Leading the charge with his sword and shield in hand, Bryce positioned himself in front of Marcus trying to pin him down to limit the effectiveness of his scythe. Marcus not wanting to be attacked from multiple sides tried charging towards Harold since he was wielding a bow but Bo wielding a massive tower shield intercepted Marcus preventing his advance. He then had to spin around quickly to bring his scythe up to block Bryce's attack that was coming from behind. Unfortunately, Jasper and Harold both took this opportunity to strike as Harold let loss an arrow towards Marcus' left leg and Jasper jabbed his spear towards his right. However, Marcus had not been idle and right before the two attacks hit, he finished chanting his spell, and iron began to cover his body causing the arrow and spear to slide off of Marcus' enhanced skin.
'Shit, these guys really know how to work together, I am higher level than any of them with Bryce being fifteen jasper and Bo fourteen and Harold thirteen, but they are still pressuring me. Yet now that I have cast my iron skin spell the only one that can realistically hurt me is Bryce since he is the only one that can infuse mana into his weapon. I only need to create a window for around three seconds, and I can turn invisible and ethereal again.'
Continuing to fight for another few dozen seconds even though three members of Wild Wind could not really hurt Marcus, they still could throw him of balance and create openings to allow Bryce to attack. Realizing that he was not going to be able to find an opening without hurting the members of wild wind Marcus activated his mana body skill enhancing his entire body.
'Well, I am flattered that they would go this far for Irene, but I do not plan on letting them beat me. So, far they have only tried to incapacitate me but at this rate they will wear me down, so sorry this is going to hurt a bit.'
With his new enhanced physique Marcus was able to move faster and stronger and the next time Bo tried to shield bash him Marcus wound up his leg and kicked with everything he had. When Marcus' iron coated, mana enhanced leg impacted the shield, it created a huge dent and sent Bo skidding across the floor. Seeing an opening Bryce attempted to strike Marcus from behind only to find that Marcus had primitively spun his scythe around and the blunt side of the blade smacked Bryce in the side of the head. With the two tanks taken down Marcus had created an escape route and to guarantee his retreat decided to try out another one of his new skills for the first time. Activating his speed burst skill Marcus felt energy welling up in his feet and legs before he shot off like a cannon leaving Wild Wind behind.
Once he was out of view, Marcus quickly deactivated his solid soul skill going back into his full ghostly form.
'Okay I managed to get away from them, but I should probably find them later as Irene and clear up this misunderstanding so that the next time they see me as Marcus I do not get assaulted. But I do have to say I am satisfied with the results of my new skills, and after using them I realize that these are the skills that Ander used during our fight. The only one of my new skills I have not tried now is heighten spells but since it only doubles the MP cost of a spell for only a ten percent boost in power, using it regularly really is not worth it. And speaking of MP using mana body and iron skin at the same time for that long almost completely drained me. Even with my mana regeneration it is going to take me around half an hour to get back up to full.'
Waiting around for a couple of hours just to make sure that Wild Wind were gone Marcus resolidified and once again began his search for more bubbling crabs. Finding a small group of three Marcus immediately cast his iron thread spell using it to pop all of their acid bubbles. Once they had run out of acid, Marcus moved in and brought his scythe down low before swinging the point upward stabbing into their softer under bellies. Executing this maneuver for each of the crabs he easily defeated them all with minimal damage to their bodies.
'Now that I know how to fight them, they are really easy to beat especially since I have not run into any above level eight. Only three more and I will be done with this request.'
Seeking out the last of his targets Marcus came across not just a few bubbling crabs but a swarm of more than twenty of them. Deciding against trying to wear all of them out, he simply cast his iron sphere spell and sent it barreling through the crabs turning most of them into mincemeat. Leaving three of them safe from his iron sphere onslaught Marcus quickly moved in and finished them off managing to cause little damage to their bodies. Having finished collecting the seven bubbling crabs he needed, Marcus went around gathering the cores of the ones he had smashed with his iron sphere.
'That should do it, I have got all of the bubbling crabs I need any more then two dozen light green magic core. I did plan on doing a bit more exploring, but I think I should head back to the guild to find Wild Wind and smooth things out with them. And while I am at it, I can rank up to bronze and finally shed the stigma of being a copper adventure.'
With his new plan of action decided Marcus made his way back to the corridor that would lead him to the first room of the dungeon. Getting back with little difficulty Marcus climbed the stairs out of the dungeon and headed back towards the nearby branch of the adventures guild.