The battle within the camp raged on fiercely and had broken into little groups with everyone doing their best to survive.
The screams and roars of both humans and monsters echoed over the area.
On one side of the field, a guy had been flung to the ground, armour ripped apart with a spike, lodged deep in his skull.
The creature retracted its spike, eyes searching for its next prey.
At another side, a group of three had managed to slay a hideous F-rank creature but at the cost of one of their comrades who lay on the ground with a huge chunk of his upper body missing.
The battle front was no less tragic than the other parts of the battlefield.
The carnage here was high, with more bodies falling every second as the heated battle continued.
Worse... the creatures were slowly pushing the human force back.
By now, the soldiers had reduced greatly, some injured and unable to continue fighting. Some were already long dead while a few others had turned into zombified creatures, attacking their former comrades.
It was pure hell.
The soldiers were getting tired. Things couldn't continue like this. Otherwise, it won't be long before they all get wiped out.
In the centre of the chaos. Len stood before a long dangling creature with long strands of steel webs swaying down its abdomen and anchoring it above the ground.
Its upper body was a grotesque layer upon layers of greyish flesh packed so tightly it resembled muscle stacked upon itself.
The most important feature was its head. An elongated oblong skull dominated by a single red oval eye. Beneath it was a mouth stretching towards where its ears should have been, then splitting open into four jagged segments.
Their first clash had resulted in Len getting beaten badly.
Both stared at each other, one filled with insatiable hunger and the other with pure malice.
"Fucking beast." Len muttered. Meanwhile, his brain calculated every possible way of slaying the monster and, at the same time, surviving those razor-sharp webs clinging to it.
Spitting out a blob of blood, he made a split decision. The crimson dagger dissolved into his soul space leaving just the jagged sword in his grasp.
Five minutes...
He had just five minutes before his body collapsed from strain.
Breathing deeply, he took a stance, sword placed before him.
The surrounding noise and screams slowly faded out as Len stared right at the creature.
Taking that as an initiative, the creature let out an ear splitting roar, its jaws expanding beyond the edge of its mouth and revealing long dangling tongues within rows of razor-sharp teeth.
"My sword can barely cut through the webs, I guess the only way to kill it will be through its upper body."
The creature, charging forward, sent a couple of webs towards Len.
Len with a calm gaze blocked each web in a flash, his sword moving in a seamless manner.
The webs fell to the side, making way for Len to charge forward.
More webs surged towards him, including those from behind, and soon again, Len was surrounded on all sides.
"Do you think the same thing will work twice!"
Gathering strength in both hands, he swung downward, striking the ground beneath him.
Chunks of earth exploded over the area, and Len managed to block the few strands of webs that found him.
The rocks had served its purpose in blocking most of the webs even though they were crushed into pieces.
Though a few pierced him, he continued forward and, with a leap, landed atop one of the few remaining rocks hovering before the air and then shot forward.
Both were exceedingly close now. Len's eyes glinted darkly as he stretched out his free hand to his side.
Twisting his hips, he tossed the dagger that had managed to form before his palm with a roar.
Alas, an F-rank creature-though a huge hurdle for their current strength - was still an F-rank creature. Their low intelligence was their greatest flaw, and one could easily abuse that.
Before the creature realised what had occurred, a crimson blade surged forward, cutting through the wind and finding its mark dead-on at the centre of its head.
SHRIEEEEK!
A painful shriek echoed over the area as the creature spasmed in pain.
The webs that were already heading towards Len falter mid way, their once ordered pattern now chaotic.
Len weaved through and finally closed the gap between the two of them.
Sliding across the ground, he adjusted his stance, using the momentum as an extra force as he leapt high.
His sword struck the creature's neck where the flesh was thin. Due to its jagged edge, the sword cut through a significant potion before coming to a halt.
That wasn't a problem for Len. In a fluid motion, he spun with the jagged edge of his sword ripping the creature's head off its body in a gruesome manner.
Blood rained down upon him as the creature finally collapsed to the ground.
Huff. Huff.
"I... did it." Len mumbled with strained breathing. Though the battle wasn't over, Len had a brief respite due to their clash being far away from the others.
His eyes were already getting blurry, yet he stabbed his sword to the ground, supporting himself up.
He couldn't afford to pass out here. Not in the middle of a raging battle.
"You truly are strong, big brother."
A voice echoed beside Len, yet no one could be seen.
"Dammit! I fucking screwed up." Len thought, swinging his sword in a wide arc.
"Your attack won't amount to anything." The voice echoed casually.
Len knew she was right. Even he could see his swing was sloppy and lacking the strength it normally carried.
How did he forget the creatures weren't the only ones after his life. Those humans, they were far deadlier than the creatures, and right now, he was attesting to it.
Stumbling forward from the result of his sword slashing nothing but empty air, he felt a hand rest upon his chest and then a bright light accompanied by a searing pain erupted, blinding his vision.
"Urghhh!" Len groaned, spitting out blood as he was sent stumbling a few steps back.
"It's done." The voice muttered with a smug tone. Slowly, their form began to flicker into existence.
Standing before Len was a black haired girl with bangs hiding one of her eyes.
From the other, Len could tell it was light red.
The exhaustion had hit Len deeper than he thought. He felt his legs buckle as he collapsed on his knees with strained gasps.
Even for him, going against F-rank creatures in a row wasn't something his current body could handle yet.
"Dont worry... you're not going to die. Not yet."
The only thing Len managed to catch was the strange dark smile on her face as he finally gave in to the darkness.