Chapter 16

I could immediately tell that we were outnumbered 2:1 as soon as I focused my attention on the room. Not only were we outnumbered, but they also had ranged weapons while we were all close-range fighters. Five stood in the shadows at the back, loading either bows or crossbows, while five more moved closer with blades and spears raised. Emma launched herself forward into the ranks of the attacks while Acreon and I formed up to protect the two blacksmiths. We began to rush them toward cover so that we could break away and engage the enemy alongside Emma.

A volley of arrows launched our way, but with my enhanced senses, I was able to knock them out of the air before they could do any lethal damage. Acreon was able to knock one or two down now that he knew they were coming. As soon as we moved the two behind some rocks that blocked the archer's line of sight, I rushed forward, moving past the tangle of enemies around Emma to reach the archers with Instantmove. My body flashed and appeared behind the knot of enemies right into the rank of unprepared archers. I quickly enhanced my spear with my magical aura before ripping into the archers.

I managed to take down three of the archers before they had time to react, my spear punching through heads and necks with very little trouble. Thanks to Thought Acceleration, I was able to dodge a point-blank arrow to the chest. I bend backward like Neo in the matrix to dodge the arrow before slashing forward and disemboweling the offending archer. I suddenly had to jump back as a flash of light caught my attention. The spot I had just been standing was suddenly engulfed in a small inferno courtesy of one of the two remaining archers.

They tossed off their hood to reveal a human woman with crazed eyes. Her outstretched hand still glowed with the power of the magic that she had just shot at me. She gave me an unsettling grin before tossing her bow aside and pulling twin shortswords from her waist. Her movements were fast enough that I figured she had to be a level two, which wasn't ideal, to say the least. I didn't think I would lose to her thanks to all my abilities, but I would most likely have to reveal much more than I wanted to.

She rushed forward, staying low as I blasted down at her with my enhanced spear. She dodged every blow by a hair, grimacing as she watched my attacks rip through the floor below her. It was clear to both of us that I only needed to land a few key hits for her to go down. However, by this point, she was practically below me and brought her twin swords up, slashing at my stomach. It was now my turn to dodge and duck beneath her flurry of blows. While I was dodging, I noticed that she angled her strikes in such a way that forced me to leave the remaining archer in my blind spot.

I played along, making sure to keep the last archer in my blind spot, all while I remained well aware of their every move thanks to Magic Sense. I watched as they began to start the chant for a magic spell. 'Shit, that means they are probably a level two as well,' I thought, entirely disregarding them as being a level three since they would just walk over and try to blitz me with their far superior stats if that was the case. I continued to duck and dodge every blow while occasionally countering with a thrust of my spear.

The woman with twin swords was defiantly faster than me, but I was able to keep up thanks to my enhanced thought process and Magic Sense. Ever since we started our battle, I had purposely kept from enhancing myself with my lightning so that I could catch her off guard in a key moment. That moment came as soon as the other archer was done with their chant, unleashing a raging ball of energy toward me. I saw a smile bloom on my opponent's face since the magic was on my back, she ducked low to use me as a shield from the blast, but that was when I stuck at full speed.

Her eyes only had time to widen as I cloaked my entire body in lightning like the Raikage from Naruto. My body blurred forward faster than the woman was expecting, allowing me to plunge my spear deep into her belly and chest in quick succession. I then moved behind her and sent her flying into her ally's spell with a powerful kick. She screamed as the ball of energy collided with her, then engulfed her entire body. It seemed to be some sort of sticky, acidic flame. Once it covered the woman with the twin swords, she just kept screaming and screaming as her body burned and melted away.

I made sure to get the last hit on her, though, plunging my spear through the back of her head. I didn't do it out of mercy, or anything, I just wanted the last blow in case that affected my Exelia gain in any way. With the crazy girl gone and the last archer reeling from shock and fatigue, I spared my allies some of my attention. Emma had torn through the ranks of frontline fighters but was stuck clashing with what seemed to be a peak level two. Acreon stood battling a man with a mace and shield, one arm hanging limply at his side.

I turned my full attention back to my opponent as he recovered and roared in rage as he charged me with a club he pulled from his back. He swung with his full power behind the strike, shattering the stone under our feet, causing the shard to shoot toward me. I growled as I used Instantmove to get behind him and plunged my spear through his back, cleanly impaling one of his lungs. He twitched and gasped like a dying animal as I prepared to finish him, but like an animal, he got some sort of feral strength at the end.

He tossed his club back at me, which impacted my chest, breaking a few ribs. I grunted as I was forced into the wall by the impact. However, I subtly reached forward and used Heal on myself as everyone paused for a moment, watching the man with a clear hole in his left side run and grab his crossbow. By the time he grabbed his weapon, I was healed enough to push through the pain and rush toward him. I wreathed my spear in electricity and aura, and I tensed my arm and threw the weapon at the man.

However, he had just enough time to pull the trigger of the crossbow before my spear blew a hole through his chest and embedded itself deeply into the wall behind him. I watched almost in slow motion as the arrow stretched toward Logan and Hoghath. The man had moved just enough to get a sliver of Hoghath's body in his line of sight, and the arrow flew true. There was just enough exposed skin for it to tear through Hoghath's throat at an angle, ripping a sizeable chunk out of it.

The dwarf's eyes went wide as he tried to stem the material spray of blood from his neck. Emma and Acreon took this moment of stillness to finish their opponents while I sprinted forward at full speed to reach Hoghath right as he fell to his knees. He would have faceplanted, but Logan reached out and supported the dwarf with quite a bit of difficulty. I wasted no time and slid the last distance, ignoring the pain in my knees as I reached one hand over the dwarf's shredded neck. Dark blood oozed from between his fingers as I made up a chant on the spot.

"O' great harbinger of the four great, grant me your protection. Heal." I said, making up the chant so that none of them would know I could cast healing magic without a chant.

I was willing to save Hoghath's life, but I wouldn't expose more of my abilities than I need to. The healing spell quickly formed and healed a decent amount of the damage, but he was still in critical condition. Emma quickly wrapped his neck in bandages after pouring a potion, half on his neck and half into his mouth. We quickly headed the Dwarf on our shoulders and ran toward the entrance of the dungeon. Luckily we encountered a group pretty quickly who turned out to be altruistic.

They immediately aided our group in reaching the surface as fast as possible. We encountered one other group, which stepped aside and let us rush past. We sprinted all the way up to the first floor of the dungeon and back into Babel. Since Babel was the home of the dungeon, there were many healing shops on the first floor, some that even opened exclusively at night. We quickly rushed Hoghath into one of these shops and let the attendants quickly get to work on him.

The rest of us crashed down onto any chairs in the shop or even just the floor to catch our breath. Even as a level one, a run through the dungeon was absolutely exhausting. Eventually, Logan stood and spoke to the rest of us. His face was pale and covered in sweat, but he sounded firm as he spoke.

"You guys have done your job despite the unforeseen circumstances of the mission, and I will make sure you are compensated accordingly." He cast a remorseful look over at the room they were working on Hoghath in before continuing, "I must go report to the goddess, but you all can leave, we will meet at noon back in the same shop we met at today,"

We nodded tiredly as we all filed out of the shop and headed back to our respective homes, all covered in dried blood. I quickly used Clean Wash after everyone else was out of sight before casting a Heal on myself and heading up to the apartment.

-

Elsewhere in the city, a demi-human dragged herself into a large mansion, only to be greeted by the sight of her god standing in the common room, gazing out the window thoughtfully despite the late hour.

"Lord Hermes," Emma said, falling to one knee, "I believe I found someone who would interest you greatly,"

-

In an entirely different sector of the city, a similar scene was playing out as Acreon spoke o his goddess.

"Lady Freya, I found someone who might interest you during my mission," he said, his voice clearly conveying how completely enthralled he was by the goddess and her beauty.