Jack could hear his own heart beating quickly. The sight of gigantic flying venomous needles wasn't something he could bat an eye off of.
The first few that came to him swiftly met their ends with loud squelches. He kept his mouth shut, swallowing the contents that were about to exit from his throat.
He tried to listen to the movements, tried to enter the state to no avail. The sound of buzzing and wooshing were just too loud for him. He could only see what was ahead of him. Jack felt very vulnerable at the moment.
"Look out!"
The boy heard a slash behind him. Turning around, he saw the elven man cut off a wasp that almost pierced him.
"We've got to stick together! It's the only way to prevent them from hitting our blind spots!"
Finding his reason sound, Jack quickly complied. While it was a struggle at first, after a few accidental hits between their weapons they were able to read each other's movement clearly. Jack found it similar to the flow state, but this time it wasn't just him in it.
The elf signalled him and he quickly understood. They went near the crossbow user and protected her while she reloaded.
"I've a useful spell against them! Protect me while I chant it!"
The three quickly went over and protected all the spell caster's sides as she chanted her spell.
"Mountain Roar!"
The wind blew harshly against the swarm pushing them all further back.
"We have around thirty seconds! What's the plan?"
The elf suddenly asked, "Can you take us to your shadow?"
Jack could only enter the shadows for a bit more than fifteen seconds maximum each time, and that was reduced by five seconds for each person he carried with.
"Only for a few seconds," he replied hastily.
"Can you make that five?"
He thought about it before answering, "I think so."
The elf nodded and said, "Good."
He then spoke in elven tongue, "Poe, light up your bombs!"
In the past, he questioned why a scout would ever use a bomb to his sister. His sister said it was so she could always be ready for any situation. He laughed her off back then. He would gladly eat his own words now.
"Got it," she nodded and lit them up.
Urdan turned to the boy and ordered, "When I give the signal, you pull us in."
He nodded.
"Now!"
Urdan grabbed both girls and Jack grabbed onto Urdan, pulling them into the shadows.
BOOM!
The wasps that finally just returned to the battlefield were blown to smithereens.
After a few more seconds, the four came out. They coughed from the smoke, while Jack was on his knees. It appeared that forcing himself to hide longer than the intended time took a great toll on his body. He didn't feel like he could go in again right now.
The elf crouched and asked, "Are you good?"
He wanted to shake his head, but if he quit now then the rest wouldn't be able to fight them off for long. There wouldn't be enough melee attackers to deter the wasps then.
Jack stood up, very fatigued, and went back to his stance. The elves looked concerned, but prepared again, nonetheless.
The smoke cleared. On the sky, thousands more wasps descended. It appeared the explosion stirred some more into action.
The group continued fighting them off for a few more minutes until the wooden sword fell out of the boy's hand.
Jack knew this was it. He couldn't fight any longer.
No.
He still had his arms.
He remembered his teacher throwing her weapon at him before she went back to the battlefield. If she could do it without a sword, then so could he.
He could still fight, damn it!
He pulled his fist, and punched towards a wasp...
Only for its stinger to point at his fist. He closed his eyes, clenched his teeth, and waited for it to pierce.
"That was very foolish."
He opened his eyes to see a hand grabbing the wasp, whose stinger was mere inches from his fist.
"But I suppose it's my fault for not teaching you unarmed combat."
The hand clenched, and the bug went splat. He looked to the owner of the hand.
The elves had already moved back, extremely wary of the newcomer who came out of nowhere.
"Teacher..."
Jack sighed in relief. He fell unceremoniously to the floor. He knew he was completely safe now.
Rimuru flicked the insect off his hand along with its insides.
Rimuru figured normal swordsmanship would be of no help in protecting his student, so he opted another way.
"It seems I've to pay a little attention this time," he said as he wielded his bokken and went into an unsheathing position.
"Compound martial arts..."
Jack struggled to open his eyes to witness what was about to come, while the elves looked over at the stranger with uncertainty.
"Tempest!"
He saw his teacher bounce forward with incredible speed. He couldn't keep an eye on the movements, but heard much less buzzing in just one second. It was then he was able to hear again. He closed his eyes, for he didn't need them to see. He heard every attack. It was beautiful. It was music to his ears. Like a lullaby, the tempestuous melody lulled him to sleep.
'Compound Martial Arts: Tempest' was Rimuru's martial magnum opus. It derived from all the martial arts he had seen, and involved every one of them into a chaotic symphony of attacks. It took Rimuru more than an entire eon to finish.
What was shown just now was not even a billionth of what it was actually capable of. He did it within average human limits, granted any other person would've had their limbs ripped off after attempting this.
"...the tempest shall approach," repeated Urdan. He was slack jawed. The swordswoman took down the rest of the wasps with little to no effort. He turned to look at his teammates who were also stunned still.
Rimuru flicked the monsters' remains off of his blade. He then looked at his disciple before looking at the three.
Urdan, not wanting another misunderstanding, quickly exclaimed, "He fought hard with us to dwindle down the numbers. But, as you can see, it wasn't very successful."
He waited with bated breath. They all knew that if they incited the woman's ire, then they would be annihilated. After a few seconds of total silence, the woman nodded.
Urdan heard his teammate gasp once again. He looked towards her, only for her to point at the blue haired woman and saw near her particles of light forming into a figure.
The light turned into a translucent blond man with tan skin. If he were to look closely, he could see similarities with him and the woman. It looked like the translucent man wore a pitiful face, and talked as if he were pleading to her.
"Do you hear what he's saying?" Asked the elf.
It was then when he heard it.
He'd heard their eldest speak it when he was little. He couldn't understand it, but he knew that the words spoken right now were extremely similar to the ones back then.
The ancient tongue.
It was a language used in the Age of Chaos. An age that barely anybody knew about. All that they knew was that it was the age when gods, angels, heroes, and demon lords used to roam the world. But it was real. How else would they be able to explain the Sealed Monster Sea?
He'd heard the woman speak with the ancient tongue.
He realized now what the spirits wanted. It was for this conversation to happen. It was what they considered as "something important." The three had finally completed their mission.
After awhile, the translucent man suddenly separated back into particles, which were bound back immediately to form someone else.
This person was a woman with her hair having all the shades of a rainbow. She wore a crown and had mystical wings on her back.
"T-t-th--" Cough!
He turned to see Ledwen coughing and stuttering. He moved over and worriedly asked, "What's wrong?"
"T-th-the s-spirit queen..."
Both elven siblings froze.
That... was the spirit queen?
What was she doing talking with a human?
Why did she come in the first place?
It was at this moment Urdan knew that this was going to be bigger than he'd ever imagined. He needed to quickly inform the elders about this. He looked at the other two, and it looked like they were thinking the same thing.
And so, they waited from afar for the conversation to end.
...
"Oh! Oh! I know! Let's watch Shre--" Rimuru was cut off before he could even finish.
{Your student is in danger.} Ciel's voice felt much more deadpanned than usual.
"Huh? Wait, don't change the subject! Why not Shrek!?" Shouted the demon lord demandingly.
{I never denied anything.} Denied the sentient AI vehemently.
"That's because you didn't even let me finish!" The slime complained.
Once again, she denied, {I have no idea what you're talking about.}
He retorted while jumping to his feet, "Bullshit! You knew exactly what I was talking about!"
{Your student is in danger.} Repeated the Manas. This time her tone was a faint bit more challenging.
"Tsk. You win this time," Rimuru relented before he teleported to his student.
