35 Grovel

Connor burst forward into the oncoming horde, not waiting for the dust and smoke to settle. He began slashing his way through the undead with ease. His speed was faster, his strength more brute, his attacks pinpoint accurate.

When the dust and smoke waned, and the team could see again. The first noticeable thing was the giant smooth bore crater that erased nearly a full quarter of the undead.

"I think Guild Master may have made a grave mistake." Gilbert, one of the teams Hunter Class Seekers and also the only Scout, stated.

"No, see how he's not using any other spells? That was probably just to scare us." Sutra dismissed.

"Even if, could you go down there on your own, and hold against a thousand plus undead?" Derrick pointed. Connor was mowing the undead down without a hint of slowing down.

He was charging another skill in his hand, but chose to test out Dark Thunder. Purple lightning crackled in his hand, but as he did with Dark Fire, he continued to pour mana into it and condensed it.

It didn't turn into a small sphere, nor did it seem throw able, so Connor just jumped back and lifted his hand toward the horde and released the skill. A beam shot from his palm and erupted in a larger diameter than Incendiary, but wasn't nearly as explosive. The damage was interesting, it killed all the undead with in a certain radius of impact, but stunned the rest within the remaining distance.

"So condensing creates an Area of Effect. Let's try something new." Connor muttered. He next tried for Ice. A coldness enveloped his hand and an icicle seemingly grew from his palm. Connor nodded and once again dive into the horde, the ice skill proved effective as a piercing attack. He could slash with his worn down sword and pierce with the icicle in his hand.

He also noted that the icicle could be shaped how he envisioned. So once the sword broke, he shaped a dagger and sword pair from ice. He also discovered that running Dark Thunder into the blades created an extra boost to the damages dealt. It could even be chained and stun nearby undead.

[Fatigue: 54%]

Thanks to Total Concentration, fatigue increased at a slower pace. His mana recharged at a pace of 100 per second. Meaning it'd take ten seconds to recharge the MP from one use of Ice or Dark Thunder. An hour for Incendiary.

Connor finally reached the still molten hot crater. The Undead on the otherside had been dying inside the crater when attempting to push forward. The remainder of the horde gave up crossing and moved on in their original path. A sea of corpses laid behind Connor. He turned his attention to the Team.

"Shoot him..." Sutra shook from fear.

"Excuse me?" Derrick asked.

"SHOOT HIM!" She screamed.

"I refuse. I don't know what Guild Master told you, but I don't have a grudge against him." Derrick answered. The others agreed. Sutras face turned red with rage and she approach Derrick, slapped him and took his bow.

"I'll just do it myself, and report you all for insubordination!" She snapped. She walked back to the edge and drew back on the bow. She aimed for Connor and released a pure mana arrow at him.

Connor cooly deflect the arrow to the side and he began to approach the overpass. A rapid succession of arrows launched at him repeatedly. Connor dodged or deflected them. Soon, the arrows stopped.

Sutra was breathing heavily, her Mana near depleted from continuous use. She looked on in horror as Connor jumped from his position, and gracefully landed on the ledge. Ivory materialized within the midst of the team instantly after.

"I'll give you one chance, and one chance only. Grovel. If you beg, maybe I'll forget this ever happened, and I might let you go. That goes for all of you." Connor raised his ice dagger and pointed at the rest of the team. There was instant protest. But when Derrick dropped at Connors feet, the protest silenced.

"I'm sorry I couldn't stop Sutra from putting you in this situation! Please spare us!" Derrick begged, his head on the ground.

"I said one chance. If I don't see more, I'll assume the rest of you see nothing wrong with sacrificing." Connors voice had an underlying danger. The usually quiet and timid Ivory began to growl, saliva drooled from her mouth and her eyes had a look of raging hunger within.

Shortly, all of the team members were groveling at Connors feet. Connor took his mask off and looked down at the people below him. Is ice blue eyes had slit pupils like a dragons, and the wrath of one.

"All of you can leave. Except you!" Connor stopped Sutra from joining her team in getting up with his sword.

"Look, bro, we did as you asked! You said you'd let us all go!" A bright orange haired man stepped up and grabbed the sword. Connor spun and thrust his dagger down into the neck of the man and kicked him away, resummoning another ice dagger.

"I said I might let you go. That meant some of you, all of you, or none of you. It was not a promise." Connor replied. The man coughed, and reached for the dagger. It wasn't fatal, as long as he didn't pull it out, which he was quickly told by the teams Healer.

"I was just following orders!" Sutra pleaded with tears.

"You were ordered to kill me?" Connor asked her.

"I was told to put the one known as Rainbow Kitten in his place." Sutra responded while cold sweating.

"Did that cover killing?" Connor continued, his blue eyes seemed to glow.

"I was told to put-"

"Then it was your choice to try and kill me." Connors face became terrifyingly serious.

"I'm sorry! Please! I swear, I'll never approach you again, and I'll make sure the Guild Master doesn't pursue the matter anymore! Please spare me!" Sutra begged.

"Which guild?" Connor asked her, the pressure of his voice weighed heavily upon the team.

"The Fool Moon Guild!" Sutra answered, her voice threatened to quiver, but she feared such a mistake would cost her, her life.

"If you can answer one question honestly, I'll consider letting you off." Connor lifted the sword from her throat. Sutra looked up with hope, though terror returned when she locked eyes with him. She had seen a dragon only once, and it almost cost her, her life, but the feeling she got when staring into that dragons eye, returned when looking into Connors.

"I'll answer anything! I'll do anything! I'll even serve you!" Sutra readily responded.

"If it was me who was begging for my life instead, would you have spared me?" Connor asked coldly. The chill of his words was as cold as the blades in his hands, in fact, the air itself seemed to chill from the question. Sutra was unable to answer, either way she answered, felt like inevitable death.

"I thought so." Connor stated. Connor swung his sword down and across faster than anyone could see, and then he walked away. At first they thought all was fine, but then Sutras head fell to the ground, both ends of the severed wound were frozen solid.