Chapter 233: Flares

The flares lit up the sky, and the first of the monster groups realized that they were quite close to a large city. That was all that it took for them to attack, though their numbers and strength were no match for the heroes.

The first groups hadn’t even sent ground vehicles out yet, just the two teams of flight suits and the assault speeders.

But that was already enough that the monsters were struggling, and the artillery near the horizon was providing enough light and deadly motivation that the waves were finally moving forward.

They had no other choice.

Of course, that left the monsters that were past the horizon waiting for someone to find them, as they were not dumb enough to charge through the artillery, and unable to see Marimgar to determine what the problem was.

In a way, that was going to make the easy mode trials just as hard to do well on as the Epic Trials, but in a different way.

They were going to have to hunt down the enemies, instead of relying on them coming to the city.

They would get a win for making it until noon, but that was basically the consolation "You didn’t fail" version of winning. The real win was for 80 percent kill rates.

Of course, every other human on the planet had a very different perspective on "Winning". They were just trying to stay alive for the first 12 hours of every day. If they weren’t being actively attacked by the monsters, they were neither going out hunting them nor attracting any excess attention.

The problem was that they would group up when the sun rose, and they would always be drawn to wherever the humans were taking shelter.

That would eventually happen here as well, drawing them to Marimgar.

However, it would usually be after dawn, and nobody was willing to wait that long, or let the monsters build up into more cohesive groups. It would make them easier to target, but the high intensity combat was ingrained into them, and they needed to deal with the threat immediately.

Nobody tried to stop them when the first armoured vehicles left the compound at three in the morning. They had waited too long, and the first hints of dawn were coming.

With twin stars, or whatever that other one was, the days were long, and by four there would be more than enough light to fight.

The speeders came back to escort their teams, while token forces manned the guns on the walls, in case something got past the patrols. It almost looked to Kalli like they were a proper city for the first time, sending out patrols to clear monster from the area to keep the region safe, instead of huddled inside the walls enduring the trials.

Kalli relaxed behind her desk as the heroes ranged through the territory, hunting down monsters, and eliminating them from the vehicles where possible, only getting out to fight when absolutely necessary.

It was easier for them to feed mana to one heavy gun on top than to get out and actually fight a small group of monsters.

Between the Pulse Cannons on the speeders and the carrier, it was more than enough to take care of groups of low-level monsters, even if they were Ogres. The bugbears tended to wear armour, but it was crude metal and leather plating, nothing that could stand up to heavy weapons fire.

The advantage was simply too overwhelming.

So, it was with no surprise at all that Kalli saw the message come in at nine in the morning that they had won.

{Wave 11 is now 80 Percent depleted}

{Wave 12 is now 80 Percent depleted}

{All waves cleared. Generating final challenge.}

That last line was enough to send every team scrambling back toward the base, just in case it was something insanely dangerous.

Without any additional warning, half of the heroes outside the walls simply vanished, and were replaced by groups of blue skinned giants with icicles hanging from their fur clothing.

The creatures did not look pleased with the situation, and immediately began casting spells to coat the ground in ice.

"Well that rules out them being our own people transformed. Guess we need to warn the heroes."

The runner standing by the desk laughed as Kalli talked to herself, then sent a pointless warning to the heroes, who were already beginning to engage the Frost Giants. The battle was becoming a fierce one, even though it was so scattered.

Then, a scream outside alerted Kalli to trouble, and she stepped outside to see a group of Frost Giants attacking buildings, while being pelted with laser blasts.

Their ice shields were holding, for now, and the residents were scattering as the ten-metre tall monsters tried to dig them out.

The Flight Suit was beginning to feel like a natural extension of herself as Kalli equipped it and levelled her Pulse Cannon at the Giants. The weapon hummed as the energy pulses slammed into the giants from the side, and the largest of them spat up a mouthful of blood.

As they turned, Kalli unleashed the {Ghostflame Flamethrower} on them, and surged into the sky, giving herself a better angle to fight.

Ice bullets chased her through the sky, shattering windows.

The agile flight suit circled an apartment tower, and Kalli made a low pass around the Giants again, tearing apart a barrier with point-blank fire out of the Pulse Cannon, and then setting the Giants ablaze with Ghostfire.

As she passed, Kalli took an ice spike to the right leg that sent her careening into a building, and then skidding across the ground on her back.

She wasn’t the sort to give up that easily, and as she slid, Kalli continued to fire the Pulse Cannon at the Giants. Blue blood arced into the sky from the impact points, and the final three giants of the group fell, their bodies still burning.

Kalli used the thrusters to push herself to her feet, then gave them a short burst at maximum thrust to clear them of any dirt or debris that she might have picked up.

"{Report. I need locations for Giants inside the city.}" She called.

"{ Northeast side, headed for the wall. }"

Kalli raced low through the streets, headed for the only report of Giants that she had.

Most of the heroes were outside the walls when the change happened, so there wouldn’t be many Frost Giants in the city, Kalli hoped. If they were replacing the level 0 residents as well, it could be trouble, as most of those were indoors.