53 The Meat Shields 2

The Maiden of Agony's wide mouth stretched to the maximum that almost ripped its head into two. Its eight red eyes locked on Ren next.

"You're . . . next . . ." It slurred with its raspy voice, pointing the edge of its arm at Ren.

With no one to Tank, the Maiden of Agony would automatically deal with the group's highest damage dealer, Ren.

"No, you don't!" Ragnar went in and took on the vanguard. Running to the Maiden with his giant axe, he swung it forcefully, but the Maiden of Agony easily dodged Ragnar's attack. Bending its eight legs, the Maiden took off from the ground.

At this exact moment, Ren flashed a grin and casted [Multiattack]. And since the Maiden was still in the air, she couldn't avoid the incoming rows of Fire.

– 1224 Critical Hit!

[Maiden of Agony suffered from BURN

–5% HP every minute]

–250 (BURN)

Isolde was ecstatic to see the HP bar of the Maiden flashing red and settled in the middle. Two more attacks from Ren, and it would surely go down.

The rewards were there for the taking!

"Isolde, don't just stand there and help," Ragnar said, waking Isolde from her daydreaming state while he took a step back when the Maiden fell to the ground after suffering from [Burn].

"R-right!" Revolver in hand, Isolde aimed at the Maiden of Agony when it stood on its eight legs and attempted to attack Ren once more.

She depleted her rounds in the barraged of attacks while Ragnar stopped the Maiden of Agony from closing in on Ren.

However, all she did was waste her ammunition since the Maiden didn't even mind her.

For the Maiden of Agony, Isolde's attacks were like tickles. The greatest threat was Ren, and she had to eliminate him as soon as possible.

– 5

– 2

– 4

– 3

Isolde clicked her tongue when her normal attacks only did that much damage to the Maiden.

After exhausting the seven rounds of ammunition in her revolver's rotating cylinder, Isolde had to take a time off to reload.

Ren's [Fire] had already reset, and he was about to cast [Multiattack] when the Maiden snuffed the Fire from the torches again and hid in the darkness.

"Ren, be careful!" Isolde said as she looked everywhere for the Maiden amidst the darkness.

Ragnar immediately crossed the distance between Ren and him and stayed closer to Ren in case the Maiden of Agony launched a surprise attack.

If Ren died, then they all die, and this escapade would result in failure, with the consequence being the loss of a considerable amount of ATP.

"Ren cast fire so the Maiden can't launch another critical Hit," Ragnar said.

However, Ren had other ideas.

If he cast [Fire], he would have to wait for another two seconds again, and the Maiden might have killed Ragnar in that short amount of time.

But if he used the Maiden of Agony's [Shadow in the Night] and hid in the dark, then the next line for the Maiden to target was Ragnar.

And making sure that his [Fire] hit the Maiden of Agony one hundred percent, he would have to use Ragnar as bait.

Seemingly knowing Ren's plan, when the latter didn't answer back, Ragnar was in disbelief. "Ren you–!"

Before Ragnar could finish his sentence, he felt something from his belly, and when the light returned, he found himself in the air with a big spear protruding from his chest.

– 277 Critical Hit!

[ You have suffered from POISON

–10% HP every minute ]

–15 (POISON)

[ You have DIED!]

This was Ren's chance. While the Maiden of Agony's attention was still on Ragnar, he immediately casted [Multiattack], and four rows of [Fire] hit the Maiden of Agony head-on.

– 1024 Critical Hit!

[Maiden of Agony suffered from BURN

–5% HP every minute]

–250 (BURN)

The Maiden shrieked, retrieved its arms lighting fast, and crawled meters back while shaking off the [Burn] status from its body.

"Yes! Only one more!" Isolde was ecstatic. They could really win this!

The only one who wasn't overjoyed was Ragnar, whose body fell on the hard stone floor face first.

He cursed under his breath when he looked over at Ren, who had a grin on his face –– not even sorry for what he did.

In fact, he seemed to be enjoying this.

"You . . ." Ragnar sighed. He regained his calm and said his final words before ultimately disappearing into particles.

"You better kill it, or there will be consequences . . ."

Ren just chuckled before facing the Maiden of Agony. Its MP was probably running low, and it couldn't cast [Multiattack] again. The problem was [Snuff Light] since it only consumed –20 MP.

"Don't worry, Ren!" Isolde jumped in front of Ren when the Maiden of Agony opened its mouth wide and released a loud cry in Ren's direction. It was outraged, and its blood-red eyes were blazing with fury.

"I'll protect you." Isolde stood tall with her gun in her hands.

Towering in front of Ren, Isolde's back was straight and proud, and her long black hair cascaded like silk. She would look cool if only there were an actual wind that would blow her hair back and forth.

Ren held back his laughter over his fisted hand and looked to the side. "I'm counting on you."

"Understood. Don't worry. With me here, that spider wouldn't come even close." Isolde was confident that Ren could finish it off while she distracted the Maiden with her bullets.

"Ah . . . actually . . ." Ren was feeling a little guilty thinking about his plan of sacrificing her, but before he could say anything, Isolde was already charging toward the monster.

With the AGL boost from her Elven race, Isolde was quick on her feet, but she was still no match for the Maiden's speed.

All the bullets she threw at the beast were wasted when the Maiden of Agony jumped from one place to another within a blink.

"Annoying . . . bugs!" the Maiden of Agony hissed. Since her [Stuff Light] didn't work on Ren, and she was slow on MP for another [Multiattack], she used one of her skills to reach her target.

The Maiden's wide mouth opened, revealing its long slippery tongue as she raised her spear-like arms and shot them towards Ren's direction.

It was disgusting to see that the Maiden's arms twisted and detached from the rest of its body, but Ren's focus was on the two incoming arms in the shape of a spear.

"Ren!" Isolde shouted.

Ren didn't flinch. He didn't even have any plans of avoiding the incoming javelins. His DEF was two times that of the Maiden of Agony's STR. But of course, if it were a Critical Hit, he would still die in three or four hits since his HP was only +155 if he didn't equip [Phantom Clock].

Ren was going to let the spear arms hit him while he cast [Multiattack], taking advantage that the Maiden was still regenerating her arms.

However, before he could cast anything, he was surprised to find a shadow looming over him in the form of a giant girl, pushing him to the side.

"Isolde?" Ren stumbled on the floor, butt first, while the spears that were supposed to hit him were now plunged on Isolde's back as she laid on the ground, flat on her stomach.

– 317 Critical Hit!

[ You have suffered from POISON

–10% HP every minute ]

–14 (POISON)

[ You have DIED!]

"R-Ren . . . if we're wiped out, I'll be back to square one again." Isolde rasped though she wasn't feeling any difficulty in her breathing. Just her heart rate was increasing since her palms were still hot from touching Ren's biceps.

She then beamed with an okay sign on her fingers. "No pressure."

And she disappeared with a silly grin on her face.

"Ugh . . ." Ren didn't know what to say to that.

He picked himself from the floor and tapped away the dirt on his pants.

Thanks to Isolde, his chances of hitting the Maiden of Agony and reducing its HP to zero were gone as the giant spider had now regenerated one of her arms, and its menacing red eyes zeroed on him once more.

----

A/N

Sorry for my very slow update *bows head

We'll update 2x by July and 1 BONUS chapter if GOALS are met.

JUNE & JULY STRETCHED GOALS!

Every 500 PS = 1 BONUS CHAPTER

Every 50 GT = 1 BONUS CHAPTER

Every SUPER GIFT = 1 BONUS CHAPTER

PS.

BONUS Chapter later for reaching 500PS last week 😁

Thank you for the support everyone!

And I do read all your comments. I will try my best to reply to each one just give me time since I'm drowning on them. Lelz 😂🤣