"AAAHHH!" Justin cried in pain as one of the panthers bit his leg.
Nina saw the panther's attack and slashed at it, but the panther managed to retreat in time. No harm was done to it.
"Damn it! They're too fast!" Gabriel shouted. "None of my attacks are working!"
Blood poured out of Justin's leg. The panther had bit into a major vein. Nina raced towards him and pulled him back using one of her arms while she swung the sword with the other one.
She dragged him to the middle of the circle they had formed, where Martha and Orla were already busy healing Joshua and two others.
"The injuries keep increasing... We got to do something!"
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
Talos was continuously shooting at the creatures, but the bullets seemed to have a little effect. Talos' shots were only effective when the creatures were closer to him, and the creatures understood it and maintained their distance from Talos and stopped attacking him and focused on the others. Who were more vulnerable.
"DAMN IT!!!!" Nina cursed at top of her lungs.
The creatures were like a pack of scavengers, their teamwork and strategy quickly managed to overwhelm and injure Joshua at the start of the fight.
Joshua was an A-ranked tank but still, the creatures managed to manhandle him, he wasn't the only tank in the team but he was the most capable one. Without his leadership, the party members collapsed one after another.
Dan was trying to do his best, but if an A-ranked tank couldn't do much then what could a mere C-ranked tank do?
They were completely trapped. They were hemmed in from one side by the white lion, while the other side was blocked off by the panthers, one of which was injured thanks to Talos', Gabriel's and Nina's efforts. But the other two were unscathed.
"No way out," Gabriel whispered, his sword drawn at the lion.
"Yeah... " Nina nodded, trying to calm herself.
Gabriel nodded towards the injured panther. "I don't think he'll try to attack us anymore. We just have to take care of the other two... let's take down the lion first while Dan and the mage can focus on the other panther."
The Lion started circling them while slowly moving in, as the uninjured panther flanked them. The injured panther was lying near the entrance to prevent its prey from escaping. Nina saw this as an opening.
"Gabe, we can retreat," She whispered, "If We can take care of the injured panther we can escape the dungeon, contact the guild and hold the monsters inside till they arrive."
"It's pretty dangerous though," Gabriel whispered, not taking his eyes off the lion in front of him.
"Half of the team is either injured or can't fight. We don't have another choice..."
"Alright, pull back," Gabriel whispered, "but slowly..."
"Talos grab Coco as soon as we get close to-" Nina whispered
"He's dead." Talos replied in his usual emotionless electronic voice.
"It... it doesn't matter... just do it." Even though she knew that Coco was gone but she didn't want to admit it.
Suddenly Justin spoke up, "We won't last long. You guys run I'll distract him along with Talos."
Nina didn't turn towards him, her eyes were fixed on the panther, but her admiration for the injured guy shot up. After all, he was willing to die for the others.
Nina shook her head, "Not possible. Even if we wanted, we won't be able to run that fast with so many injured people. The monsters will catch up sooner or later."
They were moving towards the entrance slowly... but then the unharmed panther charged at her. She held tightly to her sword, ready to strike, but to her surprise, the panther suddenly stopped. Nina got agitated and was about to charge at the panther when she heard a blood-curdling scream. She turned immediately towards the entrance. The injured panther used the distraction to attack the mage who was guarding their rear.
The mage kept attacking the panther, as it bit into his shoulder, but it was all in vain, he kept screaming in agony as the panther dragged his body back and threw him next to Coco's body. The panther kept biting and slashing its claws on mage till he stopped moving. The mage was dead.
Nina was about to charge at the injured panther but before she could, something landed right in front of her. It was Dan. His armour was shattered into pieces by a single blow of the lion. The Lion was standing on top of Gabriel's head and roared loudly.
The Lion and the panthers now slowly moved towards Nina. But before they could close in, Talos went supersonic and grabbed the injured panther's head and rained all of the bullets in its head. The panther struggled to get out of the automaton's hold but couldn't.
Seeing their fellow beast in danger, the Lion and the panther jumped at Talos, completely ignoring Nina.
"THIS IS IT! EVERYONE GRAB THE INJURED ONES AND RUN! THIS IS OUR ONLY CHANCE!" She shouted and grabbed Gabriel and Dan, while Martha took Justin and Orla dragged Joshua.
Talos somehow managed to keep the beasts busy till Martha and Orla managed to escape, but the lion finally managed to destroy him, before Nina could escape the dungeon. Seeing that there was no hope for her to escape, she entrusted Gabriel and Dan to Martha and Orla before taking Jason's sword from him.
"Take them and go. Call for the guild or the family for help help. I'll stall the beasts till then." Nina said in a calm and concentrated voice.
"N...o..." Gabriel mumbled before collapsing once again.
"Don't waste time! GO NOW!" she shouted and turned to face her inevitable death.
Martha and Orla knew Nina wouldn't be able survive to survive and they couldn't do anything about it no matter.
"Just hold on. We'll be right back with some reinforcements!" Orla said in an attempt to boost Nina up.
Nina just nodded in reply as Martha and Orla left the dungeon. Now Nina was alone with the beasts inside.
"You're not going anywhere while I'm alive." Nina pointed her swords at the beasts.