My feet kept running as multiple footsteps rang out in the dark area of the fifth layer.
In a rush, not one considered to stop and look at their current surroundings, the only thing on their minds were the ticking time and the other parties vying for the top spot.
While they were busy competing, all I had in my mind was dread and the increasing preassure that I was feeling.
I looked at the floor, walls and the ceiling.
A faint layer of green mana was coating the whole place.
'....So they're here..'
I became quickly aware of the current situation once I saw that distinct layer of green mana.
This basically meant that those assassins sent by the Order had already activated the sealing item and is lying in wait in this layer.
Space Canceller. An item that the Order has created that they use to close off entry from a specific layer.
Once activated, none can enter the layer where the item is found.
This meant that we can't expect to be transported by Ulden because this layer technically doesn't exist in space.
Though the effects are tremendous, only those with sealing skills could properly use the orb.
So in turn, if either the user is taken out or the orb is deactivated, this layer will come back to normal.
Until that happens, all of us here are just prisoners waiting to be executed.
'...Taking down that man is going to be a huge problem but I have to make sure he's gone. The most efficient move to make is to take out the sealer first. I guess it's a blessing in disguise that the sealer is a non-combatant'
While I was lost in thought, I immediately stopped in place. I signalled to my party to stop running as we were in last place of this race.
My party took their position in a haste, assuming it was a monster attack.
The other two parties also responded in such when their pathfinders detected the same things that I did.
"Shivan?" Donovan said while brandishing his sword and shield.
"Princess?"
Amana's party also took their respective positions when they saw their pathfinder's tense expression.
"Ray, what is it?" Emily asked, her demeanor ready for anything.
Almost anything.
Pointing my gun upwards, I shot three consecutive bullets.
*Ting
As the sound of my gun resounded all over the area, a vague figure shrouded in smoke appared quite a distance away from the back.
In that time, a man leaped from the shadows as he attacked Brian's party.
As he impacted the ground, shockwaves pulsed from his heavy halberd.
Luckily Shivan was able to suck his party members into his shadow space in time.
Simultaneously, Amana shot out two arrows in a straight line. It was charged arrows and the charge time was significantly shorter this time.
However her two shots got easily deflected by two giant claws as an accompanying growl came from the darkness.
As mutiple attacks came from different fronts, all the delver students present became more vigilant and faced their unknown opponents.
However, fear and anxiousness was more prevalent in their faces.
A whistle then came from the figure resting his halberd on his shoulders. After a few seconds, the smoke shrouding the assailants' body vanished.
"Pretty sharp ain't you kid?" his voice was deep and hoarse.
Shivan trembled and Brian just observed the man with a scar on his forehead wave around his halberd.
"Hey did we even need your shroud skill Julie, these guys easily detected us like nothing" the red haired demonkin mocked.
"...Would you please shut up. It's not my fault that they have highly sensitive pathfinders"
The bunny beastman said as she brandished her large chakram. It had bullet marks from earlier.
Facing us, she was looking at each of our faces carefully. Her ears twitched slightly and then her eyes narrowed as she gave me, Shivan and Amana a fierce glare.
"...Tch! With them here, there's no point in hiding"
"...Who are you people?...delvers? No...that can't be right. You're hub starts at the upper 30th..." Sophia inquired, her hands pointed at the demonkin.
"...They're not delvers, look at their necklace" Amana pointed out.
Looking at the accessory hanging from their necks, everyone's eyes widened after realizing who they were dealing with.
The necklace had a symbol of an inverted triangle with fifteen short lines encircling it.
"..The Order..." Jun mumbled in disbelief.
"...The Order of Fifteen..., fucking bastards! What are you doing here!?" Donovan shouted, his shield rattled in agitation.
"Fiesty! I like it but we don't have time for introductions do we?"
"...Enough Malik, let's just finish them off. [Sound Room]"
As she said that, all sound in the area became mute. Nothing could be heard even our own breathing nor the footsteps of our enemies and allies.
"[Shroud]"
Disappearing once again from our sight, Emily immmediately tried to give out orders but she quickly realized that it wasn't possible.
The other teams also fell in dissarray as any form of communication became impossible.
In that moment, Brian could only do one thing and that was to engage the enemy right in front of him.
Smirking as he faced the kid in front of him, the demonkin suddenly light up in literal flames. His whole body was clad in flames of inferno.
In addition to that, his eyes became bloodshot as veins started to bulge from his body.
In a flash, he dashed straight to Brian's party. A huge cloud of dust formed as their fight started with his halberd swinging down into the ground.
Malik the Mad Berserker, he was my target in this situation and I was ready to fight him in this place right now but something was amiss.
'[Penetrating Gaze]!'
As my party made a circle around Emily who was providing a light source for everybody, I immediately shot two bullets in the right.
Seeing the streaks of light, my party turned towards the spot where my bullets had hit.
The assassin parried my bullets but in turn revealed herself.
Without waiting another second, Jun and Lily dashed towards the assassin.
Lily cladded her rapier in frosty ice as glacier from the ground crawled towards her enemy but in that instant her opponent dissapeared.
Turning her head left and right, Lily tried to find the assassin but it was too late as the assassin appeared behind Emily, her chakram aimed for her neck.
Inaudible screams rang out as our vanguards tried to reach out to Emily in time. Jun had even shortened the distance by using his movement skill.
Alice and I tried to intercept her strike but surprisingly Emily herself parried her attack.
*Clang
Sparks flew as her staff clashed with her chakram.
Half rotating her staff, a blade passed by the assassin's face by a hair's breath.
Glaring with focused eyes, Emily pointed her staff which had curiously transformed into a spear
In that turn of events, Emily instantly placed a barrier with her, Jun, Lily and the assassin inside.
"Emily! wait...I can speak!?" Alice realized the sounds had come back while she checked her throat.
As soon as the range of space was limited within Emily's barrier. Julie, the assassin's skill [Sound Room] became enclosed within that specific space.
This was the same move that Emily devised when they were originally ambushed by Julie in the novel.
Her quick wits instantly realized the mechanics of that skill. By analyzing the flow of mana when [Sound Room] was activated, Emily concluded that the enemie's skill is malleable and only fits within the container in which it is casted.
However she wasn't supposed to be in the barrier with Jun and Lily. Furthermore, she wasn't known to have a lance.
'...When the hell did she have a spear? That thing can transfrom?' I questioned inside my mind.
Although the assassin was contained, the situation was still really bad since Emily herself can't move when she's maintaining that large size of a barrier.
Turning her head in our direction, she gave pointed towards both parties who were struggling with their respective opponents.
We didn't even need to hear what she had to say to understand what she meant by that.
Giving us a brief resolute look, Emily once again concentrated in maintaining the barrier while Jun and Lily locked their eyes with Julie who was annoyed how everything was going badly as it could possibly be.
"....Ray, what's the plan?"
Alice asked, her weapon this time was her flintlock pistol. Considering that everyone was currently congested, using her rifle and specially her new weapon is going to harm her allies.
'...If I go by according to the novel, Brian won't be able to handle Malik, the difference between tier 3 and tier 4 is very significant. I doubt even if I help him, we might still lose'
In that case, sticking to my intial plan is the best possible course of action which was the same move Jun and the rest did in the story.
This gives us a chance in surviving this, my own goal in getting rid of the mad berseker comes later.
Specially now that some major change has occured, an absurd one at that.
'...How in the hell did that Druid get replaced by that girl!?' I inwardly complained.
Looking at Amana's party, they were currently running around as they try to avoid the ice crawling on the floor that could freeze them to death.
Screams and the clash of weapons could now be clearly heard. More specifically, a howl was loudly reverbating through the whole area.
Now that I have an inkling of who's using the orb, if I want to destroy or even get close to the user, I would need to get past by that monster first.
"...Alice don't hold back. I think we're going to need to bring out the big guns"
"...Are you serious? Remember this thing isn't complete yet unlike yours"
"There's no helping it. That wolf, we need to bring it down...no scratch that, we need to kite it's attention or we're all going to die here"
Listening to me spout out our imminent death, Alice paused, asking one last question.
"....Ray, what exactly is that thing?"
"A named monster and....a kin of [Fenrir]"