Rdrag and Mercyaa saw the figure of Hebanyac appear in the smoke, waving his arms in all directions.

“Please tell me, Lord, that he hasn’t done something wrong,” said the manager.

“Run! Run!” shouted the military commander and flew past them like the wind. “There are dozens of creepy monsters out there!”

“We can’t back out now! Motherfucker, stop, dammit! Okay. You protect me. Rdrag, you go to the front. My rifle will cover your rear.”

The healer used ‘Massive Patronage’, then placed two light seals - which looked like pentagrams - on the floor in front of the tunnel and ordered everyone to stand back. The first dark creature flew out of the fog, and it raced so fast that the traps did not have time to activate. Rdrag summoned three spheres of light and blinded the enemy and ran up close to it and used the paralyzing ‘Poena’ spell. Mercyaa took aim and fired his Simonov rifle. The bullet squealed into its skull and lodged in its forehead.

Hebanyac opened his mouth and grabbed his helmet with his hands around his ears. Rdrag was paralyzed from the surprise. The manager cursed, but he could not hear himself over the squeak in his ears. The dark creature tossed the healer aside and pulled the bullet out of its skull and squealed. Mercyaa lowered his weapon and backed away. The military commander picked up the Scar-L with the silencer and fired all the bullets from the magazine. The monster collapsed to the ground. Rdrag seized the moment and finished it with a kick.

A fresh wave of dark creatures descended upon them from the impenetrable smoke a minute later. This time, the seals on the floor activated. The first released the chains that bound the monsters’ limbs. The second shot out five dozen light spears from the ground, their blades plunging into the limbs and skulls of the enemy. In an instance, the experience bar increased by 15% in a second. Rdrag used the seals again, but the monsters adapted and moved behind the military commander and the manager. Hebanyac became intangible and jumped a few yards away. Mercyaa was trapped, grabbed by the arms and legs, and nearly quartered, but the protection spell saved his life and threw the monsters back.

Rdrag summoned a ghostly sword in one hand, a ghostly hammer in the other, and spun in a dance of battle. His hearing had not fully recovered, but if, he thought, he moved fast enough, the monsters could not approach him. The healer took the lives of five enemies before they retreated to a safe distance and began firing blobs of dark energy. The phantom weapon disintegrated on first contact with the enemy attack, and the body was protected by the ‘Patronage’.

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Hebanyac ran up to Mercyaa, grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, and threw him back, then pulled out two extended combat knives, twirled them like revolvers, and used a “teleportation” spell. He switched places with Rdrag and, once in the battle's thick, used the ‘Illusion’ spell and let all the long-range attacks pass through him, and as soon as the ‘Furious Rhythm’ activated, he was at the monsters’ skulls in a flash and chopped them in two halves.

As soon as the cooldown of ‘Massive Patronage’ ended, the healer used the spell again and then checked his mana reserves: 57%.

“Hebanyac!” he shouted. “Stand back!”

The military commander did a double somersault upward, shattering two skulls along the way, touched the ceiling with his feet, pushed off, and jumped to his comrades. Mercyaa stood off to the side, and in a barely audible voice said: “Magic is IMBA.” More and more monsters were coming out of the tunnel.

“There’s no end to them,” Hebanyac said.

Rdrag put his hands in a lock, waves of light swirled around his body, and he cast the incantation “Subversio tenebrarum.” Light came out of his palms, dispelling the darkness. The tunnel became blindingly bright. When the effect of the spell ended, not a single monster was left inside, only bones.

“I wasn’t aware that you knew how to use such powerful spells,” said a surprised Hebanyac.

“Everyone should have a trump card up...”

No sooner had Rdrag replied when they heard footsteps coming from the tunnel, so powerful and heavy that the ground shook in time with the stomping.

“What was it you said about having a trump card up your sleeve?” Hebanyac asked.

“I said everyone should have one,” Mercyaa answered.

All three of them, tense and frightened, staggered back. Six shadows came running out of the darkness, bouncing from above and below, silver curved knives shining in their hands, followed by a six-foot-tall creature, his body covered in huge armor, at least two inches thick at first glance, and a hammer in the boss’s hand. He roared and ran, started sprinting.

“Run,” Mercyaa said in a low voice, and then shouted, “run!”

They rushed without a backward glance toward the exit. Rdrag placed several seals on the ground, the shadows bounced back into the smoke, and the monster boss strode through, taking no damage.

“Can you do again what you did before?” Hebanyac asked. “Get rid of the minions. We can’t take out that many opponents.”

“Simple as fucking drinking! Strong skills have a cooldown, and my mana has a limit.”