Rise Of The Hoarder

Sara, who appeared to be the weakest among the Party, actually wielded the most power.

Being a Tamer, she could enlist Demons as ‘Familiars’ and control them. The girl currently had five slots where she kept her Familiars, and she could withdraw them whenever she wished.

However, the more powerful a Demon was, the lower the chances she could control them and make such monsters hers. Also, based on power difference, it would also take a great deal of time to summon stronger monsters.

Usually, Tamers would be unable to even tame Demons higher than their own abilities, but Sara was different! Her Gift [Pure Heart], made it extremely difficult for people to fulfil her requests since she was a pure-hearted saint.

It was most effective when she added her Taming Skill to it and asked to contract with those Demons. Although they struggled at first, the Demons would become bound to her… allowing a timid girl like her to control five beings more powerful than her!

Of course, out of all the Familiars in her collection, the mature SinEater was the strongest, and so she had to use it up here. It was a shame, considering the amount of Mana she expended and the struggles she encountered in trying to Tame it, but…

… If she didn’t sacrifice this much, everyone would die!

In the end, the young girl prioritized her team and chose to go all-out, hoping her actions guaranteed their survival.

*********

“Run! Let’s run!” Darwin shouted._.

The team members didn’t even need his words to prompt them, but his eagerness to flee must have caused him to spit them out.

They began making desperate attempts to move, putting all the strength they could into their legs, when…

>BOOOOOMMMMM!!!<

A deafening explosion sounded behind them, in the direction where the two beasts fought. Every Gifted in the vicinity was shaken because of the tremor that traveled through their body. Whatever the noise could have been… it wasn’t good!

“KAAAAAA!!!” A terrified, pained screech rang out as well, piercing their ears even if they covered them.

The Gifteds knew the owner of the sound very well, and even as they ran… a fair idea of what was happening registered to them.

‘Don’t look back! DON’T LOOK BACK!’ Tia’s mind rang loudly as she tried to flee.

Her camouflage Skills were currently in Cooldown, so all she could do was run as fast as her legs could carry her. The other members of her Party also looked terrified, but the Thief didn’t have the luxury of even giving them a glance.

What was on her mind was the battle behind her… and how much time their Trump Card could buy for them!

Unfortunately…

>BOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!<

An explosion sounded again, and a burnt smell wafted through the air. Squishy sounds like flesh melting echoed through the corridor in which they ran, and Tia could feel the heat radiating behind her. It was certain what had happened considering the sound they had just heard.

‘N-no way! It hasn’t even been a minute!’ Tia screamed internally, shocked to the extreme by the disparity in the abilities of their Summon and the enemy.

“GRRRIIIIIIKKKKK!!!” They heard the Gluttonous Giant sound from behind them.

Should they have kept running despite knowing the monster was right behind them, or would they have to turn around to fight?

No matter how hard Tia thought, a fight would be unwinnable, but if they ran like this, death was also assured. They were caught in a deadly and impossible situation.

“W-we have to fight… Darwin muttered to the group.

Everyone sharply turned to look at the older man.

The fear and concern in his was real, but they could tell that he too thought there was no other way.

“U-understood!” Tia had to gulp down her fears and speak.

“I-I can still summon the rest of my Familiars… I j-Just need time…” Sara whispered.

Although no one knew how effective those would be, considering how their opponent managed to wipe out her strongest one within a minute. Still…

“… Thanks, Sara!”

It appeared everyone was resolves to fight and make their stand; all but one.

“I-I’m sorry, everyone! I-I can’t stay and fight anymore! I’m retreating!”

It was Terry!

Their eyes bulged at the man’s treacherous statement, unable to completely process what he said until it was too late.

>VWUUUSHHHH!!!<

In a flash, blue energy flickered and enveloped his body. Distortions played around the space surrounding him, and before anyone do anything to stop the traitor… he vanished!

Terry had used his [Teleport] Gift as a last resort, and left everyone behind to serve as a diversion while he made a clean getaway!

The range of his teleportation destination was awfully small, and he could only travel for about thirty meters at a stretch. Still, using this consecutively was faster than running! Plus, Gifts didn’t consume MP, so he could keep it up for quite some time.

Out of everyone in the team, it wasn’t surprising to say that he had the highest chance of survival. Still, the others would never have foreseen his betrayal. However, none could really blame him.

Ultimately, he stuck with them until they absolutely had no chance, even when he could have resorted to this option much earlier. That didn’t mean they forgave him, though.

“Tch, that bastard!” Darwin growled.

His MP was about halfway full, so he could somehow manage.

“We should focus on the enemy!” Tia snapped, drawing two daggers from her hips as she prepared to fight.

“…” Sara’s eyes were closed as she focused on summoning the rest of her Familiars.

It was going to be a life or death battle, mostly leaning toward death, but they had to fight!

‘I can do this!’ The Thief mentally encouraged herself.

********

“Haa… Haa… Haa….” Terry breathed heavily now, perspiration evident on his face as he appeared from the blue distortions in space.

After escaping from the danger behind him and using his teammates to buy time for him to flee, the young man felt horrible.

“Keukk! W-what have I…done….?”

Tears streamed down his face, showing how apologetic he was. He didn’t mean to betray anyone… he simply wanted to survive!

“I’m s-sorry, everyone. I’m so sorry…” His voice trailed.