A Complete Failure

 Immediately after Jake's schout the crystal on the iron collar around the slave's neck glowed. And Samir, who was just a hair's breadth away from tearing Jake's throat apart, was forced to stop his actions

Clearly, even though the stone had already broken, Jake's last command still managed to take effect on the slave

Unable to control his body, Samir swerved his way past Jake as he ran towards the frightening statues that were eliminating the invaders. He did so silently staring at the young noble, if looks could kill, Jake would be dead now

The eye contact between the two only lasted a moment, but even so, this particular moment seemed to last an eternity for Jake. Despite being terrified, the young man's survival instincts spoke louder and in a kind of trance he ran out of the temple, not daring to stay a second longer in that place

Faced with Samir's obvious actions, the statues quickly noticed his approach, before mechanically starting to walk towards him. Although their bodies were slow and their steps were slow, the deadly lasers they fired were not

STZSSSSSSSS!

Already anticipating the arrival of the attack, Samir jumped from one side to the other, using his instincts and speed to dodge the laser. The slave's actions caused more and more of the statues to turn their attention to him, focusing their lethal attacks on this slender invader, while ignoring the fugitives

STZSSSSSSSS! STZSSSSSSSS! STZSSSSSSSS! STZSSSSSSSS! STZSSSSSSSS!

As the seconds passed, the number of lasers fired towards him became more and more. In the end, even though he dodged most of the attacks, one of the deadly lasers still managed to graze his flank. Making the slave fall face down on the floor, bumping into the treasures, scattering gold, gems and various weapons everywhere

He right away felt a deep burning sensation as the affected part began to show the same symptoms as the other victims, but at a much slower rate

"Arghh"

Having been caught off guard by the sudden pain, he let out a muffled groan, but quickly suppressed it, knowing that in his situation, any distraction was the same as courting death. Then, ignoring the pain, Samir tried to get up from the ground. However, before he could get up, he saw several of the statues pointing with their glowing eyes

"Shit--"

STZSSSSSSSS! STZSSSSSSSS! STZSSSSSSSS! STZSSSSSSSS!

Instinctively, Samir grabbed one of the shields that was thrown next to him and raised it to protect himself from the attacks. As soon as the white lasers hit the shield, the impact threw him backwards, dragging the poor slave across the floor like an old rag across the platform 

During the process, the slave felt as if he had to bear the weight of a mountain

CRACK! CRACK CRACK! CRACK!

Along with the immense pain, what followed were the sounds of his bones cracking under the immense pressure. To make the situation even more critical, even though the shield managed to block the direct impact by negating most of the deadly lasers emitted by the statues, part of their attacks still managed to get through, causing his legs and arms to slowly corrode

The statues' attack lasted for about five breaths before finally stopping, unfortunately the same could not be said for Samir's body. That due to inertia, even without the help of the white lasers, it continued to slide along the floor of the temple 

Samir couldn't do anything, before he found himself falling from the platform into the dark, unknown abyss. Finally unable to take it any longer, the slave shouted with a voice full of rage, like a furious beast

"JAAAAAKEEEEE YOU BASTARD I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

…

SLAAAAAAAM!

 The temple doors finally closed, blocking out Samir's furious roar and the hellish sounds of the statues' deadly lasers. After confirming that the statues were not following them, the mercenaries finally collapsed to the ground succumbing to exhaustion 

Although the interaction with the statues lasted less than five minutes, the fatigue they felt was several times greater than what they felt after fighting hordes upon hordes of Stone Moles.

 Having finally overcome the life and death situation, the group began to process what just happened. After all, the situation changed so quickly. One second they were celebrating the fortune in front of them, only to see their companions rot to death the next

After a while, one of the mercenaries finally broke the silence and asked in a trembling voice

"W-What the hell were those things?"

"I don't know, I've never seen creatures like those"

"Neither do I. I mean, I've been working as an adventurer for over ten years. I can only say that they were very... strange, they didn't look nothing like any of the monsters I've ever seen or faced before"

"Yes, they looked so fragile, but in the end, even when Marco attacked…"

Arriving at this part, the mercenary stopped, while turning his gaze to Marco. Feeling his men's gaze fall on him, he let out a sigh before saying what was on everyone's mind

"Sigh! Yes, even my strongest attack couldn't tickle that thing", Marco admitted with his wounded pride

Despite this, he was not a first-time leader who let his emotions affect his judgment. No, he was an experienced leader, capable of judging things with a cool mind. After that one encounter, Marco was sure of one thingregardless of what those statues were, they were not enemies that Dark Wolves could defeat, let alone avenge their lost members.

Having finally calmed down and regained his composure, Marco turned his attention to his men and letting out a sigh asked

"Edmunds, report... please"

"Yes, right away"

Replied Edmunds, a short, middle-aged man, quite thin wearing a brown robe and large round glasses on his face. Despite his weak appearance, this man possessed a special identity, not only was he the strongest mage in the group, but he was also Marco's right-hand man and the vice-leader of the Dark Wolves

"During this period, we lost seven members during an ambush by the Stone Moles. Finally, after this last operation, including Steve, Theodore, the expedition's casualty number is…" Reaching this part, Edmunds paused for a moment, before concluding with a sigh, "Sigh, twenty four people"

"Twenty-four casualties, I see. Arghh, in the end, this expedition was a complete failure"

Faced with their leader's sad words, the rest of the mercenaries had no choice but to silently agree. Of the forty-seven people who entered the labyrinth at the beginning of the expedition, tragically more than half ended up losing their lives

Remembering the furious scream they heard before the doors closed, each of the people present felt different emotions take over 

Marco and the Dark Wolves felt pity and a deep sense of gratitude towards the slave. If it weren't for him drawing attention to the statues, the number of victims would be even higher.

On the other hand, Charlotte and Claire felt sadness and sympathy for losing a companion who was in a similar situation to them, as well as a deep disgust for Jake who cowardly chose to sacrifice the poor slave to save his life.

As for Jake, the one responsible for the incident. Well, he finally recovered from his trance, only to notice that his back was covered in cold sweat. Whether this was because of the statues' infernal attack, or because of the fear he felt towards his own slave, only he knew