Seeing the five dashing towards us, all with the intent to kill, I gritted my teeth in anger as I lowered my stance while standing beside Yuki, preparing to fend off these attackers; however, all of a sudden, while it was faint, I felt the ground slightly trembling along with the danger that my heart had been constantly warning me of, intensifying. Using [Heroes Gaze] to greatly lower my perception of time, I used this chance to look around, searching for the reason as to why I felt such danger since, as surprising as it sounds, my heart wasn’t warning me of Lucy and her five approaching men, it was warning me of something else, something much more dangerous.
‘Fuck, what is it? Zartha, am I missing something?’ Thought Alexander with a deep frown as he intently looked around, only to inwardly curse and ask the most knowledgeable person he knew, someone to whom even Lavender’s knowledge would pale in comparison.
‘I don’t know, Master. I may be able to see through your eyes, but I can’t feel the same danger your heart is warning you of. If it is not the Firemania party, it could possibly be a second-floor guardian; although rare, it’s possible for a second-floor guardian, or in your terms, a hidden boss, to appear after you’ve defeated the first one.’ Replied Zartha with a faint frown and a serious tone as she looked through Alexander’s eyes, yet she was even more clueless than him, given her lack of information.
While what Zartha had said was surprising and probably something I should’ve learned much earlier, I didn’t think it was that; I would’ve spotted the convergence of a large area of vitality through the dungeon walls; however, the veins of vitality surging through the dungeon was mostly equal, and there were no signs of it converging.
‘Tsk, dammit; I’ll need to keep an eye out; the five are getting too close.’ Thought Alexander with an unsightly expression as he ignored the dungeon before eyeing the five attackers, who were getting closer by the second.
Having fought against Master numerous times, I knew just how dangerous and deadly a Mage could be, so I ignored the five and opted to deal with Lucy first, though unfortunately, she was too far away for me to use [Blink], as my skill was only a level 8, I could only teleport about eight feet around me in all directions, and Lucy was more along the lines of being eight meters away from me, not eight feet. I couldn’t use teleport either; it took slightly too long to use, and it would leave me open; there was also a big chance Lucy would realize what I was doing, so that was a big nope.
‘Welp, it looks like I’ll have to force my way through these five and get close enough to use Blink; I just need to watch out for any pre-casted defensive spells Lucy had set up around herself. Master didn’t use any, simply because she never needed to when facing me.’ Thought Alexander with a frown as he glanced at the five men before looking at Lucy, only to wryly smile as memories flashed through his mind.
Shaking my head, I stopped using [Heroes Gaze], saving it for when I really needed to use it, considering I was still concerned about what was causing my heart to warn me of such danger; however, the instant I did so, I heard metal loudly clanging as Yuki slammed her shields together before protectively stepping in front of me, just like a tank.
“C’mon, you bastards!” Yelled Yuki loudly as he glared at the five while using the taunt skill that she’d constantly used to attract the monster’s attention to herself, and while it was less effective against intelligent species, those with a muddled mind or even those with low enough stats in perception would still be affected.
“What did you call us!?” Exclaimed a man angrily as he glared right at Yuki before dashing toward her while everyone else ignored her and went after Alexander.
“Tsk, dammit, they’re going after you, Alex; I’ll try to stop them but be careful.” Said Yuki in concern as she glanced at the other four, who had taken a large flank with two on each side of them.
“Ugh, it’s fine; I half-expected it anyway; according to them, I’m the weaker link, and I’ll be easier to deal with.” Replied Alexander with a frown as he turned around, placing his back against Yuki while he eyed the four men, who suddenly stopped on a dime before dashing toward him.
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Doing a quick scan of their status, I couldn't help but wince when I saw their stats; their stats weren’t anything incredible, but each one of them was slightly stronger than me, along with them having pretty decently ranked skills, the only saving grace was that they had very low mana, which meant they most likely don’t know how to use it, which is quite common for those who are below C-rank adventures.
Filling my body with mana, enhancing my physical attributes, and giving me a slight edge over them, I filled my throat with fire mana before breathing out a large wave of fire, blocking the path of two of the men while two to my left neared me.
Closing my mouth, I raised both of my greatswords, coating them in a thin layer of space mana before slashing them down towards the approaching two men, launching two [Void Slashes]. One of them managed to block it, but it halted their advance, though the other guy dodged it entirely before closing the distance.
Clicking my tongue, I lunged at the man, and although I could’ve used Blink to take him by surprise by appearing right behind him, I wanted to save that for Lucy if possible. Slashing down towards the man, just when our swords were about to connect, he suddenly tilted his sword at a weird angle, deflecting my great swords as they practically slid down his blade, causing me to wince before quickly leaning backward, just barely dodging the man's slash.
‘Be careful, Master, that man is a swordsman and a talented one.’ Said Trina in slight concern as she looked through Alexander’s eyes, spotting the man's shiny katana.
Furrowing my brows at Trina’s warning, I carefully eyed the man, who was called Espada, a cool name if I’m being honest, but it wasn’t cool when they were trying to kill me. Leaping towards Espada, I slashed my swords from overhead, yet the same thing as before happened, and I was once again forced to dodge his slash at the end, which managed to knick my neck, though thankfully, it didn’t draw blood.
“Where do you think you’re going!?” Exclaimed Yuki angrily as she pushed the person she was fighting away before charging into the two men Alexander had breathed fire at, forcing them to fight her instead.
Since I was clearly at a disadvantage while facing him, I no longer initiated the fist attacks, though right behind him, I saw the second man run past Espada and lunge right toward me, causing Espada to follow from right behind.
‘Tsk, dammit; good thing I’ve trained with Master against fighting 2v1.’ Thought Alexander with an ugly expression as he used [Mana Enhancement] to its fullest extent, further increasing the durability of his armor, though not by much.
Blocking the man's sword attack, I counterattacked by swinging Zartha right for his torso, and unlike Espada, he didn't try to divert it and instead intended to block it, and it was going to work until Espada kicked him away, causing me to click my tongue.
“The fuck was that for?” Asked the man angrily as he did backflip before landing and glaring at Espada, who seemed wholly unconcerned.
“I just saved your life; his swords, they’re special. Don’t try to block them; they’ll cut right through you, your sword, and your armor like nothing.” Declared Espada with a glint flashing through his eyes as he slashed at Alexander, who blocked with Zartha and slashed with Trina, though he had already retreated.
‘Welp, there goes my surprise; I could’ve made this a 1v1 with that kill.’ Mused Alexander with a frown as he tightly clutched Zartha and Trina before quickly glancing at his surroundings.
With a quick glance, I spotted Yuki, who, despite facing three people simultaneously, was holding her own, though given that she only had two shields, she’d almost always be forced to leave someone open, which allowed them to attack her, though her armor, was proving to be incredibly durable like always, with only slight scratch marks. Lucy was just standing by the exit, watching everyone; well, she was mainly watching Yuki and ignoring me; she wasn’t helping her teammates, which was good, but who knows when or if she might in the future.
‘We need to end this quickly.’ Thought Alexander with a frown as he intently focused on Espada and his teammate.
I would've liked to fight alongside Yuki, but they would mostly target me, which would just make it harder on both of us, especially me; our current situation isn’t ideal, but it’s probably the best for both of us.
Blocking a sword slash from the second man, along with a stab from Espada, and while I tried to retaliate, the two were keeping me forced in a defensive loop with how they were timing their attacks, leaving me with minimal openings to attack back. Grunting in annoyance, I summoned forth my lightning mana from my heart and wantonly released it, causing something similar to an explosion of lightning to arch off my body, shocking both Espada and his teammate.