The swordsman landed a glancing blow across the woman’s abdomen, barely drawing any blood. When his swing ended, she attacked, too quickly for him to react to. Her claws tore into the flesh of his wrists and his chest simultaneously, shredding through the weak skin and freeing more blood to be sent dripping to the floor. His grasp on the shortsword involuntarily loosened, sending it falling to the ground. There was no time to reach for it and pick it up. Instead, as a last resort, he widely opened his jaws and dashed forward, aiming to bite Layte at the point where her neck meets her left shoulder.

The former dagger-wielder’s first kick connected to his satisfaction, but the second was suddenly interrupted by Finn’s hand. Before he knew it, a kick in the crotch sent jolts of pain through his body as he was sent stumbling backwards and clumsily fell on his arse, giving Finn enough time to pick up the dagger. Mad as he was, even he knew not to fight unarmed when given another choice. So instead of facing Finn, he turned, scrambled and dove towards the hatchet that his ally left behind, hastily grabbing it. If given the time to, he would rise to his feet, but if Finn came after him right away, he would answer by either swinging the hatchet at his legs if Finn was standing, or at his head if he was still crouched.

Meanwhile, the crazed axe-wielder was in mid-air about to pounce Braud, when he was stopped in his tracks by a combined attack. The taller man with the glorious muttonstache hit him right in the gut with his foot, while the shorter one rammed him in the chest with his meaty fist. When both blows connected, time seemed to stop for just a moment, before the feral was sent flying backwards by the sheer force. He flew for several feet, before fatally hitting the wall and falling to the ground unmoving.

The feral knight was about to crash into Blue when the elf jumped up high, avoiding his charge completely. Perhaps he should have seen that coming, seeing as the elf had demonstrated his jumping ability before, but being half-mad naturally makes it difficult to plan your strategies. The knight halted his charge, just in time for Blue to come down upon him. One of the elf’s feet landed on his helmet and one on his shoulder, forcing him down to one knee under the weight, before the elf bounced off to land behind him. Before the knight could turn around to face his opponent, another fireball hit him in the back, heating the metal of his armor and scorching the skin underneath. He roared out in pain before spinning around, still kneeling on one knee, and making a low swipe at the elf’s thighs. If Blue dodged backwards, he would follow up with a lunge to the elf’s stomach.

Suddenly, everyone’s vision inexplicably went blurry all at once, before returning to normal a fraction of a second later. The ferals didn’t seem to pay it any mind, but suddenly there were only four adventurers where there had previously been six. Adrian and Mr. Sunshine were inexplicably gone, leaving emptiness where they previously stood. Where did they go? Were they abducted by some demonic force? Did they have to go because their planet needed them? Or were they illusions all along? Perhaps the remaining adventurers would never find out. For now there were more imminent things to worry about.