Isaiah sat on top of a wooden post situated just outside the cave's mouth, eating his breakfast of bread and hardboiled eggs, a far cry from yesternight's meal of fries, meat, and fish. It was a cool day even though the sun was at its zenith and the temperature felt like they were inside an airconditioned room.

His eyes busily scanned the surroundings, sure, there wasn't much to see in these barren lands but still the sight in front was something to behold. Trees, birds, a distant mountain, a field of jagged rocks, and slightly sweaty Senzuki doing stretching exercises alongside Fei. She had, just like always, volunteered for night guard, but unlike before she could not sleep as today was the day that the group would venture inside the mines and clear out the rhinos.

As she was just about to conclude her session Senzuki spotted Isaiah and waved at him, of course, he waved back. Senzuki then finished up, wiped the sweat off her face, and went to Isaiah

"Good morning." Isaiah greeted first,

"Good morning, enjoying the view?" Senzuki replied with a full smile,

"You were just in the way, not my fault that."

"Mhm, so, how was sleep?"

"It was... Eeh, fun." Isaiah replied sarcastically,

"Seeing you take a little peek was hilarious. Did you have fun?"

"Come on now... Had I known what was about to occur I would have pitched my spot somewhere farther off." Isaiah turned his eyes towards the tent where Jair and his harem had stayed, he still remembered their hard moans last night. "Dude's platinum ranked all right."

Isaiah, being the strongest member, was assigned to the frontline, closest to where the Noted Troupe was, whereas Senzuki, being the medic, was given a position deeper into their formation surrounded by their baggage. So Isaiah was fully aware and heard everything that transpired in that place that night.

"Two hours... I wonder, can men last that long?"

"Some men," Isaiah replied after some silence,

"Some..." Senzuki nodded as she turned to Isaiah, she waited until he looked back before continuing, "Say, can you last that long?"

"Wha-!" Isaiah's cheeks blushed at that sudden question, "What are you insinuating?"

"Are you 'some' men?"

"Look..."

"Yes or no?"

"Why are you so persistent?"

"Just curious about my courter's physical prowess."

Isaiah's face looked like he just swallowed a bug as he tried to process her question, "Let's not... Let's not talk about that."

"Ara, are you a virgin?"

"..." Isaiah turned away

"Ohh..." Senzuki's face brightened up, "That is surprising."

"Is it now? So what if I am?" Isaiah then looked at Senzuki, "I bet you are a virgin as well."

"Hmmm." She began to grin ear to ear as she replied, "Would you like to find out?"

"..."

"Ahahahaha." Senzuki stood up and twirled around, "Such innocence in your face is a far cry from your warlike, manly stature during battle. To think a man can have such contrasting personalities switched in an instant."

"Look Senzuki, I know you like teasing me a lot but please, not too much. It doesn't help me out."

"Oh, not too much? You want me to continue instead of stopping?"

"Well, like, even if I tell you to stop would you stop?"

"I will though." Senzuki tilted her head,

"..."

"So do tell me Isaiah, what should I do to you?"

"..."

"Just say 'Senzuki-nee-chan please stop teasing me', and I will."

Isaiah remained silent for a few seconds before replying, "I-In moderation please."

Senzuki raised her brow in surprise, but she nodded, "Hai... In moderation. But why?"

"You are happy teasing me and I prefer seeing you happy, I won't be a child and stop you that's all. Not like you hurt me anyway."

Senzuki's cheeks turned red as she turned around, "Ooh, what smooth language... Never knew you could say that."

"Are you blushing Senzuki-neechan?"

"What? No, its just hot. Ahahaha."

Senzuki then got up and began fanning her face, she almost tripped on a vine that was lying on the ground.

"Oh... Have to be careful." She murmured as Isaiah kicked the thick appendage.

"They are everywhere huh? They seem to be filled with mana too."

"We must be up against someone with an affinity to nature... Quite possibly an elf."

"An elf?"

"Indeed. Elves are mostly capable of ecomancy, which is exclusive to them amongst humanity. That said there are other monsters capable of controlling plant life, some demons too."

"But this is a mine? Why would they attack a mine? I'd get it if they are dwarves but tree-loving hippies?"

"Hippies? That said, it is strange." She looked up and remembered something, "The Orkellion guild seems to be hiding something from us in the first place. I doubt this is just your normal coal mine."

"Well, speaking of elves, I've always wanted to meet one."

"Why?"

"Dunno... I've never seen one before."

"I see, well I've never met one before. So if they are the cause of this, that would be very exciting." Senzuki then turned to her right. "What's happening?"

Above the incline where Sommo's troupes are camped, there was trouble as one of the tents exploded, and out came a rhino, riding its face butt naked was one of Sommo's men, his screams could be heard from a distance. Sommo was already equipped when he ran ahead to meet the rhino's charge. Guards quickly formed a circle at the merchant's quarters as Isaiah went to the front, however Sommo had already regained control over the field.

The rhino was encircled by Sommo's troupe who moved with practiced efficiency, they then attacked, repeatedly stabbing and hammering their weapons onto the rhino who was blinded by the naked man. In the end, Sommo threw that man a short knife and thrust it into the rhino's neck. The rhino made one final rush before falling. It however was not alone, its young had charged alongside its mother but fell down the steep hill landing close to Isaiah's feet. It tried to stand but with a snap of his fingers, the rhino fell to the ground being held by an unknown force.

The rhino was small, being only half Isaiah's height but still, the creature was not to be trifled with.

"Good job Isaiah..." Sommo hurried down, "How small this one is..."

"A few years old perhaps..." The naked man gestured over, "Well you caught him, he's yours."

"Really?" Isaiah felt disturbed seeing a naked man so close to him and Senzuki, "T-the guild offered 5,000 marks for them."

"Eh, for that one, yes, this one no... You see, the horns have to be that big." He then pointed at the mother rhino's horn while putting his pants up, "For them to have any value, cause that's when they start storing mana in giving the horns medicinal as well as magical properties. Right now, this thing is as good as cattle, though rhino meat ain't that bad."

"Oh, I see..." Isaiah prepared to fire a bolt of lightning, however, he hesitated as he remembered a skill of his mentioned on his status page.

[Taming I - +10% Stats to monsters tamed (0/1)]

'Taming... Can I tame that?'

"Say, can I tame it?"

"Tame?"

"Yes, tell me how. Do I have to knock them down, catch them with a ball or something?"

"Well, unless you have a taming skill it would take months or years to tame a monster, and even then we are not sure."

"I do have a skill for taming,"

"Oh, you do... Well, that should be simple, all you need to do is beat it and you could tame it."

"Beat it?"

"Yeah... Defeat it in battle then if it acknowledges you as a master you can tame it."

"But if not?"

"Nothing you can do about it."

"Oh, you should try taming it then Isaiah? It might not be that much but rhinos can pack a punch and serve as good shields for mages like you." Hannibal nodded, arriving after hearing the commotion

"Right... But I've already defeated it."

"You didn't, it's still fine after all, you simply disabled the beast... You gotta beat it up." Sommo replied

"Eeh, can't it be a bit easier?"

"Beasts have a hierarchy and they will not serve someone weaker than them."

"But I... Fine." Isaiah freed the rhino who quickly shook itself sneering at the humans around it, finding Sommo it charged recklessly in an attempt to avenge its mother. Though it was still a child, its attacks were enough to destroy rocks and boulders strutting out of the ground.

"Grrr!" The rhino screeched as Sommo masterfully dodged its attack, then with a few more agile movements he managed to redirect its charge toward Isaiah,

"Go get him brother." He gave a salute as Isaiah sighed,

Isaiah stretched his arms out and shot out bolts of lightning which struck the beast in its face, causing it to flip and crash into the ground.

"Is that enough?"

"Doubt so..."

The rhino stood back up again and prepared another charge,

"Ngrrooo!"

It charged as Isaiah raised wall after wall of dirt which it so easily destroyed however its momentum was slowly getting slower and slower until Isaiah struck it down with a hammer made of earth. The beast crashed and fell and though it tried to get back up it lacked the strength to do so.

"Try now."

*Beep

[Monster (Silver-back Rhino) Can be tamed, attempt?]

"Yes..."

[Attempting...]

The rhino was suddenly enveloped in a light blue hue as it grew brighter and brighter, but suddenly it stopped.

[Fail...]

[Try again?]

"Yes..."

[Attempting...]

The rhino was once more wrapped in light, but just like before...

[Fail...]

Isaiah tilted his head,

"Where is the try again sign?"

"What's wrong? Use your skill again brother."

"I already am, but it's not working. How many attempts can you make?"

"Depends on the monster, sometimes you can attempt it as much as you like, sometimes you can only do so once."

"I see... Looks like this is it for this one."

"A shame then." Hannibal took out his knife,

"Ayy. Well, young monsters are not good for taming anyway. They lack manners and do not respect the hierarchy so most tamers and druids tend to go for newborns, which are easier to tame but more expensive to grow, or mature monsters, harder to tame but ready to use."

Lea belatedly arrived and found the boys surrounding a downed rhinoceros, "What is going on here?"

"Oh, Isaiah tried to tame this animal but he failed."

"Well, tough luck but if you wanna cry do it later. The merchants want us inside the caves now..."

"Right, time for some real action..."

"What about the rhino?"

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"Kill it, release it. Your choice, you got it after all."

Isaiah turned to Senzuki who shrugged, he then looked at the rhino but couldn't find the courage to end its life so instead he decided to let it go. The rhino did not immediately get up, likely due to its injuries, but it did stare at Isaiah menacingly as if it was plotting its revenge. Isaiah gave it one last look before heading towards the staging grounds.

...

They were gathered where the Sommelier troupe had set up camp as Richter gave them one final brief about the mines, he also gave them each a map detailing the massive cavernous layout and many paths one may take, from what Isaiah saw it was similar to an ant cave with many rooms and tunnels, however, it was stressed that the map is incomplete and that the monsters may possess the ability to dig out new routes for themselves.

"There are more than just rhinos around." Richter said as they climbed the hill, "There are weird plant growths around the buildings and they all contain mana."

"So elves might be the cause of this?" Sommo mused,

"Possibly... If there is plant life around with mana, then elves caused this."

"But why?"

"That's your job to figure out..."

"So it is elves," Isaiah murmured to Senzuki

"That is correct, there is a colony of them close by so it's not surprising why they would be here."

"But why attack the mine?"

"Who knows."

Isaiah scanned the mountains, he wasn't expecting it but perhaps he would get to see elves this early in his adventure. He was already wondering where such a staple in fantasy elements were to be found. But to think instead of the many forests he got himself into it would be a cave.

Once all the final briefing was made the party then headed inside. Leading the group was Sommo and his party, just behind them was the Taro troupe followed by three officials and their escort who were protected by Jairson and then the Silver Spoon was relegated to rear guard. They first entered the mouth which gave way to a hallowed up space where hammocks and storage bins lay around haphazardly, there were signs of battle having taken place around as explosion marks, unexploded dynamite, tools and weapons scattered around the ground, some of them seems to have been thrown at the ceiling or stuck, of peculiar note was the sheer volume of vegetation inside the cave. Flowers, vines, leaves, and trees that are not supposed to grow here are found everywhere. Many of them were withering but it became ever more clear that elves were involved.

"Not a single body, not even an ounce of blood... What the hell."

"I thought elves are vegetarians?"

"Is it really just elves though?"

The group didn't stay long and proceeded down the cave, it was narrow and tight being wide enough for only three people abreast, more signs of battle were found as they got deeper, and worse still was that the system of lights had died down, now they were forced to rely on their torches which would give their position to the elves thus making them wary of any sneak attacks.

Sommo kept looking back, unease by the dozens of weapons lying about. There was a particularly harsh battle around this place where ruined barricades, cut-out vines, and ripped clothes were littered about.

"Anything wrong?" One of the guards asked,

"Nothing, nothing... I just thought I saw something move."

They all turned to their backs but after a few seconds of silence, there was nothing, Hannibal was extra worried as he was assigned the rear guard and so Sommo sent two of his own to reinforce Hannibal's troupe. The group then continued without seeing the green leafy tentacle slithering through the cracks.

Things were proceeding smoothly, they had yet to encounter an enemy monster from the hours they spent traveling on high alert. Some became tired from being on edge for hours and so they all collectively breathed a sigh of relief when they arrived at the chamber known as the Tooth due to the five different holes which all lead to different areas of the mountain.

"Let's all rest, check your stuff, check your supplies. Then as planned we prepare to resurface." Sommo gave his orders as they dropped to their butts and prepared for the journey back to camp.

The plan for today was to gather as much information on the mountain as possible and then retreat before nightfall to discuss their findings. It was agreed that they would eventually return back to the surface once they reached the Tooth. Sommo gathered the scouts from Sommalier, Taro, and Silver Spoon, to discuss their findings. Noted did not provide a single scout as they were relegated to protecting the merchants.

Sommo was examining a map that was drawn based on their reports when Junior, the merchant in charge of the adventurers, spoke to him. "I think we should continue."

"What?" Sommo looked up,

"We have enough supplies, yes? Also, it is way too early for us to resurface."

This part was true, due to the lack of resistance they were able to reach the Tooth in far less time than what had been predicted. However,

"No sir. In the interest of our safety, we must retur-"

"I am in charge of this operation, and I say we must continue."

"Do you want us all to die?"

"That-thats not..."

"Are you scared?" Jairson spoke for the first time since yesterday. "I am bored... I thought there were rhinos or elves but where are they? My spear is looking for blood."

"That has nothing to do with our situation.."

"But Sommo... If we can complete this mission quickly, we can all go home and get paid. All we have to do is find out what happened here, the guild will deal with whatever we found afterward." Junior, encouraged by Jairson spoke up.

Sommo shook his head, but then he heard the murmurs of everyone else.

"Aren't we not too far from the deepest part?"

"Considering we haven't encountered monsters yet, I bet we could make it there before nightfall."

"We must keep going, there is little to no risk."

"I want to go home already."

"No, no, no..."

"Pussy"

"Tssh..." Sommo bit his tongue and turned to Jairson who seemed to be trying to provoke him. But he refused to be ruled by his emotions. "This is for your own safety and we agreed with Richter to return when we arrive here, that man has the final say."

"Sigh another boring day... Perhaps this chimp is trying to kill me with boredom. Suit yourselves."

"Wha... Hey, where are you going?"

"Finishing this whole thing you weaklings refuse to handle." He picked up his spear and proceeded to walk towards Sommo, "You'll be thanking me afterward for the quickest pay of your life. Now move!"

"Hey!" Sommo blocked Jairson from proceeding further. "You get back, we will return to base camp. You will not take one step forward."

Jairson then pointed his spear at Sommo, "We? I am the alpha, I take no orders."

"And I'm in charge of the party."

"Fuck off... This is your last warning." He then turned to Junior, "You decide right, tell this man to fuck off."

Sommo glared at Junior, "I swear I will report you to Richter for disobeying orders."

Junior nodded to Jair while Sommo sighed,

"Lea, Hannibal... On me. Stop these fools."

Lea and her troupes quickly went to encircle the Noted troupe as they had some previous grievances that they wanted to settle, Hannibal however hesitated but reluctantly agreed in the hopes of getting Jair to surrender. The tension began to rise and just as the party was about to fall into infighting.

"Hey... Ah, a, a goblin!" One of Jairson's girlfriends shrieked in horror as a goblin took off with her bag. "This monster." She then ran after the monster who deftly dodged the other adventurers and rushed into one of the entrances,

Sommo tried to block the goblin but suddenly, Jairson attacked with the blunt end of his spear pushing him away.

"You fu-." Sommo held his nose as he watched the Noted Troupe run towards the goblin, Isaiah tried to stop them but was suddenly jumped on by another goblin, this creature covered his head with a dirty sack,

"Mmmf."

Iska rushed to help him as she stabbed the goblin in the spine killing it.

"Where did this..." He reached his hand out and choked two goblins who were rampaging around their camp, "Our supplies!"

The entire party was in chaos as goblins ran around, stealing and grabbing whatever they could. One of the goblins took off with their lamps making it harder for the troupe to see properly.

"Damn! Fei!" Hannibal shouted as Fei launched a fireball at the ceiling, revealing that the entire chamber was now surrounded by goblins and cave spiders.

"Defend!" Sommo shouted as a chaotic battle ensued. It was every man for himself as they tried to protect themselves and their baggage. One by one, their clothes, their food, their medicine, and even their equipment were dragged off by the goblins and the spiders who started shooting webs at their luggage and the people to inhibit their movements. It did not help that there was limited visibility.

Thankfully Fei's fire gave them some vision every time she fired off her magic as they fought desperately to regain control over the area. But when the goblins swarmed her, that light source stopped and a desperate struggle began.

"Fei! Hang in there!"

"Hannibal! Ugh."

Hannibal ran to save Fei supported by Lea and her troupe as they used their fist to avoid accidently killing one another.

Though goblins were no match for the adventurers, their number and size made it difficult to fight back, adding to the darkness which the goblins were well used to. It doesn't also help that the party doesn't have a single mancer who is capable of creating light. Sommalier had two geomancers and one hydromancer while Taro had one capable of healing and two capable of using hydromancy. Though Isaiah could use lightning magic, it only produces them in an instant and a continuous lighting strike not only uses so much mana but also risks destroying the ceiling.

As such there was a desperate fight to save Fei and light up whatever source they could find.

Senzuki, Iska, Hugo, and Isaiah were busy protecting the merchants, who had retreated to their circle before the lights went out. Isaiah was careful in this fight, due to panic from the darkness, and out of consideration for his massively destructive abilities. So he resorted to using the sword, though he had little experience or capabilities to use the sword, the goblins weren't too hard to deal with.

Things weren't too bad as they got used to the darkness and were able to effectively mount a good defense. Fei was finally freed as the goblins got what they wanted and then she fired off a ball into the sky, giving them vision. At once the enemy was effectively destroyed, one by one, spider and goblin fell to the weapons as they were unable to effectively fight back. That said, more and more poured into the chamber giving them a hard time defending.

Senzuki suddenly found herself trapped when her hand was webbed by a spider who had sneaked up from behind. Goblins quickly pounced on her, ignoring Isaiah and Iska who turned their attentions to help Senzuki. Fei's flames ran out and being out of mana she could not immediately give light, with this the goblins attacked Iska who could not see them coming while Senzuki tried to ward off the goblins with her remaining free hand, the goblins managed to grab her knife and the others started to rip apart her clothes.

Isaiah punched one of the goblins before planting his palm onto another, releasing a high amount of voltage ending its life. The other goblin ran away as the spider from above leaped onto Isaiah, it tried to cocoon him in the web but was suddenly blown away by a mysterious force. The web untangled itself as Isaiah patted his body for any remnants of the sticky substance. The spider tried to jump at him but Isaiah crushed its head killing it instantly.

"Senzuki-san..." Isaiah saw her state and quickly gave her his coat for cover, "Here... Take this."

"Oh, ahm... Thank you." Having freed herself she covered her body with the coat and took up her bow, "There are so many of them. Iska."

"I'm alright." She managed to beat back the goblins with Hugo's and the guard's help. More importantly, we need to do something about these..." A goblin tried to take her cape away but she pushed it down and stabbed its neck. "Agh... These goblins."

"I might be able to do something, but I am not sure where they are."

"I am used to the dark," Iska replied.

"Okay, tell me where they are."

"Uhh... Above us, on the ceiling, there are plenty."

"Okay..." Isaiah reached his hand out and then pulled them down. At that instant thirty cave spiders fell to the ground, hitting some goblins. Though most of the spiders survived they were dealt with by the rest of the party.

"Good job Isaiah... Now then, let's end this!"

With Isaiah now participating in the battle, the monsters were easily picked off and killed. Even the goblins who were running around could not escape his manipulation magic and were easy targets for ranged attacks. This gave enough breathing room for Fei to down a few mana potions and fire off multiple fire attacks. Isaiah then kept the fire going while also launching attacks on the monsters.

This made the others stand in awe at the might displayed by this single mage. Geomancy, pyromancy, aeromancy, electromancy, and even an unknown element were fired off without a breather. Eventually, Isaiah felled the last of the spiders, and things quieted down. He looked around and found everyone watching him,

"Woah... Ahahaha, what took you long brother?" Sommo sighed,

"Thank the gods!" Lea planted her sword on the ground and took a long, deep breath before checking her troupe.

Two of her members lost their underwear, but worse, they had most of their food stolen or spilled to the ground. Their medicine bottles were broken from the chaotic fight and their bags were ripped up. Sommo's team suffered a similar fate with many spilled goods and stolen supplies and so did the Silver Spoon. The merchants were mostly fine except for one of the guards whose chainmail was broken in half.

"Jeez, why were they after our panties..." Lea spat on the ground as he turned to Sommo, "So what know?"

"Those motherfuckers..." He cracked his head in rage, "I'll have to chase after them... Juria, Sharak, Kleton, Francis, and the two Peters. Come with me, let's chase those bastards back up."

"Right..." Came to their answers as they assembled around him

"The rest of you stay with them... Lea, I leave you in charge, bring everyone back to the surface. Hannibal guard the merchants, leave the fighting to Lea, they must survive.."

"Right," Lea replied as she began gathering everyone up.

"Yes. Be safe brother." Hannibal replied.

Sommo nodded and glared at Junior before leaving after Jairson. The rest of Sommelier quickly went to work helping with the cleanup process, though they lost much of their cargo and some of their dignity they still had to prepare the monsters for selling. Many had their bags ruined and so much supplies had to be left behind, but after an hour of working they were all ready to go, carrying the dead monsters in tow.

Lea made one final check then with a nod she gave her orders, "Right, let's get moving."

Lea took the front while three of Sommo's troupe stood behind her, carrying large shields. Taro stood just behind those three with the merchants in their midst and finally taking up the rear guard was the Silver Spoon. Isaiah kept glancing at Senzuki who was holding his jacket tightly, her ears were now in full display and she was worried they'd spot her.

Fei quickly stuck close to her, unlike Senzuki she still had her viel intact and so was mostly worried about Senzuki instead. It also didn't help that the goblins did something horrible to her, Isaiah decided to give her some space to breathe.

However, there were horrible things ahead. It hadn't even been five minutes since they left the Tooth when Lea stopped the troupe.

"Something wrong?" Junior asked,

"Fuck they are in front of us... Retreat!"

"What!"

"Retreat!"

Lea pushed the other members down as they began to run back to the chamber, out from the darkness came a rhino charging at full speed at the monsters. Lea managed to block the beast with her sword this was quickly followed by two spears running through the rhino's eye. The rhino trashed about but it began to lose strength and by the time they reached the Tooth, it fell to the ground.

"What the..." Junior fell to the ground heaving heavily as he tried to catch his breath, around him, men had fallen over from the run. Their supplies spilled all over. "What the..."

"It's not over yet," Lea grunted as from the shadows emerged a man, he was six feet tall, and had long blonde hair and sharp ears. His face was whiter than snow and his eyes as blue as sapphire. His face was something to behold, one who could win over the hearts of every woman in the vicinity.

"Did you enjoy my gift, madam?" His voice was smooth and just masculine enough to stir their hearts.

"Bastard! You're a sick pervert if you sent your goblins to go after our underwear."

"My... Goblins are, hard to control you know, they let their instincts run wild..." His eyes then scanned everyone in the room, "This all? Oh wait, ahahaha. It was worth removing the two most powerful men in the group, now these are all that's left."

Without warning, Lea leaped at the elf and brought her sword down. The elf, with no wasted movements, deftly avoided her attack and took his sword out, it was made of wood with vines wrapped around it, and a rose in place of a blade, it felt odd and out of shape for a sword but when the elf pointed it towards Lea, the rose was suddenly animated and lunged at her, cutting her ear like a propeller blade.

"Ack..."

"Lea!" Their troupe's healer rushed to apply her magic, as the others all stood in front to cover their leader.

The elf raised a brow while showing a smug look in his face,

"How wonderful... One, two, three, four... Aah. seven women." He then raised his hand in an X, as if he was performing at an ice skating rink. "I shall accept this gift."

At that instant vines burst out of the rocks surrounding them. They began to slam at the group, though some managed to dodge others were crushed by its weight and knocked out. A struggle ensued to keep everyone alive while also dodging the attacks. Lea had just cut down one of the vines when the elf leaped at her, she was able to parry his sword but the rose reanimated and began spinning, chipping at her weapon.

"Fuck."

"Lea, duck!"

Isaiah shot a bolt of lightning towards the elf who covered himself in vines, the lightning harmlessly struck the plant before the vines went rushing after him. Isaiah raised pillars of rock below them changing their direction before crushing those rocks and throwing them at the enemy.

"Woah there!"

The elf tried to block himself with the vine but Isaiah stopped it from moving. That said, the moment he controlled those vines a painful sting flashed at his head, so painful it was that it severed his contact immediately as he dropped to the ground heaving.

"Protect Isaiah!" Lea shouted and those that could still move formed a wall around him

Fei launched a fireball, but the elf simply whipped it away.

"Useless. You would think that I would find ways to cover my weaknesses." Lea charged at the elf who parried her attack, "It's over... None of you could beat me."

Two pillars suddenly emerged from the sides striking his hips while another struck him in the face. Isaiah then threw bolt after bolt to stop the Elf who covered himself in vines as a shield. Isaiah then launched spiked rocks at one point while circling the vines with sharp stones like an inside-out buzzsaw.

"Keep it up, Isaiah... Give me some time."

"Enough!" The elf burst out of his vine which stuck itself at the rocks, Lea used the opportunity to strike at the elf who could not raise his sword in time to block her attack. A streak of blood pooled out of his face as his face turned darker and darker, "This... You will regret this!"

He then snapped his fingers, and suddenly a massive green viper emerged from behind, it spat out its sticky venom which immobilized half of the party. The snake then turned its head onto Junior and before and opened its jaws, the guards raised their shields but the viper's fangs were too strong for their shields, one was stabbed and his face turned blue, instantly he died. The others fought back but their weapons could not pierce the viper's face.

"My god... Help!"

The snake hissed and lunged at the group only for Isaiah to strike it down,

"Tsss!" The snake turned its face towards Isaiah who launched bolt after bolt at the monster. "Tssaaaa!"

The viper spread its venom once more trapping Isaiah underneath its sticky solution, Isaiah simply removed it from his body and though it hurt his head, the pain was bearable. That said, by the time he was out of the trap, the viper had already left.

"Isaiah!" Lea parried one of the vines and cut it up into pieces, "I'll leave the snake to you."

"Right." So Isaiah said, but at that instant the viper suddenly darted at Junior, releasing its coiled tongue to wrap around him, he could not even fight back as he was swallowed up whole.

"Junior!" Lea shouted as she was thrown off by the elf. Isaiah also looked back allowing the elf to launch an attack on him. Had it not been for Hugo's timely defence he would have been killed.

"Lea, I'll go after the snake!" Isaiah declared as Senzuki, Hugo, and some of the guards followed after him.

"Go... We'll deal with this guy." She spat out blood as her troupe concentrated their attack on the vines

"Not so fast!" The elf declared as more vines burst out of the ground, however with Fei and Isaiah's magic Hannibal was able to lead his troupe to chase after the viper. "Tsk... Oh well." The elf grinned, "Without that mage, victory has escaped your grasp."

"Ahahahaha..." Lea bit her lip, as she raised her sword. "I doubt that, my rank ain't a joke..."

Then her whole body glowed white.