The cheerful faces of our avatars were in the center of the map, but some of the other participants, who were just dots and were at the very edge of the map, had managed to get out of it. In total, there were seven participants left in the circle, including our couple.

 

A bright light flashed in the sky, literally forcing me to squeeze my eyes shut, and when I opened my eyes, I was already Vasya, and strangely enough, my nervousness subsided.

 

We looked at Chris at the same time, and she looked calmer too.

 

Meanwhile, the old-fashioned menu with available points and purchases appeared on the screen:

 

━━━━━━┛༻❁༺┗━━━━━━

 

BEFORE THE CHALLENGE, 4:30 (29, 28, 27...)

 

AVAILABLE POINTS 1350.

 

BONUSES AVAILABLE, ACCORDING TO

 

ACCORDING TO THE UNIQUE TRAITS OF THE WEARER:

 

ELEMENTAL MAGIC (beginning level+, unique.) - 300 points.

 

FAMILIAR(minor) - 100 points.

 

FAMILIAR (buff) - 400 points.

 

SPEAR (enchanted) - 100 points.

 

SPEAR (enchanted+) - 200 points.

 

INCREASED PROTECTION (temporary) - 50 points.

 

TOTAL IMPROVEMENT (temporary) - 50 points.

 

AMULET OF RESURRECTION (one) - 200 points.

 

LEADER'S AURA - 500 points.

 

━━━━━━┛༻❁༺┗━━━━━━

 

“Whoa!”

 

“W-what?” Chris nearly jumped at my shriek.

 

“Ah, it's nothing, there's just a lot of points here, here", I showed her my screen while I was thinking about stuff and distributing the sudden wealth.

 

Where did all these points come from, I wondered? Could it be for jellyfish, but were there that many of them?

 

Oh, and there were new perks, I didn't think the menu of choices would expand at all.

 

Although no, some of the new stuff is just an improvement on the old stuff.

 

However, the one that stuck out the most from the list was the leader's aura...

 

‘I wonder what it gives, probably strengthens allies, the only question is how exactly?’

 

Well, no one will give me the answers anyway, so I can only rely on my intuition!

 

First of all, pump magic, minus 300 points.

 

Further buffs, minus 100, and I'll take an amulet, just in case, minus another 200.

 

But the rest of it, I'll have to think about it a bit:

 

I don't need a spear yet, although I'd like to see it, but there are more interesting things.

 

‘Familiars or aura?’

 

The leader's aura is useful to everyone around, except for me, perhaps, and the buff of the familiar is apparently only for me, and its effect is unknown.

 

So, let's think logically - our task is to beat rats, and rats are synonymous with a lot.

 

That is, it would be wise to unite with the others, and in this case, I hope the aura will show itself to the full.

 

At the same time, the buff of the surname does not understand what does, and the surname itself - actually a cat in a bag.

 

Oh, yeah, that's what I thought last time.

 

Then it's decided, I'll take the aura!

 

And that's 1100 points spent...

 

‘Uh, I've miscalculated something, haven't I?’

 

It's a good thing no one knows how badly I've miscalculated.

 

But it's enough for a spear, so it's a good idea to buy one now.

 

As soon as I pressed the button in the menu, a spear materialized in my hands, still secretly very desirable:

 

A sturdy shaft, an elongated rhombus-shaped tip engraved with a floral pattern, and at the end a steel butt with a scarlet ribbon.

 

And while I was looking at the spear, I also noticed that I had a heart-shaped brooch on my chest.

 

A little surprised by this, I looked around for other changes, but there was nothing else, and otherwise I feel the same as before.

 

My shopping was done, so I wondered, what interesting things did Chris have?

 

“What do you have?” I inquired, unceremoniously looking into the girl's cell phone.

 

━━━━━━┛༻❁༺┗━━━━━━

 

BEFORE THE CHALLENGE, 3:30 (29, 28, 27...)

 

AVAILABLE POINTS 350.

 

BONUSES AVAILABLE, ACCORDING TO

 

ACCORDING TO THE UNIQUE TRAITS OF THE WEARER:

 

MASTERY OF BARRIERS (beginning level+, unique) - 200 points.

 

PERSONAL BIKE (scoot.) - 100 points.

 

PERSONAL BIKE (cross.) - 400 points.

 

PISTOL (enchanted) - 25 points.

 

PISTOL (enchanted+) - 50 points.

 

INCREASED PROTECTION (temporary) - 50 points.

 

TOTAL IMPROVEMENT (temporary) - 50 points.

 

AMULET OF PROTECTION (multiple +) - 150 points.

 

PROTECTION AMULET (eastern other) - 50 points.

 

AURA OF PROTECTION - 450 points.

 

━━━━━━┛༻❁༺┗━━━━━━

 

Look at that, she has a good assortment too, and the prices are lower than mine. But I'm a little short on points, it looks like I got all the jellyfish for the second batch, so I'm going to put my envy away....

 

“Ahem, not a bad set, what will you choose?” I asked.

 

“Huh? Oh, what's that feeling, like it's calmer?” For some reason, the girl, who was in prostration, finally paid attention to me.

 

“It's my aura, I guess. So what will you choose, time is of the essence”

 

“You even have enough for an aura?” The girl got a little down, from the realization that I bought up almost the entire store, but quickly pulled herself together, - Here, and here.

 

“Uh-huh, I would have chosen the same thing,” I praised her, and quite deservedly.

 

Chris is really good, because the choice made the most reasonable:

 

Pumped up the key abilty - barriers, and restored the strength of the amulet.

 

Only the girl doubted what to spend the rest on, so the remaining points I advised to spend on defense and a gun.

 

It felt like a long time, but in the end we managed to do it quickly enough. Even had a couple minutes left in reserve, so we should be able to come up with a good place for defense.

 

‘And my gut clearly tells me that we'll be attacked from all sides’

 

Following that thought, I opened the map to study the area more closely, and while I was looking for a good spot I noticed that all the other markers were heading towards us, towards the center.

 

‘Uh, apparently they figured that since we haven't moved anywhere, we know exactly what we're doing...’

 

The conclusion is certainly logical, but flawed.

 

However, on the other hand, under my aura, we have a better chance, so what was I wasting on?

 

However, a quick glance at the map didn't help me assess the terrain properly, so I looked around the old-fashioned way, and immediately noticed an interesting location:

 

An old, if not ancient, five-storey building with a water tower on the roof.

 

I think it would be a good place for a defense.

 

“Chris, let's go” I grabbed the girl's hand and ran towards the building.

 

Yeah, we haven't even gotten off the bench in all this time, so now we have to hurry.

 

And judging by the map, the rest of the group persisted in following us, causing the route of some to curve noticeably in a new direction, further proving their desire to unite.

 

‘Well done, we can all benefit from this’ - I mentally praised my potential allies.

 

Meanwhile, my partner and I had already approached the building, and scarlet enemy markings were already beginning to appear on the edge of the map.

 

The rest of the participants, apparently also noticing it, accelerated noticeably.

 

We began to climb to the top of the building.

 

But before, just in case, with unexpected ease, I carved an inscription, right in the stone wall.

 

TO THE ROOF!

 

The climb up the flights of stairs was unremarkable, and even the door to the roof was unlocked.

 

Which is only a good thing, for we had hardly any time left, for the red dots were getting closer, and so I took a quick look around the "occupied height", then told Chris where best to put her barriers:

 

In the end, when the first ally came up to us, the roof looked like this:

 

On the parapet, on three sides, stood flat transparent plates three by three meters, all sloped outward, all duplicated in a couple of layers.

 

The side that had an exit to the roof was deliberately left open. This is so that the enemies would not climb from all directions, but only from one, because this way, obviously, it would be easier to fight back.

 

By the way, the water tower is in the rear, in case of emergency I have some ideas for it.

 

The first visitor to our fortification was a shapely girl with long, straight, golden hair, about fifteen years old.

 

She was dressed in a lush, black-and-red dress with armor inserts, which to me looks a bit silly, but that's not the point.

 

And the girl's weapon was a huge, no not so - a HUGE sword.

 

‘Here comes the vanguard, which is very convenient’ - I had a little snide thought in my head.

 

We all realized that there was no time for greetings, so we briefly told each other about our abilities.

 

Her main ability turned out to be wielding a giant sword, which, like us our weapons, she had obtained separately.

 

Such a limited one seemed a bit odd to me, what's the point of an ability that doesn't work without an item? But on the other hand, it also speaks to her high potential.

 

The girl introduced herself as Zlata, and I immediately offered her the previously invented role of vanguard, which she did not argue with.

 

‘There's the clever girl, or is it my aura working so well?’

 

If you stood on the edge of the roof, you could already see a looming solid stream of dark bodies in the distance, at which time three more arrived:

 

All were very different, except, only, about the same age:

 

The first was dressed like a typical ninja.

 

All, from head to toe in black, even the figure was unrecognizable, only black eyes were visible.

 

The girl was armed with a pair of nodachi, kunai and shuriken, and her ability to move between shadows.

 

Which is a very good abit, so she would be on cover, protecting the vanguard along with Chris from being stabbed in the back.

 

She's called Tsubaki.

 

But since I thought it was too pretentious and long and awkward, it's Tsu.

 

The second one was a crusader!

 

In full plate armor, though, quite modern design, and simple metallic color. Because of it she seemed larger than the others, and her face was completely hidden by a helmet, so that about the appearance of a new acquaintance can be said even less than about the ninja.

 

And again we have cold weapons, the usual one and a half-handed, double-edged sword, but something suspiciously resembling, but what? I didn't waste any time guessing, though.

 

Somewhat unexpectedly, but her ability turned out to be healing magic, and it worked both for herself and others.

 

‘No, you're a holy knight!’

 

She asked to call herself Jeanne, and even though it seems a bit tragic to me, but let it be.

 

I also put her in the vanguard, but in the second line, so that not only cut down the enemies, but heal allies had time, in case of emergency.

 

The third, another fighter, but universal.

 

A kind of girl - a soldier, in green camouflage with Kevlar inserts. Even on the face, thin but beautiful, camouflage coloring.

 

And the green eyes and short, greenish hair seemed to be part of the camouflage.

 

But in lieu of the monotonous color scheme in her appearance, her arsenal was more than varied:

 

Two katanas, a shotgun, throwing knives, and a pair of semi-automatic pistols.

 

This time the ability was absolute marksmanship.

 

Which is cool, and very convenient! So she will shoot enemies from a distance until the last one, and then also to the front line.

 

She's called Sarah, and her last name isn't Connor, is it?

 

The rats were close enough to be seen in detail.

 

They were humanoid creatures I'd seen somewhere before, but I couldn't remember where.

 

Their eyes literally burned with undisguised anger or glowed red. Some of them were armed with swords or clubs, some of them were even wearing some sort of armor.

 

‘It won't be a minute before they're here...’

 

Nervously swallowing, I took another look at the map, it was almost all red except for our position.

 

What I saw made me a little scared, but at the same time I felt some strange anticipation...

 

However, I was distracted from this thought by the last allied mark that had just run into the building.

 

The latecomer looked like an overly small, also skinny, girl that even looked clearly younger than everyone else.

 

She was dressed all over the place, even her shoes were different.

 

Her short, burned out, blonde hair seemed dirty, and her big blue eyes looked a little crazy...

 

Behind the girl's back hung a disproportionate, handheld grenade launcher.

 

Its unique ability was infinite projectiles.

 

‘What is this if not luck!’ - I mentally exulted.

 

Oh yes, she went by the name Dina.

 

And with this pleasant, new circumstance, I had a great idea.

 

So I asked Chris to create some sort of platform for us in the air, a couple of meters above the roof.

 

While Chris was working on the platform, I asked Deena to blow up the entrance she'd run out of.

 

Which she complied without question and with undisguised pleasure...

 

But I ignored it, and then picking up our artillery in my arms, jumped on the translucent platform. Putting the puzzled girl on the ground, I told her to just fire at the whole neighborhood without stopping.

 

The answer to me was a joyful gleam in her eyes and a dazzling smile, with which she was already sending projectiles somewhere into the crowds of rats, which flew in all directions in flashes of fire...

 

‘What an interesting character’ - was all I thought before I went back down to the roof.

 

But despite the pre-emptive artillery fire, a lot of survivors were almost getting close to the building.

 

Hoping to save as much of the girls' strength as possible, I formed a couple of air bombs at a time, which I was a little surprised at myself, but apparently the ability improved after the pumping, and threw them into the thick of the rats.

 

The result surprised me once again, as my charges scattered the densely crowded creatures within a few meters.

And those creatures that were closer to the epicenter of the explosion would not be able to get up, for their limbs were bent at unnatural angles.

 

At the same time, Dina was actively reducing the number of enemies in the middle and long distances, and Sarah was shooting the fastest ones, who somehow managed to get through and climb up faster than the others.

 

But trusting her, I continued to continuously throw my air bombs into the crowd.

 

Except that no matter how vigorously we destroyed the rats, more and more were climbing onto the roof itself.

 

‘It's a good thing Chris and I only left one passageway’

 

The creatures persistently climbed all the walls, but the goodness of the barriers became an insurmountable wall, so that in the end only could break to the only gap.

 

...

 

We've been fighting back for about ten minutes now, the rats are squealing in different ways and there are explosions, clanking metal, smacking sounds and loud slaps on the meat.

 

Sara's ammo and knives have long since run out, so now she's furiously slashing the creatures with her katanas, both at once, so that blood and entrails fly in all directions!

 

Zlata, with a monstrous force sends rats in packs in flight, wielding her sword like a giant bat.

 

Jeanne, unexpectedly accurate and fast attacks destroys those who broke through, and sometimes heals the soldiers of the front line.

 

Tsubaki, not to be idle, removes the dead rats from the roof on my orders. It's a good thing that she can move corpses with her ability, otherwise we'd be swamped with corpses sooner or later...

 

Chris is not slacking off either and puts up tiny barriers, trying his best to cover the vanguard from missed attacks.

 

Not forgetting to keep an eye on the integrity of the roof perimeter barriers as well.

 

Well me and Dina, work our way around the square, her firing mines all around the area, while I've got the front on me.

 

In the process I even experimented by trying to make a mini liquid-nitrogen bomb, out of the blue, but it turned out surprisingly easy!

 

And when I threw it at the crowd, the effect pleased me quite a bit, as dozens of creatures instantly turned into ice sculptures.

 

But that wasn't all, they were also making it difficult for the others to get through.

 

Although it was quite effective, it still took quite a bit of time, so I decided to try a different course of action:

 

I quickly formed and threw an aerial bomb into the crowd of ice statues, which shattered into shards and riddled many dozens of other rats.

 

‘Now that's what we need!’

 

From that moment on, I did just that - creating frost bombs with one hand and air bombs with the other.

 

The battle kept going on, the time count was finally lost, and the girls on the front lines were starting to run out of steam.

 

After racking my brains, I gave Chris a command.

 

“Chris! Make the entrance narrower!” I shouted to my assistant.

 

In one jump, I was on the edge of the roof, slightly puzzling the other girls, but without wasting a second, I used the method of cooling, which I used earlier for a big frost bomb, only on the rats themselves.

 

Perhaps it was the improved ability, but literally on the exhale I managed to create a powerful wave of monstrous cold, and all the creatures that were climbing the wall at the same time, turned into ice.

 

Repeating this trick over and over again, I formed an entire ice wall of ratsuckers climbing on top of each other.

 

I don't know how long I'll last, but while I took the vanguard position, the girls are catching their breath.

 

But my problem was not my stamina, which I still had plenty of, I was freezing, and I had no defense against the cold....

 

I continued to freeze the rats, so that when the overgrowth on the wall of the building became too heavy, it collapsed with a crash, burying more of them underneath, giving me a little respite.

 

By this point some of the girls had caught their breath, so taking advantage of the lull, I gave them their orders:

 

“Zlata, Jeanne, cover me for a minute!”

 

I called these two because Sarah was the most exhausted because of her fencing style. And she was injured more than the others, so let her get some more rest.

 

While the two girls were covering me, I had already started to form a giant ice bomb, right above the rise towards us.

 

Despite the size, the process was much faster than the first time, plus the icy gusts of wind were preventing some of the rats from climbing up.

 

But even if some did manage to climb, Zlata gently launched them into near-earth orbit with her monstrous sword. Few others perished under the honed lunges of our paladin.

 

Meanwhile, the ice bomb is ready, letting the forces and time it took a lot, but the size of it came out many times larger.

 

Like last time, I just loosened the control, and a huge sphere of icy death flew down, and I commanded:

 

“Everyone stand back! Chris, seal the entrance now!”

 

We all hurried to the rear, only Dina continued to self-fire at the area, but she should be safe.

 

I doubted we'd get frostbite at this distance of territory, and even on high ground, but just in case I prepared to heat the air by the opposite method of cooling.

 

And then there was a deafening shriek of hundreds of throats, which abruptly fell silent, and from the ground a white cloud floated up into the sky, which for a short time enveloped the building on all sides, even our artillery ceased firing.

 

It felt cold, but not that cold, so I relaxed a little and pulled out my phone to assess the situation.

 

The map showed single red dots sprawling sluggishly in different directions.

 

But just as I was getting excited, thinking we were finally done, an armada of scarlet marks began to form on its edge again.

 

‘Holy fuck!’ - almost burst out of me, but we can't afford to let the morale of the others be lost, so instead, I praised the girls.

 

“We fought off the first wave, well done!” Even though I tried to sound confident, a slight shadow flickered across their faces, but I continued, not letting them concentrate on their gloomy thoughts.

 

“Everything is just fine, we have enough to regain our strength, but let's not relax! We'd better prepare for the meeting properly”

 

I finished my speech with a deliberately evil smile.

 

...

 

As it was said, I gathered the girls around me to make sure that my evil plans were working.

 

I was especially interested in the limits of Dina and Tsu.

 

“Girls, I have a couple of ideas, but first let's talk about your abilities again”

 

As it turns out, if you hold on to Tsubaki tightly, you can move through the shadows with her. Although she didn't realize it herself, but I was really counting on the fact that she could still do that.

 

‘Otherwise, my marvelous plan would have become difficult to realize...’

 

And Dina's ability allows you to create not only infinite grenades in the grenade launcher itself, but a huge pile right on the ground, which she didn't realize either.

 

Which, again, I was really counting on.

 

As soon as I was sure that my guesses were correct, I told the girls about my plan to prepare welcome surprises.