But then the first sword warrior burst into action with such insane speed and agility, that I instantly knew I was in trouble.
Multiple large booms of sound barrier breaking reached my ears as the being moved atleast over Mach 30-35. My wings were unleashed instantly, granting me a timely boost of speed and strength, just as the sword warrior came at me with a swing to the neck.
My own spear leapt to action faster than I've ever reacted before, the spear's blade deflecting the sword to the side even as I stepped backwards to maintain my distance.
I remembered one of the most basic tactics for this situations. When fighting a sword with a spear, one just needed to keep their distance and take advantage of the longer reach of the spear, and any sword user would be a goner.
The metallic warrior was no doubt superior to me physically, and Hephaestus said not to use my powers, so it came down to spear fighting.
That was fine, I was quite a good spear-wielder if I do say so myself.
The warrior tried it's best to close the 7-8 feets gap between us, doing feints to enter past my guard, but the spear was a bad match up for it.
Especially a Lvl 4 Spear-Master. My footwork was impeccable as I kept our distance. Any feints that I fell for, I made sure to cover up my guard quickly and push back to keep it from coming closer. Even being more faster and stronger than me, the warrior simply couldn't close the gap.
And then I started attacking, performing multiple simultaneous thrusts to keep the metallic swordsman at bay without leaving any kinks in my defense.
I feinted a thrust to it's face before changing my path in a smooth move and slashing at its chest. The warrior shifted to a side, but instead of counterattacking me, it actually clutched my spear at the side of his stomach, before trapping it with his own sword. It then tugged my spear towards itself, trying to unbalance me.
Instead of trying to fight it's clearly superior strength, I gave into his tug and voluntarily closed the gap between us, driving a vicious kick to its chest.
The warrior did not move. Not one inch.
'...It was a bait. Fuck.'
And then started one of the most fastest exchange of strikes that I've ever participated in.
I retrieved my spear just in time to meet its counterattacks. Its blade continuously slashed at me, never letting off, even as I did my best to dodge and deflect, and repay in kind. We exchanged multiple moves in just a millisecond.
But I never managed to create the earlier gap between us again. There were only 5 feets between us, not enough for me to perfectly balance between attack and defence. It was in my guard, and I was now being pushed back.
I barely dodged a slash to my shoulder (I've learned not to fully block someone stronger than me), before I counterattacked with my own spear thrust that the warrior smoothly rolled out off.
The other warriors were approaching much more slowly, content to give me time which I was truly grateful for.
Because I knew with full certainty, that I would definitely not last long if they ganged up on me. Not without the help of my skills atleast.
Even though I wanted to push back, there was simply nothing I could do due to how strong and fast the mechanical swordsman was. I was barely hanging on in a stalemate due to my upper wings acting as 2nd pair of hands that tried to parry any strikes too fast for me to dodge or deflect completely.
I had a longer reach with my spear but my body was a 9 year olds, while my opponent was a 6 foot giant. I was already at a disadvantage due to not being able to target his head everytime. And now, without proper distance between us to make use of my long spear, I was experiencing this disadvantage in height quiet thoroughly.
So I tried something different.
When the next attack came in the form of an upper head swing, instead of ducking, i blocked the attack. Naturally, I experienced a massive force bearing down on me, but using that momentum, I started quickly backstepping, trying to retreat so I can take to the air.
But the warrior followed, too fast for me to keep running without getting slashed in my back. And I was forced to re-engage.
The swordsman arrived in front of me in a burst of speed it didn't show before, and attacked with a quick swing at my neck.
My spear leapt to deflect the blade so I can follow up with a counter, but it was a feint, and in my surprise at it's speed, I missed it. The sword went from my neck to my stomach so fast that I couldn't do more than put my wings between us.
The sword was blunt thankfully, but the force behind them was strong enough that I felt my wings twist inwards with a crunch.
Pain burst in me and I instantly retreated, staggering backwards.
I focused myself as best I could, but thankfully my opponent did not follow. Instead, it's allies started getting active.
I jerked to the side, letting an arrow fly past me, and with a flap of wings, took off to the air, barely dodging a charged attack by the spear warrior. My wings still hurt a little, but there wasn't a problem in my flying atleast.
'Yeah, I've had enough of this. These simply aren't the type of opponents that I could hold back against. Plus, the quest was just to defeat the opponents. Nowhere did it say that I can't use my skills.'
I touched the well of power inside of me, letting electricity dance on the tip of my spear. I had to marvel at my new control over my powers though, cause it really was a huge difference.
I powered a huge bolt of electric discharge and sent it hurling down the ground. My aim was true, and it struck the annoyingly overpowered swordsman directly in the chest, but I was shocked to note that it only gave a single twitch before becoming normal.
A single moment where it stopped moving before going back to completely normal. What the fuck.
'Did Hephaestus overestimate me? Or did he set me up to fail, giving me a tier 6 opponent?'
My mind was leaning towards the latter. Perhaps to teach me some stupid lesson or something. But I couldn't lose. 2 to all combat skills was too much for me to pass.
So I came up to a simple conclusion. Avoid the overpowered sword warrior, who seemed content to stand down and let his brethren deal with me.
But I had to quickly flap away as multiple arrows flew towards me, courtesy of the Archer who was becoming increasingly annoying.
In just a fractional second, I quickly devised a plan. The sword warrior was mostly likely their leader and the most powerful out of all. If my electricity stuns him for less than a millisecond, how long will it stun one of these guys?
I decided to find out.
So with electricity coursing through my spear, I arrived on top of the spear warrior and jumped down, swinging my spear with all my might while keeping the being between me and the archer.
The bolts of electric discharge leapt at the warrior even as it deflected my spear swing, turning it away with it's own spear before readying to counterattack.
But my electricity shocked it for just a moment, giving me enough time to thrust my spear again, hitting its head directly. My spear lodged itself in its eyes, cutting into it's metallic armour like butter, before I sent a huge discharge of electricity from my spear directly into its skull, which popped open like a watermelon.
'Finally!'
I was quite satisfied with the knowledge that I still had a chance to win this challenge.
'So an ordinary warrior gets stunned for atleast a full millisecond.' My mind absently mused. 'Good to know.'
I slipped past another swing from behind, an axe this time, before retreating back into the air again.
Instincts screamed at me as an arrow suddenly came out of nowhere, but I'd just taken to air and couldn't respond properly, resulting in a hit against one of my four wings. The blunt arrow wasn't able to pierce my wing but the force was almost as high as a strike from that swordsman, making me snarl in irritation at the pain it caused.
Though I endured, of course. I could only imagine how painful it would be without my Resistance.
I took a quick glance at my strongest opponent, who was just standing in its place, a sword in its grasp, not moving an inch even at the sight of it's dead ally.
With a flap of wings I shifted in the air, striking down another arrow heading towards my chest.
We were under clear sky so I should be able to summon a divine Lightning bolt if I was given a couple of seconds. The Archer wasn't willing to give those to me though. Plus, Hephaestus said to keep my power usage to minimum.
Still, the Archer was becoming a nuisance.
So first I needed to deal with it.
Dodging the next stream of arrows, I made my way towards the lone archer standing in the corner. The axe warrior started to follow, but with my wind and wings boosting me, I was faster in air than on ground. And I quickly left it behind.
Dodging another hail of arrows, I leapt down at the Archer, intending to use the same strategy as before.
Instead of engaging me though, the Archer suddenly turned around and started running.
And it was fast.
"Oh, didn't I tell you, lad? They are one collective mind. They learn from each others mistakes." Hephaestus laughed down at me, but the amusement in them was fake.
Even in the middle of a fight, I could sense that. The god was surprised. From what though, I didn't know.
And I didn't have the time to either, as the axe warrior was already in range, too close for me to take off into the air.
So I swung my spear with one hand, launching multiple electric discharges alongside it again. With my other hand, I formed the demonic barrier.
The warrior tried to dodge the discharged bolt this time, indeed learning from their mistakes.
But it made no difference, the electricity was too fast for it to dodge from close range. It halted for just a tiny millisecond, and my spear lodged itself into its head like hot knife in butter, even as I raised my demonic barrier to block the arrows heading my way.
Again, I sent a huge flow of electricity through the spear, and the divine weapon enhanced my electricity further to make the warrior's head explode.
I looked up just in time to see the swordman suddenly moving again. It picked up the fallen spear of its ally and in a single motion, launched it at me.
The sword and spear combo leapt to cut me but I was already on the retreat, absently blocking a stream of arrows with my demonic barrier.
With a flap of my wings, I too to the air before heading towards the Archer in a burst of speed.
I didn't dodge his arrows this time, letting my demonic barrier block them, though it did start cracking under the onslaught.
The Archer tried to aim past the barrier, but my spear to struck down any such attempts with precise hits.
Just as I reached it, it once again turned around to run but I had no intention of getting down on the ground this time
I let my barrier dissipate and formed holy spears, launching them with such speed and accuracy that the Archer was the one dodging projectiles this time.
Ever since I got another set of wings, I was able to form two spears of light at the same time, and it was enough to pin down the Archer.
Holy spears were pure energy projectiles that could melt down a dark creature easily. Or any other living creature for that matter, even if they weren't dark, though to a lesser extent.
But they weren't that effective against these metallic warrior, and I knew my Holy spears won't do more than stall the Archer.
But that was exactly what I wanted. The spears gave me enough time to close the distance and launch a web of electricity at it.
Again, it stopped just for a fraction of a second, and my spear cut into its neck, slicing through the strong metal like paper.
The Archer's decapitated head fell upon the ground with a ringing thud.
Smiling, I whirled my spear with a satisfied hum.