Chapter 129 Race Against Time [3]

"I think the plan was to stall as long as possible?"

A man over 8 feet spoke. He was carrying a shield and leading the three more sentries.

Looking at the four sentries, that came from the same path as me, my eyes widened in shock.

'Those guys are the 1st and the 2nd group that I didn't fight.'

That shield carrier was Lvl.21 and belonged to the 1st group. I remember him because of his level.

But why are they here?

They should have gone outside.

"Kukuku..Looking at yer face it seems that ye can't understand how we caught ye, eh?"

"Stop speaking before you give him more information."

'These three…'

[Appraisal]

'The one with the weird accent is Lvl15 and agility-focused. The other one is Lvl.18, and a balanced fighter and the newcomer is Lvl.21 and a tank.'

The two behind the tank were archers and the last one was a mage.

'It had to develop into a worst-case scenario?'

I don't remember triggering any alarm and considering how the 1st and 2nd sentry groups had returned; they were already aware of me.

'No, they were aware that someone is infiltrating.'

That would explain why they didn't attack me till now. They were being cautious in case the intruder was stronger than them.

'Dammit! I know Isabell is clumsy and has higher luck than Leon. But if she tripped at some alarm, why am I the one who is getting caught?!'

"You are surrounded by 10 awakeners. It would be best if you surrender."

The Lvl.18 warrior took the lead to instigate my surrender.

'What should I do?'

I quickly thought of the possible outcome while trying to stay as calm as possible.

A head-on fight will waste a large amount of ether. Even then, the chances of winning weren't guaranteed.

But I don't think I can run away now.

I didn't consider surrendering one bit. I had already pissed Sword Maiden, and I didn't want to know what she will do to me after getting caught.

I stood up and stopped using my stigma on myself.

"You!"

"See, I told ye he's looked similar!"

"Mr. Pepe"

My robe was torn in many places and I was wearing a mask, but everything was what I was wearing during the tournament.

Moreover, my art left no doubts about my identity.

"So? Do you want me to surrender now?"

"T-that's…"

I secretly channeled ether and circulated it to my whole body.

There was still one way to get out of here.

"Without magic, you are a normal aura-user. If you could win, you would have already attacked."

The tank, despite having the highest level, didn't speak much. It was only the one except the Lvl.18 who talked to me.

I already knew they weren't going to let me leave, but I still hoped they would.

[Domination Decree]

I increased the output of the skill, however, nothing happened.

"Ah, we have <Fortitude> cast on us, if you are wondering why yer skill isn't working."

<Fortitude> strengths mind against illiusion skill.

[Anti-Magic Field] wouldn't work against support magic. After support magic is deployed, it becomes a real phenomenon and not magic.

This was the biggest difference between support magic and attack magic, which was a simulated phenomenon using mana to work.

The spell would wear off after a few minutes, but…

'Till then what?'

I only now noticed that there was one more mage behind the three mages that were supporting the Lvl.18 and Lvl.15 warrior.

The tank had two archers backing him, and their mage was standing behind them too.

'Are those mages at the very end because they are support mages?'

Each group had 1 support mage.

The group in front had 2 warriors, 3 mages, and 1 support mage.

The group behind me had 1 tank, 3 archers, and 1 support mage.

'It can't get any worse, can it?'

I tensed my calves and covered them in ether.

"Is that so?"

-Bam!

Releasing the tension, I bolted toward the front.

The agility warrior moved a little late and thrust his sword at me.

Fwosh-!

A water jet shot out from the tip of his sword.

Swosh-

I nimbly ducked and swung my fist toward his face.

Swish- Swish-

At the same time, I shot two daggers toward the other warrior.

Clang-! Clang-!

He blocked the daggers. However, he had to stop rushing to me to block them.

The other guy barely managed to dodge my fist and backed away.

"Ain't ye being hasty?"

Both the warriors stood a safe distance from me.

They were able to dodge my attacks, however….

Swish- Swish- Swish-

…they weren't my target.

The three daggers shot swiftly toward the mages behind them, who were holding the torches.

The only sources of light for the sentries were the torches. If I could remove that source, then I would get the upper hand.

Puchi-! Clang-! Clang-!

The first dagger pierced the head of the mage however, a glowing shield that appeared out of thin air blocked the other daggers.

The tank that was leading the group behind me was holding a similar but smaller glowing shield in his hand.

I quickly understood why he wasn't entering the fight, even though he was supposed to be the tank.

'He can create shields'

I shouldn't have asked if it could get worse.

At least this explained why the tank wasn't fighting at close range.

"We are still here."

Schwing-!

The Lvl.18 warrior appeared behind me and brandished his sword.

The blade tore through my robe and left a deep gash.

"Hufff..shit"

I cursed under my breath and immediately turned to face them.

Now, there were three mages behind me while everyone else was in front of me.

Both the warriors attacked me again.

Schwing- Schwing-

I narrowly dodged them and tried to counterattack.

Clang-!

A shortsword appeared in my hand and I blocked the Lvl.18 warrior.

At the same time, the other warrior thrust his sword.

I burst a layer of compressed ether and jumped away.

The pain flared in my back and blood dripped from the injury. However, I only felt my mind becoming calmer.

'I can't use my left hand in close combat, so fighting them at once is out of the question.'

'Although I am blocking the other one with swords, I'm not fast enough to construct bigger weapons to completely block him.'

I fired four swords as I was backing away.

They easily dodged them and kept attacking me.

Swish- Swish-

Clang-! Clang-!

Two daggers appeared above both their heads, but two small, glowing shields blocked them.

The two weren't leaving any openings for me to use, and if I tried to use attacks by deliberately creating an opening, the tank blocked them.

The only blessing was that these two were fighting at close range, leaving the archers no chance to join the fray in fear of friendly fire.

"Keep attacking. Don't give him any chance to use grimoire."

I pulled my body back, however, because my left arm wasn't moving fast enough to keep up with my body, it had many cuts on it.

The rest of the body wasn't much better, though.

I had cuts on every part of my body, and there was a deep gash on my back. The robe was ripped everywhere and it wouldn't be weird for it to fall over.

'It's harder than fighting with Vile reaper.'

I was able to defeat Vile reaper by getting hit to get an opening to attack him, but that only worked because it was a one-on-one fight.

My back stung every time I had to make extreme maneuvers to dodge.

Despite that, I kept thinking for a way out.

'Even if I manage to kill these two, I will only be giving the archers a chance. I'm too far from the tank and the archers behind him. If they start attacking, I won't be able to get close to them.'