Abnormal Creation

While Noah had entered the A Class dungeon. Alice and the other Rose Foxes were exploring the C Class dungeon. They had entered with other groups and split up near the entrance.

Alice left fluid strikes on a long monster with a segmented body, its numerous sharp legs waving.

[Cavern Remipede]

C Class

Level 55

Landing back on the ground, Alice saw multiple wounds on her body where her armour was weak. She drank a Healing potion as Kira and Tasha fought. Better now, she ran forward with speed and turned invisible, she then soon appeared behind the monster and slashed down with both her daggers.

The armour was tough but she pierced through. The long monster whipped its body feeling the attack launching Alice away. Thrown off Alice crashed into the ground as she ate dirt.

'I am not doing so hot.' She thought. With Noah not being here, she had lost the 10% boost in attributes she got due to her talent, then she didn't have his buffs either, this made a significant difference during the fight.

She couldn't get into the flow of the battle, with more factors to concentrate on. Her attacks were slower and she had was getting injured a lot more. It was like removing the training wheels of a bicycle suddenly.

The others were mostly the same, Kira was now showing her true potential, she was no different from a beast as she tore monsters down with red flames.

Getting off the ground Alice, formed three shadow shurikens and threw them. She then disappeared again and used Reverse Grip to leave a wound.

Kira at the front jumped off the monsters head and while doing a flip she stretched her arms out forming two magic circles, two flaming wheels formed as they spun violently. She threw them as she landed. The wheels hit the monster and burst into flames finally killing it.

They all settled down.

Kira sat down and looked at the tired Alice. She had noticed how off Alice had been since they entered the dungeon. "Do you miss Noah?"

Alice stayed silent for a while, "Is it that obvious?" she asked back. Of course, she missed him. Noah gave off this sense of security, that comforted her even in the most dangerous of moments. Dungeons didn't feel the same without him.

"It is, right?" Kira looked at the other girls who couldn't help but listen. The three nodded.

Tasha, "You're normally so cheery, but you've barely said anything since we entered."

"That's because I need to stay vigilant!" Alice justified. "I'm just a little tense since it's my first time doing a dungeon without him."

"Actually, I was a little worried about you when Noah wasn't coming. But it seems it was needed." Leona said.

"What do you need to worry about? I do miss him but that doesn't mean I'll let my feelings endanger you guys as well."

"No, it was just the change in not having his support during battle, but you've been doing fine. You were struggling a bit at the beginning but I think you got a hang of it now."

"You guys could tell?"

"I mean we felt the change, but it must have been hardest for you since Noah mainly focuses on supporting you." Tasha chimed in.

Alice didn't understand, "Doesn't Noah support all of us the same?"

The other looked at her blankly like is this girl crazy.

"I swear during fights it's like he is only focused on supporting you. He doesn't even look at anyone else." Tasha rolled her eyes.

"I've noticed that he does almost nothing other than buff me, but he gives that to everyone here."

Kira nodded, "He did decrease the amount of support he gives you, I've seen it over time but during combat, he lets nothing get even close to you. Anything remotely threatening, he takes out, which was why you almost never got injured."

Hearing Kira explain, Alice started understanding. She remembered when Noah was only with her he would support her with his everything, bullets would rain down on monsters around her. So she was used to this happening. After joining the Rose Foxes, she never saw any bullets go past her now. So she thought he had decreased his support, it seemed like he had just gotten much more skilful so she just didn't notice.

The harsh truth that her achievements weren't truly hers, slapped her in the face. 'Have I always been so dependant on Noah during fights?' She knew the answer, she was.

'Have I been holding him back? Isn't that exactly what I didn't want to do. It looks like there is only one way to fix this.' She then looked at the others, "Hey... should we remove Noah from the group..."

They were surprised by the sudden suggestion.

"Why would we do that?" Leona asked. Noah wasn't as social but he was a part of the Red Foxes, she couldn't take him out on a whim.

"I think it is better if we started running dungeons without him. You guys know how strong Noah is, he barely actually fights during our dungeon runs and just watches over us, it must be so boring for him." Alice said, as she spoke she started feeling more confident with her suggestion.

Noah had always kept a distance from the group which she thought was strange to her. What Kira said about him decreasing his support made her realise that Noah already knew she was dependant on him in battle. It seemed like he was just waiting for her to realise this herself and make the decision on doing dungeons without him.

She wanted to be on the same level as Noah, but she knew they were built differently it was impossible at the moment. But that didn't mean she couldn't reach it in the future, the first thing she needed to do now was to stand on her own feet. If she kept on depending on him she would never reach his level.

"I second the suggestion," Kira said.

"I disagree," Sofia said. "When I can a cast I have to stay still and since I am further away from the group it is stressful not knowing if a monster will jump at me from behind. Plus it is reassuring to have someone strong since we could lose our lives if we enter the wrong dungeon."

Tasha nodded, "Noah helped in speeding up the dungeons we ran, if he goes we won't be to do as many in a day."

Leona heard all opinions and thought, "It would be best if we ran B Class dungeons with him, as for C Class, if Noah is only staying in the group because of Alice, we should do them without him from now on. We should discuss this with him when we get out to make a final decision."

The others agreed.

"That's enough for a break, let's get back to the dungeon."

...

In the A Class dungeon.

"Savant and I will defend, Lofen will assist. Everyone else, follow our lead as you attack." Valerie shouted. She then stretched her left hand out and a silver shield formed. The shield hadn't been taken out from her inventory rather her silver bracelet had transformed into it.

The formation changed as the three ran forward.

Xavier at the front moved back as he shot arrows of flame at the Abnormal Creation.

Anya started casting, "Song of Vigour!", she then followed it with, "Water Spear!" a spear of clear blue water formed and shot at high speed.

[You have been buffed, Strength +30, Physique +30 {4:59s}]

The Buff was an area of effect skill he hadn't seen before. It rather impressed Noah as he also cast his buffing skills on everyone here: Strenght Boost, Speed Boost and Bulk Up.

The whole team was surprised seeing waves glows of yellow, red and orange come on to them. Sultan at the back wondered how Noah was able to cast a skill without any delay since he knew it had a cool down. He then started casting, "Rock Fall!" and send rocks flying at the monster.

The monster smashed down with its fluid arms. Savant used his shield to block, "Solid Stance!" Lowering his center of gravity he took the hit with his shield, his feet dragged on the ground as he was pushed back.

Valerie charged in, her sword moved like a streak of light as she left five consecutive slashes, then was smashed away by its other arm. She defended with her shield and elegantly landed.

Lofan swept his staff, "Wind Burst!" Strong pressure came pushing the front of the monster back.

Graham and Seiko, waiting sprinted. Seiko was like lightning as she slashed with her katana. While Graham moved spun and got as many hits as he could with both of his daggers.

All the attacks didn't have an effect on the monster, just sank into it. The white body of its was changed by the elemental energy of the attacks. Red from the arrows of fire, blue from the water spear, brown from the rocks, silver from the blades attacking it and the green from Noah's mana bullets. It quickly turned into a kaleidoscope of colours.

Noah up on his staff now shooting with the flintlock in hand saw the monster's strong defence. He then used Evil Glare and Blind.

Graham felt the monster's movements were worst than before as he dodged. His attacks were also cutting deeper. The others also felt the change, they started understanding the befit of having someone dedicated to a supporting role.

The bottom part of the monsters head split open as it roared out. It sent a shockwave of wind. Then a black ball formed in front of its mouth, all the colour in its body moved up to its head and then was sucked into the ball causing it to grow.

Sultan shouted, "Disrupt!" However, the spell failed. He then cast, "Earth wall!"

"Savant take it with me!" Valerie shouted as she moved to block. She got behind the wall.

"Steel Castle!" Savant shouted getting in position. His shield had mana come out of it and formed a translucent grey protective screen.

"Shining Defence!" Valerie also used her defensive skill. The two skills used close to each other overlapped.

The Black energy shot out like a cone expanding out, almost covering the height and width of the whole cave. It was enough to kill everyone in front of the monster.

Graham and Seiko had gotten behind the monster so weren't in the range but everyone else had moved in to get behind Valerie and Savant. Even Noah flew down and cast Mana Sheild in front of the Water Screen Anya had also cast.

The five-layer defence took the attack straight on. The strong darkness energy pushed on all the shields together. Noah's Mana Shield held the attack for a good few seconds then it shattered, the black encompassing force quickly broke the Water Screen and Earth Wall then hit the shields.

The two were pushed back by the force. But pulled through it. Valerie immediately shouted, "Eric!"

Eric who was behind the shield finished charging his skill. He then started sprinting as his spear lit with red deadly energy, "Champion Blow!"

Going through the space Valerie and Savant had opened for him between the shields he pierced into the monster. Boom! His attack pulsed out like a wave through its liquid body. Its entire body getting dyed a dark red colour.

Sultan followed with, "Blazing Inferno!" A large flame rose around the monster scorching it.

It screamed in pain as it used its skill, Expansion. Its body grew larger as if it was flooding the cave. Everyone remembered how the fluid had easily consumed a B Class monster and moved away from it.

"Everyone regroup," Valerie said as the Abnormal Creation's range increased.

Noah pulled out the Gravitational Staff and dropped it, he activated Gravitational Zone and used Anti Gravity on the people in its range.

The monster's movements were restricted by its hold, so it was easier to escape and attack its larger body. Everyone used the opportunity to attack.

The monster roared again this time using a skill, Paralyzing Fear!

The entire team was frozen in place. The system told them they couldn't move for ten seconds. They watched the monster release a grey gas from its body. This was the strongest restricting skill Noah had faced it stopped all movements, even mana.

The grey gas came towards them. It covered their view entirely as they heard, the system.

[All attributes decreased by 40!]

The Abnormal Creation smashed towards Valerie and Savant, ready to kill them.

Just as the hold weekend Noah used Leaf Storm, a twister of leaves formed and pushed the gas away clearing the view. Sultan did the same using a spell, "Gale!"

Valerie and Savant moved their shields up in a hurry and were pressed down by the monster. Lofan came in and sent another wind burst to free them.

The monster minimized back to Its normal size. But then it immediately split into two, smaller identical monsters.

The two smaller Abnormal Creations formed a Black beam and shot it. Now the whole team was caught into its range. Everyone pulled out a defence skill they had. The force was greater but they held on again.

The two merged again and released a pulse of dark energy from its body.

Everyone's shields were in cool down. Valerie and Savant got ready to take it directly with their shield, with no skill. Noah used Mana Sheild again. A small segment of the pulse was blocked while the rest destroyed the cave.

The ten then went all out on attack again. They quickly got in as much damage as they could. The monster seemed to be out of energy now.

Eric did another large attack and it broke the monster into free liquid and formed a pool from its body. No items had dropped, but it was quite common for dungeon mobs to not drop anything.

Finally, the fight was over. Everyone was surprised by how strong the monster was. An A Class monster was much stronger than a B Class dungeon Lord.

"Let's take a break, and discuss strategy," Valerie said moving back. They needed to recover their mana and see how they would move further ahead.

As everyone regrouped, Noah flying above watched the still pool. It looked like the monster had been defeated but from he had judged it could still take a few more hits.

He activated Death's Dance.

The world turned white as he looked at the monster. Sure enough, it was a light red colour with a dark red dot in it moving around. The monster was alive and waiting for the opportunity to attack.

Noah pointed his flintlock at it. He noticed the red stilled and even looked agitated in response to his movement.

The team members turned in his direction feeling the mana change.

Pulling the trigger Noah shot 20 times, that fell on the monster like rain. The red dot tried to dodge the onslaught of bullets as mana started getting stored in its body.

'It's self-destructing? It's too late.' Noah pulled the trigger again and a beam of solar energy shot straight through the red dot destroying it.

The white fluid on the ground instantly evaporated into the air and disappeared.