Finn opened the [Delivery Room] array and set things up. For people toughened level and above, and only for this date, the fee for a two-way trip per person was waived.
The system would still take the cost 1 gold per person, of course, which would be covered by the inn. Hopefully, no one would take too much advantage.
Suddenly, his original extra charges and profit margin seemed fine.
At the side, one of the first people to respond was a middle-aged man with long hair. He was a mage, but he was a little buff and definitely stretched his arms like he was going to fight physically.
This was Zenno, one of the older adventurers still going around and adventuring like he was 20 years old. Of course, he was not that old. He was only 50 years old, and as a Blessed-rank person, he still had more than half of his lifespan left.
"Well, it’s time for me to stretch these muscles," he said, approaching Finn who nodded in acknowledgement.
His apprentice, the young Rin, stepped forward. "I want to come too!"
Before Finn could speak, Zenno patted the lad’s shoulders to stop him.
"Sorry, Kid, Toughened-level and above only," he said. "Each space in the battle areas count. It won’t be the last anyway, focus on getting stronger."
Without waiting for the boy’s response, Zenno then moved forward to the array, disappearing with a flash of light, leaving the young lad behind.
Rin’s eyes reddened, and he sniffled, running away. Finn was worried at first, until he saw the lad heading to the barrier and slashing at monsters like no tomorrow.
"I will get stronger!" he yelled.
Similarly, many of those still awakened felt bad that they could not help (and were also sad that they couldn’t experience the array for free). This included the people who passed along with Finn in the exam, like Remus, Maria, Leon, and Luke—all of whom were coincidentally in the Inn.
They were in the canteen when Finn arrived and asked for help, but they could not provide it. It was difficult to imagine how just a few months ago, their levels were still similar.
Now...
When Finn once again disappeared into the array, the four people finished their food and rushed back to the barriers.
They frequently risked limbs and headed outside of the barrier. This was the only way! It was impossible to catch up to him, but they shouldn’t be so far behind!
...
There were several dozen new forces that arrived there, spread out towards the extensions. Finn went to where Marcus, Leiah, and the rest of his friends were. He had fought with them before so he naturally preferred to fight alongside them this time.
There were lot of enemies indeed. By the time he returned, there were already hundreds of monsters, a hundred or so of which were fortified ones and the rest were toughened level.
They were only at the border of level 2 now, and this amount of enemies appearing at the same time, outside of the Aphelion phase, was unheard of.
They could not think too much for now. They were determined to fight these buggers off.
Finn said that the barrier had a long life, but getting attacked excessively could cause it to break down eventually, adding fuel to people’s energies.
It might be someone else’s property, but everyone who had used the barriers at least once had a deep appreciation of its effects! A lot of them had even upgraded in the past months because of it.
This was also why Finn dared to say this at all. After all, most businessmen would hide this as it could lose trust from customers. But Finn felt like they had to know this to work most effectively.
Beside him, Syl continued to spread out the ice under the feet of monsters, imbalancing them while using minimal amounts of energy, and the close-range fighters would then head out to do more damage.
They mostly used strategies like this, primarily due to the density of the monsters. The monsters were beyond what they could see, and that meant this would be a long battle, so they had to use the energy-efficient strategies rather than the flashy ones.
Finn also used his skills sparingly, knowing this. Fortunately, his weapon lessened the mana use, so his stats were better than his peers.
Stab!
Slash!
When he felt tired from attacking, he then used all his AOE and CC skills as much as he could, knowing it would be taken advantage of by his teammates.
[Gravity Spike] would pull monsters together even for a few seconds, [Blade of Fire] damaged several at the same time, and his favorite
[Sticky Soil] would imbalance them.
Leiah and Syl, along with the other long-ranged attackers, barraged the monsters with their projectiles, but as accurately and as efficiently as possible.
Finn slashed and stabbed those directly next to the barrier, and because they were squeezing together, it was a bit difficult to hit some spots, and easier for others.
Their kill rate wasn’t bad at all. However, if it seemed endless, even those much more powerful than him would get tired.
The battle went on for hours, and people started gathering more and more injuries. However, there was still no end in sight.
Even the more powerful ones, like Gideon, already had a few wounds on them. While people were protected by the barrier, many of those going close range had skills that would require close range. Many of them had to leave occasionally for maximum use of their skills.
It was just how it was. The good thing was that they could do this without worry of death unless there was an accident, knowing that they had a barriered fallback nearby.
The groups continued to fight and slash, and Finn took down more than most of his rank, but he saw how much the Fortified-level people were causing. They were naturally focused on the fortified-level monsters, but their attacks were powerful, and the adjacent toughened-level ones were also affected.
For example, one of Gideon’s skills created an intense tremor after he slashed to the ground. This caused major damage to the fortified-level Eckui, and then it would lethally damage the adjacent ones.
In the end, at his level, he realized that there were more ways he could help—and more effectively.
At this, he turned around and headed back to the Inn. As he did so, he did not forget to add another privilege for the fighters here. "The use of the clinic is free for those injured during this fight! The return fee back here shall also be covered by the inn!"
This made people flinch and look at him. They nodded, thankful. To be honest, most of them felt like they were taking advantage rather than being asked for help.
Finn did not know their thoughts. He simply rushed back to the inn to do what he did best: Cook.
For this battle, he decided that he would cook a huge amount of essence food!
The buffs were in %, and this meant they were most efficient when eaten by powerhouses!