The figures began to fully take form, standing in front of the team in groups.
They all wore different clothes, but were easily identifiable. One side had a few groups wearing tattered or damaged clothes fit for prisoners, along with other groups wearing more clean but basic clothes for peasants.
The other side though wore more protective and lavish clothing. Some wore decent chainmail and leather armor covering any weak points and exposed skin, while others wore silk clothes like Celestine's. Wearing more specialized armor like wrist guards and knee guards.
But all of them had one thing similar. Their bodies, from the legs to the arms were all wrapped in thick brown ropes and pieces of leather, dangling down and touching the floor.
The enemies carried an assortment of weapons, mostly short swords to hooks and bows.
Upon closer inspection, Colton realized. The ropes were sharp, with small shards of thorns placed on the ends of the ropes, acting like a more deadly whip. A few even had tied scythe-like blades at the end, only adding to the damage it could do.
But the main threat was standing in front of them. The enemies from the larger books.
Donning white aristocratic clothing, the eight figures stood in a line in front of the group. But their bodies weren't wrapped in ropes, only their hands and arms were bound, and more neatly than the others. They held more specialized coverings for more parts of their bodies.
Some of the eight had both hands wrapped in the sharp ropes, while others had one hand covered in ropes with the other holding a sword, or didn't even have any wrappings at all, simply holding onto two hooks or blades.
Calliope got up from the ground, with little delay she began analyzing the enemies that stood in front of them. They were surrounded, but with some planning, she hoped they could win.
With more groups than the first book world they had to fight, Calliope needed to make a plan fast, they needed to take out as much as possible before they get overwhelmed.
"We have little information on their attack types, for now, fight who you can, don't get yourself into compromising positions. Pick what group you can fight, our goal is to cull their numbers. I'll face the eight. As for the twins, move with me. Do you all understand?" Everyone nodded in response.
They wasted no time in picking who they should fight. Colton picked carefully with who he should fight.
The aristocrats and soldiers were smaller in number but stronger. While the poorer groups were weaker but more numerous.
In a few seconds, Colton made up his mind.
'Those ragged ones should be easier, like clearing prisoners in the dungeon.' After making up his mind, Colton set his sights on them.
He held onto his hammer, ready to swing and hit as many as he could.
After a few seconds, the groups suddenly rushed forward. The team ran at them full speed, raising their weapons, prepared to kill.
As Colton got closer, a dozen ropes suddenly flew forward. Some managed to hit him, the ropes cut different parts of his body. But he continued rushing forward.
He swung his hammer with great force, and a row of fighters that stood in front of him were sent to the ground and around the area. Colton could see the effects of his weapon on them as they began to mutter loudly.
Seeing their weakness to his weapon, Colton swung again. More enemies began surrounding him, but his attacks didn't stop.
But as he continued on, more and more ropes flew around him, cutting him further.
More began to fall with Colton relentlessly swinging his hammer around, moving faster and faster as more continued to swarm him.
Colton's teammates also fought violently in different parts of the pathway, struggling with the flurry of blades that flew around them while they fought.
With each swing, a row of enemies fell, but Colton couldn't see any change as more only joined in the fight as if they were infinite.
Soon, his body began to start breaking with blades and thorns rapidly striking his body. He swung with stronger force, trying to kill the enemies around him quickly with little to no time to protect himself.
Each row of fighters that were killed by his hammer, Colton was only injured further.
As time went on though, there were no longer any new fighters that joined the brawl, giving Colton a sense of relief and returning to swiftly killing the enemies. With lesser fighters, Colton managed to dodge the ropes and blades, taking out the final enemies of the group.
His body was covered in cuts. But he managed to survive.
'Just like prisoners…' Colton chuckled, remembering his time in fighting dungeon riots, always outnumbered but managed to beat them.
The other members of the team though were still stuck fighting their own battles, evenly matched or on the verge of losing with the different enemies they faced.
Quill found herself fighting against a group of peasants and prisoners like Colton, but was starting to get overwhelmed as she struggled to use her bow in the fight, instead using arrows on her quiver as makeshift knives and cutting through as many as possible with great speed.
Marcus and Celestine both found themselves fighting against soldiers and aristocrats. Both fought with more style and strategy compared to the peasants, using their weapons in precise strikes, trying to take both of them down.
Calliope managed to fight against the eight, somehow. The fighters were pushed into the defensive as she began attacking them without any mercy.
The twins stood behind them, healing her and the others from a distance, slowly draining their own energy.
Although injured, Colton needed to aid his fellow teammates. He quickly chose the next group to take out.
Colton immediately rushed to Quill's aid. As he got closer, he swung his hammer at the closest enemies. Their bodies flung around violently before vanishing into nothing. The rest quickly realized his presence, and their attention was quickly drawn away from Quill, heavily tired and mere moments from stopping and getting killed by the ropes and blades.
With each swing, more and more fell. He could see no difference between them and the prisoners he had to fight in the dungeons.
Thorns and blades struck Colton everywhere in his body, but he only continued. Fighting faster to kill as many as possible.
Quill joined the fight once more, taking out fighters closest to her with her bow.
The area was starting to fill with incoherent loud muttering, only growing louder with each swing of his hammer.
In little time, the large group of prisoners and peasants were reduced to nothing.
"Thanks, let's deal with the rest of em." The two rushed to the others, getting back to the fight immediately despite their wounds.
Marcus and Celestine were starting to get overwhelmed. But were quickly assisted by Colton and Quill, both mercilessly taking down the aristocrats and soldiers.
They were stronger and more skilled with their weapons, but against a warhammer in close quarters, it was all for nothing. Colton continued his assault, ignoring the wounds he sustained.
The fighters were now on the defensive, trying to fight from a range, but were slowly picked off by Quill.
Seeing the distraction, Celestine and Marcus regained their fitting and began fighting back.
The precise cuts of the enemy hit Colton harder than the ones earlier, but all he could focus on was winning the battle and assisting his allies.
Celestine slashed away at the enemies with elegance, while Marcus swung his flambeg around at the enemy, hoping to take out as many as possible with each swing of his blade.
But the groups were more durable, taking a longer time to fall against the team, dodging or absorbing the damage. Needing multiple hits to just take one down.
The fight took longer, and by the end of it, everyone was riddled with cuts and tired from trying to take out the groups of fighters.
Only one enemy remained, the eight guards from the book.
Calliope was starting to get more injured as the eight began moving forward and putting her on the defensive. The healers continued healing her from behind, with every injury she sustained, it only disappeared a second later.
"Dunno about those guys, you saw how long it took to kill these fancy suits and soldiers." Marcus doubted if they should help her, already wounded he saw the fight as a death trap at that point.
"You wanna just sit on the sidelines while our leader is about to get murdered?" Quill responded harshly, taking out her bow and aiming at one of the eight.
"Our orders are to kill all of them, we should follow em." Marcus sighed at her words, but quickly accepted what they were about to do.
Uncertain, the four ran towards her aid.
As they expected, the eight were far stronger than the rest. The thorns and blades on the ropes left deeper cuts and injuries onto the group.
Colton rushed at one of them, and hastily swung his hammer with all the strength he could muster up. The man was only thrown back, but kept his footing, to Colton's shock.
As he looked on, a rope suddenly coiled around him, and in less than a second, his body was thrown away from the battle.
His group continued fighting with everything they had, desperately trying to kill the eight.
After he got up, Colton rushed back to his team. The eight continued their attacks, showing no signs of stopping.
He began swinging his hammer at the closest enemies to him, each swing only pushed them back, as if they were resistant to it.
Even when his attacks barely did any damage to the eight, Colton continued on.
Marcus and Quill's attacks seemed to have no effect against them, causing minor damages.
Calliope and Celestine were the only ones causing major damage as they slashed away at the eight.
Colton at this point was heavily injured. In the middle of it all, he failed to notice a rope darting towards him, aimed straight for his head.
But before it reached him, Oliver suddenly rushed in front of him, raising his hand up to the rope with a transparent shield on it.
The two were thrown back as the shield absorbed the impact.
As they lay on the ground, the eight began to fall and die one by one, getting overwhelmed by the rest of the team.
In a few minutes, the battle came to a slow end. Colton and Oliver got up from the ground, seeing the battle finally end, and the last of the enemies vanishing.