It was built for fighting.
I’d heard about the Adventure Games where monsters were brought out of the dungeon for people to fight. I’d always wondered how the monsters had been brought out of the dungeon, but now I knew. There were cages all around the outside of the building, with seats on the second layer above them. There were stairs up to the second floor on either side right as I walked through the door.
“Decided to make an entrance?” Gesai didn’t turn to look at me while she was watching the others fight. “Justia, you might want to heal some of them.” She finally turned to look at me. "Go to Glima to get your cuff unlocked, then get in there.” She turned back towards the fighting. "That’s not what I said! Jord, you cast AFTER Oz backs up!”
I looked at what they were fighting since the second floor provided a better vantage. The monster that they were fighting was a Giant Crab. Granted, it was only about three feet tall, but its pincers were almost two feet, which would hurt a lot if you got nabbed by them. Oz was trying to parry the claws while Jord threw ice shards at it. Ren was standing in the back looking at Gesai for instruction, but the redhaired teacher wasn’t aware of her lack of orders.
I walked over to Glima and held out my left arm. “Could you turn this thing off so I can go help them?”
The bald woman nodded and waved her hand over the cuff. It glowed a deep red, then the light dimmed. I touched the black crystal under it and a menu came up, allowing me access to all of my stored items and abilities.
“Here is your armor and weapons.” Glima held out her left arm and transferred my items to me. "If you try to leave this building before I seal your cuff, I will have to bring you back with force.” The older woman warned.
“Gotcha.” I pulled out my leather armor and began slipping into it. "Are we going to have to take these off and give them back too?”
She looked over my armor and thought for a minute. "You may keep your armor.”
“Thanks!” I looked back at the fight. It wasn’t going very well and Gesai was getting frustrated about not being able to help. It probably didn’t help that she only had a four-man team, which reminded me. Rix wasn’t here.
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I decided that was a question for later as I jumped over the rail. “Gesai! Where’s the crystal?” I looked up at my current teacher.
“By the Gods, I don’t know! I’ve never fought something like this before!” The redhead clenched her fists. "OZ! You have to counterattack when it swings, not after it's done! Jord! What is up with that weak ice?!”
I gripped my SnakeBlade bone sword with both hands. Ether or Rix would be great to have right now, but neither of them were here. I looked at the monster, there were some obvious differences, but it kind of reminded me of a tailless scorpion like the one Oz had been fighting when I first met her.
“Gesai!” I looked back at the frustrated redhead.
“WHAT?!” Her eyes told me that she was about to start hitting something and I didn’t want to be the thing she was looking at when she unleashed her frustration.
“If that thing was a tailless scorpion, how would you kill it?”
“IT’S…” Her voice trailed off as she turned her head to the side. "Cut off a pincer, then stab it in the head through the mouth.”
“Let's try that?”
“Fine…” Her frustration subsided a little. "Oz! Back off and let our Caster here take the aggro… JORD STOP SHOOTING AT THE THING! CAN’T YOU TELL I’M GIVING ORDERS?!?!”
The Noble Caster bowed his head and hid behind the walkway lip.
“Ren! Buff her weapon. Justia! Be ready to heal Atlas if he messes up!”
I shook my head. As fast as I was, I could probably take off an arm by myself, but I had one of the world’s most dangerous men’s wives looking at me. As much as she claimed to be helping us, I had no doubt that she would sell me out if she thought it would buy her and her daughter’s freedom. I would play it safe and not show off exactly what I could do.
I pointed my left hand at the monster and made a finger gun. “Electric Shot!”
Two small charges shot out of the tip of my finger and washed over the monster. I hadn’t expected it to do damage, so that wasn’t a surprise. But it had drawn the monster’s attention like I had wanted.
I began backing up, leading it away from Oz. I heard Ren and Oz activate their skills, then Oz sliced off the monster’s right arm very close to the body. The monster screamed in such a high pitch it felt like it could crack glass.
Oz winced from the pain of the scream and I saw the monster turning with its right claw open.
“DASH!” I could blame it on my skills later, I shot forward and slashed at the arm. The Giant Crab’s claw came off and hit Oz, but at least it didn’t try to crush her.
The raven-haired woman shook off the pain from the scream and the cut on her arm and stabbed the monster in the mouth. She had to twist her sword three times before she found the crystal and it vanished into smoke.
I walked over and gave her a high five, then turned to our teacher. "What’s next?”