When they got back to the wagon, it looked perfectly fine, but it was surrounded by about two dozen similar bronze lizards. Gumb was currently holding them off but was injured in doing so. Turf was cowering on top of the wagon while Gumb was swinging a large mace back and forth with his remaining good arm, keeping the lizards at bay.
His wounds looked serious. One of his arms had been torn off from the elbow. It was bleeding profusely which made his complexion start to pale. Upon closer inspection, his Health bar was at an abysmal 1/6th full. Since they made a party with the wristband before they head out, they can check on team member’s statuses.
Just before Gumb was going to pass out and before Crule and Ming could act, Dante and Shallot returned first and attacked the lizard from behind. Dante pulled the string of her short bow with rang with a tender sound as she fired several arrows at blinding speeds. In the span of one second, she had fire four arrows at four different lizards. The arrows pierced about a foot deep into the lizard. Those who didn’t have a chance to dodge were immediately killed with the arrow piercing their brains.
Three out of the four lizards she shot died immediately and collapsed on the ground with a thud. This quickly alerted the other lizards of an enemy from behind. Before they could turn their massive body around, Shallot already performed his move.
Three egg shaped grenades bounced on the ground and rolled to the lizards. The lizards were still mid rotation when the grenades went off blowing up two of the lizards into pieces directly. The shrapnel lacerated two other lizards who was a distance away from the grenades. The lizards are now facing both sides, the remaining count was 21 lizards were angry and three were wounded.
Gumb collapsed onto one knee clutching his arm. His health bar was slowly regenerating but it wasn’t enough to keep him out of the danger zone. He needs time to fully let the nanodes regenerate his arm.
The lizards who was facing Gumb’s side took the chance to attack only to be completely sliced in half by a wave of blood.
Ming and Crule appear from the trees behind the wagon with a smile.
[Dante]: Good, you’re here. Let’s take care of these annoying things.Pulling another arrow from her quiver, she readied her bow and pointed it at the lizards. Shallot pulled out two large looking pistols from under his jacket and pointed it at the lizards as well.
Ming rapidly erected a barrier of blood around the wagon with the injured Gumb included. The lizard was startled by the barrier and attacked it. Claws, teeth, and tail barraged the barrier to no avail. Ming with her hand extended just smiles and sat on the tree branch.
Dante and Shallots were picking off lizards one by one. Shallot would wound any lizards that dare to be brave enough to charge at them by shooting them in the limbs. Dante would finish them off with a swift arrow to the head. They were very efficient in what they were doing but it was slow.
Soon the lizards dwindle down to only sixteen left. They were becoming desperate and starting to become more reckless with their attacks.
Dante and Shallot was starting to seem fatigued. It was time for Crule to act.
[Crule]: Let’s finish this.He of course used his signature move. With a wave of his hand, the ground underneath the remaining lizards darkened. This time instead of tendrils dragging his enemies into the depths unknown, sharp spikes suddenly shot out of the shadows impaling the lizards, even severing some in half. The blood flowed from the corpses into the barrier around the wagon and its color changed from that of a brick red into bright crimson.
Ming gave Crule a thumbs up. Dante and Shallot stared in awe.
[Dante]: It seems you got some tricks up your sleeve kid. [Crule]: Just a simple magic trick. [Dante]: Well, very few people know actual magic. Most people just use the given class based skill or to boost physical strength or agility. [Shallot]: Mistress is right, you two must be one of the few special ones. [Crule]: Special? [Dante]: Out of the hundreds of thousands of participants, around a thousand of them are gifted with the ability to use magic. They are rare, powerful, and someone to not be trifled with. [Ming]: Can we keep this a secret from Mr. Turf? [Dante]: Hahaha, if you meet your promise on that spar then sure! [Ming]: Good!The blood barrier retracted and went back into Ming’s blood bank.
[Turf]: Is it over?Turf popped his head over the edge to see the dried husk of lizards littering the floor.
[Turf]: Wow, you guys are awesome!He excitedly jumped off the wagon.
Noticing the injured Gumb, his expression changed.
[Turf]: Oh…help me carry him into the back of the wagon to rest. Base on his health bar, he should be fully healed by tomorrow morning.His tone was very serious, a more business leader type suddenly replace his whimsical personality. It was like a switch flipped.
[Turf]: I take my employee’s health very seriously. But what makes me wonder about this incident is normally this large amount of monsters attacking at once is unheard of. What could have triggered it?Crule scanned around the wagon with Ming. Dante and Shallot was helping the unconscious Gumb into the back of the wagon.
Suddenly, Crule noticed an arrow sticking out of the wood paneling on the wagon.
[Crule]: This wasn’t here last night, this might be the cause.He shows the arrow to everyone else.
On it was a red fletching.
[Turf]: This should be an arrow that is mass sold in the town we were just in…but something seems off about it.Dante took the arrow and gave it a whiff.
[Dante]: It has a…strange smell.Crule took it back and smelled it as well.
[Crule]: This…I think it might be lizard pheromones. [Dante]: Why would someone deliberately do this? [Crule]: It might be just a test. But it’s interesting since both you guys and we didn’t notice when the arrow hit the wagon. Perhaps they waited until we got away. This may mean that their target is the cargo instead of its personnel. Something along the lines of making it look like an accident. [Dante]: Haha! Whoever did this vastly underestimated out strength. [Crule]: It would seem so…Crule couldn’t help but think back to the stares he got back in the guild hall.
He walked over and whispered something to Ming.
[Crule]: Make a few blood sentries to follow us from behind. Kill all who dares to close.Ming nodded in agreement.
[Crule]: These fools think they can stop us? Hahaha…
