Fighting Through
"Michael, Bron, would you like to go first?" Tom said offering the creatures to them.
"With pleasure," Michael said as he stepped forward to meet his opponents, hefting his axes that gleamed slightly in the light of Bohdan's spell.
Seeing him approach, the monsters turned, miniature versions of the hulking creatures the others fought outside. Their eyes, which previously seemed to hold no emotion, now blazed with a hatred and hunger they hadn't held before. They charged.
Crouching into a ready stance, Michael smiled even wider as he prepared to receive them. With a spin to the right, avoiding the first clawed attack, Michael brought an axe down into the back of the first monster and deflected the clawed attack of the second with his other axe.
The third came for his exposed back but was barreled over by Bron and his bulk as the Mastadonian also charged into the fray. Knocking the undead monster into the wall where it slumped to the ground in a daze, Bron swiftly decapitated the creature and turned to see how Michael was fairing.
A blur of axe blades greeted his gaze, as Michael exchanged blows with two of the monsters, the final monster seeing Bron, began to approach him more cautiously. Bron stood still, eyeing the creature with disdain. It was slow, uncoordinated, and lacking fighting ability. It would die like all the others.
Springing at him suddenly, it leaped through the air. Bron deftly caught it around the throat with one hand and slammed it into the ground, the floor of the room cracking under the immense pressure. Picking it up again, he slammed it down on its head, causing the head of the creature to explode in a splatter of gore on the ground. Rising back to his full height, he turned to watch the exchange between Michael and the final two undead.
Blocking a high strike from the claws of one of the beasts, Michael swept his leg out, knocking one of its legs out and causing the creature to fall on its back. Spinning to strike at the second undead, he ducked low and brought his axes out in a cross slash that cut both of its thighs at the same time, while its attack, aimed at his chest, missed him completely.
It tried to step forward for another strike, but its injured legs collapsed under it. Stepping back as it tried to claw its way to him, he turned again and brought both axes down in overhand chops into the stomach of the monster that was still trying to roll from its back. Placing one foot on its chest, he yanked his axes out and cut off its head with one of them.
Returning to the first creature, he kicked it in the face as it continued its pathetic crawl, its legs dangling uselessly behind it. He casually stepped around its arms and decapitated it as well.
"Where's the next ones?" Michael said, turning to Tom and Bron and smiling through the gore that had splattered his face.
"Dude, bring it down three creepy notches," Tom said smiling despite himself.
Continuing onto the next hallway, the path led them down a long straightaway until it turned to the left and led out into another large room. Here, they found twenty more of the undead goblins and wolves milling about the room.
"My turn," Bohdan said as he pushed his way to the front of the group.
Raising his hands, a soft red glow emanated from them as he chanted a spell. Gouts of flame erupted from his palms and sprayed out over the gathered undead like hellish firehoses. Shrieks escaped the dying creatures as they first tried to run from their eternal nemesis, before curling in on themselves and falling to the floor as charred husks. Releasing his spell, Bohdan surveyed the room with pride.
"Remind me not to get on your bad side, Bohdan," Tom said putting a hand on Bohdan's shoulder as he stared wide-eyed at the smoking remains in the room.
Continuing on, the team came to room after room of zombies set up to slow them down. This basement was clearly a maze setup to bog down anyone looking to fight their way through. After the seventh room of zombies, they came to a large room with a much larger Undead Hulk in the middle of the room.
"So you've made it this far, but will you be in time to save your friends outside?" The Master's voice echoed through the room again. "They don't seem to be doing so well. Might even be killed by the time to get to them to help."
Taking a single step forward, the large creature lumbered in their direction.
"My friend here is going to keep you busy while they die at the hands of my ultimate creation. Don't worry, you will soon join them in the afterlife." The Master began laughing maniacally as the monster came nearer.
Bron dashed forward past Michael and Tom and pulled his second greataxe from his inventory. The monster met him with both clawed hands stopping his axes. They battled back and forth, Bron being almost as tall as the monster was. Muscles bulged as the two fought to press the other back.
Spinning to the right, Bron let the Monster fall forward as he brought one of the axes around and into the creature's back. Seeming to shrug off the pain, the monster turned and hit Bron in the head with one of its hands, sending the Mastadonian reeling back. Michael jumped in next, throwing one axe at the distracted creature and then following through with a two-handed swing of his second axe.
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With both axes embedded in the monster's flesh, he wasn't prepared for a backhand strike that tossed him onto his back. Bron took advantage of the moment of distraction and stowed one of his axes in his inventory before giving the undead a powerful punch to the side of the head.
The monster's head spun to the left and it staggered a few steps before regaining its footing. Shaking its head from the blow, it didn't see Born charge and tackle it to the ground. They rolled around on the floor trying to get the upper hand. Bron pinned the creature to the ground and began pounding on its head with his fists. Unfortunately, the creature kicked up from behind him and caught Bron in the back of the head, knocking him off.
As Bron rolled off, Michael was right there falling from a flying leap he had taken and forcing the entirety of his weight and momentum into one heel that landed on the beast's stomach. A whoosh of air left the creature as it folded around the blow. Grabbing his axes from the side of the creature, Michael began to swing down toward the beast. Being that he was still standing on its stomach, the creature rolled to the side causing him to lose his footing as he was forced to abandon the attack and jump off the creature to avoid falling.
As the creature regained its footing, Bron was there with another blow to the head from the left side. It staggered right to find Michael there with another punch from the right. It staggered back and forth as the two fighters took turns pummeling the sides of its head.
The creature clearly had an incredible Constitution as it continued to remain upright despite the repeated haymakers being delivered to its skull. Not being idle, Tom had been charging up a spell to release as well. When he finally had enough power, he held the spell in his hands to prevent it from firing off.
"Hold its arms!" Tom shouted to Michael and Bron, who immediately jumped at the creature.
Each grabbed one arm, and they pulled with all their strength pulling both arms straight and leaving the center of the creature exposed. Tom brought his hands into position at his hip, the glowing ball of light in his hands crackling with the pent-up energy.
"FINAL FLASH!" Tom shouted as he released the energy straight at the creature.
Pouring more mana into the spell to deal extra damage, the blast grew from the width of a grapefruit to the width of a beachball as it neared the monster. Its eyes widened with rage as the beam struck it in the upper half of its torso, disintegrating its head and part of its chest, leaving nothing but a semi-circle indention in its body that led to its shoulders.
Bron and Michael both dropped the creature's arms and the body fell to its knees, then flat onto the ground, still sizzling from the beam that struck it.
"Remind me not to make you mad as well," Bohdan said as he stared in shock at the creature's smoking corpse.
"What the hell kind of monsters are you?" The Master's voice came from the room around them. "You come here to ruin my plans for making this city a peaceful place to exist and show off by killing anything in your path. You call me the villain, but all I see is someone looking for chaos!"
"You don't know the meaning of the word peace. You are looking to enslave people not help them." Tom answered back to the room.
"Enslaving? I'm giving them some of the power they crave! I am setting them free from the day-to-day dangers by protecting them. I provide them with purpose. You promise nothing but death for the danger you continually bring to your doorstep." The Master almost shouted.
Tom paused. He had to think about what this man was saying. Had he been bringing danger to their doorstep? It did feel as though everywhere he went danger continually found them. Seth had died because of their decision to fight in the Dungeon of the Devourer. Others had been injured and his friends were above them fighting to buy them time. Was he the cause of all their pain?
"Fuck that," A voice sounded from beside him, and he turned to see Michael standing beside him.
"This world is filled with danger now. We had to fight to survive without him, and we'd still be fighting if he died or ran off. He doesn't bring danger to us, he stands in the gap to be a shield for those who can't defend themselves." Michael continued.
"You are a naive fool who loves the thrill of battle. You cannot possibly understand." The Master replied in a snide tone that showed his disdain.
"So I like jumping into the fray. But I don't do it because I just want to kill. I do it because people are counting on us. People who can't fight for themselves." Michael retorted.
"He's right. I'm not the one causing this. I allow every one of my guild mates to choose their path. You, however, force them into servitude. You may call it protection, but you are forcing them to do what you want instead of giving them the choice. I bet most of them would rather be out in the wilds fighting for their lives than here with you." Tom snapped suddenly, the anger of what The Master had done fueling his rage.
A door slid up at the back of the room and twelve men and women marched into the room, each one of them wearing one of the collars that Lily had been wearing when she had escaped and came to their guild. If Tom had been angry before, his rage reached a new pinnacle now that he saw the slaves in their tattered clothes. Their eyes were sunken in and they appeared to be suffering from malnutrition.
After they filed into the room and formed a wall in front of the doorway, The Master himself stepped out from the darkness. He was wearing a pinstriped suit with white gloves, his hair still slicked back with some kind of hair product that kept it perfectly in place. He reached one gloved hand up to his face and pushed his glasses up on his nose as he smiled at Tom.
"Well then, shall we see whose resolve is stronger?" The Master said through his maniacal grin.