BAM!
A jerber was sent flying from the blunt impact of a hammer golem's fist. The two hammer golems were going at full force as they battered as many jerbers as possible.
Just a few steps behind them, a relaxed Roxanne was sitting cross-legged on the shoulder of a golem and was cheerfully mocking Rastel due to certain issues
"You really think we can take down a magic beast?" Rastel's initial shock was over and he stared at her seriously.
"For sure. I mean it would be tough but it's worth it isn't it? Very few people have taken down the hard mode of this dungeon. In fact, only the strong guilds have as far as I know." She laughed airily.
"I never knew you were so worrisome! I thought you were the reckless type from all I've seen so far." She teased him.
"I don't like the idea of taking unnecessary risks." He face-palmed.
"Being decisive in a moment of unseen danger and being decisive about facing for-seen danger are two different things. I just want to have fun." He sighed as he looked at the battle below.
The more the battle went on, the more he felt more and more comfortable with using the golems.
'At the very least I know I can fully utilize two golems now.' He tried to analyze his strength.
'But mana….' His mana was already running low.
"So basically, you are conditionally reckless?" Roxanne hummed as she fiddled with her gun.
"Or conditionally cowardly, whichever one you prefer." He chuckled as he got down from the golem shoulder.
"Where are you going?" Roxanne looked at him quizzically.
Rastel stretched his body a bit and took out a pair of gloves from his inventory and wore them.
They were the gloves that were supposed to be part of the hunter's set he received in Laron. He hardly wore them because he felt they weren't too comfortable but completing the set gave an increase to his agility, dexterity, and endurance.
Feeling the grip from the gloves, he turned to Roxanne and smiled. "I want to stretch a bit"
He then took out the immortal's blade from his inventory and slashed it around.
Roxanne had a thoughtful look on her face for a while before also jumping down.
"Okay, let's go together!" she took out a long silver dagger from her inventory with enthusiasm.
Rastel compressed the golem and collected it. "I thought you hated close combat?"
"It depends on my mood. And I'm still a rouge, not a ranger. I should act like my class sometimes." She said as she twirled her blade skillfully.
"I am going to take back the golems to preserve mana." Rastel surveyed the remaining jerbers and said.
"It's okay, there are few left anyway. You already know how to deal with them right? Can you keep up?" Roxanne teased again with a smile.
"Hah! They won't even be able to touch my sleeves!" And with that, he jumped into the rushing group of jerbers.
The two hammer golems collapsed into small figurines that flew into his hands. Suddenly seeing space to move, the jerbers rushed in like a flood as they neared his figure.
His eyes darted around as he enjoyed the comfort of being able to see well ever since his Dark sight skill leveled up not long ago. With his eyes focusing on a point in the rushing wave of jerbers, he raised his immortal's blade and struck!
SWISH!
There was no resistance whatsoever as his blade went through the long slug-like ears on a certain jerber's face causing it to squeal out in pain.
QUIEEEH!!!!
BANG!
Before he could follow up, a jerber claw came crashing down at his location!
Or at least, where he was supposed to be.
SWISH! SLASH!! SLING!!!
A deft sidestep took Rastel out of harm's way and he stepped into the crowd of jerbers with the confidence of a mad man as he sliced apart anything he saw.
His feet seemed to dance about and he was never in one place for longer than needed as he incapacitated one jerber after another. They fell to the floor screaming before finally dissolving into pixels, dead.
SLASH!
He took off most of a charging jerber's head before dancing round another that was slamming its claws only to get a yet-to-attack jerber behind it instead.
His movements seemed to defy a normal human's common sense as he moved sideways when you would expect him to move backward, charged when you would expect him to duck, and strike diagonally when you would think he was supposed to block.
Roxanne watched all this from behind with a bit of admiration. In a world where learning martial arts was considered a necessity, such moves were not surprising at all.
In fact, they were expected.
Wielding her silver dagger, she joined the fight.
Unlike Rastel who dove into the group and seemed to be like a slippery eel within the jerbers, Roxanne maintained her position at the outskirts of the group.
Although her movements didn't seem as intimidating as Rastel's they were very deadly, no, they were scary!
Rastel watched Roxanne from the corner of his eye as she killed the jerbers. Every movement from her long silver dagger was accompanied by a burst of pixels.
She was killing jerbers with every blow!
Her dagger moved in large wavy motions as she blocked any claw that came at her easily and without even pulling back for a counter, her dagger would suddenly plunge forward with speed and somehow make its way into the beast's body scattering it into pixels.
It felt difficult to understand even as he saw it with his own eyes. She slowly chipped at the jerbers while moving forward, killing them so easily it felt like she was just playing around.
'Seeing her going all out would be amusing.' A thought flashed past Rastel's mind but he focused on his fight.
And just like that, the duo cut through the remaining mass of jerbers remaining until there was none left and the passage was free once again.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
"What are you doing, Baldur? That beast doesn't have horns so let's go!" Helia yelled at a frowning Baldur.
"But are you sure?" Baldur was staring at a small squirrel-like beast with a long snout and long forearms that was casually chewing on a leaf up a tree.
"Yes I'm sure so let's go!" Helia who was a few steps ahead yelled back again.
Baldur was still reluctant as he scrunched his face at the beast who was staring back at him while slowly chewing the leaf with obviously no horns on its head whatsoever.
"Let me just go and check quickly!" He said and suddenly jumped towards a low branch on the tree.
"For god's sake Baldur!" Helia facepalmed heavily.
Baldur went up the tree with great agility for a monk. The beast was still staring at him unperturbed as he quickly climbed up the tree.
Just as he neared the beast and was already stretching out a hand for it with squinting eyes, he suddenly turned his head while simultaneously reaching out his other hand.
CLANG!!!
The sound of steel striking steel echoed out loudly in the air as a brown cloaked figure that seemingly came out of nowhere attacked him with a sword.
He blocked the sword with his bare palm!
He however lost his balance and started falling while the beast leaped from its perch and spread its arms. A thin layer of skin was attached from the edge of its wrists to its waist, allowing it to glide away to safety leisurely.
The cloaked figure was just about to adjust his balance in the air when he also felt a sense of danger and quickly grabbed at a nearby branch and used it to change his directory.
SWISH!!
A sharp wind passed by his previous position and sliced through the leaves and branches there, scattering them into the air.
Baldur adjusted his fall and landed on a thick tree branch just as Helia came running from below with her swords drawn. They both looked up at the brown cloaked figure that was hanging precariously from the lean branch he was holding.
His hood had fallen off and an ordinary steel sword was in his free hand which he pointed at Helia with a flourish.
"Wind blade Helia, I have always wanted to fight you for a bit. Do you mind?" his muffled voice came from underneath the cloth that was masking his lower face.
Helia looked at his pale yellow eyes and light brown hair that was tinged with white at the fringes and narrowed her eyes.
'A player, and by the looks of it a native of Gorm. But that hair and eye color are exclusive to Gorm nobility. Unless...' a flurry of thoughts went past her mind quickly before she replied.
"I wouldn't mind but you have to introduce yourself first, it is proper manners." She probed him.
"Ha! What does it matter when you are having a good fight? We can establish our identities properly by crossing blades!" He brushed it off with a chuckle.
"Don't you feel embarrassed saying such things? Come down here for a bit and I will teach you not to sneak attack people." Baldur snorted as he raised his fist.
With a dull silver glow, his hands slowly started taking a metallic quality starting from the fingertips till it reached his wrists.
The masked figure looked at this with bright eyes filled with interest. Releasing his grip, he fell onto another nearby branch and stabilized his footing.
"Okay, you know what? I just made up my mind." He raised his sword at Helia before turning it to Baldur, a playful tone in his voice.
"Wind blade Helia and Baldur of steel, you should be the one embarrassed with a name like that by the way." He threw a jibe at Baldur which had the buff monk scowling.
"Both of you should come at me together!" the masked swordsman proclaimed loudly.
"No"
They both replied at the same time with deadpan faces.