"Ah, that was a fun run! You did well, Abel. It feels kinda sad to have you leaving so soon." Dwayne said, his hands cradling the back of his head as he leaned against a tree. The party was just seeing Abel off after an entire day of hunting down packs of Flame Wolves. They had managed to score loads of Cores and even several that had Beast Souls within them. The amount they got was quite unusual, considering the rarity of Beast Souls.
"Thanks a lot for the help, guys. It would have been much harder to do anything if I was alone at first." Abel replied with a wide grin, trying to show his sincerity. From what he had seen, his haul would have been much less than what he had gotten with them, if he had been alone. He was able to get a dozen Flame Wolf Cores, with one of them having a Beast Soul inside it.
"You're welcome. If you need help with anything, just contact me. Don't forget." Russell gave a final wave before the two groups parted ways.
"Sure thing. See you around!" Abel also waved before heading back to the entrance of the Second Floor. Breeze walked by his side while he rode atop Dust. The three of them maintained their team, as Abel wasn't ready to add any more Beast Souls until he got back home and made more plans for the future.
After stepping through the portal and going through that split second of dizziness, the first sight that he saw was one of chaos and disarray.
"What's going on?" Abel grabbed onto a random Tower Runner that was running by.
"The monsters are going crazy! We just got swarmed by packs of deadly monsters!" The burly man yelled and shoved Abel's hands off him. Abel could only look at the man's retreating back for a split second before a loud roar reverberated across the hilltop. Looking back, he immediately got the fright of his life.
A literal wave of monsters was locked in combat with several dozen Tower Runners. Tanks cooperated with each other, stalling the advance of the wave, while Mages fired of all sorts of spells that resulted in a myriad of swimming, bright colors. Healers supported the Tanks, sending out wave after wave of healing energy.
"Hey! Watch out!" Someone yelled out before a blur flashed by Abel. The blur rushed directly at Breeze, a shiny sword aimed for his neck. The Gnoll reacted quickly, raising his incredibly hard and sharp claws to block the incoming attack.
Red eyes clashed with a warm brown as Breeze stared down the small Assassin fighter that tried to make a move on him.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Abel pried off the smaller man from Breeze. "He's my Beast Soul, not some rabid beast!"
"Oh, my apologies. But please, if you're going to let that beast out, at least get it to contribute to the fight. Every extra hand counts." The man spoke again before rushing back to the front of the fight. Abel lost sight of him the moment he entered the scuffle.
"Well, he's got a sharp mouth. And besides, it's not like I'm obligated to help them." He murmured under his breath before letting out a low sigh. "Fine. Let's just help them out, Breeze." He said before getting out his weapons and running to join the fight.
...
"Healer!" Noah roared over the sounds of battle. He was being pushed back by the siege of monsters and wasn't getting enough support. Blood ran down the right side of his face and his leather armor was in tatters.
"Dammit! Ward!" A pale brown bubble of energy wrapped around him. It popped only after half a dozen hits, but that was enough to let him get some reprieve. A reprieve that didn't last.
"Ah-!" Claws ripped at his side, making him lose his grip on his shield, which was ripped out of his grip the next second. A large clawed paw appeared in his vision and he knew that this was the end of the road for him.
Just before the claw could reach his head, the arm that held said claw was cleanly sliced off, bathing him in warm blood. He could only stare as a few more slashed methodically cut apart the monster that had been pressuring him.
"Fall back and get yourself some treatment." A heavenly voice smoothed its way into his ears. He turned to face the source of the voice, and was met with a cascade of bright blue hair. He couldn't see the owner of the hair, but just the sight of someone else taking his spot brought him a lot of relief.
'Thank y...' He intended to thank his savior, but he was only able to muster an incomplete thought, before his world spun on its head, slowly becoming dark with each passing moment.
...
"Dammit. He passed out." Abel thought as he shot a quick look at the downed, unconscious Tank while also narrowly dodging the swipe of a purple serrated tongue. "Dust!" He summoned Dust from his Sea of Soul, "Take this man to a Healer, quickly!"
The Ground Rat managed to maneuver the man's motionless body onto his back before hurriedly running across the field. At the first sight, some Tower Runners made a move to attack him, but once they saw the motionless man on his back, they immediately made way, assuming it was just a simple mount saving its master's life.
'Where the hell did these things crawl out from and what are they after?!' Abel was only able to mutter the thought before he dodged another attack aimed at his head.
The majority of the monster swarm was made up of Ground Rats, along with some other stronger creatures. It wouldn't be too hard to deal with them on a normal day, but the problem here was their sheer amount. Being reckless could easily get even a regular from the Second Floor killed.
As for Abel, he just had to make sure to not get overwhelmed and only take on what he could, with Breeze supporting him from behind.