"We should clear out the entire floor of enemies for more experience," Brandon said as he held up the map. Edward nodded in approval and looked to Brandon, "Take the next left."
"Got it," Markus replied as he kept his gaze forward. Suddenly, the group heard a growl echo through the hallway in front of them. The group immediately went silent as every eye gazed forward. Markus slowly brought his weapon to his chest and widened his stance. Edward clutched his hands into fists and prepared to make his first strike while Leila took a deep breath as the skin underneath her throat glowed orange. Even Brandon slowly put his map away before pulling out his flintlock pistols.
A foot of bones stepped out of the darkness and the frozen skeletons of three wargs followed. A sense of dread washed over the party as they gazed upon their enemies. The three skeletons were tall and shaped like dogs. None of them wore armor, but the layer of frost covering their undead bodies was thick enough for that purpose, anyway.
As the warg in the center stepped forward, it gazed at Markus and growled.
︽
Frozen Skeleton Warg
Lvl 10
HP: 250 | DMG: 62 | DEF: 60
︾
︽
Frozen Skeleton Warg
Lvl 10
HP: 270 | DMG: 60 | DEF: 64
︾
︽
Frozen Skeleton Warg
Lvl 10
HP: 250 | DMG: 60 | DEF: 64
︾
"Shit!" Markus shouted as soon as he appraised his enemies. He took a step back, then turned to Edward, who had also noticed.
'They do too much damage. Markus won't be able to resist if he gets hit,' Edward thought to himself. He nodded to Markus, then charged toward the enemies. As the battle began in earnest, everybody in the party acted in different ways.
Edward chose to land at the halfway mark between the party and the wargs. As he landed, he shot his left fist forward. As Edward attacked, he attempted to copy some of the same martial prowess Leila was capable of. A torrent of flames erupted from his knuckles as if a blowtorch was located only an inch above his skin. The air around Edward was pushed away from his body, moving both his hair and his cloak in response.
Ikarus immediately flew forward with speed too fast for the skeletons to even notice. As he came close to the enemies, he let out a ray of hot flames targeting the middle skeleton— the same one Edward attacked. As both of the flaming attacks struck the center skeleton, the skeleton let out a horrifying screech before exploding.
︽
+5% XP
︾
With one skeleton down, the other two charged forward and attacked. One of the skeleton wargs managed to reach Edward and bite down on his arm. Edward did his best to dodge the attack, but he wasn't able to retract his arm in time. As the wolf bit down on his wrist, he felt a piercing sensation on his forearm. Luckily, though, Edward's armor was too strong for the wolf to pierce through. Thus, he took no damage.
As soon as Edward was attacked, Leila flew close to him and attacked the wolf. Similar to Ikarus's attack, a fierce ray of flames erupted from Leila's mouth and struck the wolf at Edward's feet. The attack landed and pushed the wolf away from Edward's arm, but it wasn't killed.
The second wolf moved next, this time attempting to bite at Edward's unprotected face. Edward managed to jump away in time, but he landed painfully at his side— unable to do anything.
Markus and Brandon moved next. Markus charged forward, but he moved too slow and failed to reach the wolf. Brandon attacked the first wolf with both of his flintlocks. One bullet penetrated the wolf's head while the other missed the wolf entirely.
As Brandon's first bullet struck, Edward saw a few chunks of bone fall to the ground. Yet even now, the wolf was not dead. Edward took this time to bring himself back to his feet. Ikarus flew at the second wolf— the one that attempted to bite Edward's face— and used his dragon's breath to push it away.
The second wolf flew through the air for a moment before eventually landing on the ground next to Markus. The first wolf— which had just been shot by one of Brandon's bullets, turned to Edward and snarled. It charged forward, but Edward was ready for it this time. He quickly jumped to the right and dodged the wolf's attack.
Leila quickly turned around and kicked at the wolf once more. A whip of flames emerged from her leg and stuck at the wolf, cutting it in two.
︽
+5% XP
︾
The last remaining wolf, once it realized it was just next to Markus, quickly attempted to scatter away. As it moved, Markus brought his greatsword onto the wolf's exposed spine. The greatsword struck the wolf's body with ease but hardly did any damage. After Mark's greatsword struck the wolf, Brandon took the time to reload his weapons. He managed to get one weapon reloaded in time, then immediately fired it.
He didn't appear to bother aiming, either, but instead relied on his outrageous luck to do the aiming for him. As expected, his bullet penetrated the wolf, yet it was still not dead. The wolf looked injured— so Edward knew the battle was going to be over soon.
He and Ikarus both rushed at the wolf and attacked it. Edward, by summoning another gout of flames at it. Ikarus chose to use his dragon's breath. Needless to say, both of the attacks combined made short work of the last remaining wolf.
︽
+5% XP
︾
"Holy shit, we won!" Markus huffed. He stabbed his greatsword into the ground and leaned on it to catch his breath. Edward looked at Markus and laughed.
"I think that battle was the best one I've had," Edward said. Leila hovered back onto the ground and looked at the rest of the group.
"I only have half of my MP left. Let's take a break," She said. Edward and the others gave a quick nod, then sat down near the wall.