"Fuck!.."
'I- Cant move.. MOVE!! MOVE!!!"
Eldi screams and urged his body to listen with his order, but it was useless, his body still won't move no matter what he does, its as if he was paralyzed and is stuck in that position.
'WHY!! WHY!!! WHY!!!!'
The mage's spell were almost done, the giant water ball ontop of his head is starting to boil and bubbles began to form constantly, that mage had collected and mixed the sewer water with his magic, thats why the water ball is painted with green.
"Don't blame me for this, but blame your own weakness, kukukuk.." The mage said as he smiled proudly.
He was about to launch the spell at Eldi, the water ball have changed shape into a sharp spike, its tip is directed towards Eldi's head, and there was no doubt that it will flew at an insane speed, enough to crush and destroy Eldi's body and perhaps his surrounding.
Then, something stopped the mage from shooting his final attack.
"Huh..?" He said while raising his eyebrow.
At that time, Eldi was once again covered with cold sweats and his heart raced like a galloping horse, but that moment where his head would be pierced by that massive water spike never came, instead he saw the mage staring at something behind him, his eyes weren't focusing on him at all, and for a split second, Eldi thought that he might saw some fear at that mage's eyes.
'W- what..' Eldi thought, confused.
Enough time has passed for him to be able to move again, although his body is still extremely heavy, Eldi managed to turn his head back and see what the mage was looking at.
But of course, due to how dark this place is, even if his eyes was already used to it, he still wasn't able to see much, but at the very least, Eldi was able to see a slight grayish color from the mysterious person behind him, and from the looks of it, it was the color of their hair.
Thump..
Thump...
Footsteps sound began to echo throughout the sewer, but not only that, there was also a sound of something being dragged on the floor, its scratching sound weren't as loud as the footstep, but because of this specific place, the sound was amplified by a lot so that Eldi and the mage were able to hear it.
'Who is that— Did someone found this place?' Eldi thought.
'That gray silhouette.. is it a woman?..'
"Ugh!.."
Eldi fell to the floor, his body is starting to respond again, he tried to stand up but couldn't, left with no choice he ultimately decided to crawl towards Marc, where his body was leaned against the wall not far from him.
"Marc! marc!"
At first there was no response, Eldi thought his close friend might have already died, but after removing his hand armor and placing his finger right at Marc's nose, he could feel a faint but warm breathing, that means Marc was somehow still alive, and the bleeding on his leg have also stopped, miraculously.
"Huff.. huff.. Thank god, you're still alive."
Eldi couldn't contain his happiness seeing that Marc is still alive, but if he doesn't do anything, he wouldn't be alive for long, for now Eldi need to somehow bring Marc to a safe place, or perhaps become his safe place and treat his injury.
"Who are you.." Said the mage, completely ignoring Eldi who crawled away from him.
The atmosphere was tense, and for a few moments, there was a brief silence between everyone, the mage couldn't take his eyes off of the mysterious intruder that came in here uninvited, he felt a pressure from something infront of him, and his survival instinct was on high alert after he realized that there was an intruder.
'The person that she dragged across the floor- Thats.. Jade– I see she defeated Jade, what a gruesome state hes in..'
'...But it's not like i can't defeat her, in the first place, Jade is weaker than me'
"Tch.. It seems like an annoying person has appeared"
Out of nowhere, the mage launched the spell that was meant for Eldi towards the intruder.
< ACID DRILL >
BOOM!
Eldi watched from the ground as the massive water spike flew above him, his head almost touched with the side of that acidic water spike.
Soon, the water spike exploded and it sends thousands of tiny splash all across the sewer, it was like an acid rain and everything began to melt gradually, even the brick wall and floor weren't an exception.
"SHIT!"
Eldi screamed as he tried to dodge every water drop that is falling ontop of him, he pushed Marc to the floor and shields him with his body, a few drop of water fell on his back and it quickly melts away his chestplate, but Eldi refused to move, and instead kept holding on for Marc's sake.
"Keukk.."
***
"Can i ask what is happening here?."
The mysterious figure asked, her voice sounded calm despite receiving a deadly attack head on, from a shining reflection of the water droplets, it was revealed that the mysterious figure is none other than Sylias.
"W- what!?.."
The mage was utterly shocked seeing how Sylias was able to leave unscathed after that attack, that attack from him was supposed to be a deadly spell that could even kill a 5-Star mage.
'Who is she.. i never heard or saw someone like her.. Not to mention a demihuman, are they usually this strong!?'
'S- shit.. lets think this calmly, there must be a mistake on my spell, i delayed it for too long and that must have obstructed the magic circle in someway..'
"I asked what is happening here." Sylias asked again, this time with a bit more threat in her voice.
"Keukeukeuk.. Alright, this is getting interesting.. Let me introduce myself properly, since i haven't done that yet— The name's Meritas, you?"
"I asked—" Sylias's eyes began to glow in bright red color.
"What is happening here."
She looks at Eldi on the side, her threatening glares made Eldi's body shivered and he finally wakes up after holding on with the pain of his skin melting from the acid that have gone through his armor.
Eldi realized that the acid rain have stopped so he moved away from Marc and turn his head towards Sylias.
He doesn't know why, but he can't seem to look at Sylias right at her eyes, its as if his body is rejecting it, no matter how hard he tries, his eyes just keep on moving away from her gaze, Eldi heard Sylias's question and thought that she might be here to help.
'This is a gamble, but please.. Please, oh god help us..'
"T- that person.. Is a criminal— He has done a lot of e- evil things.. We're here to catch him.. But he was too strong.."
STAB!
"AAAGGHHHH!!!"
Eldi's hand suddenly got pierced by a water spike that came out of the ground, and it made a large hole on his elbow, blood started pouring out of the hole and it turned the water spike red, soon the water spike retracted and changed into a normal water that falls to the ground.
'..i was planning to pierce his head.. But it seems i have miscalculate it..'
"Keukeukeuk.. That's fine.. it doesn't matter anyway, all of you are going to die— HE will soon arrive.."
"Who?" Sylias asked again.
"Our leader.. Aahhh, you might be wondering who he is.. Let me tell you, he's a monster, his strength is known throughout the kingdom, and soon.. He will wreak havoc in this town, for the future, when he will become a king"
"..."
Sylias was unfazed by Meritas's words, her mouth slightly frowned from Meritas's action and amusing behaviour, Meritas doesn't know it yet, but all this time, ever since they first met, Sylias have been hiding her right hand at her back, seemingly holding onto something that no one in here knows or expect.
"What's his name?"
Hearing Sylias's question, Meritas smiled points his index finger towards her.
"Mortem Eth."
Eldi's eyes opened as wide as it can, and his pupils shrinked to a very small size upon hearing the name, his body trembled.
'M- Mortem Eth!? The wanted warrior that is thought to be stronger than S-Rank adventurer and high-level knight?!' Eldi thought, shocked as to what Meritas just said.
'IF THAT'S TRUE.. THEN WE'RE FUCKED.. HE WAS KNOWN FOR HIS BRUTAL PERSONALITY— THAT ROOM WE ENTERED BEFORE.. THAT WAS THE WORK OF MORTEM!!'
"Scary right? I know, he is a guy that will do anything and doesn't have any morales whatsoever, he treats people that isn't his allies as if they're bugs, worthless and useless." Said Meritas.
"I wonder what will he do to all of you when he arrived here-
Sylias suddenly cut off Meritas mid sentence.
"I see so you're one of his subordinate too."
Then, she slowly moved her right hand that was on her back the whole time.
"Huh?"
Meritas couldn't understand what Sylias just said, that was when he realized about her right hand, he never paid attention to it because he never thought she wouldn't move her right hand this whole time, especially when he attacked her with Acid Drill.
"Is this him?."
Sylias threw something from her right hand and for a moment, it looks like a ball, but even a toddler could see it clearly that it was infact, not a ball, but rather, a severed human head, with the face of a bearded middle-age man that is bald, had an X scars on his forehead and tattoos around the eyes.