A/N: First MGS month starts now~! Thank you all for getting this far! Special hugs to the lovelies who sent gifts, voted, commented, and the like. *Bro-hugs*
I’d also like to mention last month’s (Oct ’25) top 3 Golden Ticket Gifters Riebee, Number2Bobling, and Sunny_Shumail~
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[A potential customer has entered the barrier. Please set an entrance fee immediately.]
Finn gaped and set it as fast as he could.
[You have set 1 gold or 1 awakened core as an entrance fee.]
[The potential customer has paid the entrance fee and has accepted the Rules. Please welcome them well!]
"Wait," he mumbled, looking around for this new customer, but none was found.
Somehow, Pang had climbed up his shoulder while he was sitting up, and he was now hanging on his shoulder. His eyes twitched but fortunately the panda wasn’t as heavy as he thought, but he still wasn’t light.
Finn just let him be though. "Where..."
"Look at the side," Pang said, and he turned. It was then that he realized a lot of the monsters were moving elsewhere.
"So they’re there..." he said as he followed the direction where most of the monsters were heading, even if he was practically lumbering.
The new arrival entered the rear right side of the barrier, at an opposite corner.
When he got there, he realized there was only one. It was a cloaked figure hovering in front of the monsters trying to lunge at her, but were unable to due to the barrier.
The person had his back turned so Finn couldn’t see him. He was a bit wobbly, however, and Finn knew that the person must be injured.
The person raised his hand but froze midway. "I... I can’t use magic," came a confused voice.
It was a woman’s voice, and it had a velvety and lyrical feel to it, and he—and his groggy state—found himself gaping a bit. A slight smack on the back of his head was enough to shake him awake.
"Wake up," Pang said, making Finn blinked.
The new customer couldn’t use magic?
It was then that he remembered the rules. "Can’t we let her use magic? Just temporarily? How?" He vaguely remembered that in the description, but he had no idea how.
"Panel," Pang said, lazily lounging on his shoulder as if he weighed as little as a towel.
At this, he opened the [Inn Functions] and clicked on the rule. He clicked on the [No Unauthorized Use of Magic] Rule and made temporary modifications.
[Are you sure you’d like to make an exemption? Please enter duration.]
He entered six hours, since there were still so many enemies around. It was safe to assume that those wouldn’t get cleared within an hour or two.
[Please select the names of the exemption(s).]
The list of [Guests] appeared in front of him, though obviously there was only one name there.
[Name: Sylwen Thariel | Race: Elf | Status: Injured]
"..." Elf? Really?
He didn’t dwell on the content for now, and just continued with the job.
The other data like levels and so on were not shown, likely because she hadn’t ’checked in’ yet.
Before confirming the exemption, he looked at Pang. "Will magic from the inside damage the barrier?" he asked. He knew physical attacks were fine, but what about magic?
"No, la. Any attacks from within the barrier to the outside will be unhindered and will not affect the barrier.
Finn nodded. It was so convenient. He loved it.Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on NoveI(F)ire.net
And so, he placed the elf as an exemption and set it to six hours. That should be enough for them to handle these enemies. Probably.
He saw her wobble, and he flinched when he caught a glimpse of her arms, as well as the dripping blood on the grass. By this time, although it was still dark, it was nearly dawn so he could see a bit more. How badly injured was she?
Before he could approach her though, she raised her hand again, and this time the light exploded.
The woman’s eyes widened when she could suddenly use her abilities. She didn’t fall in a daze for too long, and she immediately waved her hand and immense power concentrated around her.
A second later, jagged spikes of ice erupted from underneath the monsters, skewering at least half of them outright, a portion dead, leaving the rest shrieking. More and more monsters arrived in the area, and it felt like all the monsters from the other sides were here now.
Using the same spikes she made before, she waved her other hand and created spikes on top of the spikes, finishing off the survivors of the previous attack.
ROAARR!
The rest of the monsters screamed, lunging at her, definitely much more crazy for her dripping blood—there was a pool forming under her feet now—than the dozens of carcasses around them.
The woman stammered, nearly buckling, but she held her ground. Even looking at her from behind and even when she was veiled under her cloak, Finn could feel her grit.
"She probably didn’t believe the barrier would protect her forever," Pang mumbled, looking at the woman. "But let her fight it out. It’d be helpful for both of us to see the abilities of the people in this world."
Finn bit his lips, observing. As much as Finn wanted to help, what could he do but watch?
That said, he had been here for two days now and he hadn’t encountered any other intelligent beings yet. It was the first time he was slapped with the fact that he was really at the bottom of the food chain even among bipeds.
The woman’s arm rose again, but as he walked closer he could see her hand was already shivering. With a sweep of her hand, more shrapnels of ice appeared in thin air, floating, hovering horizontally around her.
They were a bit shaky, and some spikes couldn’t seem to hold their form anymore. Finn could easily tell that the woman could barely hold on and she was literally pushing herself to her limits.
With a final sweep of her hand, the floating ice spears shot out the barriers, piercing the remaining monsters until none of them rose again.
The roars ended like this, and the chaotic forest was quiet again.