"Ash! Are you okay?"
Ashton fell to the ground on his knees as he gripped his neck with his weaponless left hand. He had propped his spear on the ground– using it as a support so that he wouldn't fall to the front or on his back.
Hilda ran towards him and asked about his well being while she shot another barrage of corrosive water element arrows towards the retreating Ronny. The firesnakes that were following their caster as if they were the real deal stopped once they sensed the incoming arrows.
The firesnakes opened their mouths and breathed fire again to take care of all the arrows aimed at the butcher. With this last attack, they too disappeared into thin air along with what they had destroyed.
Ronny returned to his previous position. He then discovered that Renar and the rest had also taken advantage of the opportunity to come to their temporary base.
Ronny looked at the solid stage E-Ranker that was behind the duo he fought against. He didn't dare look at the D-Ranker because the latter could use that as an excuse to attack him, putting his status as an Adept behind him.
Ronny observed that Gerish was looking at him with his narrowed eyes. He was sure now that as soon as Ashton dropped dead, he'd join in the battle and try to end him in one sweep.
Ronny would have preferred Gerish joining the battle now that Ashton and Hilda were still alive. In that way, he could retreat using his trump cards and avoid a fatal battle with the solid stage E-Ranker.
The fact that Gerish was manning the path of the butcher's retreat made things more complicated for him. Otherwise, he wouldn't have given a second thought to abandoning all of his pawns.
Ronny had a doubt the Adept ranker had sensed his mana signature and concocted this battle formation to wear him out. He must have thought that he could use him as a sharpening stone to train the subbordinates he was given the responsibility of training.
If that was the case, then his performance just now might have exceeded the Adept's expectations. Otherwise, he would have attacked Ronny's team with even more intensity. It also indicated that he had to wrap things up faster, lest the D-Ranker decides to crush all of them without caring about Rankers' Code of Conduct.
'How's the situation?'
Ronny asked Renar through his ID stone while maintaining his vigilance. The latter also seemed to be on edge as he kept his eyes on his set of opponents.
'In one word? Bad.
Sir Ronny, Belar offers only limited help because of his handicap. Viper's injury has affected his performance too.
I have to cover both of them while fighting my own battle in order to keep them from suffering any mortal injuries. And that in turn has forced me to sustain injuries of my own.'
Ronny scanned Renar and the rest using his mana sense to confirm his analysis. The latter looked bruised and suffering from a lot of internal injuries. Belar and Viper were suffering from blunt injuries on various parts of their bodies.
Ronny then looked at Renar's opponents and understood the source of those injuries. The three out of four F-Rankers they were up against were sporting maces in their hands. The guys looked like they had practiced the same kind of ranking techniques and practiced the same type of weapon arts. As a result, they could sync well with each other.
These three novice mace-wielders were with Gerish. The F-Ranker that had come with the Adept was a Naboot user. It was also a form of blunt weapon but with an extended reach.
Ronny and his fellow Anthropes were literally getting beaten to a pulp because of the four blunt weapon users they were up against. Therefore, Renar had correctly summed up the situation in one word- bad.
Belar's condition was much more serious than all of them. He was huffing heavily. His blooded mouth indicated that he had coughed up a lot of blood as a result of the blunt trauma he had suffered after getting beat up so many times by his opponents.
'Alright. I'll give you guys a few potions to heal your injuries and boost your stamina. Plus, a few potions bombs. Wait for my instructions.
It is crucial for all of us to use the potions bombs at the same time when I give you guys a go. We'll use the massive chain explosion as a diversion to escape and run towards the tower.
If we take the dungeon's format into account, then the solo tower exploration will isolate one player from the other. You know what that means, right?'
Understanding dawned on Renar after he understood Ronny's instructions. He didn't take long to confirm:
'We would use the tower's mechanism as a way to escape from these fuckers. That's all fine, Sir Ronny. But I have a…'
Renar wanted to know if the diversion would be enough for the Adept not to follow them immediately afterwards. But before he could voice his concern, Ronny shut him up using a part hurried and part annoyed tone:
'Tch. Don't ask stupid questions now. Guys, prepare to receive your lot in one go. We'll resume our attacks once we're done exchanging potions.'
Ronny took three sets of potions out of his storage and made them appear right in front of his three companions. They immediately stored what was given to them without a second thought and bolted towards their opponents.
Ronny too didn't wait anymore and started approaching the duo he just fought against. He saw that Hilda was using external potions on Ashton's mortal wounds to keep him alive.
The injuries still sparked with small tongues of lightning every now and then. It indicated that foreign mana that belonged to the butcher was wreaking havoc inside the spearman's body.
'You had said that I should die peacefully before the start of the battle, right? I want to use that line against you. But consider yourself lucky that I don't want to irk that old foggy anymore than I have to.'
The butcher pondered this as he drew his daggers again. The battles between the groups of Novices and Aces were going to resume following a short pause.
But nobody noticed that the set of vials the butcher had given to Belar was slightly different than his peers.