The First Descent into The Labyrinth (3)

The seconds slowly came and went, one after the other, while the trio was waiting for any kind of danger. Their only methods of seeing and breathing were the spyglasses and tubes that Cyrus had handed them, further proving the sheer amount of experience he has in these conditions as well as an extreme level of preparation almost bordering on outright paranoia.

Just as they were about to assume that there was no follow up danger from their slaying of the lone sandcrawler, they heard it. Or rather, they felt it as the ground around them started to vibrate ever so slightly. As time passed it grew louder and more intense, while they could spot sand clouds being kicked up in the distance…the herd had come.

"Quite a lot of them, I doubt we could take them without magic. Although here my usage of Mors is severely limited, where there are no shadows and only sunlight…my Vita spells can only be used on one target at a time, which means I would have to expend all of my will to even do the base form of Valkyrie" thought Cyrus as he watched the clouds in the distance slowly grow in size as they drew closer.

Eventually they could even see the sandcrawlers themselves, gliding upon the sand with such ease and startling speed so much so that they surpassed a human's full sprint by a small margin. But that mattered not as what truly made them deadly was there neigh infinite stamina.

Still, the three watched the oncoming foes in rapt attention as they needed to ascertain whether or not they could safely hide away…or if they would be forced to fight against unfavorable odds. Regardless of their uncertainty, the sandcrawlers continued to advance seemingly towards the area where they were hiding which was of course much to the displeasure of our trio. Still not moving just in case it was a fluke, they continued their wait whilst maintaining nerves of steel…or at least as close as to that they could get.

As they closed in, the crawlers themselves revealed both their visages as well as their number: ten in total. What the three did not expect was that the herd was not there strictly to investigate a fallen member, to chase their scent that they could not successfully remove, or just haphazardly having ended up in their location due to sheer chance. In fact, the crawlers were chasing something. Time soon revealed that they were not chasing just something but in fact were chasing multiple somethings that happened to be people.

"What an unlucky group" thought Cyrus as he witnessed the students being chased down in the distance. "Well, maybe they are somewhat lucky. A group of vita mages banding together, while completely ignoring the balance between their respective strengths, it does allow them to easily match the pace of the sandcrawlers…alas, they will eventually fall. Not to mention that the odd essence here makes it difficult to use particular spells, I can only imagine that by forcibly using it before completely adapting they are damaging their bodies to a considerable degree."

Perhaps the group of students understood this as well, as they increased their speed suddenly which allowed them to pull ahead of the sandcrawlers just enough to turn around while pulling out their weapons. Coincidentally, the place where they stopped was not too far away from where the three were hiding.

Cyrus could see one of them point towards the chest, possibly wondering why there was a random chest in the middle of the desert, but they quickly ignored it in favor of the enemy that was approaching. The trio made no moves to assist, as their leader was Cyrus who could care less about what happened to them and instead made to watch a good show.

"I wonder if they can win, even if they do there will undoubtedly be grievous injuries. Such injuries are not ones that they can cure properly in a short amount of time, I imagine their guide will interrupt them soon and fai-" thought Cyrus, who suddenly blanked as a new piece of information was presented to him which caused his mind to spin as yet another devious plan came to mind.

"How convenient, looks like I have much to gain…" mused Cyrus as he stopped looking through the spyglass and reached out through the sand to grab both Minerva's arm, who recoiled slightly at the touch, and then Imran's arm in order to signal them to move.

Understanding him, they burst out of the sand in unison and quickly took hold of their own weapons.

"While I may not have adapted enough to this new place to use my more powerful spells such as Valkyrie…it seems small adjustments will work" thought Cyrus as he graciously tested a Vita spell on Imran, cautiously trying to feed his body life energy to mimic the spell rejuvenation he had learned from Adara's notes.

Finding success, he then cast it upon Minerva and then himself which caused each of them to feel as if they had slept for days on end now fully awake with tons of energy to spare…although this did come at a cost of a chunk of Cyrus' will reserves.

Regardless, they broke into full sprint following Cyrus' lead this time as they charged towards the now erupting fight between the Vita department students and the ten sandcrawlers.

Time was not on their side as the fight was slowly devolving into a quick loss, with the only reason they had not already been felled was a single Vita mage who was holding the line with impressive skill. He was bald and wearing loose robes rather than the usual close fitting ones, he was also extremely well built for a mage. He held no weapon, but instead had two armored gauntlets on that he used to great effect by displaying a force that was far beyond normal human limitations with every punch.

With the force of his entire body he easily pierced his fist into the head of the first sandcrawler, piercing its brain and killing it instantly. Kicking it away with impossible force, the body knocked into and down a group of three crawlers allowing him to dispatch yet another one with his masterful fist technique. The initial exchange was over, and his breathing was clearly heavy and his face red as sweat rolled down his face; it was clear that his technique was not one so easily done…especially in the current environment.

The fight did not go so well for his five companions, however, who were clearly amateurs that could barely hold the line against such monstrous foes. Despite all of them being armed with the Empire's most famed and taught weapon, the spear and its many variations, they could not properly align themselves to cover one another's flank which allowed the beasts to bypass their reach. Their defense now broken, they were forced to fall back in order to reform the line…alas, one of them was pounced on and had his arm crushed with such force that one could hear the bones crackle and crunch within the jaws of the sandcrawler as it chewed it as if it were a delicious treat.

In the distance, one of the veterans could be seen aiming a massive long bow towards the sandcrawlers that were accosting his charges. His face unchanging, even when one of his charges was in the process of being mauled, he had nocked his arrow and began drawing back until out off the corner of his eye he spotted three more students rushing towards his own. What stopped him was not specifically this fact, as what could three more students do to turn the tide, but the badges that he saw on two of the three were more than enough to halt his arrow.

The fight against the sandcrawlers had reached its climax by now, with the allies of the fallen student making a desperate charge to kill the beast that was turning his arm into a chew toy. Alas, while their charge was of surprising bravery and vigor they now found themselves surrounded on all sides while simultaneously having to defend a now combat ineffective ally. Their hope was low and their future grim, their minds overrun with panic and their bodies trembling uncontrollably.

"The perfect moment to intervene" thought Cyrus as he leapt, along with his two allies, onto the four sandcrawlers that were about to spell the imminent doom of the students. Using the same combination tactic they had inadvertently stumbled upon, and neigh perfected, as before the trio easily dispatched one of the four before taking a defensive position with Imran in the front.

"Wake up you imbeciles. Two in front and two in the back, cover your flanks and advance. Or die" said Cyrus towards the four bumbling fools, infusing his sense with as much death essence as he could given his current state.

Seeing that he had successfully awoken and even got them to listen to his orders, Cyrus noted this inwardly while focusing his attention on the battle at hand.

With the combined efforts of four spearmen and the hyper competent trio, all boosted by Vita spells, the four sandcrawlers were of no match and were easily felled. As the last twitching corpse hit the ground, the rescued students all fell to the ground whilst heavy of breathe and sweat pouring down their red faces like a rainstorm.

Scoffing at their weakness, which Minerva mirrored with a look of disgust, Cyrus looked towards the other half the battle. As he had somewhat expected, the only competent student had defeated his five foes all on his own although it was not without a cost. One of his arms was nearly torn off, profusely bleeding with the bone easily exposed. His stomach now featured a gaping hole of which allowed one to gaze upon some of his inner intestines. The only solace was that the student was clearly an extremely competent Vita mage, as his wounds were slowly repairing themselves at a rate visible to the naked eye.

"He has already regained full control of his magic? Not to mention he is walking towards us with an unchanging expression, as if he were not gravely wounded in multiple spots" thought Cyrus as he looked at what had initially changed his mind, a badge that was pinned on the students chest which was next to the odd ring of large brown beads that were attached to one another in some kind of odd necklace.

The badge was of similar design and shape to his own, being one of the ten awarded respective to the banner rankings. The one on this student's chest, however, was gold in color with the numeral 'III' and below it was the title 'Tertius'.

"The third ranked…what a beast of a human" thought Cyrus as he calculated his chances of beating such a beast in human cloth.

As the Tertius approached, he paused in such thoughts as he sought to bring his plan to fruition…he had the advantage in this exchange after all, thought Cyrus as he looked upon the 'hostages' that he had just rescued.