Chapter 452 (2/2)

Alana arrived first, pulling down, her Valkyrie’s Helmet condensing, sliding naturally into place on her head. Without any hesitation, her spear slid forward, aiming for Rhaidon’s throat.

Roaring, it hopped slightly to the left, moving its bulk with a surprising amount of grace, and snapped its teeth at her.

Snorting, Alana spun away from the play bite and smashed her shield into the side of Rhaidon’s jaw with a sharp blow. Although it was graceful, it was not nearly graceful enough, and there was a jarring crack as one of its teeth shattered.

Instantly, its eyes sharpened, and a great fury arose in the air around it, as if it was previously sleeping, and only now did it realize that it was about to fight, but at that point, Chrysanthemum arrived, spearing into its chest, bowling the larger monster over. Chrysanthemum was probably only half the size of Rhaidon, but when it came to strength and momentum, Randidly hadn’t encountered anyone more powerful.

Even now, he sweat slightly thinking about how he had used to play with Chrysanthemum casually. Of course, that bear had probably gained 400 pounds of pure muscle since they had done that last, so Randidly tried to remind himself that his talents extended beyond simply being physically strong.

“Fucking...all of you… just let me have this… just this….!” Gemma hissed, her eyes going wide, a great deal of blackness gathering up towards her hands, condensing into giant gauntlets covered in spikes. But Thea was there, whirling in front of her, and Gemma had to raise a gauntlet to bat the attack away.

Thea’s attack turned out to be a feint, and she spun further, her leg flashing out in a low kick, striking Gemma at the knee, causing her to stumble. Randidly took two more steps, and another body rushed passed him.

Taking advantage of her moment of weakness, Thea just thrust forward with her hammer, a brutal blow that aimed to break Gemma’s nose. Inwardly, Randidly was relatively impressed that Thea could fight so calmly, espeically against this girl who had been an age of her, and so nervous and weak, in their previous meeting.

Unfortunately, not only had Gemma become bitter, she had also become much better at fighting, and as the thrust rushed towards her nose, she actually lowered her forehead and headbutted the hammer that was rushing towards her. The strike was with enough force to send Thea stumbling backward.

Randidly took another step, walking calmly through the battle. Gemma blinked and shook her head, regaining her focus, somewhat dazed. Thea straightened, lowering her center of gravity to try again. Randidly took another step.

Gemma slammed her gauntlets into the ground, and there was a wave of blackness, knocking Thea backward. Then she pressed her hands together, forming a ball of black energy, pointing at Randidly. At the corner of his vision, he saw the details of the Skills ticking across his screen, entered into party chat by Rose. Heedless, he took another step.

In the instant, before she fired the Dark Blast, Ace was there, smashing Gemma’s gauntleted hands off target, causing the attack to whiz past and smashed into the wall about 400 meters down from where they were standing, cracking and shattering it.

As Rhaidon struggled to his feet, fending off Chrysanthemum, while Alana circled around him, striking at his weaknesses. Thea righted herself and charged forward towards Gemma, but Randidly noticed there were tears running down her face. He took another step, then another.

Ace brought his elbow down against Gemma’s chin, sending her stumbling, but only for a second, because his follow up missed, and Gemma weaved her way forward, her crazed eyes on Randidly as he approached the gate.

“This wasn’t… this wasn’t supposed to be what you did… you were supposed to save me!” Gemma yelled with her voice torn between rage and betrayal. Randidly ignored her, and leaped, covering the last few steps to the top of the walls. There, he activated Indomitable Will of Yggdrasil and Cruel Indignation of Yggdrasil, causing the warriors on the wall to stumble away. Then, he leaped again, heading deeper into the city.

*****

After Randidly was gone, Gemma grinned, and sidestepped a blow from Thea, slamming her palms together. A black shockwave came outwards, knocking Ace and Thea backward. Rhaidon leaped over Alana and landed next to his master, gazing balefully at the remaining people.

“Heh, do you think he bought it?” Gemma asked cheerfully, a wide smile on her face. The Raid Party said nothing.

“Che, you are no fun,” Gemma said, kicking at the dirt. At that moment, the warriors on the wall stood, and began knocking and aiming arrows. Behind the intruders, the monster horde burst out of the treeline, running towards their flank.

To Gemma’s surprise, the woman at the back, with lightning crackling between her hands, laughed.

“About damn time, dungeons are such a drag without boss encounters,” The woman said cheerfully. Then everyone began to move at once.