight, but I guess that will be a bit too much,' Layn thought before refocusing his attention back at the battle.

nBecause with every moment, his group was pushed out of the forest. For an independent observer, it would surely look like humans giving way to the endless onslaught of monsters. After all, they continued to give ground bit by bit.

nIn such a situation, it didn't really matter that for a single step Layn's party would make to the back, tens if not hundreds of monsters would fall.

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"We are going through them too quick!

" Layn shouted, worried about their current pace. As the things were right now, it would be no wonder if the Overlord would come out personally to deal with them.

nThat was the reason behind Layn's warning. As long as he managed to put a stop to the eagerness his people had in killing monsters, he could make them look like a threat not big enough to mobilize the strongest monsters that the Overlord could throw at them.

nAfter all, they didn't come here to fight but to pull Irea and the mercenaries out of the forest. Right now, the only reason why they didn't just turn around and run was Layn's curiosity and wish to explore the limits of this place.

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"Guys! We are mowing them down too quickly!

" Layn shouted after a few more moments passed. He also wiped his forehead clean from all the sweat his fireballs made his produce.

nYet, at this point, only Irea listened to his plea.

nRight ahead, Al already had trouble with keeping up with the formation. From how he was swinging his ax wide, it was clear that rather than making use of the line, it was only bothering him, putting a limit to how wild he could go.

nOn the other end of the line, Antion already lost his sense of self, clearly too focused on the fighting to hear any orders or to follow them. 'I guess he is overzealous for achievements,' Layn noted before shaking his head.

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"They won't listen. You need to do something,

" Irea spoke up, revealing a small hint of anxiety on her face. Puzzled by it, Layn took a closer look at her... Only to realize that she was already driving on the last fumes of her mana!

nBe it some spells she cast prior to the battle, or maybe she was just exhausted from using her magic all the time. Layn couldn't know the answer to this question without asking, yet there was obviously no time for such luxuries right now.

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"Irea, you fall back. We will wound and concentrate on you!

" Layn ordered only for his head to rock forward when he detected a presence way stronger than the others.

nSo far, Layn's group was attacked by mobile monsters. With the first wave came all sorts of horses, wolves, and foxes, along with the monsters of traits clearly inspired by them. There were some six and eight-legged horses, twin-headed wolves, multi-tailed foxes...

nIt appeared as if the Overlord of this place took nature as a basis and used magic energy to create monsters that lived and worked in a pretty similar way.

nBut the thing that Layn saw finally broke that rule.

nThe monster appeared to be a long, gianormous balloon. It had no legs, no arms, not even teeth or anything else that one could be used to.

nRather than that, it moved around by rolling itself in any given direction. But as it continued in its path towards Layn's group, something strange started to happen.

nMonsters leaping forward would suddenly crush into the ground. Those who walked slowly enough or just stood in the ground would suddenly start to float, only to accelerate quickly and shoot out of the monsters' sphere of influence.

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"What the hell is this?!

" Al asked, stopping in his bloody path.

nFor a moment, the entire battlefield turned silent and eerie, as if nobody, not even the monsters and animals, could tear their eyes away from the monstrosity.

n'That's strange...' Layn continued to come up with various theories about the nature of this monster. He even went the extra mile to construct a powerful monster-busting spell. Yet, he ended destroying it halfway before he even had a chance to infuse it with mana. Rather than that, he whirled up his finger and filled this simplistic structure with his energy, sending a small pebble of condensed magic straight towards the monster.

nYet, all according to his expectations, when the pebble was scheduled to explode and cause a magic-storm on a microscopic scale... It appeared to rejuvenate the monster instead!

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"Anyone has any buffing or healing techniques?!

" Layn suddenly shouted to his people, taking a step back on his own.

nSeeing this, the entire line wobbled for a moment, threatening to collapse, yet thanks to Al quickly following suit, it somehow remained in place.

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"What do you mean, healing techniques?

" The massive man asked, clearly puzzled by the question.

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"Something that doesn't harm the opponent,

" Layn explained before bringing his eyes back at the massive monster. Ever since it appeared, it continued its slow journey forward, relentless in its desire to crush Layn and his group.

"I believe this isn't a monster, but a floating core or something. It seems to reverse all the effects of whatever enters its sphere of influence!

" Layn shared his guess, not worried about the other side listening in at all.

nAfter all, the humanoid type of build was the most versatile. It wasn't some kind of bias that Layn developed as a human himself, but something that was extensively researched in the times of his first life.

nWhile there were many flaws in the normal human build, in general, there was hardly anything better than any living being could evolve into. As such, the fact that humanoid-like monsters have yet to reach them, most likely meant that the other side didn't have anything to get inspiration for this kind of monster yet.

nAs such, the chances of them being able to understand the very concept of what speech was, was pretty minimal.

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"I could do it, but I don't have any mana left,

" Irea volunteered before spreading her hands around with a helpless expression on her face.

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"It's okay, use those stones,

" Layn didn't mind wasting a bit of the mana stones. While they could be put to the best use by turning them into stone dust and used to passively continue sucking the energy out of the air, in times of need like right now, he didn't really mind using them in the way everyone else considered to be natural.

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"Thanks!

" Irea shouted back when she grabbed the pouch Layn sent flying towards her. A split of a second later, she poured a handful of crystals on her palm.

nIt wasn't hard for Layn to see what was going on. Once the stones fell on top of Irea's skin, the energy contained within started leaking out, only to be instantly absorbed into the girl's flesh and bones.

nAs soon as the minimal amount of energy returned to the girl's system, she created a simple construct, one that not only used the stuff that Layn taught her but some other techniques that Layn could barely recognize as a part of the cultivation tradition before blasting it forward.

nFrom the looks of it, the spell looked like your ordinary wave of wind, aimed at either throwing the enemy off balance or actually cutting through him if the air was condensed enough.

nBut that wasn't the case this time.

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"I wanted to show it off to you in a better moment, but I guess I didn't have the chance,

" Irea muttered silently, watching how the spell reached the area of influence of the ball-like monster.

nAt first, the two of them just watched the situation with tense expressions. Layn continued to passively produce more and more spells that he would then instantly fire off and move on to produce more spells. He didn't want to just use passive damage like during the battle at the cave as he didn't want the Overlord opposing them to learn about this technique of his.

n'After all, there are huge chances the next time we will come here, that bastard will figure out a way to oppose those spells of mine,' Layn thought, watching the trajectory of Irea's spell.

nAnd then, it hit.

nIt was a sight that instantly made Layn feel like throwing up. In a single instant, the soft flesh of the monster suddenly started cracking before the entire soft-looking ball that was its body simply cracked apart and lost its cohesiveness.

nThe first thought Layn had, was that the thing just melted. But then he realized. It looked like it was melting because all the guts that it had inside spilled all over the place in a single instant.

nAnd so, the monster was dead.

nYet, by the time it died, several of its identical companions already appeared on the verge of the forest.

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