Chapter 30

“Stop them!”

Below, in the sewers, they weren’t alone. There was a group of four soldiers standing by, all part of Baronnt's private army. They were pressed for time. Four wielded her scythe and turned it so that the blunt side was the one facing their enemy, before swinging it toward them.

Her strength knocked two into the walls, but the remaining two tried their best to stop the party’s advance. Their strength was lacking, though, and Kakashi didn’t need to activate his ability. All four were knocked out, and they could run right through.

“Keep running! They had a chance to warn their allies!” Four shouted, leading the formation. “Expect enemy reinforcements!”

“Yes!”

As Four said, more and more people rushed into the sewers in a desperate attempt to stop them. There were a ridiculous number of them blocking the road.

“Wait!” Kakashi shouted and activated his ability. They seized the initiative, and thanks to the speed-enhancing accessories, she went first, followed by Four. Kakashi ran to the other side, much to the surprise of the soldiers. That position allowed him to take a peek at how many people were entering, and from where.

The list showed over thirty people, and that’s not counting the extra soldiers flowing in from the surface.

“Just how many of you are there!?” Kakashi asked to no one in particular. The enemy soldiers, of course, didn’t answer him. They struggled, trying their best to move, but Kakashi’s magic pinned them down. Kakashi made sure that the settings were set to faint and pain levels minimal.

“Neila, step back, then use Impe-” Kakashi held his words.

Should I ask her to use explosives?

Their enemies were gathered in the same place, meaning a well-placed explosive could easily knock them all.

“Should I use explosives?” Neila asked, sharing a similar idea.

“No, idiot! You’ll bury everyone here!” Astill shouted. Unfortunately, she had a point. The engineers probably didn’t design the sewers with battle in mind, so it’s unlikely they made it explosion-proof.

“Imperial Crest!” Kakashi shouted, resuming the battle.

Neila took her sword and stabbed it into the ground. The hard stone floor prevented her sword from going deep, but it didn’t stop the ability from activating. The appearance of the imperial sword and the magic circle that accompanied it drew gasps from their opponent.

“Isn’t that…”

“I thought she was captured!”

“When did she escape!?”

Wait, they didn’t even know yet?

Kakashi couldn’t see their stats, but since their turn came after everyone in the party. There’s a chance the lower-ranked, less experienced ones were the ones that were sent to face them, as the more experienced group needed to hold back the imperial soldiers above ground.

This gave them the perfect opportunity.

“Four, forward then Infinite Dance!” Kakashi shouted.

Four leaped forward, and much like dancing, she swung her scythe. The enemy soldiers tried to defend against her. While this attack didn’t carry as much speed and strength as her other slash attacks, the soldiers weren’t strong enough to stop her. Her scythe cut through many enemies, knocking them to the side. Some unfortunate ones were thrown into the sewer, but the sewer wasn’t deep enough for them to sink. Others were thrown into the wall.

The minimal pain setting made them feel nothing but confusion as they were knocked out. There were not even the slightest screams, and maybe that scared their enemies more than anything.

Unlike her slash attacks, this weaker ability changed direction often. If the slash attack could be stopped with enough bodies blocking the way, Four was able to reroute her scythe when using Infinite Dance, allowing her scythe to damage more enemies, including the ones standing further back. The entire first line of the formation collapsed. Her turn ended. For a second, Kakashi thought she would continue attacking because of the word ‘infinite’, but apparently, that part of the name didn’t refer to that.

He slapped his cheeks, returning his attention to the battle.

“Astill, forward then Dark Miasma!”

Astill’s poison attack flew straight to the enemy. The group was instantly hit with severe status effects, and several of the ones that were already hit by Four’s attack collapsed to the ground.

“Akh!”

“What’s this!?”

The enemies were given a chance to dodge. Their dodging messed up their formation even more, and even then, it didn’t save them from the poison.

“Syorin, forward then Four Strike! Target those four!”

The four soldiers Kakashi was pointing at had only a little bit of HP left, thanks to the strikes launched by the others. Syorin ran up toward the frightened-looking soldiers. Their eyes widened in surprise as her fist landed straight on their face, sending all four tumbling backward, taking out several soldiers behind them.

All four lost their remaining HP, while the ones unlucky enough to be standing closely behind lost up to a quarter and were hit with paralysis.

It’s the soldiers' turn. The ones left were all caught up by their allies’ bodies, some losing balance and collapsing. Only five could use their turn to attack.

“Neila, jump back and restore mana!” Neila retreated away from the front lines and quickly consumed a mana potion. Using a Wide Slash, Four finished off the rest of the group. Kakashi let a second group of soldiers in, and they, too, were crushed, even if they drastically outnumbered the party.

“Please, don’t kill us!” one of the soldiers from the third group begged. The third group consisted of only three people, as the rest had retreated back to the surface.

“This won’t hurt. Four, Wide Slash!”

“Alright.”

And with that one attack, they cleared their path forward.

“Phew, we should hurry.”

“Let’s take a break to heal; we’ll continue afterward.”

Neila handed over some mana potions, and Kakashi waited for them all to finish drinking it. Once everyone was ready, they continued forward.