The teams were restructured, so the prior-Awakened became the leader of each team and led the mercenaries in the darkness of the dungeon.
“What is this place?”
Mikhail spoke quietly to me.
“What are they saying?”
“The mercenaries say nothing works, not even the guns. They are blind, and if things go like this…”
Each team led by a prior-Awakened was forced to move in a very tight formation, so their shoulders brushed against each other as they followed Joshua and the mercenary leader hired by him. This minimised the chances of losing anyone in the dark. I heard tense breathing and smelled sweat close by and I could see their anxious faces up close.
The civilians looked like they bitterly regretted coming here, even though nothing had happened yet.
“Our leader is in trouble since the mercenaries are now of no use.”
The Second Virtue was receiving reports from a bald guy with the Tracker trait. I overheard numbers that sounded like a report on the number of monsters behind the room doors. While there was only one monster in each room, this was the Baclan clan’s arena. While their name was similar to Declan, the Canine Pawns, they overwhelmed the dogs in physique and strength.
“We’re moving out.”
We were now at the front of the first door, and those who could attack from afar stood back while those with tanking skills protected them. Those who could attack close stood to the right and left, ready to go in, and those without any skills like me and the Fourth Virtue were pushed back.
The formation was adequate except for the fact the mercenaries stood behind the prior-Awakened. The prior-Awakened were now looking at them with dissatisfaction, and the bald Tracker guy opened the door amidst the tension.
Everyone watched with bated breath toward the front, as they instinctively knew something bad was going to happen. Seconds ticked like lead, and only I could see that the bald guy had been right at sensing that big monster with a cow’s head. The monster was pacing at the end of the corridor as neither could see each other. The Second Virtue could not see that while the door was narrow, the corridor was wide, which meant we could reassemble the formation again quickly if we went inside. However, I could not say anything since no one would believe me. (EN: Sun has a much higher rank of Night Eyes, remember? So he can see that far, whereas the monsters and pre-Awakened have lower rank Night Eyes.)
Joshua decided to send in scouts again. The monster inside, which had been called an Ox Pawn in my past life, loved nothing more than crushing limbs and ripping things apart. While the scouts had been chosen according to skill sets, and maximum combat strength, the result was only horrible screams.
“Help! Help!”
“Ahhh!!”
Everyone was white with fear, which included Joshua and Mikhail. The formation shattered, and now the civilian mercenaries and the prior-Awakened were in a panicked crush, some trying to move ahead to face the threat, most trying to get away.
It was then we heard the sound of the Ox Pawn running towards us, its hooves sounding like a death knell. It was mere moments when it jumped in among us, and the impact was like a car crash.
The Ox Pawn grabbed a mercenary’s neck and ripped it apart, and that was the beginning. People ran for the exit, any exit, and the mercenaries who could not see anything ran first. Some fell, some were trampled, some clutched at those ahead of them, and others screamed nonsense.
I saw Mikhail come up to me amidst all that commotion. I could see his hands were shaking, but he managed to speak coherently.
“If you give me a chance, I will hit it from the back. Where is it?”
“It’s not necessary.”
“What?”
“Follow me.”
I took Mikhail to a spot where we could see the Ox Pawn where a prior-Awakened and Joshua faced the monster. While the prior-Awakened looked like he was about to faint, he had finished his job of using a Restraint insignia.
It kept the Ox Pawn still as Joshua stabbed the monster’s back with a knife brutally and cut its throat when it fell. It seemed that Joshua almost did not know what he was doing, and I could only see frenzied terror in his eyes.
The Fourth Virtue jumped in so he could disembowel the Pawn, and the other Awakened frantically retreated because of the madness these two emitted. The monster was already dead, but there was no message. It seemed they had not gotten that quest yet.
Mikhail stood up first and helped Joshua stand up, and kept saying something. Mikhail was probably repeating to Joshua over and over that the monster was dead. As bad as it was to have panic among the troops, it would be a thousand times worse if they heard panic in the voice of their leader. The commotion died down after a while, and five prior-Awakened, and seven mercenaries were dead.
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Two doctors who had been the farthest away with other non-combatants were examining the Pawn’s corpse with only a lighter, and they looked horrified at the monstrous abomination to everything they understood about terrestrial biology, in their stained and torn clothes.
Mikhail was cursing loudly, as he seemed to have been friends with one of the dead prior-Awakened.
“There was only one! Why…!”
I saw that his bloodshot eyes were teary. In my past life, the Eight Virtues and Eight Evils were merciless beings who almost ruined the world. However, one of them was crying while the other was looking at the monster’s corpse with shaken eyes.
One thing I remembered was the fact that somehow, these two survived in this dungeon to form Revolucion.
**
There was a delay after the bald man told Joshua there were eight monsters ahead, and the panic began to spread until Mikhail came up to me.
“They say that there are eight, and I am not going to trust my life to other people.”
“Are you leaving the group?”
“No, I’m going up front and hope…that you will help me.”
“How?”
“I don’t know, but I want you to back me up because I prefer you, because you’re holding up better than the cowards.” You could hear the contempt in his voice.
“Are you allowed to do so?”
“You were right in saying that strength of will is important, and our leader agrees with what you said.”
However, Joshua had no intention of placing Mikhail, who had no skills, in front. Instead, he emphasised how important keeping formation was, as we had seen the monster could be killed by a blade. Also, people could feel instinctively they had to move forward and kill monsters to survive. The rule was simple.
“It’s not going to go well.”
Mikhail spoke as he looked at the formation.
“I’m going to move forward when the formation crumbles because I don’t want to die. I think you understand.”
His eyes were begging me to help, and it was then the door opened under Joshua’s signal. The fight was instant, as a few long-range skills flew at the Pawns coming at the door. A Pawn ran up screaming at the formation but died in front of us. The formation had been strong until then, but it crumbled down like sand when more monsters ran in.
People were fleeing towards us at the back, and Mikhail shouted as he punched one of them, rushing at us. He screamed at me.
“I’m not going to trust my life to them. Are you?!”
I saw Mikhail rush forward to Joshua, who was shouting orders around him. However, an Ox Pawn was coming at his back. I sprinted forward, about three times faster than Usain Bolt, and crushed its face. I then killed the other six Pawns the same way. The last one held a prior-Awakened by its foot and was about to punch him when I kicked it and grabbed its neck.
It seemed to realise that it had to kill me to survive, and that had been its last thought as I picked it up by its neck, and shook it violently, like a kitten, snapping the neckbones.
Everyone was looking at me now, and Mikhail stepped aside with astonished eyes as he looked at the corpses and then me.
“Joshua.”
I spoke to the Second Virtue as I threw the monster’s corpse at his feet.
(EN: Yep, Sun has stopped holding back. ^_^ )