Waiting For The Sign

The heavy rain continued to fall, but oddly there were no soldiers around. We still hadn't turned off the alarm, and I needed to find out where it was before the keeper attacked me again. Time was passing quickly, and if the alarm went off, we would be trapped. I glared at the keeper and spoke up.

"If you're trying to distract me, it won't work. I know there's an alarm system, and I'm certain you know where it is."

He smirked at me, "Don't worry, I've given you enough time. And I don't need anyone's help to take care of your friends. If I wanted to, I would have set off the alarm already."

I readied myself to fight and asked him, "You expect me to believe that?"

Without hesitation, the keeper pulled out the remote alarm button from his pocket and smashed it.

"See? I did what you wanted. Now show me what you've got, Hero."

And with that, we resumed fighting despite the lightning flashing around us. The urge to kill was so strong that he even destroyed the alarm with his own hands. I had to be very careful against such an enemy, otherwise, my mistake could result in my death. Although I had to be careful, the enemy and I were attacking each other fiercely.

He grabbed my arm, pulled me towards him, and attacked me with his clone. I was knocked to the ground and he tried to kick me, but I managed to evade by rolling to the right. I got back up and continued to fight.

When his clone came at me again, I took it down with a knee strike.

But the keeper kept attacking relentlessly. I dodged as much as I could, but he landed a spinning kick on my chest. I tried to shield myself with my arms, but it was futile. He blasted me back and surrounded me with more clones than before.

I jumped as high as I could and landed hard on the ground, causing the clones to waver with the shaking. I quickly ran towards the real keeper and landed a blow on his head with my left leg.

But it was a trick - I had actually hit his clone. The real keeper appeared on my left and kicked me hard in the stomach, causing me to fall to the ground again.

Despite using all of my tactics, I kept getting knocked down. The enemy may have been strong, but I wasn't one to give up easily. I knew I had to win this war.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------(Babu)

Following Hiroshi's instructions, the prisoner and I took the alternate path, and fortunately, the monster didn't pursue us. As we made our way, I expressed my concern about how we would confront the soldiers ahead. Because multiple footsteps indicated that the soldiers were on our side.

The prisoner responded with a grim outlook, "We have no other choice but to fight. After this, they will surely try to kill us."

I sighed, "I was hoping for a more optimistic outlook."

The prisoner then shared an idea, "But if I can inspire my fellow prisoners to rebel, we might have a chance."

I questioned how he could achieve this since the mines were vast and it would be difficult to reach everyone.

"There's a sound system room up ahead that controls the loudspeakers," he explained. "If we can get past the soldiers and reach it, I can address all the prisoners and inspire them to fight for their freedom."

---------------------------------------(Lezlie)

As we continued to run, the creature relentlessly pursued us. We knew little about it, except that the stone didn't seem to harm its thick skin. Concerned, I warned Hiroshi about its resilience.

"This creature is extremely dangerous, Hiroshi. I don't think your bullets can penetrate its skin."

"That's why we need to try something else. That beast is obsessed with killing us, but it won't even realize what trap it's fallen into," Hiroshi replied confidently.

His assurance was good, but I was curious why he had chosen me for this task. I thought he could at least take Babu with him instead of me because he was pretty sure that the creature would follow us before we parted ways.

"Why didn't you ask Babu for help? He's certainly better at fighting than I am."

"No, I need your powers here. I can't do it with Babu," he explained.

"How can I help you?" I asked.

"Do you remember the spell you recently learned?"

"The blinding spell?"

"When I give you the signal, use your spell on the creature. It will be blinded momentarily, and I will use the chains I found to immobilize it."

"Are you sure this is going to work?" I asked, still skeptical.

"Yeah, I mean, I think so."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Ryuu)

I noticed the totem in the keeper's pocket while we were fighting. Saving the people here was my priority, but I couldn't take the totem without defeating the keeper, and every time I attacked, he easily repelled me with his clones.

As I fought, I thought about how to beat him. How could I get past his clones?

And then it hit me. The guard was avoiding lightning as much as possible. He even took my previous blow just to escape it. I didn't know why he was afraid of lightning, but I knew what I had to do.

I had to get him as close to the lightning as possible. It might show some weakness. First, I looked for where the lightning struck most often. I wanted to move the fight to that spot, but I had to do it without letting him know, so I continued to fight as usual.

After a while, he stopped attacking and stood in front of me.

"I don't know why the first epic wants you, but I can't let you leave here alive."

"I didn't know I was such a danger to you."

"What matters is not who you are but who gave the order. He has orders from Miron to find you. He's been searching for you all over the first Kingdom, and when they find you, I'm sure they'll do worse to you than I ever could."

"No one needs to come for me, because I will come for all of you. And I'm gonna put an end to it."

"You'll get more than you asked for."

After his words, the guard used his clone power to duplicate exactly fifty of himself and stood in front of me.

"I'll show you the true meaning of danger, and give you a taste of it."

I was surrounded by more than fifty clones. I didn't know what to do.

If I attacked one, the others would target me. The keeper pointed at me and said, "Show no mercy, kill him."

More than fifty clones started attacking me at once. I tried to defend myself, but it was almost impossible. They targeted my head when I defended my stomach, and my stomach when I defended my head.

I had to think fast.