Althea watched as her husband was after the enemies, continuously throwing attacks until they all disappeared into the forest mountains.

She could still hear the sounds of clashing metal and stone from a distance, and she knew the intensity had upped a notch.

She closed her eyes and focused on her battles, which were still as bloody as ever, here: Defending the bunker.

Althea could only trust that her husband would be okay.

She took out the Aethra Storage, one of the magic tools given to her back then. At this time, all the energy here was absorbed by Garan.

This was his concentrated power, and it was not weak. Further..., using this made it feel like he was right next to her.

...

Althea looked at the increasing number of enemies. Due to several breaches, one of which was physical, thousands of people had entered the territory.

Most of them were stopped at the easement areas, but ’most’ still meant a portion managed to go through.

These several hundred people were all past level 20, averaging mid-level 20 to 30, and could overpower the Alterran teams they encountered.

These people also had specific targets in mind, including the Ministers and the Research Center. The Research Center was also no less guarded than the bunkers, and a lot of researchers had opted to stay there to continue working while the war was ongoing.

This was better because even if no one went to work, the place would still be targeted by enemies, so it was better to consolidate the forces to guard one place better.

One of Althea’s options had been to stay there too, making potions as she could. However, this was too important a war, and she didn’t want to be too far apart from her children.

Her maternal intuition told her that they really might encounter some accidents in this war. She hoped she was wrong, but Althea wouldn’t be able to settle until this war was over.

Holding the tool in her arm, she raised her bow and arrow once more. She let the aura from the tool combine with her own attack, condensing and combining with her own.

This was power that her husband had stored for an extended amount of time, and it was not worth just a few of his skills, but a plethora of them.

Several areas had been blocked by Alterran teams and mercenaries, but it was impossible to block them all, considering the enemy level and equipment.

The power Garan had could technically allow her to sustain continuous shots for a few minutes.

However, instead of saving up the energy, she decided to use it all within two shots, each one equivalent to Garan’s major attacks.

She shot specifically at areas that were ’open’, where the Alterrans were preoccupied by other groups of enemies. It landed right at the spot they stepped on. Because they were running close to each other, everyone in the group was affected.

"AH!"

"Damnit!"

"Huh? Is that Garan still here?"

Their tone had a hint of fear, making their steps pause for a moment. Obviously, they had known of Garan’s unusual strength and had been wary of him.

This actually made Althea more worried.

If the enemy were aware of Garan’s specialness...would they leave him be?

Anyway, the pause allowed the archers to shoot at them, forcing the enemies to gather themselves.

"Stab it!"

"Quick! Melt it! Melt it!"

"Damn! All our fire users are gone!"

Whoosh!

One by one, physical and magical arrows were embedded on their necks, eyes, or any other parts of their faces.

How could Althea and the other archers miss this chance to shoot still ducks? 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

...

Ansel and Oslo had also moved near the bunker area, at least the blocks between the bunkers and the Research Center. They were blocking the passage of people there.

Oslo was fine, his level was somewhat high (though just above average in the current war), but Ansel was definitely struggling. However, they made it work and cooperated well.

Well, to a point.

"Hey man, can you create an enclosure of metal?" Ansel asked while avoiding an attack and then hiding behind Oslo. "And didn’t you say your metal got improved after being exposed to criel so much?"

"Hmn," Oslo said, sending another enemy flying with a floating boulder. He was continuously doing so. After all, most of the Alterrans were guarding the walls, and the people in the interiors were now outnumbered.

"The metal is more malleable; the same mass can be expanded and stretched further while retaining durability for a time."

"Okay, then, surround those bastards with a shell of it. I checked; they don’t have a metal user, just an earth user and a wind user."

Oslo looked in the direction he was pointing at. The enemies there were being pushed back until they were more or less clustered together.

This was the last group of enemies they had, and was the largest group, amounting to two to three dozen active fighters.

If there were loose enemies (enemies who were scattered around), if they could still stand, then they would run over to get shielded by their allies.

The enemies were using the turtle strategy that Alterrans liked to use as well, with them moving forward while defending themselves, also sending attacks through the ’shell’.

This wholly took advantage of their levels and equipment, causing a lot of inconvenience to the Alterran side.

It sure is annoying when someone else does it.

They were defending themselves well, with them slashing down arrows with weapons or elements, and defending themselves from close-range attacks with shields and elements.

Oslo nodded and gulped his last superior mana potion. He created a shell of metal and then threw it at the ’enemy turtle’. A quick-witted earth user even added a boulder at the top of it to keep it down, even for just a few seconds.

Without another word, Ansel used his remaining mana to create a flamethrower, and the Alterran fire users—even if they were spent—followed his lead.

The people inside screamed, feeling like they were being cooked.

Although the average level of Alterrans was low, if multiple people combined their elements, then the damage was very substantial. Earth elementalists also helped in the containment.

Everyone was pale and sweaty, but they knew it could work.

Drake, the electricity user, was also there. He also sent several bolts, spending much of his remaining mana, to add to the pain. Even if the people inside had higher levels, they were weakened and had little resistance to the paralysis effect of his electric shocks.

The enemies naturally struggled to head out, and they could feel the indents and the sudden holes created by the enemy forces. They could see some burned arms forcing out, many of which were already bleeding.

Oslo raised his arms and clenched his fists, ’crumpling’ the metal, causing the people inside to scream even more torturously.

Ansel’s fire ran out soon, and he was gasping for air, sweat dripping down his handsome face. However, after realizing that not many could move inside their ’oven’, his grin brightened and he patted Oslo’s shoulder, who was also drenched in sweat.

"Great job, my friend!"

The female guards nearby peeked as they fought, silently saving the material in their minds.