Darius Campbell

[Island of Bones, Dwarven Mountains Underground, Third level, Blue Wolf Mercenary Group Settlement]

Deep inside the dwarven mountain undeground, a man with axes on his waist and a layer of grey scales on his skin was leading a strategic meeting with the core members of the blue wolf mercenary group.

"We are trapped", Darius cursed, "Because of the construction site, we cannot communicate to the rest of our forces and can only hope the rest of the blue wolf mercenary group launches an attack to break through it. However, they are unlikely to take the initiative, so we can only rely on ourselves"

Next to him, there were five party leaders. Each one of them possessed a significant amount of fame within the Magical Court. Some were battle heroes, others advised kingdoms with the support of their respective parties.

However, Darius had an ugly expression on his face. Among the six parties he had taken with him, not one of them was unscathed from the past month of skirmishes. Some had half of their members injured, and one party was even annihilated after he had sent them to ask for reinforcements from the rest of the Blue Wolf Mercenary Group. 

After investigating, he realized that as soon as he had entered the undeground of the dwarven mountains, the barbarian strategist Janna Heartsteel had successfully sealed the entrance, trapping them into this accursed land with limited supplies, raw knowledge of the environment and prone to all dangers. 

Prior to this meeting, the Ice Countess Sheila, who he considered to be one of the strongest elite beginner rank acolyte in his ranks, was on the brink of death, her right arm crippled from acidic ailments and her mana depleted. As for her party, it had been decimated by a three elite beginner rank acolytes.

"We have some bad news", Darius continued, "The enemy not only managed to trap us with their crimson castle, but they are also stronger than anticipated. Sheila, share the information you managed to get at the cost of your party's lives"

Everyone knew that something big happened when they saw the proud Ice Countess Sheila shiver in pain and fear, her party annihilated. However, when she opened her mouth, everyone frowned.

"As you all know, we were tasked with assassinating Raon, one of the five golem masters supplying the crimson clan building site. Unlike other golem masters, Raon was protected by the lizardman Jorg, and two new recruits. Considering my strength against body refinement acolytes, it should have been an easy mission. Jorg is experienced, but we had the numerical advantage"

She paused, the cold gaze of Lewis killing his mentor and subordinates still fresh in her mind. 

"Continue", Darius ordered, discarding her weak feelings, "This is a battlefield. Deaths are the norms here"

"Yes, sir", Sheila continued, a cold gaze replacing her trembling self, "But one of the new recruit was a bloodline type acolyte with two innate spells"

The other party leaders frowned deeper.

Jorg was trouble already, his strength known throughout the magical court. If it were not for his lack of communication and wild temper, he would have been recruited in a major faction already. Elite beginner rank acolytes were rare after all, and the crimson clan only possessed 5 of them to their knowledge, including Jorg.

However, Sheila was basically affirming the birth of a sixth elite beginner rank acolyte, furthermore, from the bloodline path which was known to have a slow learning curve. In exchange, the path offered strength above average and usually, a fiery temper that was suited for combat.

"One of her spell rendered my arm useless in seconds. It also killed Jenny in seconds, as we both mistook her innate spell for a poisonous cloud. Only I was fast enough to retreat. Her second spell is a defensive one, allowing her to harden her skin with scales, which was strong enough to defend against my icicles. As I had to fight both her and Jorg at the same time, I could only entrap them and run away to give you the information"

A silence followed. Their view on Sheila improved greatly, as they knew she was incredibly strong. However, to survive the onslaught of two elite beginner acolytes and survive to tell the tale was another level of strength, even if she suffered grave injuries.

Darius, however, already knew Sheila's strength. It was knowing her strength that he had appointed her to kill the least protected golem master, or so he thought.

"How did you end up facing both elite beginner acolytes yourself? Your team is balanced and fighting them as a group should have allowed you to prevail, even without Jenny", Darius analysed

Sheila continued: "Unfortunately, both Jason and Joe were killed almost instantly by a young knight with blood elemental affinity. I am not quite sure about the specifics, but from what I have seen, he has incredible senses and knows at least two spells: a blood enchant-type spell that surrounds his sword, and a defensive spell that saved Raon's life. Unfortunately, I only managed to kill a body refinement acolyte, the young knight with blood affinity having managed to defeat my remaining subordinates"

"Three elite beginner rank acolytes in a single team..."

"Lizardman body refinement acolyte, bloodline acidic monstruosity and now, a freaking blood knight with unimaginable strength?"

"How are we going to survive that?"

"SILENCE", Darius said, calming the party leaders who did not have confidence in surviving such a combination of skilled acolytes, "We are trapped, yes. But even if with these three acolytes, we just have to win the war of attrition. Avoid the Golem Master Raon at all costs, and focus on the others. Unfortunately, I cannot exactly leave the settlement, otherwise if Janna decides to attack, the losses on the injured and ill will be tremendous. Similarly, she cannot leave the building site so both our hands are tied"

Slowly, Darius was regretting his decision to attack the City of Steel. 

He thought the crimson clan to be weak, but he had already lost his numerical advantage.

The crimson clan now had 7 elite beginner rank acolytes, and 34 members in total out of 42 initially. Adding to that the 5 golem masters, they had 39 acolytes. As for the blue wolf mercenaries, they entered as an army of 54 acolytes. Only 38 remained, with only 5 elite beginner rank acolytes remaining.

Janna's strategic mind and environmental advantage was showing. 

Whereas she knew the labyrinth by heart, his blue wolf mercenaries had to learn by trials and errors.

Whereas the crimson clan members knew which plant to eat and which species to avoid, his members were getting poisoned every now and then.

Whereas the crimson clan knew the areas to avoid, his mercenaries were getting injured and killed by magical creatures.

At this point, defeat was in sight.

He was not the only one with low morale. Sheila stood up and asked without remorse: "Sir, why not surrender? We are trapped in hostile lands. They are individually stronger, and know the underground better. They also happen to have the support of dwarves. Since they sealed the underground of the dwarven mountain, we cannot even ask for hel-"

*SMASH*

Darius did not wait for her to finish talking, before bashing her head, sending her flying onto a wall.

Smiling like a demon: "Cowardliness is not in the blue wolf mercenary group's code. Gale, you said you managed to identify a pattern regarding the route of Karridian, the golem master defended by the elite beginner rank acolyte Tyrius, the infamous necromancer. Take your party and anyone you judge useful and destroy the golem. If we deal damage to the arcane faction, they will receive a backlash. Do not die"

"Yes, sir", the old acolyte said with a hint of respect, Darius' words filling him with fighting spirit.