A dense pattering sound of crawling drew closer, approaching rapidly.
Hundreds, even thousands, of fish-headed monsters arrived on the beach, their crimson eyes glowing as they swarmed forward like an oppressive black cloud.
The black man looked at the burning tachi in Fumiya Jin's hand, thinking to himself, He's still trying to look cool at a time like this? Is he adding his own special effects? Does he really think this is a game where a fire enchantment adds damage?
And yet, the next second...
Fumiya Jin faced the few fish-headed monsters that had already charged right up to him and executed a horizontal slash.
Swish—
The flaming blade instantly sliced through the bodies of three fish-headed monsters, cutting them in two.
And the moment it cut through their bodies...
FWOOSH!—The flames erupted.
The black blood that poured from their severed bodies ignited in mid-air.
The moment the corpses and blood hit the ground, they turned into a large pool of fire, burning fiercely.
The other fish-headed monsters following behind, though less fearful of fire under the blood moon's influence, still felt an instinctual aversion to the raging flames on the ground and chose to go around.
They sprinted, detouring slightly to the sides, bypassing the fire to surround Fumiya Jin.
CRACK!—
The sharp sound of a drumstick striking rang out.
The movements of the fish-headed monsters within a five-meter radius abruptly froze.
Many of the fish-headed monsters fell flat on the ground, only to be crashed into and trampled by those coming up from behind.
Fumiya Jin immediately turned, rushed to Nijika, pulled her by the hand, and said to the madam, "Go! To the safe zone!"
Taking advantage of the paralyzing effect Nijika's drumming had on the horde of monsters, the three of them sprinted towards the safe zone.
Fortunately, the designated safe zone was only about ten meters from the bonfire.
Even though the fish-headed monsters recovered and gave chase at superhuman speed, the trio managed to dash into the forest and reach the designated safe zone before being caught.
It had to be said, to avoid getting killed by Fumiya Jin, the chubby guy and the black man had worked quite hard during the day—they had indeed used the black fluid to draw a large circle about seven or eight meters in diameter, and many of the trees had been smeared with it to repel snakes.
Patter, patter...
The crawling sounds of the fish-headed monsters were already audible from behind.
Whoosh—
Fumiya Jin spun around and delivered a Drawing Slash.
The blade sliced into the monster's thick neck.
The fish-headed monster was instantly decapitated, its gushing blood erupting into a sheet of flame.
But Fumiya Jin didn't let the head fall to the ground as before. Instead, he adjusted his angle and kicked the head sideways...
BANG!—
The burning head flew off to the side.
It didn't land precisely on the drawn circle of black fluid.
But after hitting the ground and tumbling a few times, it rolled onto the circle.
WHOOM!—
The flames instantly shot along the drawn circle of black fluid, igniting the entire ring in an instant and also setting ablaze the black fluid on four nearby trees...
...
...
The black man knelt on the beach.
Excessive blood loss was already making his consciousness fade.
The fish-headed monsters, however, didn't attack him; they all rushed past him.
He watched the direction Fumiya Jin's group had run, initially with some disdain.
Safe zone?
What's the use of a safe zone?
Isn't that thing just for repelling snakes? Could it also be...
Just as the thought crossed his mind, the black man suddenly understood something and quickly looked towards the forest.
And then he saw it... a blaze of light soaring into the sky.
The black man felt utterly screwed.
"Dammit, that's not a safe zone... Son of a beach, we've been had!!!"
...
...
The burning ring of fire couldn't completely stop the fish-headed monsters.
After all, the circle wasn't completely closed; there was still an opening on the side facing the beach.
The fish-headed monsters all charged through this opening, pouncing towards Fumiya Jin's group.
Swish—
Swish—
Swish—
Swish, swish, swish, swish...
Fumiya Jin repeatedly executed his Drawing Slash at top speed.
Spamming the move was the key to victory.
Of course, the number of fish-headed monsters was too great for him to hold them all off alone.
So Nijika stood behind him, striking her drumsticks with all her might whenever he was about to be surrounded, ignoring the dizziness in her head. Even the madam was frantically picking up rocks to throw at the monsters, though it was utterly useless.
As more and more monsters closed in, the strength of Fumiya Jin and Nijika began to wane, and it seemed they were about to be overwhelmed...
But just then... the few trees that were fully ablaze set fire to the adjacent ones...
The fire began to spread...
And spread...
Gradually turning into a massive forest fire.
The blaze soared into the sky, growing larger and larger as if it would never end.
The once-ferocious assault of the fish-headed monsters actually began to weaken...
Fear had finally reappeared in their crimson eyes.
Then...
Just as they had swarmed in like a tide...
They began to recede like a tide.
...
...
When the blood moon disappeared.
When the dark sky gradually began to brighten.
When the very edge of the sun's silhouette finally appeared at the end of the horizon.
On this small island, the entire visible expanse of the forest had been reduced to smoldering ash...
[Congratulations on meeting the instance conditions. You have successfully cleared it. You will now enter the settlement space.]
The system prompt sounded. Although its tone was still as sinister and strange as ever, this time it sounded surprisingly pleasant.
At that moment, the trio sat by the bonfire on the beach, covered in soot and dust. After the horde of monsters had retreated, they had nearly suffocated from the thick smoke and been roasted by the intense heat, so they had used the light of the massive fire to hastily leave the forest and return to the bonfire site, where they rekindled their own fire.
The black man was dead. His body, like the other two, had rapidly decomposed.
Only the three of them were left alive on this beach.
Nijika had even been unconscious for several hours before she woke up.
"We... we passed?" Nijika turned her head to look at Fumiya Jin. Even with the clear notification, she still couldn't quite believe it, fearing that another crisis might be waiting for them.
"Yeah, we should be safe now," Fumiya Jin nodded, raising his hand to gently pinch the girl's soot-stained cheek. "We survived."
Nijika instantly relaxed. Looking at the sun on the horizon, she suddenly felt like crying.
The madam, meanwhile, was filled with emotion, patting her chest and taking several deep breaths. She then looked at Fumiya Jin gratefully and said, "Mr. Doctor, Miss Pudding, thank you so much for carrying me through... My class is Translator, and my core ability is to interpret various languages and scripts that ordinary people can't understand. My reward items are also related to this. But I was completely unable to contribute in this instance... so I truly owe my survival to you both."
Hearing this, Fumiya Jin and Nijika understood why the madam hadn't used any abilities at all.
So all her abilities were related to information and deciphering.
"You don't have to be so formal. Even if your abilities weren't applicable, you still contributed," Fumiya Jin comforted her.
"But without you, I definitely wouldn't have survived. So... please allow me to introduce myself," the madam said seriously. "My name is Maho Fujiwara. The Fujiwara family, to which I belong, holds some small influence in the political world of Japan. My phone number is ... If it's alright, perhaps you two could contact me after we get out. I will be sure to properly repay you for saving my life."
"The Fujiwara family..." Nijika's eyes widened slightly. "Isn't that a super-famous political family... I've even seen reports about them on TV a few times..."
Nijika looked at Fumiya Jin.
She didn't know if she should accept the madam's offer of repayment.
Fumiya Jin thought for a moment, then said to the madam, "I've memorized your number. If I need to, I'll contact you."
The madam didn't insist, just smiled and nodded. "I'll be looking forward to your call."
[Entering settlement space.]
______
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