A needed support

Contrary to Jay's expectation, the Chieftain he had just struck hard didn't take long to rise from it's knee and look around for him. It seemed irritated when it couldn't directly spot him and carefully went towards the direction Jay had attacked from last.

By then he had of course taken cover somewhere else, but he wouldn't hide for much longer as the Gnoll could attack the others fighting around fifty yards behind it at any moment.

Jay just waited for the moment when the Chieftain looked over to them and rushed in, still keeping (Hide) active.

Only when he got in reach and rammed his sword into the other monster's kidney, or at least the spot where it was supposed to be, did he reveal himself. This time he even had to boost his movement as the red Gnoll hurled himself and the massive hammer around.

Glad to have made it in time, Jay didn't need to wait for it's next attack.

The giant red monster bent forward and rushed some steps forward. Instead of bringing down it's over sized weapon from above like before, it this time swung it from the ground upwards.

Jay had no trouble to dodge this attack at all, but the rubble lying around and debris from the ground were something completely different. While most of them were small and light, some of them were still better dodged, so Jay made a roll behind the closest cover. Some tiny pieces still grazed his unprotected face.

Once again, the monster ended it's attack in an awkward position with the upper body turned away from Jay as the hammer dropped down there. Using the moment, Jay jumped over the stones he had his behind and rushed over to land the next hit.

And then he had to jump up!

His opponent had out of sheer power started to hurl the massive hammer in its hands around. The initial movement had even caused itself harm like Jay had seen from its health bar dropping a bit, but the result was another whirlwind attack.

Only thanks to his intuition and his absurd leg strength had Jay managed to dodge the first round by jumping up. But for the second turn he was airborne.

However he looked at it, he would get hit either while falling down and not even have the chance to duck down.

In dire need, Jay crossed his swords and made ready to block as much as possible once he got hit. Seeing the black metal coming closer, Jay was sure there was nothing to block from the massive hammerhead before him.

Had it been the handle, things might have been different…

Using his Wingblade, Jay suddenly slashed out while still suspended midair in a more or less horizontal position. The next second he shot up again, higher than before and into the distance.

More than twenty yards away, on the other side of the area and with a slightly numb hand he made his not too nimble looking landing.

Still sliding backwards on the paving, he shook his right wrist. At least his weapon hadn't taken any damage and that on himself was close to zero.

Jay had hit the Chieftains weapon handle with his attack in an angle that would normally only have shifted the opponents weapons direction. As his mass was way less and he even more had been airborne, it naturally resulted in Jay getting hurled away himself.

But the damage prevention was successful.

Instead of once again chasing it's always dodging target, the red Gnoll suddenly arched his back and let out a deafening roar. It was so loud Jay even had to cover his ears in fear his eardrums might shatter.

Once it was finished he again had to dodge as the Chieftain resumed attacking with a wide swing of it's hammer.

This time, deflecting the incoming weapon was no problem after Jay had closed the distance to his opponent. The moment he managed to slightly shift up the giant hammer with his Wingblade, (Riposte) lit up and Jay countered with his Cruel Barb hacking deep into the monsters left hand.

Then he hurried past the monster and gained some distance while it hadn't turned around yet. But he immediately had to halt in his tracks as he would have crashed into another Gnoll otherwise.

And that monster wasn't the only new arrival.

Numerous other Gnolls of various sizes - normal ones, archers and veterans - came running down the long stairs that Jay and the other had arrived from. The small pack that had arrived as support prior to this looked laughable to Jay at this moment, but he had no other choice than to take care of them.

Passing the first two, Jay managed to separate the two Gnolls heads from their respective bodies until he once again had to dodge an incoming attack from the chieftain. The boss monster had killed yet another Gnoll in the process of leaping after Jay.

Jay inwardly cursed at the lost XP, but at the same time hurried to stab the next monster while closing in on the big red one.

Just as he saw it once again getting ready to whirl it's giant hammer around, indicated by the left leg rising a bit, Jay got close enough.

The position from slightly behind his opponent allowed Jay to slide through between it's legs and then jump up in front of it.

Jay slashed out, aiming at the Chieftains right hand, just before the (Whirlwind Smash) started.

In fear he might have been a bit late, Jay turned around midair and guarded himself after he jumped away from it.

But from what he then saw, this fear was unnecessary:

Thanks to his last attack, the Chieftain seemingly could no longer clutch it's massive weapon. This resulted in the hammer making only half a turn and then flying in a straight line into the opposite wall. On its way, the black weapon picked up a normal and a veteran Gnoll, mashing them upon contact with the wall.

The newly painted grafitti drew even the looks of the remaining Gnolls, granting Jay a second to land. At the same time, the Chieftain had made one full turn as the skill had already been activated, but then staggered and toppled over.

Jay used this moment and once again rushed in, this time dealing a heavy blow with mana imbued blades.

Then followed another one after he jumped over the still half lying Gnoll with what he managed to take it's right arm.

Instead of continuing, Jay decided to dash into the group of Gnolls that came as support, wildly slicing around with his swords. His aim was not to directly kill them all, but to at least have gotten one hit in on every opponent there.

All of this had not even taken five seconds when Jay got the chance to see if his thought had been right.

The chieftain, one armed and without weapon, came rushing in. It swun it's remaining clawed paw and with one swing took out three Gnolls that had been too slow to dodge. Then it rolled over and once again lunged after Jay who had gained some distance.

The free XP he just received got him grinning and cutting down even more of the Gnolls.

But before the Chieftain could jump a third time, Jay noticed two more Gnolls getting killed from his log that he had kept glancing at. Neither he nor the big one had taken action at that moment and the other two were still hard pressed.

Then he noticed movement behind the red Gnoll.

Jay took a few steps to the side while the Chieftain, visibly panting, got back to it's feet. What Jay spotted there was yet another support, only this time it was for him and not the monsters.

Adohan had finally arrived and directly joined the fray.

When he noticed Jay who just had disposed of another Gnoll and then looked over to the heavily wounded elite monster, the experienced mercenary only nodded over to the youth and sprinted over to where Cerea and Marrec still were holding out.

Of course Adohan disposed of another two Gnolls on his way over to them, granting Jay some more Experience Points.

If the man knew that Jay's fight would have long been over had he not been keeping most of his skills hidden, the mercenary might have fainted from shock.

Jay still decided to speed things up a little and no longer aimed at only slightly cutting the few remaining Gnolls. He swiftly took care of two more in the passing and landed a deep cut on the Chieftains left leg.

This was only possible through using movement skills, but Jay had seen the other three going on the offense so they were too busy noticing it.

With its movement extremely limited and the bleeding wounds having sipped it's health to below a fourth, the formerly imposing red Gnoll was close to death.

Jay dodged one last swing from it's left paw and returned it by crushing it's right kneecap with his right pommel. Even the yowl that escaped it's maw was more of a whimper as it fell onto it's knees. The next second Jay changed the Chieftains state from half dead to completely so by beheading the monster with a scissor slash.

Not to dodge the blood fountain but to get at least one hit in on Jagged Tooth before Adohan could defeat it, Jay rushed over to them. The fight had completely reversed once the experienced mercenary arrived and supported his subordinates.

Jay's luck was that he seemed to try and instruct Marrec and Cerea instead of taking it out directly.

Three seconds later Jay had covered the about eighty yards distance and while sliding ducked past the elite Gnoll archer, he managed to cut it's tendons on the right hind paw. Marrec noticed his move even before Adohan could hint him and tackled the monster with his shield.

It's balance lost and robbed from it's agility, Cerea had no problem to stab the elite monster with her spear while Jay did so with his Wingblade from the back.

Jagged Tooth died a few attacks later, and while he didn't manage to get the finishing hit in, Jay still received his share of the XP.

After the fight was over, the men sat down to check on the small wounds they had received over the day and during the last fight while Cerea rushed over to the girl called Clodagh. It wasn't like they didn't want to help, but considering the situation none of the men dared to get close to her.

Jay used this moment to look around behind the towering pillars where the Chieftain had initially come from. Just when he walked around the second one, he found what he had guessed would be there.

A totem similar to the last one he had found, only slightly bigger, was placed there. It got rammed into a small crack in the paved ground and even Jay felt like something was welling up inside him once he got closer.

Swiftly storing it in his inventory, Jay felt the tension fade and walked back.

He sat down besides Marrec who was still feeling his body for possible injuries or broken bones. When Adohan wanted to give Jay one of his potions he was surprised to find not a single scratch on the young man's face.

Jay hadn't even noticed that he seemingly had been bleeding only a few minutes before, what the experienced mercenary had noticed. As not a single scratch was left, he simply made up that it had been the Chieftains blood and the potion went to Marrec who had finally taken off his stupid helmet.

As the blonde man gulped down the red liquid, Jay couldn't hep but declare the other young male of the group to be an idiot. He had thought Marrec might be ugly or have some serious scars or deformations to keep wearing that helmet, but he was the typical man in his mid twenties.

Jay's curiosity winning in the end, he asked Marrec directly what it was with the helmet, but latter only shook his head.

"It's nothing too special. It was a gift from ten years ago which I cherish. By now wearing it simply had become a habit, but Cerea forbids it once we are alone, you see?" M.

"Hmm, wondering why?…" J.

The two laughed a bit and relaxed after a hard day. It had only been some hours since they went for the ruins, but those had been taxing for everyone, even Jay.

And they were still not done as they had to check on the corpses and loot everything of value. Adohan was already trying to pull the giant hammer out of the wall where it was still stuck. The veteran called Marrec for help who jumped to his feet and rushed over. But even with two man the weapon was so heavy that it took them some effort to move it.

Looking over to the women, Jay found Cerea still treating the other one and decided to help Adohan and Marrec. The hammer was really extremely heavy, but Jay still could lift it.

Glad he had not done so before the others eyes, he let go of it while Adohan was declaring to his subordinate that they would have to leave it there as their bags were to small and the weapon too heavy to carry.

Together they went over to the end of the stairs where the Gnolls already kept piling up. The first thing they did was collecting all weapons and the few armors the monsters had been wearing. Most of them looked like they had been looted from Adventurers or soldiers and were in not the best states.

Jay declined his share and offered Adohan to take it, then they pulled the corpses together. Once done they went to the Chieftain and first of all, took those shields it wore off. The big one it wore on it's back went to the mercenaries again as Jay had no use for it and didn't want to carry the thing. His inventory couldn't be mentioned and he had left the bag at the boats like the others.

But he took one of those the Gnoll had on it's hips, as well as the helmet it wore.

The other one went to Cerea, as well as the leather strap it had. Marrec got one of the leg guards and like this they continued with Jagged tooth and the things they found on their way as well.

Adohan had apparently run into multiple encounters, explaining what had taken him so long to arrive. Though most of them had been no issue, he at one point had gotten held back longer as a really big white Gnoll had attacked. But once it noticed Adohan had the upper hand, it yowled out and then ran away.

Of course Jay kept silent about his encounters, but from how it sounded Adohan's encounter was after his, so the white one was different to Jay's.

During his report they had finished collecting and distributing the loot. All that was left was taking care of the materials how Adohan called it.

Close to one hour later, three skinned veteran Gnolls and two unrecognizable piles of bloody flesh lay on top of the other Gnolls they had pulled together. Adohan had even taken out some of the bones from the Chieftain and Jagged tooth, together with some fangs and the best parts of meat.

After he first had taken care of the big red one, Jay had been asked to pull it onto the pile. As he had done so, he had gotten an idea and decided to test it out.

Once he placed the Corpse onto the others, he fetched his special ring and collected another piece of meat from the chieftain in it. Once done with it he placed the body in a way so that no one would notice, even though he doubted someone would either way.

As Marrec and Adohan still were busy dismantling the Gnolls, Jay silently rushed over to the heavy black hammer and touched it.

That was two giant weapons stored in a row...

In the end, while the additional materials would bring them quite some income, it also resulted in the three men getting soaked in blood. They rolled the spoils into cloth the mercenaries brought with them and stuffed them into five bags.

Cerea had finally managed to calm down Clodagh and after latter had fainted again, she walked over to incinerate the pile of corpses before anything would happen.

Jay got a simple linen shirt from Marrec who had already taken off his Armor. As Adohan did so as well and pulled another shirt from his small item bag, Jay took his off as well.

They then decided all together in which constellation and how to travel back.

In the end, Cerea would guard them as the only one remaining with gear. Adohan and Marrec each carried two big bags and Jay had to carry Clodagh as she knew the other two and possibly hold it against them if she woke up. He took the smallest of the bags as well and stuffed his armor in before lifting the light girl.

Cerea had initially protested, stating she could carry something as well, but it proved absolutely no problem for Jay and she then gave in.

Ready set the group didn't wait any longer and carefully proceeded out of the ruins.