an illusion of mind

Arron walked through the dungeon, their group had reached a clearing and they decided to take a short break so Amanda sent him to scout the place, and now he was on his way back.

he heard loud yelling and the sound of steel clashing against steel.

his face turned concerned and he started running as fast as he can, once he arrived he found the scene of Amanda clashing against another figure, he saw her blonde curly hair flaring to the air as she turned to him showing her blood red eyes, Regina? what is she... he didn't have a chance to finish his thoughts as an arrow came flying his way.

he unsheathed his blade and cut the arrow and looked at Regina stunned, did she just throw an arrow with her bare hands?! his eyes widened as he watched Amanda's glowing gold figure rushing Regina who simply dodged by moving to the side.

she chuckled when she moved dodging Amanda's swift swings with ease moving fluidly in surprising flexibility.

she flipped backwards grabbing an arrow embedded on the ground and throwing it swiftly at Arron, he had to dodge as the arrow swished past him, after dodging he ran forwards swinging his sword at Regina who dodged it by ducking and retaliated by punching him lightly on the chest, the punch was light but it surprised him enough for her to land another light one to his face, he stumbled back and Regina dodged another swing from Amanda by tilting her head.

she spun around hitting Amanda in the face with her elbow before she jumped away putting distance between them, a smile never left her face it only kept widening, how is she doing this?! Arron finally looked around him to see his other team members knocked out on the floor, the arrows littered on the ground were enough to know they tried to fight.

"where's Adam?" he asked Amanda turning to her.

"I don't know..." Amanda replied her eyes never leaving Regina's figure.

"she just suddenly attacked us and knocked out a few of our members Adam isn't back yet, I think she might be after our points." she spoke clarifying.

Arron frowned and turned back to Regina, and brandished his sword, "let's hold her back before Adam arrives so we can overwhelm her, I don't think we can take her on our own..." he spoke in a surprising serious tone, different from his usual aloof and naive demeanour.

suddenly Regina frowned before she ducked by doing a split, and over her head Adam flew with his dual daggers swinging cutting the air instead of her, his daggers were incased in a dark green aura that swayed in the air like extremely slow moving flames.

"there he is~ Adam it's been a while hadn't it~" she spoke as Adam landed on the ground his eyes widened that she dodged his sneak attack he stepped back and stood with them.

"how did you do that? I was sure you didn't know where I was?" his eyes narrowed at her his tone questioning.

"you're back? let's go, we should attack at the same time." Arron said as he rushed forward, Amanda rushed forward with him while Adam ran around in them to move to her flank, Arron slashed his sword forward and she dodged by stepping back slightly, she as still smiling widely before she ducked slightly and swiftly, as Amanda's rapier went over her head.

Arron slashed vertically at her shoulder and she dodged by moving to Arron's left when she was greeted by a dagger which was aiming to her neck, however she ducked and swiped at Arron's legs causing him to fall, she twirled back swiftly and chopped Adam's wrist with her hand causing him to let go of his dagger before she grabbed it mid air and slashed at Amanda who was charging back in still, Amanda swiftly jumped back.

while Arron was on the floor she was about to throw Adam's dagger at him before a loud roar reverberated through the dungeon, "GET BACK HERE YOU THIEF!!!" Suzi's voice roared as a loud stomping was heard, she emerged from one of the tunnels and jumped up into the air before stomping down where Regina is, the ground cracked under Regina's feet which caused her to stumble, Suzi wasted no chance as she punched forward, Regina's smile faltered before she leaned back barely dodging Suzi's punch, a gust of wind is shot forward from the force of the punch.

Regina grips Suzi's arm which glowed in a white light green light, and she pulled herself up before swiftly spinning and punching Suzi hard on the face, Suzi stumbled back and Regina took the chance to jump back and assess the situation.

"don't you feel it's a little unfair for all of you to gang up on little 'ol me?" Regina said wiping the sweat from her forehead gasping slightly, that was a close one...

"GIVE BACK OUR KROKODIS TAILS!" Suzi screamed as she lunged forward despite the blood on her nose, she was angry, really angry.

Regina dodged by jumping back, when she was met by the golden blade of Amanda, she slashed in an arc however to her surprised Regina dodged by using the momentum of her previous jump backflipping over Amanda.

Amanda turned swiftly when she was met by the hilt of Adam's dagger, she was hit hard on the cheek which caused blood to leak from her lips, but Regina wasn't done yet, she kicked Amanda away hitting her stomach and sending her rolling.

"you're all cowards." she said smiling widely, sweat dripped down her chin as she breathed heavily, "this isn't good..." she muttered under her breath meeting the eyes of all her opponents, when a dagger flew at her from the right, she leaned back narrowly dodging it when it slightly cut her cheek, she winced and blood dripped down her cheek.

"damn it... I got what I wanted... I need to escape..." before she could move, she was faced by a fist coming straight towards her face, she tried to dodge but she couldn't move she hurriedly look downwards to see her legs were encased in dark green tendrils and not too far away, Adam had his hands on the grand the dark green energy coalescing off his hands.

shit- she cursed inwardly before she was punched square in the face, the punch reverberated a loud satisfying crunch before Regina was flung backwards at high speeds, she crashed on the cavern wall, bleeding her nose bent from several places and her clothes and light armour ripped from several places.

"ow- ow- ow...." she said as she winced from the pain attempting to get up.

in front of her Suzi stood her fist bloodied but not with her blood, she smiled maniacally and looks at the blood on her fist, "I've wanted to do this for a long time... it's as satisfying as I thought..." she said chuckling to herself.

Regina stood up shakily, "that really hurt... it looks like I'll be leaving sooner than I expected..." Regina said laughing softly and wincing from the pain.

"you're still up? don't worry we're not letting you leave after you stole all our points..." Suzi said as she rushed forward again, Regina didn't even attempt to move and Suzi didn't think much of it, her fist was about to connect to her face when suddenly.

what.... her fist passed right through Regina and she crashed on the cavern wall breaking it and hitting her fist hard causing her to recoil.

after she recovered she looked back to see Regina already in a dynamic run far away from her, she ran away while the others were still not realizing what happened, and after a couple of seconds they finally recovered and chased after her, "GET HER, SHE TOOK OUR PROOF!!" Amanda yelled and all of them started chasing after her.

they raced through the dungeon caves chasing after Regina, Adam was the fastest of them, he ran quite quickly one dagger in hand as Regina still had his dagger.

"SO LONG SUCKERS!" she laughed loudly while she ran, a beam of light shot past her head and she dodged barely, she looked back stunned from the attack when Amanda charged another beam of light her rapier glowing in a golden light, she thrust her rapier and the light beam shot forward which Regina dodged by rolling on the floor and stabilizing herself afterwards before breaking out into another dynamic run this time keeping an eye out for anymore beams.

she ran fast before they all reached an expansive cavern, Regina didn't stop though, she ran jumping over beams of light and dodging wind bursts from Suzi's fists.

a loud roar shook the entire cave causing a rocks to fall from the high up ceiling of the cavern, they all stopped in their tracks, forgetting about their chase.

Regina also stopped to look around.

what is this... wait... shit! did we go into the boss room without noticing?! Amanda cursed under her breath, while there weren't any C rank monsters in this dungeon, the boss of it should be equal to it if not even higher.

a loud stomping noise could be heard as yellow eyes shone from the darkness of the cavern, before a gigantic monster far bigger and higher than any of the students stomped forward, it had a lizard like shape with it's jaws decorated with sharp fangs and teeth, it had purple and whitish feathers all over it's body sticking out over it's light teal scales, it fumed as hot steam came out of it's snout signifying it's anger.

"shit!... it just had to be a drake that we're facing..." Adam cursed under his breath, "it's a B- rank monster it shouldn't even be here..." he finished as he looked up at the monster with yellow predatory eyes.

"we accidentally wondered into the boss room?" Amanda asked she was calm but she was still tense from the unexpected encounter.

"no you idiots, this isn't the boss room, the boss room should only host a C- rank threat, we accidentally wandered into a higher ranked area of this dungeon." Regina said she was also calm looking up at the drake.

"a higher ranked area?" Suzi asked glaring at Regina.

"yes, these types of dungeons are called dual dungeons, they aren't common, these types of dungeons are two dungeons in one, this isn't supposed to be here, this dungeon isn't supposed to be a dual dungeon, maybe it isn't known yet... anyways we shouldn't run." Regina said turning to look back at them.

"what?! we can't fight this creature!" Suzi yelled as she gestured at the drake.

"a drake is specialized in their speed and ability to manoeuvre around rocky terrains with ease using it's sharp claws and strong grip strength, it can cling to walls and even hang upside down while sleeping..." she finished when she stepped back towards the group walking slowly and cautiously when she was finally next to the group she spoke up again.

"we are in it's home territory, we can't escape it even if we wanted to..." Regina finished her eyes never leaving the drake's figure.

Suzi gritted her teeth, "then what should we do?! are you suggesting we fight that thing?!" she spoke in exasperated whispers.

"we can't do anything but that..." Adam said from the side, Suzi turned to him, his dark green eyes were focused on the beast in front of them, he was cautious his dagger flared with dark green tendrils of extremely slow moving fire.

"... damn it... looks like we have no other option..." Suzi gritted her teeth her body glowing it a teal green soft light as she took her stance.

"let's call a temporary truce..." Amanda said.

"let's do that then..." Regina replied.

Arron took his stance his sword glowing in a white light, he was using mana coating as well but a weaker and diminished version of it.

and the beast roared loudly before it rushed at them it's claws gripping the stone ground and cracking it as it moved.