Ben wants to burn the 2 guards' balls like their friends. But there are children here, so he can't do it. He just uses his knee to crush their balls while he holds their head high and burns their mouth with his flame.
The guards are frothing as they lose consciousness. Ben throws them to the side before approaching the hostages. His sudden appearance surprises the hostages and makes them wary even though he has just defeated the guards.
"I'm a Mage from Cait Shelter. The Mayor sent me here to free all of you, so you can rest assured," says Ben while showing his Guild's mark on his forearm.
The hostages get relieved when they see Ben's Guild's mark. Even though they never heard of Cait Shelter, but Ben's action has proved that he is their ally. However, Ben frowns when he counts the hostages' number.
"If I'm not mistaken, then there should be 23 of you here, but there are only 19. There should be 1 more kid & 3 women," says Ben.
"Y-Yes, they are detained separately," says a green-haired woman.
'She must be the woman that those guys in the entrance were talking about. They've done such a terrible thing to her, but she's still this strong. Sigh, it makes me feel ashamed of myself. I need to control my emotion better,' thinks Ben.
"Is it the noble kid?" asks Ben.
"Yes, it's Ms. Elefsia and 3 of the youngest maids," replies the woman.
"Alright, I'll take care of it. You guys just follow me, for now, to get out from here," says Ben.
"You won't go anywhere," says a man from behind Ben.
Ben looks back and sees some people are standing at the room's entrance. They are the Dark Mages who kidnapped the kids & women. There are 15 of them here and they brought the noble kid & 3 maids with them.
"I've defeated 5 before, so there are 20 of you, not 16. Do you have other members who haven't shown up?" asks Ben.
"Hmph, why should we tell you?" asks a bald man.
"There's no one else," says a short man at the same time.
"Idiot, don't tell him that!" says a fat man while knocking the shorty's head.
"Good, so you all are here. It will make my job easier. Now, release them, and I won't make you suffer like your friends there," says Ben while pointing at the 2 fainted guards.
The Dark Mages look at their friends and curse those 2 together. They ignore Ben's threat and start to threaten him back using the noble kid.
"Oi Legal Mage, don't make any move or I will cut this kid's throat. You know that Dark Mages like us will really do it, unlike you," says a red-haired man who holds the noble kid, Elefsia.
"Hii! He-help me," says Elefsia who has blonde twirling hair with a panic expression.
"SHUT UP, OR I'LL KILL YOU NOW," shouts the red-haired man.
Elefsia closes her mouth & eyes while trembling scaredly. Ben looks at them and thinks of a way to release the 4 hostages. It has become very tricky because they've found him out. He has made a blunder by not taking them out first.
"Stay back," says Ben to the hostages behind him while he raises his hands like he gives up.
The hostages move back to the corner and the Dark Mages approach Ben. They are still putting their guards up as they get closer to Ben. Ben just stays still as the Dark Mages are getting closer to him slowly.
The Dark Mages finally surround Ben and grin because he doesn't do anything. Then they start to attack him using their bare hands & feet. None of them use magic to make it more satisfying for them.
*BAM BAM BAM*
Ben just stays silent and takes all the attacks with his body. He keeps getting hit, but his eyes are still firm, and keep looking at the 4 hostages that get held by the Dark Mages. None of the attacks can make him flinch or scream in pain and it's frustrating the Dark Mages.
"Damn, he tries to be tough. Let's see how long you can keep that act," says a blue-haired man who joins the attacks.
*BAM BAM BAM*
They keep hitting Ben from every angle, but he still doesn't fall. The hostages who look from behind are looking at the sight with horror expressions. They feel very bad for Ben because he takes all those attacks for them.
Seeing Bem still standing firmly after getting hit numerous times makes the Dark Mages very frustrated. They finally decide to use their magic to attack Ben now. All of them move back and prepare their magic to attack Ben.
"Now you won't be able to stand again," says the blue-haired man as he makes a yellow magic circle.
The Dark Mages shoot different types of magic at Ben. Ben just looks at it and he takes all the magic attacks without any defense. Luckily, some of the attacks are fire & light magic, so they don't affect him. The other attacks still affect him, but at least it reduces the damage that he gets.
*BOOM BOOM BOOM*
Big explosions happen on Ben's spot as the magic attacks hit him from every side. Smoke & dust are scattered because of it and cover Ben's location. No one can see Ben with the thick smoke & dust around him.
The Dark Mages grin because they're sure that Ben has been defeated. He has been injured by the previous attacks, so now he will surely fall. They let their guard down because of it, but it's a fatal mistake.
*BANG BANG BANG*
Some shots suddenly are heard from Ben's position. The Dark Mages see some flashes of yellow light come out of the smoke toward their group in the entrance. They look at the entrance and see their friends who hold the hostages are falling to the ground while holding their arms, legs, or stomaches that gush out blood.
"Wha-What happened?" asks a man who stands near the falling Dark Mages.
"They were shot, duh," says Ben who suddenly appears in front of the man in his light mode.
"WHA-" shouts the man before he gets punched to the ground by Ben. He defeated 5 enemies in a short time.
Ben grabs the 4 hostages and flashes to the other hostages at the back of this room. He puts the 4 down before turning around and looks at the shocked Dark Mages. The change of events happened very fast and they still can't process it.
"Yo-you, how can you-?" asks the blue-haired Dark Mage while pointing at Ben with his trembling hand.
"How can I survive your attacks? Simple, you are just too weak," says Ben.
The Dark Mages widen their eyes and think that Ben is just bluffing. But they can't refute it too because Ben is standing in front of them in good condition. They know they are not weak, so it only means that Ben is too strong for them.
The Dark Mages start to get nervous and it is what Ben wants. Of course, there's no way that he wasn't injured by their barrage of attacks. Even though he wears armor that reduced the damages, but he is still injured.
However, such injuries are usual for Mages like him who have fought many hard battles. If he goes down easily because of such attacks, then he won't get qualified as an S-Class Mage.
"Now, it's my turn, right?" asks Ben while grinning and dispelling his light mode.
He has many wounds on his body because of the Dark Mages' attacks, but he still looks strong. The Dark Mages steps back while putting their guards up for any attack from Ben. Ben raises his hands to the front and creates a dark purple magic circle in front of him.
"Sun Dragon's Gravity Increase: 10 times!"
The remaining 10 Dark Mages suddenly feel the heavy gravity and fall to the ground. They can't move their bodies and can only watch Ben preparing another attack.
"Too bad I can't use big attacks because it will make the cave collapse. But to defeat you guys, I don't need to use any big attack," says Ben while having a big light ball on his right hand.
"It's the end. Sun Dragon's Rays!" says Ben while raising his light ball.
*Pshew pshew pshew*
Many small light bullets shoot out from the big light ball. They fly to the Dark Mages and rain down on them. Ben keeps shooting until all the Dark Mages get defeated.
"Job's complete," says Ben as he dispells his Magic.
______________________________________________________________
You can read up to 30+ chapters ahead of this fanfic novel & the other one on my Pa_treon page if you are interested.
I've uploaded:
1. Chapter 151 of Fairy Tail: Sun Eater
2. Chapter 162 of Transcended as Lord Buggy
https://www.pa_treon.com/CaptMermain
(the web didn't use _underscore_, it's to avoid censorship)