Chapter 266 - A Surprise

While Ryan was trying to overcome his lack of focus with pure sheer will, Gonzales and his friends stepped forward. As if they had trained to do that or something, they began to fire Fireballs toward the sky in an arc. Those projectiles hit each other, but instead of exploding, they only fused to create an even bigger Fireball. Although the projectile was beyond their control, they kept increasing the attack's size by firing their own spells.

Eventually, a thirty-meter large fireball fell on the monster's army and caused a massive explosion that decimated dozens of monsters and heavily wounded many others.

"Ouch! Ouch! It is hot!" Daniel shouted in pain. "Damn, at least warn us next time you do this."

"Don't complain. They saved our asses," Holland said after finally finding some room to breathe. "Anyway, it looks like Ryan isn't on his top form today."

Although that hadn't been an insult, Ryan bit his lips in annoyance until it started to bleed. He knew why his doubts were bothering him, but Ryan refused to admit that it was true… To think that his mind could affect so much his skill was annoying beyond reason.

Regardless, Gonzales and his friends managed to solve the situation once, but Ryan didn't feel like causing problems anymore, even if they were involuntary. So, he stopped aiming with his crossbow and just fired at the places where monsters were clustered. At the same time, he used Power of Money to eliminate the other creatures that were trying to attack them from the sidelines. Although the cost was quite high, Ryan managed not only to recover his hunting speed but also to increase it even further.

Daniel and the others frowned when the monsters began to explode for no apparent reason, but eventually, they understood that Ryan was the one causing that. The fight got incredibly easier after that, to the point where Daniel and Holland started to focus on the offense as well. Meanwhile, Lilian and Luke didn't let the blood rush to their head since the bosses could appear at any moment, but in the end, they never came…

"Hell yeah! We won again!" Tristan jumped and raised his arms to the sky again… it looked like he liked to do that after every other fight.

While Natalia was frowning, looking at her little brother, Daniel and Holland were greeting Gonzales and his friends and saying thanks for the help in the middle of the fight. Meanwhile, Luke and Lilian were organizing the loot.

"Shit… shit."

In the end, Ryan calmed down pretty fast after just cursing a few times. He couldn't just let the same things happen over and over again, after all. Thinking that his actions were wrong and he couldn't fight alone already was something that he already experienced before.

"It is okay. Those damn thoughts will disappear once I eliminate those freaks inside the dungeon… at least for a while."

That was a bit tiring, but it looked like Ryan had to constantly prove to himself that he could do what he wanted and that he was more than capable enough to survive even though fucking monsters are spawning every second.

"It looks like things worked out in the end," Daniel said. "By the way, are you fine?"

"It wasn't me who had a hard time during the whole fight and had to be saved by a bunch of strangers," Ryan replied. "Rest while you can because I want to challenge the bosses this afternoon. It is too risky to do it tomorrow since they might use all kinds of tricks to buy time. We need to decrease their numbers today, and if it isn't possible to clear the dungeon, at least we will increase our chances today."

"I totally agree," Daniel said. "Anyway, it shouldn't be too hard to do that considering that we defeated fifty thousand of those monsters in two days. Things might be different if the bosses were like Dracula, but fortunately, that isn't the case."

Daniel really had to jinx everyone with those words… Ryan didn't want to think about it since his head was already full of problems, but the possibility of a creature like Dracula being the vampires' leader was high. Still, Ryan didn't feel like using the purple crystal to check that. The only thing he wanted to think of was to why he opened a dungeon at such a place instead of Transylvania.

"I think we are ready to go," Angela declared. "Just to be safe, we should send an escort team to make sure that no other Chupacabra is lurking around. Come to think of it. Maybe the vampires are lurking around waiting for us to approach. It wouldn't be weird if they can do the same things those monsters could and even better."

"I can do that," Ryan declared. "I have the skills necessary for that role. "However, even I go alone, I don't think they will show up or attack if they are planning an ambush. If your worries are correct, they will only do it when their chances of exterminating us are absolute. That being said, I don't think they are preparing a trap outside the dungeon." 

"What makes you think that?" Angela asked.

"All the experience I obtained so far while fighting those freaks," Ryan said. "I don't know why, but even while they sacrifice their minions, they don't do anything without reason. If the bosses didn't attack us during the day until now, they didn't do it for a reason. Besides, if they were that smart, they would have to set up an ambush while were fought the army of monster."

All the bosses Ryan faced until now thought about their self-preservation first and foremost. The sapient ones didn't even bother to hide their intentions. Considering everything Ryan saw, if there were a chance for a boss to win a fight alongside its minions, that boss would fight alongside its minions. If there were no chances of victory, the bosses wouldn't fight, and they would sacrifice their minions. Even though those minions could hunt other monsters, get stronger, and by proxy make the dungeon and the other monsters spawned by the dungeon stronger.

In other words, they had the confidence that even without their minions, they could do that. Hence, their survival was their top priority, even though they were nearly immortal thanks to the dungeons' blessing.