The rhythmic sound of metal being hit, alongside the sound of strikes against a dummy made for a pleasant song on Hestia's ears. She watched Bell practice his dual wielding techniques on a dummy, sword on the right hand and knife on the left hand, while Annatar worked on something inside his forge, once he finished building the walls and roof the forge made for a powerful looking structure.
"Hey Bell." Hestia called out. "What has Annatar been working in his forge? I tried to ask him, but he didn't gave me an answer." She said with a pout.
"Huh? I don't know actually, but if he didn't tell you i don't think he will tell me."
"Well... He wouldn't get mad if i just took a peak right?" Hestia wondered out loud.
"I don't know, Annatar is a very reserved man, i don't think he will like that." Bell responded while cleaning the sweat from his forehead.
Hestia gave a sigh of annoyance. "I guess you are right."
"Whatever it is, i think it will be good, just look at the sword he gave me, i had never wielded a sword before this, but i can tell it's of high quality." Bell said in a reassuring tone.
Hestia had to admit the sword is good, Hestia is no weapon's expert, but her time with Haphaistos taught her a thing or 2 about how to tell a bad weapon from a good one.
XXX
Sauron took his new ring from it's cast and carefully inserted the crystal. In his research Sauron discovered that the magic within a crystal works similarly to electricity, in the sense of specific metals being better conductors to magic. Gold, he found out, being the best conductor.
This new ring he created with the crystal from the hellhound he killed. Sauron placed his new ring in his finger, but nothing happened, it was only when he removed his first ring that finally he felt his power increase. "Only one ring works at a time." Sauron wrote in black speech inside of a journey he has been keeping, he also noted how much his status grew.
Now came the true testing, the same way one can pass electricy from one vessel to another, it made sense that the magic within a crystal could be passed to a different crystal.
From a nearby table Sauron took a crystal and wrapped it with copper cables around each end of the crystal, Sauron took off his new ring and connected each cable to the ring before using his magic to heat the crystal, causing the energy inside of it to glow for a few moments until it completely turned off.
When Sauron put back his ring he felt his power increase more than it had previously, but not as much as he had imagined it would. "It is possible to transfer magic from one stone to another, but some magic is supposedly lost during the transfer, more testing necessary." He wrote in his journal.
Suddenly came a knock in his door. "Hi Annatar, i'm going to the dungeon later, are you coming with me?" Asked Bell from the other side.
Sauron placed a hand in his thigh, after the treatment offered by the Ganesha familia as apology for the monsters that escaped his thigh had completely healed, the wonders of magic.
His mind flashed to the question of who had sent that monster after him, and why had they done that, he had made no enemies, nor had he made many friends, it could have been random, but that was unlikely as the beast was clearly after him specifically, no attack had come ever since, the enemy was probably buying their time, a mistake that was going to be their undoing.
As Sauron entered the small church to get his armor he saw Hestia looking at him curiously as he dressed, and Sauron had quickly learned that Hestia's interest was never good.
"Soooo..." She began. "Have you finished that weapon that you have been making?" She questioned.
"No, my goddess, for the sixth time, i have not. But i will give you a hint this time, it's not a weapon."
"Than what is it?" Hestia whined.
"Something that will change the world." Said Sauron as he left for the dungeon alongside Bell.
XXX
The giant red ant came at Bell like a raging boar, it tried to bite the young adventurer who blocked it's pincers with the hestia knife and impaled it with his sword. Behind Bell another ant tried to strike him, only for Annatar to smash it's head open. 3 more ants came from the walls and began to encircle them, Annatar used his magic to keep them away.
"Any ideas Bell?" Annatar asked in a calm tone, it was very clear that Annatar was in complete control of the situation, yet he still asked for Bell's input.
"Hmmm, use your flame to strike the one on the middle, while it's distracted i take the one of the left and you the one on the right."
Annatar gave a short nod before launching a flame at the middle ant, together they charged at their respective ants, Bell tried to impale it with his sword, only for the ant to grab the blade with it's pincers, but it didn't expect Bell to have a side weapon, the young adventurer thrusted his knife at the side of it's head. Annatar quickly smashed the head of his ant before moving to the one in the middle who didn't manage to regain it's senses before the strikes from both sides turned it's head to mush.
Bell fell to the floor, heavy breaths escaping his mouth, 8 killer ants in total they had killed, an impressive feat for a duo of beginners.
Annatar began to collect the crystals, Bell had come to realize that Annatar didn't just collect the crystals, but he analyzes them before putting each in different pouches.
"Why don't you just put the crystals on the same pouch?" Bell asked.
"Its part of my project." Annatar responded. "And before you ask. i won't tell you what it is."
"It's fine, i'm not one to pry on other peoples secrets." Bell responded with a smile.
"Thank you, Bell." Annatar with a smile of his own. "I think we have enough, we should leave." Annatar suggested.
"I agree."
XXX
"WHAT FLOOR?!" Eina screamed.
Sauron nearly rolled his eyes, they had both killed monsters from below the tenth floor, the eighth wasn't that difficult. Sauron wanted to lie to his advisor, but Bell being the little saint that he is, was against the idea, saying her reaction would be fine, clearly it wasn't.
"It's your fault!" Eina exclaimed with an accusatory finger at the dark lord.
"Excuse me!"
"Ever since you came along you have been nothing, but trouble. I know for a fact that you influencing Bell in a bad manner."
The former Maia narrowed his eyes at the advisor. "You think of us as children, advisor Eina, you seek to guide in a safe manner, but the truth is that we do not require this draconian level of control, several of our status are already at E."
"HA. You think that i will fall for such a lie!" Eina said in dismissive tone.
Sauron remove his shirt before telling her. "Read the status on my back and you shall see for yourself."
"I will!" Eina exclaimed as she walked around the table to see Sauron's status.
Eina muttered some stuff to herself before turning to Bell. "Bell, let me see your aswell."
Bell wanted to protest, but after seeing their heated argument he decided not to.
After analizying both their statuses Eina was at a loss for words. She had a million questions to ask, but not the voice to ask them.
"Fine you do have the abilities to go down to that level." She finally conceived much to Sauron petty happiness. "But there is another problem, and that is armor."
XXX
The sheer size of the tower will never fail to impress Bell as he enters it alongside Miss Eina, Annatar was supposed to be with them, but he didn't want to wait for Miss Eina so he told Bell to meet him inside the tower.
Inside the massive building Miss Eina explained to Bell many things about the blacksmiths and how their shops are usually set within the tower. Only stopping once they saw Annatar inside one the shops talking with the receptionist.
"That is close to Agris isn't it?" Annatar asked the blushing receptionist who just nodded her head. "Have they posted a quest yet?"
"I-I don't think they did, but they will very soon, i think." She responded with a shy and smile.
"I see, oh, would you look at the time, i must get going Miss Lan, see you around." He said as he left the shop to meet Bell and Miss Eina outside.
"Who was that?" Bell asked.
"A new friend." Annatar responded before gesturing for the group to get moving.
Eina kept shooting a suspecting look to annatar.
"Is something a problem Eina?" Annatar asked once they got the elevador.
"I didn't think you would be the type to make smalltalk like that, you seem more... Reserved." Miss Eina stated.
"Of all the Blacksmiths in this area, hers were the ones with the better raw material, i wanted to know who is her provider." Annatar explained.
"So you used sweet words and good looks to get the information out of her, as i imagine most wouldn't happily give this information without some manipulation." Eina accused.
"Well firstly, i'm happy that you think i'm good looking Eina." Annatar said causing Miss Eina to blush. "Secondly, i did no such thing, i don't know how things are with other elves, but where i was born it's common courtesy to try and make smalltalk before asking something from a stranger." Annatar explained, Miss Eina wasn't convinced, but didn't say anything.
Once they finally arrived on the floor they were looking for Miss Eina began to explain where to find cheaper armor and Weapons, how certain adventurers will only buy from a specific Blacksmith and etc. Once she began to talk about the relation between Blacksmith and adventurers a nostalgic smile lit up on Annatar's face, no doubt he remembered his times learning how to forge things.
Once they finally entered a shop Bell and Annatar divided to look for something they liked, amidst his search Bell found the perfect armor for himself, a set of white light armor with a red line downwards on the left side. With his new armor Bell went to look for Annatar and Miss Eina, after some seconds of searching he found Annatar looking in a stand with a couples of maces while Miss Eina approaches him from behind.
"Are you getting yourself a mace next? Most adventurers prefer bladed weapons." Says Miss Eina.
"No, if i want a new weapon i will forge one myself." Annatar responded. "Just remembering times long past."
"You speak as if you are an old man."
"Well, those like me are forced to grow up much faster than other children." Annatar responded.
Bell and Miss Eina both remind themselves that Annatar is an orphan, surely growing up must have been hard for him.
Miss Eina released a heavy sigh before saying. "Look, Annatar, i'm sorry if i sound overwhelming at times, it's just that i've seen so many beginners go into that dungeon full of hope and with smiles on their faces only to never come back, surely you understand where i'm coming from right?"
Annatar turned to Miss Eina and placed his right hand on her shoulder. "I know, but you must understand that i'm not some overconfident baffoon, i have planned this, every single step i have taken was planned, and i have accounted for most possibilities, i have asked questions and took notes, i promise to listen more to your advise if you promise to trust me more."
"Okay, i promise to trust you more." Miss Eina said.
"And i promise to listen to you more." Annatar responded.
XXX
Sauron had no intention of keeping his promise to Eina.
The sky and the way it changes color as the sun sets will always be beautiful in Sauron's eyes, the inability to see the sun was one of the few things he disliked about Mordor, but it had to be done, otherwise his orcs couldn't work.
Footsteps suddenly take the dark lord from his thinking state as they approach, Judging by Bell's reaction he has heard it too, but unlike, Sauron who wanted to keep going home, Bell decided to investigate the alley where the steps where coming from only for a small girl clash against him.
Bell offers a helping hand as a man suddenly shouts from end of the alley. "YOU ARE NOT GETTING AWAY."
When the man appeared it was very clear he was after the little girl and Sauron knew Bell would intervene.
The dark lord gave a silent sigh before positioning himself between the little girl and the man with his hammer in hand. Bell stood by his side, but unlike the dark lord, Bell was clearly scared.
"What the? Out of my way you two!" The man bellowed.
"I'm afraid i can't do that, how about you kindly go away before you get yourself hurt." Sauron said mildly amused.
"Shut it, brat! If ya don't scram right now, I'll carve ya up along with the piece of shit behind ya!"
"There is 2 of us, and one of you. Are you dumb enough to take that chance?" Sauron asked with a mocking smile.
The man didn't say anything preferring to just unsheath his blade, a shoddy piece of work that made Sauron's skin crawl over how bad it was.
He tried to strike, only for Sauron to hit his hammer against the blade, shattering it to pieces.
The shattering of the blade surprised the man long enough for Sauron to strike at his right elbow releasing a terrific scream from his mouth alongside the crunchy noise from his elbow.
Sauron sighed with annoyance, how was the race of men dumb enough to act like that? Even if Sauron wasn't a maiar with thousands of years of experience, there were two people against this idiot, if the girl decided to not intervene, why take this chance?
The man stared at Sauron with fear for a few seconds before scrambling away like a coward.
Bell released a sigh of relief as the man ran away. "Wow Annatar, didn't know you where that good at fighting people, i know that we fight monsters in the dungeon all the time, but another person looks so different."
"That was nothing." Sauron said. And he wasn't even having false humidity.
"That wasn't nothing. I was shaking in my boots while you where all confident, then he attacked and you went all whoosh and his blade went crack-" Bell went on about how amazing Sauron was while the dark lord held a hand over his mouth to stop himself from laughing, as much as Sauron wouldn't admit it, but he truly missed his time with the other maia, but those times were long past and Sauron never felt regret over the choices he made. Drowned in his thoughts he didn't even realize the little girl had ran away aswell.
XXX
A yawn escaped the mouth of the dark lord as he walked alongside Bell in his brand new armor. Sauron favors heavy armor, but he didn't think Bell would do well in one of those, most curious was the light green vamprace strapped on his left arm that was in clear contrast with the rest of his armor, it was a gift from Eina he believed, not that he cared very much.
Bell walked almost instinctively unlike the dark lord who paid attention to all of his surroundings, from the corner of his eye Sauron saw a little girl stalking him, the same girl he saved the day before, Sauron decided to keep walking until she decided to do something, it didn't took long for her to approach.
"Mister, mister! Mister elf with the black hair." She called in a cutesy manner as she approached.
"Yes? How may i help you?" Sauron said as he knelt down to look directly in her eyes.
"Pleased to meetcha, mister!" She said in a over-the-top cute way that would have made Sauron suspicious even he wasn't the greatest liar that Middle-Earth had ever seen. "If you don't mind me asking, are you looking for a supporter?"
"A... what?" Bell asked.
"Don't you know what a supporter is, Bell?" Sauron asked.
"Or are confused why a supporter has come to sell her services to you, an adventurer?" The small girl interjected.
"No! Aren't you the one from yesterday?"
"Hmmm? No, Lilly has never met either of you." She boldly lied, Sauron was both impressed that she would lie so boldly, and dissapointed that Bell was being fooled by such a lousy disguise. "HOW ARE SOME MORTALS THIS DUMB?!" Sauron internally screamed.
"Soooooo... Do you want a supporter?"
"I would say yes." Sauron politely said, willing to take the bait. "What do you think, Bell?"
"I guess, sure?" Bell responded still confused as to whether she is the same girl from yesterday or not.
XXX
Things were going well so far, according to Lilly, the white haired was suspicious, but the dark haired one, clearly the leader, had fallen for her disguise, it was just a shame that the white haired one kept asking question that could potentially ruin her disguise if she said something contradictory as they walked to the dungeon, luckily a chance presented itself when he asked why didn't she join a group from her own familia.
"Well, you see, Lilly is small and not strong at all, so all the members of Lilly say "Lilly is slow, and will hold us back" so they don't take me with them. Lilly has asked them many times, but they never say yes." Just like she predicted, the boy felt bad for, yet the dark haired one showed no emotions, she needed to add more. "Lilly is so bad in a fight it's embarrassing. The air at home is so bad; Lilly has gone from cheap hotel to cheap hotel every night to sleep." Finally that got a reaction of pity out of the elf. "Lilly doesn't have the money for a hotel so please take her with you to the dungeon today." She plead.
"I imagined we had already agreed?" The elf interjected.
"Yeah, just one last thing, could you please remove your hood?" The boy asked.
"Sure." She responded before reavealing her animal ears, her ace in her sleeve, the ability to shapeshift.
That does the trick at convincing them both of her innocence, all according to the plan.
XXX
Lilly overall could not complain, she had gained a lot of money in the dungeon and had managed to steal the dagger from the white haired adventurer. Nothing could go wrong now.
"Hey." Said a voice behind her, the fury and contempt of whoever spoke clung to Lilly with the weight of a cart.
Lilly slowly turned around and found nobody there, she released a sigh of relief only for a hand to grab her shoulder from behind, startled she screamed and fell to the floor, looking down at her was the dark elf, Annatar, his fiery eyes burning with the heat of lava, threatening to burn her skin.
"You have courage, child. But not brains, it would seem." He slowly said.
Lilly tried to move, she tried to speak, but found herself unable to do anything as the elf reached for her sleeve and took back the knife, and just like that the hellish flames from his eyes turned into a warm and comforting bonfire in an instant.
The elf offered her a helping a hand, one that Lilly knew she should reject, yet she took it, prefering to trust the welcoming presence of the adventurer over her experiences.
"How did you know?" Lilly asked instictively.
"You overplayed your part, nobody speaks about themselves in such a way, i had suspicions before that of course." The elf said as he flashed her an amused smile.
"I will not judge you, Lilly." The elf said. "Being a supporter does come with many disadvantages, you only did what you did to survive, am i right?"
Lilly could only nod.
"And that has led you to develop many skills in the art of subterfuge, your ability to shapeshift is impressive. And I find myself in the need of people with such skills, so I offer you a deal. I offer you the security and the wealth that will come with being the supporter from my party, plus I will deal with the adventurers that are after you when they eventually strike, in exchange you will make use of your shapeshift ability in odd jobs when i tell you to." Annatar offered her his right hand. "Sounds like a good deal to you?"
Lilly eyed his hand for a seconds, she knew this was not an actual proposal, she was smart to know that if she refused he would just take her to the guards and who knows what might happen to her after, with a tight yet relaxed contradictory feeling in her heart she grabbed the elf's warm hand.
"Good. But remember." Annatar suddenly pulled Lilly towards himself bringing his own face close to her's. "I can be warmth, i can be light, i can be the fire that protects from the beasts of the night. Or i can be chaos and darkness, i can be the heat and flame that burns, i am death."
XXX
Gods.
Everyone always spoke about them with reverence, with respect, they treat the gods the same those of middle earth might treat the Maia and Valar, yet the ugly sight of his goddess waking up with a hangover made Sauron believe that these gods deserve many things, respect or reverence are not in that list.
After making sure that Bell could take care of the goddess alone, Sauron left for the dungeon alone where he was met with Lilly.
"Lilly didn't know gods could have hangovers." Lilly commented once Sauron finished explaining why Bell would not be joining them today.
"I didn't either, but there was no reason to believe they couldn't." Sauron said with a shrug as they walked towards the dungeon.
"Well, they are gods, most would think they can't get diseases or poisoned."
"HA. most people talk far too much about those gods like they are great and perfect beings, they are not, in fact from what i know most of them disgust me." Sauron spat.
"Lilly wouldn't say such things out in the open if she was you, there are many... Fanatics out there who wouldn't like to hear bad things said about their gods."
"No worries Lilly, i know when to keep my mouth shut, but i would be more worried about the gods themselves, from what i've heard they are quite petty."
Together they went floor after floor, burning and smashing monsters with relative ease before stopping stopping to collect the stones going to the next floor, rinse and repeat.
"Hey, Mr. Annatar, why do you analize the stones before putting them in your bag?" Lilly asked.
The dark lord placed a finger over his mouth with a devious smile. "That is a secret."
They continued further and further until Lilly was finally exhausted, forcing the dark lord to go back. on their way they were met by a group of five adventurers, Sauron just gave them a nod as he passed by, gaining a few nods and grunts in return, except for one man who suddenly grabbed Lilly by the arm.
"Hey, wait a minute, i know you from somewhere." The man stated.
Before Lilly could respond Sauron grabbed the man's face. "I have the power to control generate and control flames, unhand my supporter at once before i turn your head to ash." The dark lord commanded and the man obeyed.
Slowly the man retreated to his friends, all with their weapons unsheated, mostly blades that would be useless against the hard steel of his armor.
"Hey, hey, hey, now." One man from the group, a blond and tall man, suddenly interjected, placing hinself between his party and Sauron. "Let's not be hasty, Why are we even fighting? Hello there, my name is Jace."
"My name is Zigûr." Sauron said. "I too am not looking for a brawl, but i will not have my companion be harrassed."
"Hey man, it's cool, Zander over there just tends to not think before doing anything, sorry about that." He said before turning to his group. "All right you lot, this is enough, we got a whole night ahead of us." Zan opened his mouth to protest only to be shot down by his leader's gaze.
Sauron saw them go before relaxing, he placed a hand on Lilly's head. "I think it's time i fulfilled my end of our deal."
XXX
Bell was never a particularly curious person, people have secrets and they have the right to privacy, but over the past days Annatar had been leaving the church early to met with Lilly about something he wouldn't tell Bell about, they still met and went to the dungeon together sure, but Bell was still suspicious. Could they be... No! Annatar was much older than Lilly and he never expressed these types of desires, not even to Hestia and her huge... heart.
Bell shook his head, that theory didn't make much sense, today Lilly had a meeting with her familia and wouldn't be joining them and he still left early.
"Always so diligent." Bell thought to himself, while Annatar was out there, fighting dangerous monsters in the dungeon while Bell was here lying on the couch like a lazy bum. With a determined scream Bell got up from the couch with a single jump and began looking for the broom, if he wasn't going to the dungeon he could at least clean the church a bit, or at least he was going to, until he saw a familiar looking basket just sitting on the shelf...
Bell was always a fast runner, but he didn't know he could get to the benevolent mistress in less than a minute.
"I'm so sorry Syr." Bell said with a bow as he gave Syr her basket.
"Please raise your head, Bell." Said Syr while lifting Bell up by the shoulders.
With his face bright red and full of shame Bell gave Syr her basket.
"I'm glad you are fine, without any news for days i was starting to get so worried i was making mistakes at work."
"Yeah, sorry about that."
"... Do you know how much they teased me?" Syr said with a blushing smile.
Without knowing what else to do Bell picked up a menu, it simply didn't few right to just come in to give the basket and leave.
"Since when was this book here?" Bell wondered out loud when a big white book sitting in the corner caught his attention. Never before had he seen a book inside the benevolent mistress.
The book didn't felt as heavy as it should be.
"Oh. that book. I thing someone forgot it here." Said Syr from behind Bell.
Bell simply placed the book back on the table and made his order, Syr delivered the order to Ahnya and came back to speak with Bell, who couldn't help himself, but bring up Lilly and her supposed relationship with Annatar.
"Hmmmm, i don't know Bell, That doesn't sound like him, even amongst other elves he seems particularly... Picky, i don't thing he would just start a relationship with someone like that, much less someone that young."
"I know he wouldn't, but i'm just so bored i can't help, but let my mind wonder like that."
Syr took the white book a gave it to Bell. "Why don't you read a little to help yourself from the boredom."
"Didn't you say this book belongs to someone else who forgot it here?" Bell questioned.
"Just bring it here after you are done reading it." Syr said with a mischievous smile.
"Sure, what is the worst that could happen?"
XXX
When the dark lord got back home he saw Bell sleeping on a table with his face on a book, Sauron woke him with a few pokes in the cheek, he undressed his armor before grabbing something to eat until Hestia got home to update his status.
Surprise came when after updating Bell's status it turned out the boy had developed magic.
In his excitement the boy really wanted to test the spell right away, but Hestia told to just have patience and wait until tomorrow when he could test against monsters in the dungeon, of course Bell didn't listen and just ran away in the middle of the night, only returing hours later and with a miserable and ashamed expression that Sauron had no way to describe other that pathetic, but the best part came when Hestia decided to ask Bell about the book he was reading yesterday, as it turns out the book was a grimoire worth a lot of money.
"Does only Syr know you have the book?"
"Yes, Why?" Bell asked.
"Because that means we will only have to kill Syr." The dark lord responded.
"ANNATAR!" Screamed both Bell and Hestia.
"I was only joking." He wasn't. "Look, just give the book back to Syr, and if something happens just say you didn't read it, it's not like they can make you confess, and you can also argue that anyone could have read it during the time it was left at the bar."
"B-But..."
""But" nothing. Look Bell, i know you feel bad for reading the book, and that is commendable, but there's nothing that can be done now, especially because we don't if the next person who may claim to be the owner of the book will be saying the truth, you will only be getting yourself into trouble for no reason." The dark lord explained, Bell clearly wasn't convinced, but decided to go with it, and as thanks for not being an idiot and getting himself in trouble over nothing the dark lord decided to not tell Hestia that Bell had left in the middle of the night to test his new magic.
After a silent breakfest Bell and Sauron left for the dungeon, but not before passing on the benevolent mistress to give back the book, Bell looked like he wanted to admit the mistake he made, but decided to stay silent.
"Oh wait, hold on, i know a place that sells potions, we should probably go there. before going to the dungeon, that way we can go to lower floors." Bell suggested.
"Sure, i have to meet with Lilly to speak about something private anyway, so you can go get these potions while i deal with stuff." Sauron said, eliciting a strange expression from the boy for some reason before they parted ways.
People have been weary of Lilly for some time now, and for the past few days Sauron has been spending some time listening in and gathering information to know when they would strike in order to make his trap, first step was to give a sense of security by pretending to not know they were going to strike, Bell had to be kept in the dark for this plan to work as he would end up giving them away otherwise. Second step was to lure them in by having Lilly guide Annatar and Bell to a floor they shouldn't be strong enough to fight and take their stuff. Third step was to make her pursuers reveal themselves by having Lilly run into their trap. Fourth step was to strike from the shadows while they were distracted.
Lilly was never confident in this plan, in fact she was pretty sure she was going to die until from the end of the cave she just came from, a fire ball came and hit the man holding her by the hood.
Screams of surprise came from the adventurers surrounding her as they saw their comrade fall to the floor with a hole in his chest the size of Lilly's head.
From the end of the cave the heavy sound of Annatar's metal boots reverberated all around them with every step, worse yet where his evil fiery eyes coming closer and closer.
"I told you not to harass my companion." Annatar said as the light of the crystals revealed him partially, for the shadows of the cave seemed to refuse to leave his body.
"Huh. Come on, man, she is a thief and a supporter, there is ten of us and one of you. give. up." Said the leader of the bunch, a tall man with blond hair.
Annatar analyzed the group of men before him, for a moment Lilly believed the elf might abandon her. "All that i see is a group of dead men." Until his cold words left his mouth.
"All right then." The blond man responded with a shrug. "ATTACK."
In a rush they all lounged at Annatar, the first launched forward with thrust, Annatar ducked under before breaking the sword with an upwards arching strike, with his enemy stunned the dark pressed his left hand forward and a fire erupted from it, exploding his enemy's face. A second one approached, only to receive a shard of the broken blade to the throat. Three tried to surround Annatar only to stunned by a fiery explosion, he threw his hammer at one causing a loud cruching noise from the breaking of his opponents skull, and a blade shard at another, the third turned to run only to be shot with a fireball.
By now they were all scared except the leader who launched himself forward to face the elf. Together they danced with the loud sound of steel exploding across the cave everytime their weapons connected, but it was clear to all that the elf had the advantage despite being much weaker, it was only after someone tried to stab Annatar on the back that he decided the fight was done. Dodging out of the way and tripping the backstabber forward into his leader's blade, before turning around to the ones paralyzed by fear and rushing at them. Two perished by a single strike while the others finally gained their footing and tried their move, but none could even touch elf as he toyed with them, it was only after the leader rid himself from the corpse of his companion that the dark elf attacked his opponents with a hammer strike in one and a fire punch on the other, leaving only the leader.
"I guess... there is no way for me to talk my way out of this?" The leader asked with a fearful smile.
Annatar slowly approached him. "Yes. One." He said before grabbing the man's head, a loud screech left the man's throat as both his eyes and Annatar's ring shinned a bright purple that covered the cave alongside, once the lights died down Annatar dropped him on the floor. "Go, return to your familia and tell them that Lilliluka Erde is dead." He ordered and the man obeyed.
Lilly laid there stunned, such carnage, such violence, he was clearly the weakest there, yet his experience proved overwhelming. How much experience did this elf possess?Where did he acquire such experience?
"Come on Lilly." He called out to her. "It won't take long before Bell catches up to us, just pile up the bodies so that i can burn them." He said as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
Lilly liked to think she knew much, that her time as a supporter had taught most of what there was to know about adventurers and people in general, but this elf had proven her wrong, just what had she got herself in to?