Chapter 3: Thunder Lancer Master

Inside a half wrecked building which served as the base of hundreds experts who hunted monsters for a living, stood a woman with half destroyed head, a large gaping hole in her chest, and a half melted sword that stuck in her neck.

The woman glared around at the hundreds experts before her, then with a terrifying smile she spoke, "My turn."

With one hand, Najma swiftly grabbed the neck of the fire mage in front of her and lifted her up. She slowly pushed her thumb into her neck, and the mage frantically struggled to break free. The mage kicked her repeatedly and clawed her hand desperately. Before anyone could react, something cracked within the mage's neck, and her body instantly went limped.

"She killed her... ... ...SHE KILLED HER!" The archer at the corner of the hall shouted, and immediately shot her with the second arrow.

Najma moved the fire mage's dead body, and the arrow hit the lifeless sack of meat instead.

Furious that she used her comrade as a shield, the archer nocked four arrows at once and pulled the string to its limit. For an eye blink, she aimed.

"Fangs of Frenzy" The archer chanted, then she released her grip. The tensed thread snapped and sent the arrows flying to four different paths.

At the same time, Najma let go of the mage corpse and took out the half melted sword that stuck in her neck, blood burst out in the process. She plunged her right foot forward and threw the sword so hard. It flied straight to the archer and pierced her in the chest. At that exact moment, Najma saw something glowed white at the corner of her eyes, she blinked, then found herself skewered by four large metal spikes.

Najma and the archer vomited blood, and a second later only Najma who was still standing. "Not so much fun when you are the one who get shot, no?" She addressed the archer on the floor.

Najma then turned to the swordsman who had struck her neck, their eyes locked, and both of them charged towards each other.

"Burning Blade", the swordsman casted, then a blade of fire was summoned.

Matching the swordsman, Najma took a weapon of her own by pulling one of the large metal spikes out of her body.

They swung their weapons at the same time, and fire clashed with metal. The impact resulted an explosion of wind, and everything at close proximity to them were sent flying.

The swordsman tilted his blade of fire and swung it at diagonal angle. Just when Najma was about to re-adjust her metal spike, the swordsman changed his blade's path, bypassing her stance of defense and struck her upwards.

The blade of fire left a large cut on Najma's body, and she staggered backwards.

The swordsman continued swinging his blade ever so skillfully, and Najma kept getting struck repeatedly.

Realizing she would never match the swordsman's ability, Najma charged and rammed the swordsman with her own body. They tumbled on the floor, and Najma quickly got herself up and sat on top the swordsman, she thrusted her metal spike with haste, and stabbed the swordsman in the chest.

The swordsman retaliated, and stabbed her back.

Both of them kept impaling each other repeatedly, blood burst out every time they pulled their weapon out of each other's body. They kept going for what felt like eternity, until suddenly only Najma who was still moving.

But Najma didn't stop, she kept stabbing the swordsman's dead body, visibly lost in bloodlust.

Then suddenly, an iron pole struck her and sent her tumbling on the floor. Najma recovered quickly and spotted the lancer who was responsible for the large hole in her chest.

"He is already dead, you monster." The lancer spoke.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"As you will be." Najma said coldly.

Najma threw the metal spike in her hand at the lancer, and he parried it so gracefully.

The lancer charged at her, his spear pointed forward. Najma pulled the remaining metal spikes out of her body, and threw it at the fast moving enemy. He dodged all of them with so little motion and kept charging forward.

When the lancer entered his optimum range, he swung his spear diagonally and sent Najma flying. He charged again, and swung his spear while Najma was still in midair.

"Hundreds Hit" He chanted, and thrusted his spear at blinding speed repeatedly. He pierced Najma a thousand times and laid waste upon her body.

Suddenly, Najma caught the spear, ending the lancer skill's prematurely. She pulled the lancer towards her then punched him in the face. The lancer tried to return her fist with one of his own, but the disruption to his skill had somehow wrecked his body, and so he let go of his spear and fell on his knee unwillingly.

Najma didn't waste the opportunity, she twirled the spear she had just gained control of and pointed it towards the kneeling lancer before her. She aimed at his heart, and thrusted the spear, only for it to be blocked by a pair dagger from a rogue who suddenly appeared in front of the lancer.

"Najma wait! I don't want to fight you! Please let my stupid brother go, he is the only one I have!" The rogue pleaded.

"Your brother has burned that bridge." Najma answered short. She twirled the spear and swung it horizontally.

The rogue parried her attack for the second time, then she turned her head to the still dumbfounded adventurers and shouted, "Help!".

The rogue's cry brought the adventurers back to their sense, then tens of them rushed to her aid.

The mages threw their spells to push Najma backwards, forcefully creating a distance between her, the rogue, and the lancer. Then the warriors stepped forward, and attacked Najma at turns to keep her distracted.

Meanwhile, the rogue shouldered her brother and evacuated him from the battle. Seeing this, Najma's rage ignited. She pushed several adventurers before her just enough to move forward, uncaring about their attacks.

Seeing the power of tens of their colleagues were not enough to restrain her, hundreds adventurers decided to abandoned their neutrality and rushed forward.

More and more adventurers decided to engage, and before long, Najma found herself fighting the entire guild.

The mages and archers shot their entire arsenals at her, and the warriors taking turns to deliver critical hits between the barrage of deadly spells.

Najma began to feel overwhelmed. These were not adventurers who she could slap down and called it a day. These were THE adventurers who dedicated their life to fight monsters on daily basis, and if she wanted to win or even survive, she had to take them seriously.

So be it

"Helioglyph" she casted, then violet runes crept out of her skin and started to cover her body.

The adventurers stopped their attack, the runes' light was so ominous it made them to fall back. Then, it happened. They saw fibers of flesh and bones came into existence and intertwined with each other, patching up the enemy before them. The half destroyed head started to become whole, the half cut neck was seamlessly sewn, and the large gaping hole in her chest were slowly closing on their own.

"Don't let her recover!" One among them shouted, and the hundreds adventurers rushed back and resumed their attack.

Najma kept walking forward, the runes now had covered her whole, it carved into her skin and seemingly clothed her like a set of armor. It protected her and rendered all spells and strikes she received null, as they were incapable of inflicting a single scratch on her full-healed body, let alone a bleeding wound.

Fear appeared in the adventurers' eyes as they saw their onslaught became ineffective. The warriors accelerated, hastening their attacks, but as the second passed, their motion became sluggish, their strikes became sparse, and they began to breath so heavily. On the other side of the hall, The mage grouped in one spot, and shouted some kind of incantation together. A giant magical array formed and floated above them, only for it to shatter on its own without any disruption.

"What, happened, ?!" An adventurer said with full difficulty before fell on his knees.

"I, feel, like, swimming, through, mud, !" Another adventurer said, gasping for airs and seemingly tired.

"Cooldown, doubled, ?!" Other adventurer said, leaning on her staff.

"The, violet, light, it, cursed, us!"

Before long, all adventurers were incapacitated. They knelt down, unable to stand up and handled their weight on their own.

Najma walked past the adventurers on the floor and stopped once she was in front of the lancer and his sister, who were just like others, gasping for airs and weakened. She stoically looked at the siblings, then she knelt down.

She grabbed the dagger from the sister, and slowly, really slowly, pushing it into the lancer's heart.

"Najma, I, beg, you, please, let, my, brother, go." The rogue pleaded, tears in her eyes.

But Najma wavered not, she stared at the lancer's eyes who stared her back in terror and anger. She kept slowly pushing his sister's dagger into his heart.

Witnessing her brother impending death, the rogue cried uncontrollably. She pushed and punched Najma in futility.

Just when the dagger started to penetrate the lancer's chest, a blinding blue lightning struck Najma from the sky. The attack kept going for few seconds, unlike its natural occurrence which usually ended in mere milliseconds.

While the godly current continued streaming down from the heaven, a hand threw the adventurer siblings far, away from their hunter.

Once they landed safely, the lightning ceased, and a figure appeared. "I hope that is enough to knock her out." He said.

But contrary to his hope, from the thick black smoke of the melting ground, Najma came out, unwounded. Her runes still covered whole and glowed with violet light.

"I have suspected as much." said the new figure within the hall. "Najma," He nodded at her.

"Guild Master." She greeted him back.