Another Raid? Last Raid

Although it took a while, but after exhausting their strengths completely, the group was able to finish off the boss monster. The boss monster of the D rank dungeon collapsed to the ground and sent mild tremors around the area as its body clasped the rocky hard ground. It might have been a D rank dungeon boss, but it was way powerful than the normal D rank boss.

"This one was very tough! Kyaa!" One of them said, as she fell backwards to the ground from exhaustion.

"You said it."

"I thought this was supposed to be a D rank dungeon? It's nothing like it."

"This dungeon is certainly pseudo C rank for sure!"

They all lamented and gave different comments, everyone being on the floor from exhaustion. The healer wasted no time and began casting some light healing magic to relieve them of the fatigue and help them gain some lost stamina before healing those who had any injuries. Luckily, their teamwork was very good, so some members only sustained light injury.

Oscar, who had maintained his distance during the fight was relatively ok and had only exhausted his mana, though not all, if not he would be in pain from mana exhaustion. Apart from him, the rest waited their turn for the healer to do his thing.

Everything had gone great, and they even performed well, given the difficulty they ended up facing. Though that was their verdict, they would soon be proven wrong, sooner than they would ever imagine.

The healer had four more members to go as he was healing when a strange phenomenon started. It started with a loud cracking sound coming from the body of the dead monster with nine tails, and following that were more of such sounds, as its skin contorted in unnatural ways. To say the least, everyone was shocked, as they were not expecting anything like that. They were not given the time to process what was happening, though, as the situation progressed hastily.

The sounds became more frequent, and the skin from the monster started ripping itself off onto the ground like the dead body was shedding its skin to expose the muscle tissues underneath, only in a grotesque manner. When this was over, all that was remaining were the bones of the nine tailed monster, but now it was on all fours with gooey blood dripping all over.

Out of nowhere, black viscous liquid materialized and stuck itself to the bones of this beast, and fully transformed it into a complete looking monster.

It was still a nine-tailed fox looking creature, but its size had doubled, and the black goo that stuck to its body had turned into black burly flesh that protruded with every motion it made. This was in addition to the modification it seemed to have gotten on its teeth, claws, and tails. Its teeth now looked razor like and scattered all through its mouth as it poked out of the black surface covering, and its tails looked more like the claws than anything.

This all happened under a minute, and the hunters looking at it could do nothing but watch the horrifyingly strange scene. With no need for explanation, they knew very well what was going to happen next.

The healer came back to his senses quickly and began casting a more powerful healing spell on everyone to get them battle ready before it was too late. By the time the monster was fully formed, everyone was at close to 70% strength.

"Look at this thing. Leader, don't you think we should go back? This thing looks at least twice as powerful as the one we just killed." The one with the assassin class said as she stared at the monster before them.

As though dead, the monster before them only stared blankly at them without making any sound after it formed, with saliva hanging, almost dropping from its mouth. The pressure it gave from its body was low, but everyone could feel the pressure in the air seem to intensify a bit.

"That's not a bad choice, but…" the leader said, as a sudden look of greed appeared in his eyes.

"Hey, Mass, I know what you're thinking, but this isn't it, I'm telling you!" someone else said out, almost yelling, but still got no reaction from the monster in front. Everyone remained still without moving an inch still.

"Look, this happens only very rarely. A dungeon upgrade is not something you see every day. If we can clear it like this, we can get five times the reward for the risks ensued. If we leave now, we'll only get double." The leader reasoned.

"H-hey, come on leader, you're not-" the leader interrupted as he turned back slightly to bring into his vision the one who was talking. He was also a tank, just like the leader, D rank.

"Look here, fatty, Jossie, Ron, big guy over there, and I myself are all C rank hunters." The leader, Mass, said as he pointed to all three, then himself.

"The only reason we didn't show our full strength earlier was because this was supposed to be a test for you guys." The leader scuffed with a not too pleased face. "This is a dungeon upgrade. That means the boss monster would have only risen to the level of a C rank monster. All of us are elite C rank, so there's nothing to worry about."

"The damn kid is so tanky. Maybe it affected his brain?" Ron said mockingly. No one could blame him, though. The fatty did wear more armour than needed for a newbie.

"Heck, adding weak Oscar, we have five C rank, relax. It'll be a walk in the park." Said, the leader.

Hearing all these, most of the group relaxed a bit as they saw that there was hope after all, not to mention that they would even get extra money in addition to what they were to get originally. Ezra was especially happy with this new development, hearing the talk of extra money.

After planning their strategy, everyone was finally ready to make their move collectively. Of course, Ezra, the healer, and Oscar were still behind.

With serious faces, everyone readied themselves for what was about to happen. The assassin Jossie, was the first to make a move. Though she generally didn't agree with this plan of attacking, she could also be seen as meticulous some times. Ultimately, she didn't really have much of a choice.

Jossie constricted her muscles as she was ready to shoot off from the ground, but at that moment, the monster before them reacted to her movement and shot one of its tail forward like malleable steel, passing directly over the group and smashing the entrance they had walked in from, completely closing them off. This was obviously the only entrance and the only way out. Now, it would seem that they were trapped.

"Don't panic! There's a small opening by the top corners! We won't be stuck here!" The leader shouted, as he launched himself forward. "Everyone, full strength!" He screamed, like a war cry, and quickly made his way to the front of the group and held his shield in front of him, ready to agro the boss.

All the while, while these events were happening, Ezra, who was at the back was left in a different state of mind than he was a few seconds ago. He had been happy about the bonuses he would receive, but looking at their situation at the moment, he couldn't exactly say, and wasn't exactly feeling excited anymore. He had always had good intuition at critical times, and right now? He wasn't feeling safe at all.

"I'll pull agro!!" the leader, Mass, said as he activated his skill, and the aura around him immediately turned faint yellow, showing the activation of his skill. The energy immediately spread out wildly all around him.

While this was happening, and everyone was just about to attack, no one noticed Jossie who was the only assassin in the group, trembling lightly. She was clearly the fastest in the group, and even amongst other C rank assassins, she would stand amongst the fastest, but she was totally unable to follow the monster's movements when it launched its tail attack. It was a simple but clear indication; it was faster than she was by a large margin.

Maybe it was because of the temporary shock, but she was unable to speak or even move for some seconds, facing the realization, when she had regained herself and was going to warn her teammates however, it was a bit too late.

"Now! ATTAAA-" …

WHAAM

BLURPP

.

.

GINGG TUDD

The sound of a mighty sword being swung through the air was heard and meat torn cleanly was heard after a second, and it was accompanied by the sound of a metal shield dropping and body hitting ground.

With one swing of its arm, the monster severed the leader in half effortlessly.

Everyone paused for a brief moment, taking in what just happened, as a sense of dread descended upon their minds and bodies..

'Just now again, I couldn't see anything! Not even a glimpse!' Jossie was alarmed.

It wasn't only her though, everybody had come to the same realization of what their situation was at the moment, and without waiting a second longer, the whole team scattered, and everyone seemed to want to do all that was possible to protect their life.

"Damn it! Run!" Oscar screamed towards Ezra who had yet to understand what just happened. If even the fastest couldn't keep up with the monster's speed, who was he?

Oscar made quick calculations and used his telekinesis to push Ezra using enough force that it slammed him against the wall of rubbles that had been created from the monster's strike on the entrance earlier. With such force, Ezra was knocked almost unconscious, and he only picked himself up with pure will power.