Chapter 7: Monster Parade!
I took a moment to make sure all 4 of my goblins were dead before I turned to check on Bell and his single opponent. Bell was currently slicing the poor monster into mincemeat; blood ran from dozens of wounds that covered various parts of the goblins body.
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Its movements were sluggish and weak from the pain and blood loss, and it was obviously on its last leg. Bell finished the miserable looking creature not long after. Finished with his opponent Bell looked towards me and was about to say something when a high-pitched scream echoed down the passageway, its reverberance tangible as the sound bounced between the walls.
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I was rather nonplussed by the scream, this is a highly fatal dungeon after all, but Bell appeared to be anything but indifferent as, before the echos could even fade from hearing, he was bolting in the direction of the sound.
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I watched passively for a second as Bell sprinted away, hero complex in full view, before I sighed heavily and debated just letting him go so he could learn from his mistakes, but the high chance of his death pushed me forward.
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The thought of a depressed Hestia might have also been a motivator, if not the main one, to go after him but either way I began sprinting after the running figure of Bell. I soon caught up with him, staying behind him so as to let him lead the way down the winding corridors and towards where he thought the scream came from.
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We ran through the dungeon hallways for close to five minutes, enough time that I was worried my skill would fade but, before it did, we rounded a corner and came to a screeching halt.
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The corridor we were now in was long and strait, stretching almost 150 yards with multiple connecting hallways and at the end of it running straight at us was a man, middle aged and slovenly, he sprinted towards us with a nasty grin on his face and I understood the situation immediately.
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A literal hoard of monsters followed after the man numerous goblins and kobolds all clawing and biting at each other in a slightly vain attempt to reach the sprinting man.
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I turned to Bell, about to tell him to get running when I saw him frozen stiff, his gaze locked on one of the connecting side tunnels.
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I turned fallowing his gaze with grim certainty, my fears came true the next instant when I saw another adventurer curled up on the ground, just inside one of the corridors.
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They were small and slight, almost certainly a female and quite possibly the origin of the scream that had brought us here and, judging by their blood-soaked shirt, they were at the end of their rope.
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Knowing Bell wouldn't leave the girl I chuckled in mirthful resignation, coating my hands and feet in (AM) before speaking.
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"Bell" I said my voice firm and a little somber.
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"Go get the girl, I'll try to hold them back while you do"
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Bell broke through his frozen state then, and looked at me, a flood of different emotions crossing his face before they stabilized, coming to rest as both gratitude and acceptance.
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He nodded at me swiftly before he once again bolted forward, towards the girl, I sighed at myself wondering just what I was doing before I too stepped forward.
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I began running headlong towards the man leading the parade, his nasty smile faltered for a moment when he saw me coming, my glowing eyes and ethereal hair seeming to set some warning bells off in his head.
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Not that it mattered, I appeared before him, my boosted body far superior to any average Level:1's. Unable to be my opponent the man was barely able to react before my mana coated fist slammed into his face, breaking his nose and cheek bones in a spray of blood before indenting his entire face and sending him hurling backwards and into the monster horde.
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The horde halted its forward movement for a moment gorging themselves on the man's corpse, stripping it to the bone before they too disappeared.
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There culinary distraction allowed me time to look back and see Bell's disappearing figure a large lump slumped over his back, nodding at the sight I turned back further resigned to holding the horde in place for a bit.
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When I turned, I noticed the horde had stilled and hundreds of eyes had locked onto my figure then, with an intangible trigger, they all moved forward as one, rushing towards me like a flood.
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Thinking quickly, I manipulated the (AM) and created a tunnel size barrier that halted the incoming horde for a moment before I felt it start to fail, grimacing in concentration I opened a small section of the wall, allowing the monsters the stream through one by one.
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This caused the pressure on the barrier to significantly lessen as the monster's focus was now on getting to the exit I had made, rather than breaking through the barrier, nature always fallows the path of least resentence after all.
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I concentrated on my first opponents, already three monsters had slipped through the hole and were rushing words me two kobolds and a single goblin.
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The two kobolds meet me first simultaneously swinging their claws at my mid-section in a pincer type maneuver, stepping back a half step I dogged the incoming strikes by a hair before I sent a monsteras right cross at the chin of the kobold to my right.
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The strike landed solidly shattering its jaw, sending teeth and blood spraying while its head spun around 180 degrees snapping, and ending the poor mutt's life.
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Next a quick uppercut caught the second one unawares, blowing them off their feet, snapping their head back and ripping their throat open, gouts of blood pouring from the stress tare.
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The monsters continued coming in a constant stream of murderous rage and bloodlust, I killed them as quick as I could using various kicks and punches absorbing any mana I could to not only up my skills timer but increased its effects.
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This had the slightly strange effect of making the fight easier the longer it lasted, now it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, I had more than a few close call's the sheer number of enemies overwhelming me at points, and during a few of these I suffered injuries.
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I had a long gash running down my left arm and a few puncher wounds marred my right; blood ran down my body in rivulets numerous scratches and scrapes bleeding simultaneously.
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My tired but still obscenely strong fist punched straight through the belly of a goblin, its intestines hugging my arm before I pulled it out, simultaneously delivering a skull shattering knee to a Kobalt's forehead.
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I paused in my movements confused at the lack of opponents; I looked around at the massacre that surrounded me, the one I had committed and couldn't help but feel a little sick at the site, not at what I had done or what I had wreaked, but still dozens and dozens of piles of internal organs and bones weren't an appealing sight.
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Exhausted I stumbled over to the nearest side corridor and walked a bit into it before sitting down in the first clear area.
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I leaned my back against the wall and tilted my head back breathing heavily, I tried my best to not pass out and succeeded marginally, I managed to stay awake to the point that I saw Bell appear in my vision fallowed by a dozen or so tower guards it was then that I could no longer hold out and fell into the dark abyss of unconsciousness.
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I was in darkness and all-encompassing night no stars, no moon, nothing. I drifted through this space my mind foggy and unfocused incapable of grasping solid thought, my awareness of myself was tenuous at best, slipping through my metaphorical fingertips more than a few times.
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My mind swam through this sea of thoughtless darkness for an untraceable amount of time never breached by any light.
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Then the blackness receded replaced by not a color or a voice but a feeling, warmth, a warm sensation wrapped me soothing my apparently frigid body.
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It soothed away my numbed pains and mental fatigue, it rejuvenated me, my awareness receded once more and I didint fight it.
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My eyes cracked open breaking the crusty seal that held them shut, a muted but familiar lantern light entered my eyes as I opened them wider struggling to observe my surroundings. About to sit up I was pushed down by a firm, but loving hand as soft words entered my ears.
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"Lay down Leo...you need to rest"
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The words confused me; the person who spoke them not visible to me, my mind felt as muddled as it was in the blackness and any thought I had moved like malaises through my head. Sluggish and malformed a question came to my lips.
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"H-hestia?"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone