Chapter 6: Treated the Worst (1)
Everyone was quiet as the herd was getting closer; the ground shook from the number of feet stomping on it. Isona's legs were trembling as she slowly started to walk backward; she was terrified of what was coming.
She wasn't the only one moving. Neban saw that Owain and the other hunters were walking back, even after Laia told them to stay still; she was one of the ones who started to retreat slowly. Neban and Wey were the only two that remained rooted in their spot, which amazed him; the man did not look scared.
'Was it because of how long he has been a porter?' Neban thought to himself.
He did not have long to continue the thought when the monsters appeared. Isona tried to turn and run, only to stop when some Rinins quickly ran to the other side, surrounding the group.
This time, everyone stood still without moving as all the hunters had their weapons in hand, gripping them. There was no escape since Rinins and Eatans surrounded them. Neban was surprised that the Rinins were out in the open, rather than hiding.
Plus, the Eatans did not have a general with them, who usually commanded them in battle.
They stared each other down before the Eatans let out a war cry, causing them to cover their ears as the shockwave shook the area. Neban covered his ears too, acting like it hurt when the noise did not bother him at all.
After the war cry, the Rinins struck first, running towards them. Lora and Ari moved in front of Neban and the porters. Lora started to swing her weapon at the monsters while Ari used spatial magic to keep the Rinins in one spot so that they wouldn't run off; her magic was limited as she could only contain twenty at a time.
Kory summoned his fire magic, creating a fire barrier between the creatures and the hunters near him as he burned the Rinins. Elain called two mid-level skeleton soldiers. The skeletons made weird noises as they had on a helmet, a shield in one hand, and a sword in another.
The skeletons charged into the battle.
Milo summoned a small army of golems that were a bit different as ice emitted from them. The golems moved forward, freezing the Rinins while letting Laia slice their heads off or cut their bodies in half.
The Eatans had not joined the fight yet, watching the Rinins run in like they were the sacrificial wave to tire the hunters out. If so, Neban could not help but keep a close eye on them. These Eatans seemed smarter than the ones in the other dungeons.
Since the Rinins were the only ones fighting the hunters, it was not a hard fight for them, but it was an exhausting one as there were almost 200 monsters.
Isona was gripping onto Owain and Wey as she backed them into the wall. Owain was trying to tell her reassuring words as the girl was closed to tears. Neban couldn't help but sigh at that; why would she become a porter if a small fight like this scared her?
One of the Rinins snuck past the two hunters protecting them. The monster was drooling, causing the floor to burn with each drop that touched the ground. It made its way to Neban, getting ready to attack him since he was standing alone from the group.
But when Neban turned his gaze towards the Rinin, the creature stopped as it felt danger emitting from the human. Even though Neban's glasses blocked his eyes, and the monster was blind, his aura was far from weak. The Rinin was paralyzed and couldn't move one inch as it trembled.
'I m-must tell the king about this.' Neban heard the Rinin think. [Almighty Mind] was able to translate any language and read the mind of anything, and since monsters are alive, he can hear their thoughts. 'The king, huh? Must be the dungeon boss we need to defeat.' Neban thought before swiping his hand, activating [Silent Slice].
Neban cut the creature in half; then, he subtly tried to move the monster near the two hunters, making it look like they killed it. But he only succeeded in spreading its blood and guts on the ground, so he gave up and moved closer to the porters.
As the hunters started to thin out the Rinins, one of the Eatans moved towards Laia, swinging its club down on her. Laia caught the swing with her sword, staggering a bit from the force of it. But she reinforced her strength as a light glow surrounded her body.
The Eatan growled at not killing the human, so it picked up its foot to kick Laia. But the foot did not connect as a shield, made of gold light, appeared in front of her, blocking it. Laia still ended up moving back from the force, wiping her forehead as she was already sweating and breathing hard.
The Eatan's face showed fury as it made a calling sound, causing another creature to move. Once the shield came down, they both attacked Laia simultaneously. She tried to block both of the clubs coming down on her; she succeeded but ended up flying back, causing her to hit Lora.
The hit made Lora miss in cutting the Rinins as the creatures used the fail hit to spit out their acid on her hand. Lora screamed as she dropped her sword; the skin on her hand started to melt from the acid, showing bone.
The Rinins moved closer, getting ready to bite into Lora's flesh, but Ari was quicker as she set up a barrier to stop them. The monsters hit into the wall, dropping to the ground as they shook their heads. They kept slamming into the barricade as they could not see what was blocking them from their meal.
Laia did not apologize as she got up, running towards the two Eatans walking towards her. Her sword began to glow as she swung the weapon sideways, towards the monster's stomach. The creatures did not try to block as they were not worried since their skin is tough.
But the sword was able to cut through their tough skin, causing blood to stream down the wounds that Laia created. The Eatans looked down in surprise, making weird noises as they touched their bleeding stomachs.
Neban can hear the confusion in the Eatans' thoughts as they wondered how a puny human could cut through their skin.
During their distraction, Laia swung again with a wild scream, cutting the same spot. Their stomachs were split open as their organs started to fall out. Blood dripped from their mouth as the creatures fell to the ground, causing it to shake with its loud thud.
Laia was breathing hard as her arms and legs were shaking. But her gaze was intense as she looked at the other Eatans with a 'fight me, you bastards' look.
The shaky ground and loud thud did not stop anyone from fighting as they kept going. Isona was the only one covering her ears as tears streamed down her face. She looked sick as Neban read her mind, stating that she was not used to sights like this.
Lora was holding her hand, biting her lip to hold back the cries of pain that wanted to come out. Ari was holding her, walking her towards them; Ari looked tired as she was close to reaching her limit in keeping the barrier up from the Rinins trying to break it.
"The first aid, we need the first aid kit," Ari spoke when she was near them. Owain pried Isona off him as he quickly dropped the bag he was holding to the ground. He opened the front pockets as he pulled out a box containing the words, 'Healing,' on it.
Owain's hands shook a bit, showing his fright as he tried to pry the box open. He missed a couple of times before finally opening the container. Inside the box were healing potions for consumption or pouring them on the wounded area, a roll of elastic bandages, alcohol, and needle and thread.
Owain took out one of the healing potions and a roll of bandages as he poured the medicine on the wound. Lora bit hard on her lip as her eyes started to water, to muffle her screams; she tore the skin on her lip, causing it to bleed. Ari gripped her shoulder while rubbing her back to comfort her.
Neban watched as the wound only healed a little but would most likely heal entirely over time. Owain silently apologized to the hunter before wrapping the injury with the bandages. When he completely covered the damage, he tore the bandages with his hands and tied the end.
Once he finished, Lora stood up, looking around, "Where is my sword?"
"You cannot be serious. Your hand is injured!." Ari looked at her in disbelief. Neban noticed that the girl was unusually sweating as it looked like she was swaying a bit. 'Ah, her limit is here.' He thought.
Lora scoffed as she turned and noticed that her sword was on the other side of the barrier; the Rinins were stepping on it. "I can handle myself just fine, Ari. I am an M-level hunter, not some weakling."
Lora waited for Ari to respond as she noticed that the barrier was starting to waver. The Rinins noticed the movement as they stopped hitting the wall. Lora quickly turned towards Ari as the girl's eyes rolled back, and she started to fall to the ground. Wey pulled away from Isona, dropping his bag he was holding, as he caught Ari.
Once she was unconscious, the wall was gone. Lora cursed, knowing she should not have let the girl use spatial magic when she is not proficient in it. M-levels can learn most spells, but they are limited, except if their bodies are compatible with one or two elemental magic.
Lora pulled out her hidden dagger, gripping it with her injured hand as she winced. "Stay behind me." She told them as she moved forward when the Rinins sped towards them. But they did not connect, as a soaring heat passed by her, narrowly missing from burning her left side.
The fire caught a few pieces of Lora's hair, though. As all the monsters burned, Lora growled as she turned towards Kory, who smiled at her. "You stupid fucker, you almost burned me!"
"I saved you." He responded. He was sweating hard as his hands seemed to be twitching; he already finished killing his side of the Rinins. Elain and Milo did too as they grabbed Laia, who was staring at the Eatans, waiting for them to attack, and Kory, pulling them towards the others.
Even though Laia killed two of the Eatans and all the Rinins were dead, Neban wondered why the monsters had not moved yet. He couldn't hear their thoughts like they shut down. 'Are they waiting for something? Is it the so-called king?' He thought.
"The Eatans have not moved yet, and we cleared the path to escape; we need to move," Elain spoke with haste in his tone.
Laia shook her head as her eyes gazed greedily at the ameis, "No, we need to get the ameis, then we can go."
"Are you crazy, Laia? Ari is already down, and we are exhausted. If the Eatans start to move, we are dead!" Lora disagreed as she pulled Ari from Wey's hold.
"Then, we give them a distraction," Laia spoke before she quickly grabbed a frightened Isona before anyone could react. Well, Neban could, but he wanted to see how this would play out. He needed an excuse to murder a person in cold blood.
The hunters did not stop her as Owain tried to stand up to pull Isona back, but Milo pushed him down, "Stay put." Wey did not try anything as he glared at the hunters with a clenched fist. 'Are they going to allow their leader to sacrifice an innocent girl for ameis!' Neban heard his thoughts the loudest due to the intense emotion behind it.
Isona was struggling in Laia's hold, begging for the woman to let her go as tears were flowing heavily down her face. Laia knocked the girl out, getting tired of her crying as she threw the girl in front of the monsters. "Food time, you fuckers!" She shouted, causing a reaction out of the Eatans.
They looked down at the body as their mouths started to water at the sight of fresh meat. Seeing the look, Wey got up, trying to make his way over by pushing through the hunters. Owain attempted to stop him, but Wey ignored him.
Elain punched Wey, causing him to fall back into Owain. Wey's nose was bleeding as he held onto it without making a sound of pain; Neban was pretty sure Elain broke his nose.
"Stay down, or you will be the next meal, but we will serve you as dead meat." Then he turned towards Neban, who was the only porter that did not move from his spot. "You go pick up the ameis."
Neban stared at the man, then the ameis on the ground before turning his gaze to Laia, who was making her way back over with a satisfied look. He glanced behind her, seeing as one of the Eatans bent down, picking Isona up by her arm.
She was dangling in the air.
'We can feed her to the king when he comes.' Neban heard them think, but when he felt someone grabbing him, he blocked the monsters' thoughts from his mind. He turned towards the person touching him.
"Did you hear me? I said, go pick up the ameis." Elain slowly spoke like Neban could not understand him.
He glanced down at hand, grabbing his arm. "I found my reasons." He responded, confusing everyone.
But before anyone could react, Neban pointed one hand towards Laia then pointed his other hand's fingers at Elain's stomach.
"[Shadow Shot]." He spoke out loud.