Jaycee strained as Lady began to overtake him. They slid around a corner and glanced back to see the dog and woman gaining on them. They shot down the hallway again, their feet slamming on the hard stone floor. Just as they were nearing the secure room the others had been in they were caught. Jaycee yelped as a blast of air smashed into his back slamming him into their destination's door.
Lady spun in mid air her open palm creating a hand of energy that smashed the beasts snout to the side. Jaycee groaned as he opened the door to the secure room and let Lady in before closing the door right as another air spell hit him. He ragdolled into the room where he rubbed his head. Thankfully the worst part of air magic was just the disorientation that came with getting hit. She had only shaved a good few health points from his pool. Jaycee turned to the rest of the team which was wielding weapons at the two runner offs.
Lady stood, bowed and went to stand next to Percy. Jaycee quickly lunged for the large board next to the door to lock the door. As he set it in, Zeke came up behind and pulled him back by the shoulder. "What the hell was that? This is an operation. We move as one." He said. His big bushy beard was shaking in Jaycees face and he held his hands up.
"The other intruder is a big, armored knight and his dog. It was Lady's idea. And Lady takes precedence over anyone else for me. They're right outside so I'd get ready." Jaycee said simply. He wasn't happy to leave the group and potentially endanger them, but he truly didn't owe anyone anything in here. It had always been clear that he didn't consider himself under anyone.
Percy allowed him to live in the camp because of his great strength and hope to cooperate in the future. And for that he had come on this mission in the first place. This would be a completely different dungeon if Jaycee hadn't gone with the overachievers and had instead waited until he was level 27 to dive into the dungeon meant for level 25 participants.
But that was how records are built too so Jaycee was still grateful to be surrounded with competent people and would work toward mutual success. But if he decided he wanted to fuck off sometimes and explore things away from the group then he would do that.
Zeke's face was full of anger as Percy pulled him away from the younger man. "Mini Description of the enemies?" He said.
"Staff woman, large scary dog, heavy armored knight slow." Jaycee said. He liked to describe things simply and Percy tended to ask for it that way. Immediately Percy turned into business mode as everyone assumed positions. The staff woman was thankfully a little slower then the dog and could only get within magic distance. As much as Jaycee had wanted to block the wind blasts it just would've slowed him. Jaycee moved to the back of the group as they readied themselves for battle.
He could be on his best offensive game because Preston's role as healer was almost solely defensive. He had skills that increased other peoples toughness for a moment of time and all kinds of stat related buffs. As well as his incredibly powerful shield magic. Jaycee was the explosive end. The lock on the door engaged all the magic defensive formations that they would have to break to make the door more vulnerable. As they waited impatiently for something to happen Jaycee chugged another potion. They had an hour cooldown to the type of potion and an hour had passed since he drank the last one.
Now his mana was at a solid 80 percent and his health was in a similar range after Lady did some healing. She had also pressed her palm into his chest and he glowed yellow momentarily. His stamina was temporarily increased and he could tell it would drain slower. Many minutes passed, and when Jaycee started to get impatient he felt a small change in the atmosphere. The defensive formations were down. Wood splintered immediately as a large steel boot went through the door.
The large, fully armored knight stepped through the door and raised his sword. Behind the nearly 7 foot knight the woman and the dog burst through the hole in the door he made. Immediately the fight devolved into chaos. It was a decently large room, but there were 15 people in there already. 9 dungeon divers and the 5 soldiers that had been with them the whole time as well as the priestess. The dog's first victim was a soldier who had been wielding a spear at the front.
He unfortunately wasn't skilled enough to stop the beast from tearing into his shoulder and pushing him to the ground. Two arrows stuck into it's muscled shoulder. The beast was still unaffected and tore more at the screaming man. Zeke lowered his shoulder and planted his shield straight in the ribs of the beast pushing it back slightly. Two more arrows, one from Lauren and one from Jim, stuck into the beast but it's muscle was so tough they did very little.
One of the soldiers stabbed at the beast, only slightly cutting it before the beast threw its head at her, scaring the woman back. Zeke brandished his long sword as the beast was locked into battle with him. His strength could compete with the beast he was just much slower. But some well placed arrows forced it back as it risked getting hit in its eyes. It charged at Zeke and the soldier who had attacked it. Zeke raised his shield just for the beasts claws to smash it to the side. His large muscular form strengthened as he used skills.
His body hardened as the beast tried to sink its teeth in his shoulder. He grit his teeth but the beast couldn't break past the hardness of his skin so quickly. Its fangs scraped against his skin but it couldn't break it. Zeke tried to use his sword but found the beast on top of him was not in optimal range for his longsword. Jim rushed to the side for a better angle and released a powerful arrow that smashed into the side of the beast. The arrow stuck a few inches into the beast as the skill Jim used wore off.
Lauren appeared next to the beast with a dagger in hand and stabbed it into the beasts thigh before dashing backward to safe bow using range. As the beast stood from being blasted backward it stumbled. The dagger in its leg was restricting its movement by cutting a very specific muscle.
Lauren used her gift with precision and had made her moment when it was stunned. The arrows couldn't penetrate far enough to do what she was best at. The beast stood and snarled at the lineup of people who engaged with it. The woman with a staff had, instead of attacking the front line, used her quick air magic to get behind all the warriors who stood at the front.
She found Jaycee who she immediately dove on with the intent to kill. Surprised by the woman's actions he created a small shield right where her staff almost connected with his temple. The staff bounced off but still she spun in the air her foot smashing into Jaycees shoulder. He grunted as he was pushed a few feet and created an array of flame constructs that immediately shot at the woman. Lady was at his side steadying him from the strike and using her healing magic on him.
Kara, who had watched the woman vault her, turned and swung at her. The sword was fast and powerful, but Kara simply wasn't on Percy level. And so when the woman's staff connected with the blade it blew out of Kara's hand. Jaycee had underestimated her strengths slightly.
She could still disarm Kara, who was a high quality warrior with relative ease. Spears of flame were only inches from her as she spun the staff. She created a small air blast that disrupted Jaycee flame constructs. But as she spun away the smoke it was clear some of the explosions had caught her. Jaycee held his hand forward as he used fast moving projectiles to keep her away from him.
She was moving with great agility as she dove and wove through each weapon. Lady had fixed up his shoulder and by the time the woman arrived at Jaycee she slid out from behind him. She pressed her palm forward creating her signature yellow hand of energy that stopped the staff from smashing in Jaycees face. It blasted her back and Jaycee used the moment to create large spikes from mana to send flying at the stunned woman.
Still she recovered quickly, deflecting each of the long spikes made of mana before the last one broke her defenses. She simply couldn't deflect it in time as it sunk into her shoulder and pinned her to the wall. She screamed and pulled the spike out. Jaycee relentlessly berated the woman with all kinds of magic.
Chains of flame shot from the air around him and his eyes began glowing purple as he entered a flow state. She grimaced and smashed his attacks aside with her staff. Her eyes zeroed in on his face as she deflected each attack. When the Knight had stepped through the door he had been first confronted by Percy.
One man was much bigger and better armored. Farrah joined him with her large array of daggers and golden glowing eyes. Preston held his hands up as they glowed a jade green. The rest of the soldiers remained in front of the priestess. Percy dashed forward in sync with Farrah and struck at the man's chest. The Knights free armored hand which used to hold the leash, bashed Farrah's dagger away. His wrist moved quickly as his own sword met Percy's.
They clashed for a moment before Percy jumped back. It was clear the knight won out despite the fact it was a poor attack from him. The knight pulled back slightly and swung at Farrah who was still within his range. Her eyes glowed as she started moving before the knight made the decision. Narrowly she avoided the blade but found the free hand gripping her shoulder. Percy recovered and shot forward but the knight was too fast. His sword moved to finish the job.
Suddenly a green shield appeared over the knight's swing, deflecting it entirely. Percy arrived at close range again and brought his sword up. He connected with the fibers between the metal plates. The strike didn't pierce the flexible material but still, the blunt force was transferred to the knight's elbow.
Percy could hear the knight grunt as he released his grip on Farrah who promptly went into action. She snaked up the much larger enemy and drove her dagger right into the knights helmet. A small dent was put into the helmet as she had used a skill to enhance that strike. She pulled her arm back and went again to the same place.
The knight swayed slightly as the woman climbed on him and beat him. He reached back with his free hand while using his sword to attack Percy. Percy's sword moved faster than the knights, but carried way less power. As much as Percy wished he could use his sword to circumvent the knight's defenses, he couldn't.
His defense was his armor not his sword work. Percy had to constantly attack the man's sword to stop the sword from obliterating him. And while he could attack twice for every knight attack, he needed as much time as possible to beat the sword back from killing him. And seeing as the knight's sword was much longer, things were tough. The knight's hand almost closed around the small woman clinging onto his back, but a green shield appeared again as Preston's hand glowed green.
Using his magic he empowered the two with bonuses while holding up a strong shield. Suddenly a large yelp was heard as everyone turned to the dog beast. Zeke had one foot on the beast's motorcycle sized body and had his longsword embedded in its skull as it lay on the ground.