The Foreman

We had continued exploring the mine for a couple of hours now, without any major issues so far. The trickiest opponent should have been the kobold shamans, who could wield dark forces to cast spells that obstructed one's movement or send curses that decreased one's physical stats, like lowering one's strength or speed.

There had been some slight problems the first time we came in contact with a patrol in which a shaman was present, but not for the reasons one might think.

It had mainly been because I had wanted to try out just how much damage I could do without using my lightning. So when we initiated combat I instantly used my step to blink at the shaman and stabbed him in the neck. Or that was what was supposed to happen...

It turns out that I couldn't even scratch the leathery skin of the rat without any elemental infusion in my brothers. So the shaman had managed to get a spell cast off, creating shadowy tendrils that slowed down Lindsey's movement by quite a bit.

Fortunately, Akane had learned some sort of purification spell that she had washed away the curse with. After that, we had easily cleaned up the group of four, three grunts and one shaman, without any problems.

I did get reprimanded a bit by Lindsey, as she had somehow seen me deliberately holding back during my first attack, but after that, everything went quite smoothly.

If there was one problem, it would be that Lindsey had taken quite a beating. Even if she was incredibly skillful, she wasn't a real tanker and she was bound to get hit by attacks every now and then. These attacks were almost always pretty shallow, but they had been wearing her down over time.

She had been able to keep on going thanks to potions and Akane's restorative water, but because she didn't inhabit the rize element, it wasn't effective enough to fully heal our spearhead.

So we were currently searching for our last fight before we would go back to the portal to end our dive. Unfortunately, things didn't quite go as planned.

"We are surrounded..."

Lindsey had just scanned the area around us, and somehow it seemed that we had been caught in a gauntlet, with enemies both behind us and in front of us. Because of how the case was curving, we didn't have visuals of our opponents yet, but we would have to choose a direction and break through one of the packs.

Of course, we would head backward, as to make sure we could get to the portal after our fight as quickly as possible. However, sadly that was also the patrol with more military might, "We will have to fight against six kobolds to go back, and one of them seemed to have a slightly weird mana signature. There's a large risk that it might be a mutant."

It wasn't the news that we wanted to hear in this situation, but it was better to prepare for the possibility beforehand, rather than getting caught off guard. Strangely enough, even in this precarious situation, Akane didn't seem too perturbed by the situation. In fact, she could even be said to be pretty calm, considering how she usually acted around me. 'She is still a Kikegaard student, I guess.'

We moved as a unit, readying our weapons as we braced for impact. It didn't take long until we turned the final corner and saw what we had to go up against.

A group of four grunts, one shaman, and then an incredibly large kobold which was distinctively different from its kin. Most kobolds had brown or gray leathery skin but the mutant in front of us was covered in red stripes.

Instead of a pickaxe, it was holding a large shovel, and its head was adorned with some kind of lantern, projecting its light forward.

"It's a foreman..."

Thankfully, we had all studied the information that Lindsey had brought during our meeting, thus we already knew what was special about it.

It was pretty much just a stronger and faster warrior-type, although it was able to use the skills [Double Strike] and [Charge].

'This is going to be rough...'

The main problem was that we still didn't have a real tanker. There was no way that Lindsey would be able to go toe to toe with four grunts and a foreman, even with the support of Akane.

Thus there was only one viable solution, "I'll deal with the shaman and the foreman. You two deal with the grunts..."

My party members just looked at me in astonishment due to the absurd words I had uttered.

"There is no way you can deal with the foreman alone, he is on a completely different level!"

Lindsey's words were true, the foreman was most likely several times stronger than its smaller brothers, but this was the only strategy we could deploy that could get all of us out of here alive.

"I can do it, just trust me. It's not like we have time for another idea anyway, seeing as they will spot us any second now..."

*SKRYAAAA!!*

And just as my words exited my mouth, the monsters noticed us and started to run forward with their pickaxes ready to strike. Fortunately, the foreman lingered a bit, as if to stay at a safe distance while trying to measure up his enemies, with the shaman by his side.

Me and Lindsey both charged toward the group of kobolds, her ready to block the incoming enemies, and me ready to finish off the shaman as quickly as possible.

"Lindsey! You might have to carry me out of the dungeon after this!"

"What?!"

But her words were left behind as I quickly ducked under an incoming pickaxe and ran past the four grunts.

"[Overclock]!"

I absorbed the ambient mana as quickly as possible, making it a much more straining and inefficient process, but I didn't have time to do it properly.

In sync with my M.G. strengthening, my mind went a step further in numbing my emotions, letting me clearly see what I should do.

The foreman had already reacted to my approach, raising his shovel in the air, preparing himself to reduce me to a puddle on the ground, but I was already in a suitable range to reach the shaman.

*Crrzt, Clank!*

The shovel had hit the ground as I blinked forward, easily letting Nandaka pierce the throat of the shaman, as the tendrils of lightning ended its life in an instant.

However, now the hard part began.

*Kryaaa!*

The giant kobold had seen what I did to its shaman, and its eyes glowed red in rage as it let out a shrill scream.

It started sprinting toward my location while an unknown force made it hard for me to move, feeling as if I was suddenly buried in sand.

'Is this the effect of [Charge]?'

Maybe it was because of my unique mental state, but when the foreman got close to me, the pressure he had emitted before disappeared as I managed to roll to the side and dodge his assault.

"Lindsey!"

Behind me, Lindsey and Akane were having a tough time fighting against the four grunts and the ice knightess's body started to accumulate a lot of wounds. Her blood had already started to wet the ground beneath her.

'I have to end this quickly and help them!"

Because of the size difference between the monster and me, it would be hard for me to accurately strike a fatal point in his body.

I needed an attack that was strong enough to end its life by reaching its heart somehow and I didn't think my daggers would be able to penetrate that far due to a large amount of muscles and fat on its body.

I did have an ace up my sleeve though, a skill that I hadn't ever used yet, but it was something that felt like it might work.

"[Wings of Thunder]!" *CRACKLE!*

I felt my back getting scorched as two purple wings made of pure electricity sprouted from my back. It was a weird sensation, it was almost like like I could feel the wings themselves, even though they were just made with mana. What was even weirder was the fact that I seemed to have no problems moving them as I wanted to, they completely followed my will.

As I was quickly getting used to my newly acquired assets, the foreman had already set his sights on me again.

However, this time I didn't let him approach me. Instead, I started to accumulate power in my wings using [Discharge] and used a step to eliminate the distance between us.

The big monster stopped for a second in surprise, letting me charge for a bit longer, allowing me to strike with the strongest attack possible.

"KRYAA!"

My big wings both penetrated the body of the monster and I let all of the charged energy explode inside of it, electrocuting its internal organs.

*CRACKLE!, CRRZZZT!*

As the smell of charred flesh entered my nose, I turned my head up towards the hideous rat's face. Blood had already started to flow out of all the foreman orifices as it died while still standing. Although my body felt like it had started to break down, I had no choice but to turn my head to see how my party members were faring. However, the situation did not look good.

Lindsey was down on one knee her skin covered in wounds and blood, having only been able to slay one out of the four kobolds. Now the rest of them had completely set their sights on finishing off their enemy.

*[Lightning Step]!*