Hunter grunted as he was sent stumbling back as he blocked Bruno's sword with his shield, wood chips sprayed through the air and Hunter tried to retaliate with a blind swing of his sword but Bruno expertly deflected the blade with his shield before pressing the attack with a sharp stab.
Hunter barely managed to avoid the brutal attack as he stepped to the side but he wasn't quick enough to dodge Bruno as he charged forward with his shield lowered. Hunter was swept up off his feet and bashed into the cave wall.
Hunter heard the rush of air leave his lungs before his head crashed into the wall and everything went white.
Freya was frozen in place as she watched Hunter flash with a bright light before he vanished after being thrown into the wall.
"W-what happened to Hunter?" Luci whispered as her eyes went wide with fear and shock.
"Oh don't worry about him love, he just had to take a little nap so he was taken out of the Domain. You'll be seeing him soon anyways." Burno said with his deep voice as he turned to face them.
Without a word Al and Alan shot forward from their spots both their mouths twisted into furious mask's of rage.
Bruno raised his shield as he shuffled back to his party as the twins sliced at him with their shortswords. Al went low as Alan went high, Freya had seen this same method take down Goblin Warrior they had faced only a few minutes ago with staggering efficiency.
But Bruno effortlessly used his shield to block Alan's sword pushing him back as he stabbed his sword into the ground to parry Al's blade. The twins tried to pull back but Bruno's booted foot lashed out and caught Al in the chest.
"Al!" Alan shouted with concern laced through his voice.
"Don't get distracted now!" Bruno teased as he smacked Alan with the flat sword across the face.
Alan stumbled back with a scream of pain as he dropped his sword and grabbed his face with both hands, "Argh my eye!!"
Freya and Luci gasped as Alan took away his hands to reveal his bloodshot eye as blood trickled down the side of his face from a gash along his temple.
Bruno grunted in annoyance, "Dammit I thought you were made of tougher stuff." He then tried to kick Alan but Al tackled his twin to the ground and out of the way as they tumbled to the side.
When they stopped Al sent an terrified look towards Freya and Luci, "Run!!"
Then the pommel of Bruno's sword whistled through the air and struck Al on the back of his head and his eye rolled up before he collapsed on top of Alan and they both vanished in a flash of white light.
Bruno then turned to face Freya and Luci with a bloodthirsty smile on his face, "Wait a minute Bruno, the redheads mine."
"Tsk, fine." Bruno stepped back as Penelope stepped forward holding her staff and lowered its crystalline tip at Freya and Luci, "From one mage to another here's a little demonstration of what real magic can do."
Penelope waved her staff through the air leaving behind five orbs that hovered in the air pulsing with energy.
Freya felt her fear return in full first as she stared down the five mana bolts ready to cut her and Luci down like wheat, 'Is she casting magic on her own?! No it has to be the staff, but I can barely cast five times in a row before I feel like I'm going to pass out!'
Seeing the fear completely take over Freya's mind Penelope smiled, "I hope you're able to learn from this, because next time there won't be any fail safe to save your worthless peasant lives!"
Penelope then slashed through the air with her staff sending the channeled mana bolts flying forward moving faster than Freya could track with her eyes.
Luci screamed as she stood frozen in place but Freya raised her staff as she pushed her mana into her staff readying a spell and refusing to go out without fighting.
But before the spell could complete Freya felt something shoot past her ear as it whistled through the air and collided with the mana bolt in the middle of the cluster causing it to explode into countless blue shards.
Freya could feel the wave of mana wash through the cave as the spell detonated and disrupted the other mana bolts causing a chain reaction as the remaining four exploded.
Wincing at the flash of bright light Freya looked back a second later to see Penelope standing with a confused look on her face, "W-what did you do!"
Before Freya could respond a ruined throwing knife clattered to the floor, the metal twisted and burnt from the force of the magical barrage.
"Well I guess practice does make perfect."
Freya spun around and stared as Fenrir calmly walked into the cave scratching his cheek, "Fenrir what are you- w-wait where's your shirt!"
Fenrir looked down at his bare chest which was covered in a mixture of dried black blood and freshly scabbed over wounds, "Oh, it kinda got torn to shreds, they even cut through the straps of my heartgard."
"F-Freya do you know him?" Luci asked as she stared at Fenrir.
Freya nodded, "Luci this is Fenrir, he was the only other person in my village to get into the Academy. Besides that I don't really know anything about him."
Luci looked back to Fenrir who flashed her a sharp smile, "We can talk about our personal grievances later, I'm much more interested in those assholes over there."
Fenrir pointed his knife past Freya and Luci at Cornelius who had frown plastered onto his face, "Oh great the rats have multiplied."
"Look I'm not that good at words, so can we just skip trading insults and get to the fighting? I've grown sick of killing goblins. Though you guys aren't much better." Fenrir shot back in a bored tone as his knife danced across his fingers.