And (N)one Shall Remain

If one wasn’t used to it, the pitch darkness and near-silence of the shadowy dimension – Alissa wasn’t certain if it truly was such a thing, but it was the closest thing she had in mind as an equivalent to the realm her skill plunged her into – could have triggered all sorts of traumatic experiences and deep-seated fears from one’s mind.

 

As the actual user of the Skill, Alissa had the capability of viewing the outside world as well, though it appeared more like a monochrome screen set before her, rather than being her surroundings. Similarly, sounds from the outside made it into the realm, if subdued and more like quiet whispers than anything else. 

 

She thought that if she did not possess [Weather the Storm] she might well have panicked herself the first time she used the skill. She used to fear the dark and loneliness as a child, sleeping with her parents until she was eight, and with her lights on until she was twelve. The skill must have isolated the juvenile parts of her mind that were screaming as she plunged into the silent darkness of the shadows, though.

 

Since she was the party’s primary scout – Osmond and Maribel also had skills that somewhat helped them act in scouting roles, though nowhere as good as what Alissa has – Alissa ranged far out, as she swept through a semi-circular area ahead and to the sides of where the party waited for her return. The shadows themselves did nothing other than to conceal her, but with the increase in her stats, it was easy enough to scout an area half a mile in radius in the few minutes of concealment she had.

 

Alissa returned to where the party waited and emerged out of the shadows a short distance away, to give them enough time to notice that it was just her returning and not some monster about to pounce on them. The group – nearly a hundred strong between the additional members and the harvesters that followed them closely – raised their weapons briefly in alarm, but lowered them back once they noticed it was her.

 

“How are things?” asked Sir Inolet once she walked back to their group.

 

“There’s a group of eleven, levels 45 to 57, to our south and east. A few other solitary beasts in the other direction, none above level 50. Which way do we head?” she reported to the old knight. 

 

“We head for the pride. There hasn’t been enough monsters to give a proper workout for you all so far, so no reason to skip this group. Besides, the harvesters need something to do, too,” replied the old knight after a moment of thought. “Sure is a rather quiet day here, though. Last time I was here, we were attacked by three prides of the beasts in as many hours.”

 

“Just luck of the draw, I guess,” commented Magus Drummond from the side. “You know how it is with open dungeons like these. The beasts were always on the move so you can’t really say when or where you’d run into any of them. Already good fortune that we ran into some of them at all on our first day here, I’d say.”

 

“Fair. Anyway, you lead the party and head that way. We’ll follow shortly behind. We won’t interfere in the fight as usual,” said Sir Inolet to Alissa, who nodded in return as she gathered the other members of the group. It would just be the twelve of them against the eleven beasts, and Alissa’s [Walk in the Shadows] would not be used to get a first strike in as it was still on cooldown.

 

Besides, she would need to use it again after the fight for further scouting anyway.

 

The twelve of them – their extra chaperones and the new batch of busybodies were made to hang back near the harvesters to keep them protected – ranged around a hundred yards ahead of the rest, as they headed in the direction Alissa pointed out. By that point of time, the twelve of them had trained to work together, and had some tacit agreements on how to do things between them.

 

They naturally slipped into a diamond formation as they walked, Ethan at the point, with Bronwen and Glenn at his left and right. At the rear of the formation was Joshua, along with Osmond and Benedictus, all of whom wielded ranged weapons and were prepared to offer their support. Alissa herself took the right side with Leda and Moira, while Nadine was on the left with Maribel and Silvia.

 

Before too long, they found the pride of beasts, or rather, pride noticed them. 

 

Unlike the completely odd looking abomination they fought in the forest some time ago, the monsters that inhabit the prairie’s dungeon area looked a lot like a creature that was a mixed breed of various large feline predators. They were huge, however, with many of the creatures standing taller than Alissa’s head at the shoulder, with the speed and power to match.

 

The largest of the beasts, a [Saber-Toothed Liger Ravager Lvl57] raised its head and gave a cacophonous roar as it noticed the party’s approach. It was a large male, easily identified by the glorious mane of golden fur around its neck, almost certainly the head of the pride given how the other three males they noticed were lower leveled juveniles.

 

As the beast roared, the party cast all the buff skills they had which affected the whole group, saving only the more instantaneous offensive and defensive skills. They tightened their formation, with Ethan still at the point, both [Antagonizing Yell] and [None Shall Pass] already cast. He had targeted the largest beast with his [Antagonizing Yell], in the hopes of drawing its attention his way.

 

He succeeded.

 

Mere seconds after its roar, the largest beast rushed straight towards Ethan, with the rest of its pride following closely behind. The beast’s large frame ran at speeds that many would have thought impossible for something that big, and leapt towards Ethan with its vicious, half-foot long claws splayed out as if it wanted to eviscerate him on the spot.

 

Ethan raised his shield to take the blow in case the barrier from his skill proved to not be enough to handle the blow, but he should have had more faith in his skill’s capabilities. The leaping beast struck the invisible barrier from [None Shall Pass] with such force that Ethan’s feet dug grooves into the grassy soil as he was pushed backwards. The impact also left the beast dazed for a moment, though it righted itself after a moment and shook its head. 

 

Then the rest of its pride fell upon them.

 

The first beast had caught Joshua’s group in the back by surprise with its speed, so they failed to fire their ranged weapons at it. They were more prepared when the rest of the pride approached, though, as they launched arrows, crossbow bolts, and javelins towards the beasts unerringly. One of Osmond’s arrows hit the eye of a younger male and made it pause, which allowed Joshua’s bolt to hit just above its nose. Before the beast could finish roaring in pain, Benedictus hurled a javelin straight down its open mouth and into its throat, dropping the dying beast where it stood.

 

Three of the beasts – two of the higher level females and the largest male – were focused on Ethan, who defended himself as best he could and kept their attention fixed on him to buy time for the others to take care of the lesser beasts. Those three had also occupied the barrier from [None Shall Pass] to its limits, which left the rest of the pride for the others.

 

Glenn kept one of the females above level fifty busy, while Bronwen tackled two of the others at the high forties. Joshua, Osmond, and Benedictus lent their support from the back with projectile weapons and the occasional skill to keep the situation under control. That neatly left the remaining five lower leveled beasts to the other six.

 

Keeping Leda slightly to the back – the girl could fight decently, but her class leaned more towards being a supportive healer so it only made sense to keep her safe – they tackled the large beasts with care, each of them keeping one occupied until their stronger members could dispatch their foe and come to their aid. It was a delicate balance, with the buffs everyone had only lasting minutes, which forced them to finish the fight or at least get it under control in that time.

 

Maribel whirled around one of the younger male lions, her twin blades twirling around her lithe body as if she was dancing. The beast’s thick fur meant that the most her blades did was to leave light cuts that were rather inconsequential though. Her own skills were linked more towards evasion and agility, so she lacked the brute force needed to pierce through the beast’s sturdy flesh and tough hide.

 

Silvia had more success keeping the beast she was fighting at arm’s length, as vicious stabs of her spear left deeper wounds on it. She had already used the strongest of her active skills, which allowed her to do that damage in the first place, so for the time being, she was bluffing the creature to buy time, as she lacked the means to effectively hurt it like that again.

 

Nadine and Moira had better results against their beasts, each of the young women pushing the beasts back step by step. Nadine’s blade moved with precise strokes as she punished each of the beast’s attempts to strike with a painful cut, while larger openings resulted in even deeper wounds which kept the beast eyeing her warily even as it retreated slowly. As a [Hero’s Companion] Nadine had more stats from her third tier class change and each level afterwards compared to those were were just [Hero’s Associates].

 

Beside her, Moira utilized the newfound speed – born from a skill she received upon reaching her third tier – to run circles around another of the beasts, her new halberd leaving cuts and gouging wounds at every opportunity. Already, the beast she was fighting was limping from its rear left leg, as one of Moira’s cuts had severed the tendons at the back of its calf. It was only a matter of time for her to finish the creature off.

 

Alissa ended up being the first one to actually finish her opponent though, helped by the higher stats she possessed in no small part. At first, she had fought conservatively and mostly poked at the beast she was facing in order to frustrate it, all while keeping her distance. Her plan worked out as after a while, the beast – a [Saber Toother Liger Pack Hunter Lvl50] – lost its patience and pounced bodily at her. 

 

She quickly spun her spear around so that the spike-like spearhead on its butt end faces the pouncing beast while she dug the broader spearhead into the ground to anchor the weapon, the guard that flared out below the blade acting as shortstops. She held the spear steady with her right hand and pointed it towards the right direction without flinching.

 

The beast impaled itself on her spear, the weapon entering its torso between its front legs, and piercing out from its back.

 

Even so, the grievous injury was by no means immediately fatal to the ferocious creature, and it still attempted to rake and bite at Alissa even as it was impaled. She in turn made use of her shield to block and deflect those strikes, before she pushed the weakening front limbs down and out of the way, dove in close under the beast, unsheathed her falchion and slit the beast’s throat in one fluid move.

 

She still failed to get out under the dying beast before she was literally bathed by the blood that sprayed out from its slit throat, however, and needed a moment to wipe her face clean off the blood before she went to work on freeing her spear off the carcass. Only then was she freed up to help one of the others on their fights.