"There's too many of 'em," Welf grunted, cutting down half a dozen of those skinny aliens.
And with a single swing, too.
But not even that was enough.
Give them a second, and a dozen more jumped in to take their place.
They wouldn't stop swarming through that gaping portal, no matter what.
And when it came down to Konrad—
Yeah. He was no longer in the tip-top shape he used to be.
Not that he got old, but he sure felt it after all that paperwork these days.
He'd been skipping his morning runs and the gruelling sword practice, and it showed.
When was the last time he actually fought with his blade? Back in the Zone? And that wasn't against a huge horde of lankies, either—the way he'd refer to them for their proportions.
They had no regard for their own safety and didn't even bother with defending themselves.
Only attack, and attack some more.
And while they wore no armor, or clothes, for that matter—
Their wiry muscles could stop his sword if the edge alignment were off.
Ugh. And the darkness and choking smoke didn't exactly help.
His footing was unsteady, his vision a blurry mess, and—
Another alien had jumped him from the side, clawing into his shoulder.
Fuck. Were they actual monsters?!
They fought with claws and teeth instead of weapons, and they hit like a club, too. But that sorcerer in the back was the same species, only wearing some sorcery robes.
That was the only visual difference, but—he wasn't half bad in what he was doing.
'Another lightning bolt incoming,' Paula warned, and indeed—
It crashed through the formation, incinerating three lankies before zapping Konrad's sword-hand. And damn, even if he prepared and cast his strongest barrier against it—
His arm was buzzing like crazy, and he could no longer hold it up.
If not for the parallel brain's invisible point-defense laser strikes—
No, the aliens were still about to overrun them, despite all the effort.
"Fuck, they cling to my blade," the blacksmith grunted, struggling with all his might.
But he no longer towered above his enemies.
And Konrad might've underestimated the situation.
Especially since he was trying to lay low, but—
'Doubt that sticking to melee and invisible spells would count as such,' Paula pointed out. 'Let me use more of your mana—you've both the power and the spells to wipe them all out.'
As if he had a choice.
His arm was no good to fight anymore.
Two of those tremendous lightning bolts were all he could take.
One more second, and the lankies would stampede over him, but—
"There's still potential in my Isekai Microwave," Konrad gritted out.
And to prove his point—
He poured about a hundred more mana into his favorite spell, and the aliens all caught fire at once. And—so did the valley and Welf's fiery hair, but he put that out with water magic.
This was the first time he'd pushed these runes to their extremes, and they didn't disappoint.
For about ten seconds, before the lanky sorcerer had somehow still cancelled it all out.
Insanity.
From scorching heat to raining ice, not even five seconds had passed.
And while that didn't resurrect the already burning dead comrades—
More poured through the portal over their corpses as soon as the fires were out.
"You have to be kidding me," Welf grunted. "He's using hot and cold at once?!"
He also had to pause to take a breath while touching his hair.
Uh, oh. Guess Konrad could've coordinated that better.
But to be fair, they weren't even facing this invasion alone.
If nothing else, they bought a minute so Lily and Gabrielle could regroup.
And speaking of time and the angel in blue—did those lankies begin to slow down?!
"Nice assist, Konny boy," the little ginger yelled, jumping up front. "Now, get outta the way."
And before he actually could—
She released yet another huge fireball on the already battered valley.
Now, that, unlike Konrad's subtle but deadly spell, had only left a smoking, glassed crater.
Whatever was on the other side of that portal must have burned, too, but—
It was still open, buying them only a few seconds before the next wave poured through.
But, well. That was enough.
Life had finally returned to his arm, and Konrad was itching to swing his sword again.
He had the perfect opportunity to do that, too.
Running head to head with the blacksmith, they pushed past the advancing swarm, and—
He could already tell.
The lanky wizard was preparing yet another crazy lightning bolt.
But Lily kept him occupied only long enough for them to strike, and—
To think that this bastard could still resist even the cold steel of their blades?!
Konrad's magic-infused sword hung in the air. It stopped almost a whole foot away from the lanky wizard's head. That had to be some crazy spatial barrier, but—
Even that couldn't stop Welf's follow-up strike.
He swung wide and high, and shattered the barrier like glass as the sorcerer screamed, and—
The moment his head came off, the portal had also jammed shut.
It trapped the few dozen remaining lankies on this side, and heck—
It even cut those unfortunate enough to be standing in it in half.
Yeah. Note to self: never idle around inside a closing portal.
The rest was child's play to mop up.
In fact, Welf kept grumbling once he wiped out the last of the aliens.
"Come on," he shouted, beating his chest. "I've only warmed up. Is that all you've got?!"
"Well, actually," Konrad noted, panting hard. "There were two other portals, remember?"
And there was no way he could've repeated the same feat twice.
"Nice save," Lily skipped closer, bloody and bruised, but all cheerful now. "Though I should scold you for showing up here unannounced. How did you even find us?!"
Not that it was hard.
"Nimrod," he panted, wiping sweat off his forehead.
That was all the air he had.
"This won't make you look harmless in front of God," Gabrielle sighed, bandaging her arm.
Though that was exactly how Konrad felt now.
"No. I'm at my limit," he choked out. "The lightning bolts of that lanky hit way too hard."
And the others bruised him up good, too.
Damn. The entire battle lasted what, five minutes from when they arrived?!
And if not for the light adamantite armor he threw on before getting on the wyvern's back—
Wait. Were they still around?
He didn't exactly pull his punches with his Isekai Microwave.
Heck, signing Welf's hair was already too much. But the blacksmith no longer complained. And as if to confirm they were fine, too, their pair of long-necked beasts flew past.
"Oh, my Wyverns," Lily gasped. "They were still around?"
Konrad wanted to say yes, but he fell to his knees and could only nod.
"We rode on their backs," Welf claimed instead, swimming in his own sweat and blood. "They brought Soap and Roach to the other portal. Maou Midori should be nearby, too."
And Zoltan. In fact, Konrad's twin might still have been around.
"Must hurry and help them, too," he panted, but couldn't actually get up.
How did he even manage all that running and fighting in the Zone earlier?!
Ah. Right. He had those Artifacts.