"[ Steel Guardian ] !!" The tank voice carried over to the beast who looked at him with interest gleaming in its eyes.
The leader of the team had his mouth wide opened as he looked at the tank that had just used up his last bit of energy. The previous red aura that had been surrounding him had disappeared and he was now breathing heavily, his upper body going up and down while his arms hanged like useless mounds of flesh. The blue-haired leader immediately used his staff to heal the tank who glanced at him with tired eyes. He could see the pain in his tank's expression and ground his teeth.
"Why the hell did you use that skill ?! And why did you invoke its name too! You just wasted more energy than you needed to!" The leader scolded the tank who simply smiled at him.
The beast strode towards the Tank, so lost in its interest towards the hulking man it was that it actually let go of Hojosa. The mage was quickly grabbed by his female colleague who recalled her shadowy cloud. Sadly the beast found an obstacle on its way towards the tank, it was the male healer.
He was quivering under its gaze and couldn't move. He heard his leader yelling at him to get away, yet he didn't move. A shadow appeared over his entire body and he was sent flying away to the other side of the room.
The leader trembled as his subordinate was about to hit the wall....However, he didn't. There was no sound of flesh and bones crashing against a stone wall at terminal velocity. The leader wasn't sure if looking was a good idea, but he still did it. He just saw the ripples on some sort of barely visible barrier. His healer was nowhere to be seen. Meanwhile, Hojosa had been recovered by the shadow mage.
"Hojosa, we need to get out of here." She told him, her face painted with worry. He snarled at her as soon as she said that.
"We aren't abandoning Sung like that, you fucking cowardly cow !"
She shook her head and slung him over her shoulders, his broken body unable to even move. He couldn't really protest at that point.
"LET ME GO FOR FUCK'S SAKE !" He continued to yell at her but she wouldn't listen. The party leader immediately knew what was going on when she ran towards him with their second mage on her. He immediately fired a question at her once she arrived.
" You know a lot about dungeons right, moron?" He asked the shadow mage who smiled at him softly, she was entirely too used to him to not know why he had called her like that. It was a reflex for him.
"Yes I do, but why are you asking?" She asked, not really getting where he was going. The leader answered her while looking at the monster worriedly.
"Our male healer went who knows where when that fucking monster sent him flying. He didn't crash against the wall but instead disappeared in a nearly invisible barrier. Do you know about that? Can we use that thing to run away?". The shadow mage wiped the sweat off of her brows, she was wondering why her leader was even asking about that when the monster was now towering over their tank. This wasn't a time to test out theories. Nonetheless, she answered.
"N-No. That barrier is the limitation that appears during these kind of battles, arena-type battles. They are usually in arena-type dungeons, but I guess the throne room is seen as an arena now that we are fighting against this secret boss. I don't know what happens when someone goes through it though. It's usually out of the actual room to make sure you can't leave. I have no idea why it's inside the throne room." She said. Hearing the beast roar once more, her head snapped to look at the tank who had just been stepped on. The skill he had used seemed to have enhanced his defensive abilities, but he still looked the worse for wear.
The leader's voice entered her ears once more.
"Alright, it's either we die by its hand, or we are lucky and we can escape this way." He growled as she looked at him in shock.
"What do you mean ?! We can't just take a wild guess! I would rather fight then, we can't-" Words stopped coming out of her mouth as the leader glared at her. He looked at the tank, then at the female healer. Or rather he tried, but for some reason, she was nowhere to be seen. He bit his lips and groaned.
"I don't like this solution either, but I have more experience than you do. Well none of us actually have the experience required to take on such a dungeon, but I still have seen more battles than you. We have lost, this thing is only annoyed by our attacks. Now either you come with me, or I drag you by the skin of your ass." He snarled at her.
Hojosa interjected, yelling at the two of them.
"If you wanna run, do it. But let me down! I am going to cook that thing! I AM GOING TO FUCKING FRY IT !"
They tuned him out and looked at each other. The shadow mage sighed in defeat and secured her hold over Hojosa so he wouldn't fall off because of his squirming.
She nodded at the leader and they both started to run towards the same wall the healer had been previously sent flying into.
The tank looked at them from the corner of his eyes and exclaimed.
" HEY, FUCKERS !"
During their desperate run, they turned to look at him. They expected to see him glaring at them, shouting out insults at them. However, he smiled.
"MY SISTER IS HAVING HER FIRST FIGHT TONIGHT ! GO WATCH HER FOR ME !"
The tank's eyes welled up with tears and he started to run in the other direction. He ran as fast as his tired legs could take him, he ran while coughing up blood. He ran as his arms moved from one side to another. He couldn't even feel them at this point.
Perhaps it was just a stroke of luck, but the other side just so happened to be where the female healer and Seneos had been before they disappeared. It was also where the corpse of the orc boss had been left.
The team leader and the shadow mage didn't even look back as they ran towards the barrier. The former was biting his lips hard enough to draw blood while the latter was tearing up. It was Hojosa who screamed right as they went through the barrier.
"SUNG ! LIVE YOU MORON !"
They disappeared, just like the male healer. The tank was now all alone in that room, or at least he thought so.
The beast stomped on the ground, it's foot sending a shockwave strong enough to topple the tank. He fell on the ground, and then quickly got onto his knees.
"I don't want to die here, damnit ! I can only act so brave in front of them, leave me alone you overgrown lizard moose thing !" He tried to get away, but in a single step forward it was already onto him.
He once again fell over, right besides the corpse. He took a look at it and his eyes widened.
He could only muffle his chuckle as he saw his exhausted healer teammate and Seneos putting a finger against his mouth.
"SHHHH"
He turned around, his chest heaving as he took a sharp breath. He laughed as the beast lifted it's foot and angled it right over him, casting a shadow over his broken body.
The blood leaving his mouth and nose had gone up on his face due to his head's position and it was now running over his eyes.
"Ah, damnit...I hope that little devil wins her match." The tank let out a whisper as Seneos covered the eyes of the healer girl in an instant.
*Crunch*
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