'Fuck, how long has it been? And there they are, still coming from the cracks' he thought with a tired expression while beheading another goblin with a merciless sweep.
Despite the Bloodrage—the spear—[Thirsty] enchantment sucking all the blood. He still seemed to be covered in green blood all over his body, except for his armor, of course.
For Dhruv, it felt like hours had gone by, but in reality, the battle had not even reached the ten-minute mark. Due to this constant attack from all sides, all four of them began to sense the pressure gradually mounting. Despite Dhruv's clever plan of leaving only a narrow passage for the monsters, they continued to slip through with surprising ease and attacked in large numbers.
During the initial five minutes, they had only been dealing with the goblins. But after that, a new threat emerged in the form of spider monsters joining the fray.
In Dhruv's opinion, these spiders were likely the monsters that had entered their world through the second prison's cracks, possibly originating from the warden's room.
After the involvement of the spider, the number of monsters doubled, and now we have to fight both of them at the same time. Which wasn't easy.
After the appearance of the spider, there was one thing that went in Dhruv's favor, at least. The spiders and goblins occasionally engaged in battles among themselves, giving the cohort a moment to catch their breath.
Additionally, the spiders posed minimal danger to the group, thanks to Dhruv's newfound [Poison Immunity] and Alaric's shadowskin, which protected him from the spider bites. Only Vexar remained vulnerable to the poison, which is why Dhruv had instructed him to keep his distance from these 'Venomfang' as much as possible.
Dhruv turned around and looked at Vexar, who, despite the warning, was gleefully chopping off the spider's legs and laughing. He was strangely in love with chopping the legs off the spider. And this is the fourth time he has caught him doing this.
"GODDAMMIT..!! VEXAR..! How many times have I told you not to fight with the spiders? They could poison you… And why in the world are you just cutting off their legs?" Dhruv shouted in frustration.
'Oh my god, this kid is going to give me a heart attack any moment. Weren't they supposed to be incapable of disobeying my orders? Then why does he always go against my order?' he thought in exasperation.
And he was correct. They couldn't act against his orders, but the key point here is that he has to explicitly give an order. If he merely suggested something, they could act according to their own will.
"Can't you learn from your older brothers about how to behave? And enough with yanking those spider legs, you sword addict… Now, go and kill some goblins with that sword of yours," Dhruv scolded Vexar.
Embarrassed, Vexar tossed the spider aside and glanced at his siblings. He could have sworn he saw veins bulging on Azarex's forehead. And Alaric..? Where is he?
'Wow, Azarex actually has veins now. And where's Alaric? He better not be slacking off during a battle. Well forget him and let's take out some more spiders now that master isn't watching.' He began heading towards the nearest spider when suddenly a chill ran down his spine. Trembling, he looked down at his feet, where a shadowy tentacle was lurking, waiting for him to take a step forward.
Reversing his path, Vexar redirected his focus towards a goblin. He dashed towards it with full force, his attention now entirely on the goblins.
'Yay! No spider-killing for me today. They are gross, after all.'
***
The battle was becoming increasingly chaotic with each passing moment. And at this point, the field, which was covered in grass earlier, was now only covered with the flesh of the fallen goblins and spiders. The influx of monsters from the entrance has also started to dwindle. At this point, pretty much all the goblins had been slain, leaving only a few spiders remaining.
After a few more minutes of effort, they were able to eliminate the remaining spiders as well.
The fight wasn't as difficult as he had expected:
'Well, the fight wasn't exactly easy, but it wasn't dangerously deadly either. They were pretty weak for the monster Coby had warned me about. But that could be an illusion because of my high stats and considering they were only Tier I monsters. Talking about tiers…'
"Alaric and Azarex, collect all the cores from the corpses and absorb them," Dhruv instructed the duo. Then he turned his attention to Vexar, who seemed to be the most injured among them, and added:
"...And you, come over here."
Vexar started moving towards him at a leisurely pace.
'Look at him, walking like a turtle. He's probably expecting some sort of punishment. I wish I could bring myself to punish him when he looks this adorable... And it's not like he did something wrong that posed a threat to someone else's life—except his own, of course.'
"Hurry up, Vexar. I'm not going to punish you or anything."
Upon hearing that there wouldn't be any punishment, Vexar's speed increased dramatically. A moment later, covered in blood, he stood in front of Dhruv.
Looking at the battered little demon, Dhruv sighed and used [Basic Heal] three times before handing him two small glass bottles, which were filled with crimson liquid.
"Drink one right now and keep the other for emergencies. Now go help your siblings," he instructed.
Vexar drank one of the health potions. After drinking the potion, he got into much better shape than just a minute ago. He then made his way towards his brothers. After joining them, he playfully waved the health potion in front of them for a brief moment, as if it were a prize, and then said something… Dhruv couldn't hear their conversation because of the distance.
After having some fun, the trio once again goes to collect the core.
Dhruv also used [Basic Heal] on himself to heal some of his minor injuries. With no immediate tasks at hand, he started heading towards the trio's location so he could help them extract some core.
While walking, Dhruv caught a glimpse of something white moving in his peripheral vision. Before he could identify it, a sharp dagger made of ice flew towards him. Reacting swiftly, he summoned a metal shield just in time to protect himself from the impending threat.
Remembering that the trio was exposed, Dhruv promptly lowered his shield to assess their condition.
"Phew! Well done, Alaric."
Just in time, Alaric had employed his skill to shield the trio from the onslaught of ice attacks. Azarex and Vexar were unharmed, but the same couldn't be said for Alaric, as he was facing the full force of the attack. And from the looks of it, it wasn't very pleasant.
'Shit!... What are these..? Dhruv thought, observing the monster who seemed to be made completely out of ice. There were also some crystals growing from their bodies here and there. They stood at the same height as goblins, and it was evident that they were proficient in using magic.
Assessing the situation, Dhruv swiftly started devising a plan for how to win the fight. And the first thing he noticed was their small numbers…
'Their numbers aren't as high as the goblins and spiders, so that's a positive. Also, considering their preference for long-range combat, their physical stats shouldn't be too impressive. Thus, engaging them in melee combat seems like the right approach.'
Spotting a brief opening in their attack, he cast a metal arrow to test the durability of their icy skin. However, before it could even reach the monster, an ice shield formed between them.
"Tsk! This is going to be one challenging fight..." Dhruv muttered under his breath.