Chapter 10
To walk away or to stay.
These were the only two choices present before William.
If you look at it logically, then the answer is pretty straightforward.
The time he spend with the Artemis familia was short, way too short for anything feeling of attachment to develop.
They didn't owe each other anything either.
And even if he did, the chances of them beating that monster were abysmally low.
Indeed there wasn't anything he could do with his current self.
He should just turn walk away.
There was even a familia waiting for him in the dungeon City.
But then William wondered why?
Just why? was his face controrted to such a degree?
As if to find the answer, William once again looked back.
He saw the annoying Half-Elf Lante heavily crashing into the dungeon wall and coughing blood.
And she wasn't the only one, as if playing with them, the monster was taking his time going after them one by one.
Seeing the devastating scene, the answer appeared in William's mind.
His stable emotions fluctuated.
"It seems...."
The corners of his mouth raised up to forming a self-deprecating smile as a voice with a little sarcasm escaped his mouth.
"Everyone I get to know ends up dying in a dungeon?"
Indeed there wasn't much to think about in the first place.
----
'Why? is this happening....', Goddess Artemis thought as tears formed at the corners of her eyes.
No one could understand how she felt.
Seeing her precious children getting one-sidedly beaten by that monster.
Even while having the power to save them, being unable to use it because of the divine oath.
It hurts.
Goddess Artemis tightly grabbed her chest.
It's painful.
It wasn't suppose to be like this.
Not like this.
"I....", Choked with emotions, words refused to come out of her mouth.
Her vision became blurry as large drops of tears started falling out of her eyes.
I'm sorry.
Her knees gave in making her drop on ground.
I'm so....so very powerless.
It was then.
"What are all of you doing?"
A loud and familiar voice resounded throughout the place.
'Orion?'
For a moment Goddess Artemis's trail of thoughts were disrupted as she instinctively followed the source of voice.
And she wasn't the only one, even the various members of the Artemis familia couldn't help but be attracted to the loud voice for a moment.
William slowly walked forward while being the centre of many gazes.
Fear, dread, despair.....there eyes conveyed various kinds of emotions.
"Take a hold of yourself, do not be swayed by it's momentum"
William continued in a loud voice.
"There is a reason why we are called adventurers."
His voice seemed strangely attractive.
"We face challenges!, we traverse the unknown!, we fight monsters stronger than us!...and at the end of it all we come out at top!"
A strong wave of adrenaline rushed towards their heads.
"Right now there is a strong for in front of us."
William pulled out his sword and pointed it straight at Antares.
"But do not be afraid, observe it!, it's huge body may seem powerful at first! but it is slow! it's movements are simple!"
"Use your mInd and see...."
William suddenly stopped and turned his face towards an adventurer with black hair.
"Jump."
It was a simple command.
The eyes of the black haired adventurer enlarged as she suddenly jumped away.
*Boom*
In the next moment a giant claw attacked the place she was just at making her broke out in cold sweat.
The others who saw the scene couldn't believe their eyes.
"Orion...", Goodness Artemis's eyes shone with a strong light.
"There is no need to be afraid."
His calm voice carried with it an unending sense of confidence.
"With me watching over you."
-
"You go left."
*Boom*
"Don't rush in to attack, wait for my signal."
"Jump right."
Standing at a distance William quickly moved his hands, precisely instructing the Artemis familia members, none of his commands turned out to be wrong as if he was an all seeing God, he predicted the monsters every move.
It was simply miraculous.
Looking at William's figure, Goddess Artemis felt overwhelmed, seeing him doing his very best to save her familia made her feel ashamed of herself for giving up so quickly.
Seeing her children fight so bravely under his lead, a sense of power rushed through her body as she took out the sword from her waist and quickly approached him.
Although she couldn't use her divine powers, her experience as the goddess of hunt will surely be of use!
With a determined look on her face she stood right beside William and asked.
"Orion tell me how I should help!"
William turned his face to look at her before furrowing his brows and saying.
"You....stay back."
His words poured cold water on Goddess Artemis's newly found momentum.
"W-why?"
She couldn't help but ask.
William instructed another adventurer to dodge Antares's attack before relying in a flat tone.
"Because you are useless."
"U-Useless...."
His blunt words came as a great shock to her.
"B-But I can use the bow!", Goddess Artemis protested in indignation, quickly pulling out the long bow from her back.
"You're weak attacks won't even leave a mark on his hard shell, the only thing they'll do is pull aggro towards us! and we don't want that! now if you understand then go back already!"
William finished in an almost shouting voice almost scaring Goddess Artemis before once again fully concentrating on the battle at front.
While Goddess Artemis was feeling terrible once again, William thought while looking at the battle.
'It's terrible.'
That was his conclusion after observing the fight.
Although he could predict Antares's next move using his experience and sharp eyes, the same couldn't be said about the Artemis familia members.
Even if they follow his commands, there is only so much time between his voice and Antares's next attack.
Although anyone has yet to die till now, most of them were injured, some of them even heavily injured.
The worst thing is that their attacks are dealing close to no damage to the monster.
Even the level 3 Rethusa could only leave some marks on its shell much less other level 2 and level 1 members.
But it's okay, that much was within his expectations.
That was why he ordered them to not attack and just focus on dodging.
In the first place he never planned to kill the monster using the adventurers.
Though there was still one major cause of concern which haunted William.
'The monster isn't using his full power.'
It was weird, seeing it's body shape, William could deduce that the monster wasn't utilising it's body fully.
As if it was holding back for some reason.
A normal monster would never hold back when fighting against a human.
It was unsettling.
But there wasn't anything he could do, if anything the monster holding back worked in his favour, if it did then he would have definitely lost a few members by now.
'Just a little more...', William thought as he told another adventurer to doge the next attack making Antares harshly hit the wall crating cracks on it.
He gazed at the massive pointed stoned stuck at the ceiling of the place.
The plan was very simple.
Use Antares's power against him and cause a cave in.
It was an extremely dangerous and risky move, there was no guarantee that they themselves wouldn't end up dead in a cave in, but at this moment it was the best idea he could think off.
At least they would have a chance at success during a cave in which was way better than a confirmed death at the monsters hands.
Such a terrible situation this was.
Of course there was another idea which came to William's mind before.
Turning his head William gave Goddess Artemis a look making her tilt her head in confusion.
That was to take a god's blessing and fight the monster himself.
But after watching the monster Antares's strength William came to one conclusion.
It was useless.
There was no point in him getting Goddess Artemis's blessing at this point.
Because even if he did, William will end up as the lowest level 1 adventurer.
Even so he could kill Antares using his skill.....
But.
There was a catch.
With a level 1 body, William will explode before even launching his attack.
What a terrible situation indeed.