Chapter 1: Every Star For Itself

Thirteen people stood outside the entrance of a cave. Five of them were women, the rest were men, and all of them held out their weapons in front of them. One was holding a wooden staff, few were holding daggers, some were holding spears, but most were holding swords. They all positioned themselves in some kind of formation.

Their eyes were locked on the entrance. No words were exchanged between them, no sounds were made. They had been keeping their formation for an hour now, but none dared to whine or rest or let go of their fighting stance.

Then it came, the sound of hundreds footstep, echoed from within the cave and resonated out to the forest. The woman at rear end of the formation plunged her staff on the ground and began to cast.

"Blessed Bastion, Brief Barrier, Prime Physique!" She shouted.

All companions in front of her glowed blue for a second, then a translucent green dome formed around the entirety of their formation, then her companion glowed red for but a moment.

The sound of hundreds footsteps continued to reverberate, growing louder and closer. Before long, silhouettes began to show up from within the dark cave, and they grew clearer as they neared the entrance, then they vanished on the first contact with the sunlight. Changed, into their clear, visible appearance.

Monsters, with their deformed shape that vary, charged out of the cave and towards the thirteen people who had waited for them outside.

They rammed into the translucent dome, shattering it. But their advance were stopped, and they fell from the impact. They pushed, bumped, and trampled on each other, and just like that, their march were thrown into mess and disarray.

The thirteen people didn't let the chaos go to waste. They plunged their weapons into the monstrosities in front of them. The lancers thrusted their spears forward, each glowed with varying light. As they made a contact, the monsters were burned, cut, and torn apart. The lancers retracted their spears and quickly thrusted them back.

The swordsmen charged, they jumped into the middle of the monsters' rank and slashed their weapon wide, each successfully bisected several monsters at once. They continued slashing their swords left and right, before the monsters could regain their momentum, and trapped them from all side.

The rogues spread out, they circled the monsters and prevented their escape. They plunged their daggers into the monsters heart, and other vital areas that granted them critical hits. They culled the monsters from outside, and tried to work their way to the center of the monsters' rank, attempting to join forces with the swordsmen.

The battle continued, and the monsters fought back. Their lifted their hands up, and brought them down with unbelievable haste, inflicting nasty gaping wounds onto the adventurers with their claws.

Some of the monsters opened their mouths wide, trying to devour the human. Most were failed as their preys evaded, and the successful ones missed their primary target and had to be satisfied by chomping on their preys' legs, and arms.

But fangs and claws were not all they had. Few of them, especially the large ones, were using their own magics to attack. They spewed out fires, setting two adventurers and dozen of their own fellow red bright. Some were spewing out air blast, throwing back the humans out of their feet.

As the monsters' assault became more wild, the adventurers began to get overwhelmed. The lancers were having a hard time trying to stop the monsters' advance, the swordsmen had been scattered and started to fight a battle of dozens to one, the rogues could barely contain the monsters within the circle as they kept expanding the parameters little by little.

Just when the tide of battle was seemingly changed, the magician who was far away from combat lifted up her staff high.

"Rain of Recovery!" she casted. Then all her allies were showered by azure lights, and all the wounds they had were healed.

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Had regained their vigor, the adventurers pushed back. They countered the monsters hard as to throw them back into disarray. Once that was achieved, they began to eliminate the ones who could use magics.

The monsters were forced back as more and more of their brethren were killed. The rogues tightened up the parameters and shrunk down the circle. As minutes became hours, the battle neared its end, then the last monster was slain. The adventurers prevailed, and they dragged their tired feet to gather around the magician. She casted her healing spells and tended her allies one by one.

"That was a close one." One of the swordsman spoke up.

"Yeah? Tell me about it." The one who had been engulfed in fire retorted.

"They should have hired more people, we barely could make it back there." One of rogue said.

"No shit." One of the lancer agreed.

"I am glad we didn't lose anyone in this battle." The magician chimed in, she finished tended the last person and joined the others sitting under a tree.

"Thank you, Vienna. Your help was tremendous." One of the swordsman looked at her and replied.

"Gratitude and appreciation wouldn't cut it, Dane. We would have been dead if not for her. We definitely should treat her to a fancy meal once we get back." One of the lancer added.

"O ho ho, not so fast, you slick. You just wanted to use this as an excuse to have a date with her, don't you?" One of the rogue saw him through.

"Dammit, Leia. Mind your own business." The lancer grumbled, annoyed that she ruined his plan.

The others laughed at the two. Their interaction was always a funny one to watch. Then the laughter died down, and silence befell upon them.

"I hope that was the one and only wave we would face." Vienna said. She hung her head down, biting her lips.

"Your have no more mana, don't you?" Dane guessed, and Vienna silently nodded.

"Should one of us go back to the city and ask for some kind of reinforcement?" One of the rogue offered, many shook their heads to his idea.

"We shouldn't reduce our number and strength. Even if the guild does approve of our demand, and immediately send more people to help, we most likely would already be dead the moment they arrive." One of the lancer reasoned.

"We could only put up with this, and have faith on the assault team who is already inside." Dane advised, many nodded to his words.

Then they rested up, sometimes throwing teases and jokes around to fight off the silence, and when they felt their stamina were back, they got up and formed the same formation. Because of the numerous monsters' corpses near the entrance, they decided to set themselves further back.

They won't have a barrier to stop the initial charge this time, because Vienna had told them that she could only cast two more spells, but the littered corpses could served as an obstacle just fine. It would slow down the monsters' march and buy them chances to attack.

After judging their plan was quite adequate, they waited. Just like before, their eyes were locked on the entrance. No words were exchanged between them, no sounds were made. As minutes passed by, the tension was built up.

Then it came, the sound of a footstep. It lazily echoed from within the cave and barely resonated out to the forest. Before long, a silhouettes began to show up from within the dark cave, and it grew clearer as it neared the entrance, then it vanished on the first contact with the sunlight. Changed, into her clear, visible appearance.

A young woman, with a slim build of medium height and white skin. She has messy ear-length dark grey hair with long bangs framing her face. Her azure eyes gave a piercing gaze, and staring at the thirteen people who had waited for her outside.

"Najma?" One of the rogue called, and the woman turned her head at him. "Where is everyone else?" He added.

"...Mostly dead." She answered short.

Silence befell upon them, there was a slight pause before everyone could process her words.

"Bullshit. Twelve out of seventeen of them are A-Ranks." One of the lancer snapped, finding her words unbelievable.

Najma turned her head at him, and shrugged. Then they realized she wasn't joking. Seventeen adventurers with the power of one special squad had been killed, only one of them survived.

Three out of the thirteen people fell on their knees. Horror, and sorrow in their eyes.

"Mira..."

"You promised to comeback... you promised!"

"..."

The three called out the name of their friends who were on the assault team. Those people were their lovers and sister. Their death hit them like thunder. Tears began falling from their eyes, and they started to enter the five stages of grief.

"... and the dungeon?" Dane asked, momentarily putting aside his allies' miseries. If the assault team had failed, then they must retreated with haste.

"Conquered." Najma replied.

Relief appeared in their eyes, "They died while fighting the prime monsters then." Vienna concluded.

Najma gave the magician her silence. She then stepped through the littered monsters corpses and walked pass the thirteen people.

"Where are you going?" Dane confusedly asked.

"The City." Najma said, as if it was the obvious.

"We still have to retrieve the assault team's bodies." Dane argued.

"That is the relief team's duty" She replied.

"Do you not have any sympathy?" Leia stepped forward and accused her coldly.

Najma turned her head at her, and stoically looked at the rogue for a moment, "If it was my body that you should retrieve, would you have any?"

Leia opened her mouth and was about to shout at the dark grey haired woman with a yes, but she found herself was unable to do so. Confusion painted her eyes for a moment, then she realized she simply couldn't hide her hatred for the woman, even for saving her face.

Had received the unspoken answer, Najma turned around and walked back to the city, leaving the thirteen people that acted as retreating-monsters interceptor team.