Unlimited Power 02 - The Ranger's Domain
Chapter 265 - Insecurities

                                    After sunrise, Ryan left the dungeon and frowned when Gonzales and his friends accompanied him with a resolute look in their eyes. If he didn't know any better, he would say that they wanted to participate in the final battle against the vampires.

"What?" Ryan asked.

"We are not strong enough, but we would like to fight alongside you," Gonzales said. "In the future, we would feel ashamed if we pass to the next generations that some people from other countries recovered our lands and we only watched them from the sidelines."

                                    That was all very nice and good, but Ryan didn't want to give the vampires a single chance to use Vampirism. It was too much of a risk… Although they could become a bit stronger while fighting the Chupacabras, the difference in power wasn't small to the point where they could cover in just a few hours of hunting.

"Let them come with us, Ryan," Daniel said. "They are all ranged-fighters, right? As long as Holland, Luke, Lilian, and I do our job correctly, nothing will happen to them."

"You talk already declaring if something happens to them, it will be your fault by default," Angela frowned. "That being said, I agree with you. The true inhabitants of some lands have to fight for their countries. Besides, the more we fight, the more loot we will get. We can increase their power with the same loot."

"To be honest, I want their help," Tristan declared. "After the fight yesterday, I lost all my confidence in my skills. Besides, there is strength in numbers. I am sure their numbers will be more useful than you think, Ryan."

                                    Ryan sighed. If he were alone, he could say no instantly, and the question would be over, but since that wasn't the case, he had to listen to that kind of nonsense. Although he wanted to say that it was nonsense, he couldn't exactly disagree with any of those arguments.

"Well, if you guys want to risk your neck that much, who am I to say no?" Ryan asked. "Do as you see fit."

                                    Although Ryan thought those guys wanted to challenge the monsters with their guts alone, they properly made some preparations before leaving. Each one of them had a backpack filled with mana potions. In the end, Ryan even lent his magic wand to Gonzales to make him increase his survivability and utility.

                                    After the preparations had been done, they marched toward Monterrey, and as expected, they didn't replace anything even when they entered the city. It was obvious that the Chupacabras were planning ambushes in several places. Given that they could disappear within the shadows, one could easily replace where they could hide, but Ryan decided to do something better. He waited outside the city with everyone else until noon. At that time of the day, the number of places the monsters could hide decreased, and those spots became quite obvious.

"Let's see if they can be damaged inside those shadows…"

                                    Ryan, who was flying in the sky using his shield as a platform, found several shadows within the city. Without wasting any more time, he fired the pestilence crossbow at those places. He didn't notice anything at first, but when Ryan insisted on attacking the same shadow over and over again, he saw the corpse of a dead Chupacabra suddenly appearing, and other poisoned monsters also appeared.

"I guess their mentality and willpower increase while they stay in that form."

                                    Ryan bombarded several of those places with his bolts, but instead of killing all the monsters hidden, Ryan focused on just damaging them to some extent. Upon noticing that Ryan wouldn't fall for such an obvious trap, the monsters left their hideouts and moved toward him. When that happened, Ryan joined the others who had stayed behind.

"They are coming," Ryan said.

                                    Little by little, a massive cloud of dust began to appear in Monterrey. The vampires noticed that ambushes wouldn't work on Ryan, so they decided to tire Ryan and the others with the monsters that they still had under their control.

                                    When the monsters finally appeared, the backline began to fire their magic projectiles. At the same time, Ryan used Ice Storm to slow down the monsters even more. Just like the previous day, the monsters suffered many losses. Before they finally could attack Daniel and the others. However, unlike yesterday, they used the Dark Sphere to make the frontline become as slow as possible.

"I knew that things wouldn't end that easily…"

                                    Even Lilian and Luke, who were quite quick on their feet, got hit several times and, in the end, just like Daniel and Holland, they assumed defensive positions to prevent letting the monsters bit them. Suddenly, Ryan had an idea… what will happen if he kills the monsters that used Dark Spheres? In the blink of an eye, Ryan stopped attacking the monsters on the sides and attacked those who were coming from the front, and they died. Daniel and the others recovered their mobility more and more.

"Dumbasses! Try to dodge at least some of the attacks!" Ryan shouted.

"We are trying!" Daniel protested.

                                    The monsters finally were too close to use Dark Sphere, and those who were behind couldn't risk hitting their friends, so the long-ranged attacks turn was over. Despite that, Daniel and the frontline were being pushed back for some reason. Their wounds on their bodies were increasing, and whenever their blood was spilled over a Chupacabra, the monsters healed.

"The heck is going on?"

                                    Ryan eventually noticed what was going on… the situation was difficult because he wasn't killing the Chupacabras as fast as possible. Even though they were so close and there was nothing blocking his field of vision, he wasn't as fast as he had been on the previous day. At best, he was killing seven of them per second and noticed why that was happening. It decreased to five… his doubts were preventing him from showing his true potential.