Ebony's Fable

“Dammit. Why the hells is Panic Attack here?” Tewa complained. The relatively strong party’s presence had completely turned the tables and their plan was ruined. Tewa couldn’t get the timing to swoop in to save them as they were hardly in trouble with Panic Attack there.

Tewa had tried to contact his bosses but they wouldn’t pick up. They were ordered to start the plan and the impromptu decision to lure the monsters to the previous floor was not so hard to follow. Tewa was a man who tried to predict and plan in advance for any changes after all. Personally, he never thought so highly of the low level party, even with the Xeng’s presence they were not even Master Class. How could it be possible that they climbed all the way up to the 12th floor where they were level 150 monsters roaming around?

Then he saw the little monsters in action with his own eyes. Lunatics.

Tewa hesitated on the next course of action. At first, he thought that it didn’t matter. Panic Attack could only last so long, but the mana slave screwed him up by single handedly weakening and slowing more than half of the horde. The weakened scorpions were just targets for them to pick off. The wolves did most of the damage that the people received.

While none of the mana slave’s party and Panic Attack’s members saw, Tewa did. The chilly mist didn’t really affect his sight too much and he could make out most things. The mana slave was repeatedly pierced and didn’t even look worse for wear. Tewa didn’t care that the mana slave had dead facial expressions since that was what he heard most ex-mana slaves had. But to move like he did after all those injuries? Holes in his elling body, and he still swung his sword, still streaked like a ghost across the desert, dodging with nimbleness. Impossible.

Tewa didn’t notice that Ebony froze his injuries and somewhat hid them from his party. It wouldn’t change Tewa’s impression since that only meant Ebony wouldn’t bleed out.

By the time Tewa was about to give up trying to have the monster horde they so sorely prepare and be careful enough so that it didn’t backfire, to kill everyone except the mana slave, there was only hundreds of wolves and a handful of scorpions left.

Tewa received the singal ‘Let’s go’ from his boss, then informed the 2 strongest parties he got to stay on the 11th floor who was already watching the mana slave’s party when they arrived on the 11th floor. They couldn’t be contacted right soon after. The archers who escaped later rejoined them and reported what happened. He didn’t believe it at first but his bosses didn’t say shit about their strength for nothing.

The original plan was to have him and his party pick a suitable time to kill off the rest of the mana slave’s party. Somehow revealing that they were the ones who sent the horde on the boy’s party and taking the advantage of their panic to kill his party members. Then, wait for his bosses’s orders to have the other 75 or, since 6 were killed, 69, help him to remove the horde and act like the good guys here to back the mana slave up. Saving him and getting him on our side, putting Tewa’s party as a common target they want to remove.

Regardless, Tewa was stupid to only realise that the horde was completely unnecessary. All they needed was his party to step up and kill all of them. Was his bosses actually testing his intelligence? And he failed big time.

His bosses were misleading him from the get-go. He could just up and kill the rest of his party members and his bosses can still come in and save him. Okay, maybe it was for dramatic effect and to make the situation more hopeless and that the mana slave needed his bosses power and assisstance with numbers on his side to get revenge so maybe it wasn’t a test and that Tewa was getting desperate and wasn’t thinking straight.

So Tewa attacked the ones who really messed their plans up, Panic Attack’s members. He would wait out a short while. His bosses should be watching them somewhere now, if he didn’t want them to continue attacking they’ll call if not then Tewa planned to do things by force.

Panic Attack was just a little troublesome but nothing he couldn’t handle with a little distance. He could’ve shot them all dead before they could find him. Without their body enhancement, a shot or two with his burstbow could finish the job.

“Alright, no contact from the bosses. Let’s just kill all of them except the mana slave.” Tewa said to his party.

“Boss Tewa, didn’t they just use Panic Attack?”

“What do you mean, Delia?” Tewa looked at the only mage in their whole group under his bosses. A level 128 Great Fire Mage, a pity she was only almost as hot as her magic. At least she had the brains and helped his party make informed decisions. She was nice enough to call him boss even when they were one of the few that knew he wasn’t the big boss here so Tewa favoured her. That and she was the only woman in his dry party.

“They saw Panic Attack charging into the horde, whether they wanted the experience or wanted to help them doesn’t matter. The point is, the target’s party used the fact and brought the rest of the horde to them. Sure, things are working out well for them, but Panic Attack couldn’t possibly be happy about them almost bringing them down with them, would they?” Delia

“So what? Based on their reputation I really doubt they would kill the mana slave’s party.” Tewa didn’t catch Delia’s point.

“So there’s no way they would travel together after they're done with the horde. No point finding extra trouble the big bosses didn’t tell us to find. Their presence was unexpected enough, the bosses can’t be contacted now and I doubt he appreciates us just killing others uninvolved. Didn’t he say we need to lay low and not touch others?” Delia explained before asking. She remembered what Tewa told them about their instructions.

‘Phew…thank my ass I didn’t just go for the head or heart. How did I forget that? Mages really do have better brains.’ Tewa almost messed up because of his own annoyance at Panic Attack’s presence. He was glad he didn’t choose to show himself and hid himself after taking the first 2 shots.

“You’re right. We’ll watch closely for now. We’ll attack them regardless if they don’t split up before they move off. We’re laying low if there’s no one alive to rat us out anyway.” Tewa decided to play things safe. He still thought just killing them all would work either way. Sadly, he feared his bosses just a little. Only a little.

‘Wait.’

“Ell! Couldn’t you tell me that before I attacked them?! Now they're on their guard!” Tewa was frustrated, was the world just constantly testing his patience and intelligence?

❅❅❅

They cleared the monster horde but none could rest at ease. The sneak attack didn’t continue, no one showed up either. They were exhausted and as if that wasn’t enough, Panic Attack was scolding them. All while keeping an eye out for an ambush.

Michael didn’t speak at all throughout the scolding. He knew his party wasn’t really ecstatic at him bringing them into a battle of such a scale. Especially when Hector and his friends brought the entire horde with them. He gave his party the chance to let everything out. Besides, the kids deserve a scolding as much as praise for keeping them all alive. He himself took it upon himself to watch every sand dune carefully, praise can wait.

Panic Attack believed they should move, they wanted to get out as soon as possible. They wanted to get Cori and Bilton to a healer as soon as possible, a warrior’s body was their asset. Ryley was worried about the ambusher or ambushers. Hector had his arms crossed, pondering and pondering before looking around and finally landing his gaze on Michael.

“Mike, any idea who’s after your party?” Hector spoke up. Michael was thinking the same thing, only his members were shot.

“Not any on the tip of my tongue. How about your side?” Michael asked. They didn’t make many enemies, sure there were people that didn’t like them but that couldn’t be more normal. Michael was leaning towards the fact that they were Master Class and the Journeymen weren’t perceived as a threat. Hence, whoever attacked them wanted to get rid of them first.

Michael just didn’t understand with his muscle head, they were strong and stealthy enough to stay hidden even after hitting 2 of his guys. So why didn’t they continue their attacks? What was the point of the 2 attacks? The timing was horrible, if they wanted them dead. They could have done that while the monster horde was still at its peak.

That was exactly what left Hector stumped, the attacker's motive. They discussed with everyone giving their opinions when they had anything to say. Ebony assured them that he silenced their conversation within a certain radius with him at the centre. None of them could think that anyone was after them, Ryley didn’t think the few people he pissed off were angry enough to send people after him.

It was also weird there were no more attacks, even after an hour where they were rested enough to move around.

It was obvious to them that their plan now was to split. If the attackers, whether they were still around or not, were after Panic Attack Michael said they were a burden but it was just him who didn’t want to drag a few kids down and they all knew that. If they were after Ebony’s party then their presence might just be what was stopping the attackers from continuing.

Most of all, all of them just wanted out of the dungeon. A nice bed to lay on, steaming hot food. Food that wasn’t mostly blood for Panic Attack, alcohol and just not worrying about any monster attacks in the middle of the night. The dungeon wasn’t running anywhere, they could come back anytime. Now that they knew the routes, they could reach the same floor in a much shorter time.

Ebony and his party just wanted to get ready and prepare for their evolution. In the midst of the mess, Ebony has already slain a level 150 Arrowtail Scorpion and got another round of Natural Potential.

Ebony could genuinely understand what the fuss was about now. The generic skills that never levelled for a long time despite his occasional or frequent training depending on how useful they were were levelling again. For example, Running, Kicking Mastery and Sustained Optimum Condition. With how Classing and Class evolution requirements were skill level related it was no wonder many people would get themselves killed to improve themselves.

Hector suggested that Panic Attack leave first. Panic Attack was somewhat worried about them but there were acquainted strangers at most and their own party’s well-being was prioritised. Michael couldn’t force his party to accept the continued ‘protection’ of the children. Hector shared with them the shortcut that they had used to get up here with the Earthen Topaz Golems in the walkway. It was sort of a payment for almost killing them with the trouble they attracted them to. During their shared breakfast, Ebony had also learned of the other floors that they skipped so they roughly knew their way around.

Ebony and his party stayed where they were and waved Panic Attack away. They kept an eye out and Ebony didn’t stop casting and compressing Layered Ice Carapace. An hour was long enough for a decent amount of mana.

While none of them got any experience at all, their skill levels were shooting up high. Treading Step, Ice Sword and Sustained Optimum Condition gained 4 levels.

Layered Ice Carapace, Battle Song, Gravity Mana Manipulation, Mana Perception and Kicking Mastery gained 3 levels.

Ice Mana Control, Icebody Enhancement, Flowing Greatsword Mastery, Chaotic Repulsive Membrane, Vibrational Gravity Sense, Sheer Mana Compression and Running gained 2 levels each.

Frost Injection and Mana Vibration levelled once.

Sonic Overlay levelled 7 times. Ceaseless Onslaught levelled 8 times. Frost Mist Perception Sphere levelled 13 times. Magnified Gravity Field levelled 24 times.

Seems like, when you use a level 49 skill to cause thousands and thousands of level 130 to level 150 monsters trouble that landed them dead, its level will skyrocket. Good to know.

Panic Attack moved with haste and was out of sight in time. No attack came to them either and they didn’t hear the same gunshot that they had earlier. Ebony appreciated the break to recover from his wounds, so did Scarlet as she could hardly raise her arms or feet off the ground. Well, all of them really. Ryley and Tuffock were exhausted from carrying corpses. Hector similarly pushed himself even more than usual, his muscles’ stiff, blood thin, breath tired and heart burned.

“Aack!” A much louder blast echoed as Tuffock fell limp, face flat. Unmoving. They were much closer.

“I had thought I was dumb enough to shoot hastily but I’m glad you’re even dumber to separate from your caretakers.” A voice that they didn’t recognise softly brought all of them to attention. It had been another 3 to 4 hours since Panic Attack left. Only a couple hundred metres away, coming out from who knows where. They closed the distance to practically nil with one of them stepping on Tuffock. Tuffock coughed out blood and screamed before fainting.

‘Seems like we were the target after all.’

It wasn’t like they didn’t know, they were attacked by people even before the horde and even the horde was after them. Hector had long put that into consideration and why they decided to ask Panic Attack to leave. Ebony didn’t like the idea of someone else that was nice to them to die or get any further injuries because of their own party being the target. Ryley was against splitting up, it was obviously safer with Panic Attack together with them. Scarlet and Tuffock didn’t say anything.

Ebony didn’t know if the ambushers were nice enough to wait for them to recover enough strength to fight or was just waiting for Panic Attack to go far away enough that they couldn’t come and help them. A group of 5 showed themselves.

[Master Archer Lvl 158]

[Master Warrior Lvl 126]

[Master Rogue Lvl 153]

[Master Martial Artist Lvl 153]

[Great Fire Mage Lvl 128]

Two of them seemed like an odd addition but it wasn’t like Ebony was anywhere close to Ryley’s level in the beginning either. At least Ebony could Identify their levels, with Identify at level 13 and him at 100 he could Identify up till level 165.

“Master Burstbowmen, Houndlimb and Toxic Blade.” Ebony heard Hector whisper. Hector was seeing different things from Ebony. It was not hard for Ebony to guess who was who based on the Class names. Hector didn’t mention the 120s, perhaps not seeing anything different or just didn’t think they were a threat.

“This kid has Appraise?” The tall, skinny rogue said. He was cloaked up and had his face covered with cloth or masks. All of them were covering their faces and the cloak hid their body shape and whatever weapon they had too, their height probably couldn’t be hidden but it would be impossible to recognise them on the streets if they ever saw them again. With the exception of the archer who held a long and thin metal barrel that looked somewhat like a sniper rifle but bulkier and the mage who carried a wooden staff and small red fragmented crystal attached.

Ebony could see the men eyeing Scarlet up and down except the archer who first spoke and was looking at Ebony instead.

“Haaha! Let me guess, sending 2 parties after us then a tiny horde of monsters. Gathering monsters, Lure’s work. So why are lackeys of Lure after us? I don’t think we have anything you want on us.” Hector laughed. People showing up after gathering lots of monsters to do their work for them could only be people from Lure.

Hector’s heart was pounding when he saw Tuffock on the ground getting stepped on by the warrior. Too much blood was spilling out from Tuffock’s chest area. The sandy ground he was on got murky and damp. His stone armour likely didn’t do shit. Hector kept up his strong facade, not daring to bend down and reach forward to check on Tuffock in case he was the next one on the ground. The people showed themselves, if there was another attack he should at least be able to see where it was coming from.

Lure only popped up after the last minor war with the Trolls a little less than a hundred years ago. A little before mana slaves were outright banned by Emperor Oplot around 80 years ago. They could somehow attract and play around with monster behaviours and cause many problems over the years. Well known enough that the Royals were aware yet hidden enough that they couldn’t be wiped out. Their structure and hierarchy was hidden enough that most of their lackeys didn’t know who their boss was. That made it difficult for the nobles to wipe them out, it was even harder to trace if monster attacks on cities were natural or not.

They rose into one of the Empire’s biggest problems in less than a century. Fortunately, they rarely pulled off any big stunts and always laid low other than the first time they destroyed a small town which made themselves known to the public. It was always a headache trying to predict what they would do, anyone with a head knew that they were building up power while laying low. Anyone related to Lure was thus given higher bounties as the Empire wanted them rooted out sooner rather than later.

“I guess there was no hiding that. So why split up when you’re not that dumb?” Tewa the burstbowmen asked. It really wasn’t all that hard to guess they were from Lure, that’s why the plan was to have them take advantage of the monster horde but at least this way the ‘grudge’ that the mana slave would have would not be decreased so much. Knowing that they were the ones who sent the monsters and not just a coincidence. Tewa sighed, the plan really was messed up bad.

“Just checking if whoever it was had the guts to attack if a group of Master Warriors was here. Since no one showed up when they were here, whoever it was was too weak to really bother with.” Ebony said.

“Group of cowards, smaller threat.” Scarlet added on.

Despite what she said, she had Violent Heart Acceleration already kicking in. Everyone else was getting into higher gear too but only she needed time to build up her power. Ryley and Tuffock didn’t really have a buffing spell or skill to build up. Tuffock didn’t have much stone to work with and Ryley couldn’t shoot that enchanted arrow of his.

That was enough to piss the ambushers to attack.