Baoba blacked out a little. Just a little.
It was within an acceptable range.
At least, he thought it was, because he had no sure way of knowing how long he was out. An accident like this was inevitable, as the acceleration applied on the team was beyond what an elf could withstand.
But they were still ascending. So, not too long.
The wind was pressing down on them pretty hard. Although he didn't feel gravity due to their free fall, he was acutely aware that he would soon fall down. Disregarding the obvious issues of fall damage, even if the blast hadn't sent them perfectly upwards, the monster flood was still partially alive, and falling on top of them would spell their doom.
Baoba really didn't have any time to think now.
As soon as he woke up, he pushed away the now deformed metallic sheet that had sent them flying, and immediately took out the red glowing ball in his back pocket. He pushed it slowly to the side and in the same movement, summoned the pale blue glow of his blessing.
In the air, around the dangerously red ball, the thick metallic box full of water appeared once more !
It was entirely made out of things he hunted, and he had followed the crafting process very closely !
He screamed at the top of his lungs, trying to overpower the sound of the wind : "Detonate the other !"
He felt the air pressure growing weaker by the instant, reminding him that the floor would soon welcome them back.
Capcsium shook off her disorientation and confusion, and quickly followed the order.
Heat started radiating out from the box again, as the water boiled and expanded like before.
Or at least, it tried. The box was still sealed perfectly.
Baoba also summoned a new flat sheet and used it to stop the box from drifting too much.
'1...'
The ascent was slowing down. The squad, remembering what happened with the other box, tried their best to huddle up as close to the sheet as possible. In the relative weightlessness of their fall, this attempt was not exactly fruitful.
'2...'
After a brief moment of stillness, he felt the wind going the other way. They had started falling. Baoba had never noticed that the sky was that big and completely devoid of any sense of security. You really do learn something new everyday.
'3...'
These seconds were definitely too long. Were they being attacked by some time-slowing monster ? The probability was low, but not zero.
The trees looked unusually green. Then again, he wasn't used to the view from up here.
'4... Damn, the ground is fast.'
Just before they went below critical height, the makeshift bomb finally exploded.
The metal plate hit them before the sound. In the air, they didn't get a chance to lay on it, so the hit was more painful this time. He could almost swear he heard his bones breaking.
It launched them to the side, slightly upwards, giving them additional airtime. This wasn't exactly the metric he aimed to increase, but at least it slowed their fall.
The explosion, having more directions to spread this time, was a bit weaker on them, so he managed to stay awake.
'Hurts like hell, though !'
He didn't dwell on it too much : the important part was he was still alive !
Refocusing on their situation, he put both his arms in the direction they were falling, and summoned beds. Lots of beds. Some stuffing appeared without the crude cover, and some covers appeared empty. It was kind of a rush job.
The trees seemed to run at them fast, so fast. The entire team braced for the impact by rolling themselves into balls.
The mass of matresses broke the tree branches and cushioned their fall, but the forward momentum was still there. So they kept rolling forwards even on the ground.
But eventually, they stopped. Baoba didn't even hit any rocks or trees.
'Lucky me.'
They had successfully gone up and around the monster tsunami. This much distance had to leave enough room for them to cook up some kind of trap, and slow the enemy down as they called for backup.
Previously, this would have counted as forfeit. It probably still did, but the situation had definitely changed now.
They had dramatically underestimated this forest. Not only had the diviners completely missed crucial information about potential elves, or even humans living there, but they also didn't report the true difficulty of this mission.
The monsters were capable of multi-speicies collaboration. Worse than that, looking at the sheer size of that last wave, the total number of cursed beasts was also severely understated.
Even worse than that, the many, many monsters that were separated by up to a kilometer coordinated perfectly. And even though monsters usually had a semblance of self-preservation instincts, the first ones had also sacrificed their lives in what appeared to be a strategy aimed to exterminate the squad.
This strongly suggested a leader, a general that could give orders, come up with tactics and make troops coordinate remotely.
It wasn't hard to guess what that could be.
It was the Lord.
It was it that had kept an eye on them since the beginning. It was it that made sure the house was vacated and stripped of clues. It was it that always kept the same monsters on their path, only giving them easy battles, even though the difficulty was supposed to increase as they got further from the tree. It had lured them into a sense of security, only to prepare an ambush and crush them in an instant.
They never stood a chance. Not like this.
Right now, the only hope of surviving Baoba's crew had, and the only way for the great country of Saltus to hold their ground against the Lord, was for them to turn back and report their findings, hopefully preparing an army the next time and come back stronger.
They had to flee before the mass of surviving beasts chased them to their death.
He quickly analysed his state.
'Neck is good, legs are ok, nothing is stabbing me... A few new cuts and bruises.. and my muscles are still hurting.'
In other words, the best case scenario.
He got up as quickly as his tired body allowed him to, and started running south.
"Come on, we have to move !"
But the sounds of his footsteps remained alone. He froze and slowly looked back.
Urtica, Venus and Capcsium were standing still, gravely looking at Pando, who was sitting on the grass, supporting herself with her arms behind her back. Her expression, although tame, was showing pain.
Baoba looked down and counted multiple times to make sure he could believe his eyes.
'1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, .. That's too many joints.'
Pando had broken her leg.
In other words, the worst case scenario.