The monsters were staring right at them, as there was nowhere to hide in the slightly illuminated tunnel, and Xavier froze, waiting for them to attack but they didn't. Waiting a few more seconds, he decided to address the party in a low voice.
"Those two monsters already know we are here, but they haven't attacked, which could only mean they don't want to stray too far from that door, and they don't have anything that can hurt us from that distance. So let's make an actual plan this time please?" Xavier said, looking at all of them. They stayed put for fifteen minutes coming up with a plan, while keeping an eyes on the two monsters from the corner of their eyes.
They soon came up with a simple plan, Mickey at the front, who was focused on defence, blocking any attacks that might come from the two monsters. Xavier told him to keep an eye on the Hobgoblin Mage as he had a feeling it was more dangerous than the Hobgoblin Warrior. Atleast he could guess that the Warrior fought with it's halbard, but he had no idea how the Mage will fight, which made it more dangerous.
Xavier and Tsubasa were at the front, taking the lead on confronting the two monsters while Barry, Oliver, Celine and Rosie will be right behind them to assist. Bella and Anna were to stay behind just incase either of them made it past the attackers, and finally, Maria was to attack from a range with her bow, aiming for the monsters weak spots with the main aim of slowing it down, not outright kill it. With their plan set, they entered the chamber and the attackers charged towards the two monsters. Mickey and Tsubasa fell a bit behind Xavier, but he didn't slow down and instead continued his charge. The Hobgoblin Warrior grinned, before charging towards him as well, and Xavier could immediately tell the Warrior was faster than the Diabolic Imps.
He gritted his teeth and swung the copper battleaxe towards the monster, and it did the same with it's halbard, the obsidian black blade connected with the copper blade of the axe, and there was a bit of sparks before it inevitably started slicing through. Xavier barely dodged, earning him a free hair cut, the blade and he immediately slammed the remaining piece of the axe into Warrior, but it simply flinched backwards as a trickle of light green blood flowed from it's body from the piece of the copper blade that stabbed into it's abdomen.
'Aww crap.' Xavier thought as he rolled out of the way as the Warrior slammed down the halbard at his previous position, cracking the ground. Tsubasa came in next, swinging his bronze battleaxe at the Warrior, but moved back, dragging the palm of it's hand along the long shaft of the weapon, before lifting the weapon, knocking Tsubasa's weapon upwards, before preparing a swing of it's own. Tsubasa gritted his teeth as he was off balance and the monster was already swing it's blade at him.
Luckily, Mickey came in and blocked the strike, which pushed him a few inches away, but it allowed Tsubasa to regain his balance and start charge at the monster. Watching the battle, Xavier could tell the monster was experienced fighter as it dodged and deflected both Tsubasa's and Mickey's attacks. Mickey also did a wonderful job of blocking it's strikes, allowing keeping both himself and Tsubasa safe. Barry, Oliver and Celine soon joined the battle as well, but they had a hard time keeping up due to their lower attributes, forcing them to take a backseat in the battle. Rosie ran over to Xavier's side as she realized he wasn't participating in the battle.
Xavier kept on eye on the Mage the entirety of the battle and he could see it's hands surrounded by a dark purple glow. He quickly charged towards the Mage, with Rosie close behind and the Mage quickly changed it's attention from the fight to Xavier and Rosie.
"Dodge!!" Xavier said loudly, as he dived out of the way and so did Rosie as a beam of dark purple light moved past them. Xavier quickly got back to his feet and charged the monster again, and this time, the monster created four purple orbs that rotated around it's body. It backed away from Xavier, showing surprising agility and shot one of the orbs towards him. He dodged it of course and so did Rosie, but the orb stopped once it past her, and turned around, hitting her in the back.
"Rosie!!" Xavier said, when she let out a little scream, and her entire body was surrounded by a purple glow. She didn't seem to have been harmed, but Xavier instantly knew what the effects of the Mage's attack were, and he shuddered. Rosie became visibly slower as she was quickly falling behind Xavier, and Xavier's expression became grim. If one of those attacks touched him, Mickey or Tsubasa, then all of them would surely die from the Warriors relentless assault.
'I need to kill it now.' Xavier thought as he chased the Mage and it threw the remaining three orbs at him. He was able to dodge each of the orbs, but the problem was that the Mage could control them amazingly well from a distance, and that slowed him down significantly. He soon came up with the idea to slash at the orbs with his daggers, causing them to disperse and he grinned as he destroyed all three orbs. The Mage created more of them, sending them flying towards him while controlling their trajectory to take Xavier by surprise, but he was able to destroy and dodge them with some effort, but he was slowly being drained of stamina.
After five minutes, the effects of the orb wore off Rosie and she followed Xavier's example and started to destroy the orbs as well.
The Mage created five more orbs and made them circle the two in a wide circle, and when either of them tried to strike one or escape, the others would move in closer before forming the circle once more. The Mage became stationary, charging another beam and Xavier gritted his teeth.
"Go, I'll allow the orb to hit me and take the beam if necessary." Rosie offered
"There is no guarantee that the beam will only slow you down and not outright kill you." Xavier said, and Rosie bit her lips as she realized he was right. Xavier wracked his brain on how to escape, he even consider taking one of the orbs, but that would only make him more susceptible to more orbs and even the beam itself. As he wracked his brain, he heard something swiftly moving through the air and then he heard the Mage shriek loudly as an arrow was lodged in it's hand and disrupting it's beam.
"Now." Xavier said, running towards one of the orbs and slashed it with his daggers. Rosie ran in the opposite direction, destroying another orb and the two of them worked together to destroy the other orbs. Hearing the Mage's shriek, the Warrior released a loud roar, releasing a wave of energy from it's body, which pushed it's attacker's back. It rushed towards the Mage's side as it pulled the arrow out of it's hand, introducing it's green blood to the ground.
"I'm guessing your fight is going better than ours." Mickey said, panting lightly and Xavier noticed thin line of blood a bit below his eyes. Tsubasa looked just as exhausted, but he was spared from any injury and Xavier nodded his head.
"Here's the plan, Tsubasa, Mickey and I will take care of the Warrior. The rest of you will deal with Mage, we don't need you to kill it, just keep it occupied and make sure it doesn't hit us with those orbs or beams. Got it?" He said, and everyone nodded their head. Xavier looked over at the Warrior, that stood infront of the Warrior as if it was trying to protect it. Xavier looked behind him at Maria, Bella and Anna, nodding his head and they nodded back. The seven of them charged at their respective opponents and the Warrior roared before charging towards them. Xavier met the Warrior head on, jumping over it's horizontal swing before kicking it in the face. He pushed off the monster's face, allowing Mickey to move in, bashing it with his shield and the monster grabbed the shield in a firm grip and lifted it's halbard. Xavier understood what the monster was trying to do and threw a dagger to it's face, forcing it to release it's grip and move.
Tsubasa came in from the side, swinging his axe towards the monster and it blocked with the shaft, allowing the force to push it back. Xavier and Mickey charged in again, and Xavier deliberately fell behind, and the monster delivered a mighty blow to Mickey's shield, almost forcing him to kneel. Xavier kicked off the ground stabbed towards the Warriors face and the monster quickly moved back, but Xavier was fast approaching.
"Roooooaaar." The monster roared once more, releasing a wave of energy that pushed Xavier back. Mickey blocked it with his shield, and threw the shield towards the unguarded neck of the Warrior, causing it to freeze as it clutched it's throat. Tsubasa came in from behind and swung his axe towards the monster's leg, causing it to scream in pain and punch Tsubasa in the face, but the damage was done. It's leg spurred green blood onto the ground and it could barely stand. Xavier and Mickey took the opportunity to charge at the monster, and Xavier was easily able to dodge it's desperate swing, while Mickey took a step back. Xavier stabbed the monster in the abdomen. The monster grunted in pain, before punching at Xavier with it's hand after releasing it from the halbard, but Xavier grabbed it's hand with one of his, and then grabbed the hand that was holding the halbard. The two of them became locked in a battle of raw strength and Xavier could feel himself being slowly overpowered.
'Damn it, I can feel it overpowering me already. I won't be able to hold it down for more than a few seconds, luckily, I only need to stall it for one.' Xavier thought, and just as he did, the blade of a copper sword pierced through the monster monster's chest from behind. The blade stopped a few centimetres from Xavier's chest and the monster coughed up green blood, painting Xavier's face. Xavier could feel the monster's strength decreasing as he continued to hold him down and the blade stayed lodged in it's chest. Xavier released it's hand and delivered a powerful punch to it's face, knocking it backwards.
"Haaaaaaahhhhhh!!!" Tsubasa roared as he decapitated the monster
"Finally." Mickey said as slumped onto the ground, exhausted and Xavier looked over to where the Mage was. He blinked in surprise when he realized that the monster was also dead. Looking at the scene, he could see four people surrounded by a purple glow, three on the ground and one still standing, and he could also see Bella and Anna standing over the corpse. He could also see two arrows sticking out of the monster's back, as well as a spear. His gaze soon shifted to the door, and he sighed, before slumping onto the ground, succumbing to his exhaustion.