Broken

Chapter 4

The dive into this dungeon was going suspiciously well. Not easy, by any means, but we hadn't lost a single person yet, and I would count that as a huge miracle if ever there was one. Still, several hours in and having fought off several Greater Cave wolves and more than a few Cave Spiders, we didn't make it through unscathed.

All of us active raiders were covered in minor wounds, while one of the Two-Stars had gotten a major gash on their leg. Had we had a healer this wouldn't be too big of a problem. However, without one it was a major issue. We did our best to stem the bleeding, and a few of the non-combatants had to take turns carrying the guy, so we managed. But, if he didn't get medical attention soon he wouldn't make it.

It didn't help that the biome of this particular dungeon was that of a mushroom cave. The bioluminescent moss and mushrooms were very pretty to look at, but both had a tendency to house pretty toxic spores if disturbed. So, on top of fighting huge wolves with glowing eyes and equally sparkly moss on their backs, we had to try and avoid the cave walls and patches of mushrooms.

It was all pretty nerve wracking to say the least.

On the bright side, we had been getting more gear in drops than usual, meaning that our members were able to get at least a little protection and a handful of weapons. They were not great, but anything beat bare fists and sweat shirts.

Our real saving grace, and the sole reason we had made it so far without loosing a single person, were Parker, Eric and Grayson. Luckily, Parker still had his sword. Being a very famous and powerful raider, I wasn't surprised to find out that he had an item box in the form of a ring on his middle finger. It could only hold a single item, but that item was his huge sword, which probably cost more than every apartment block on my street.

Parker was a tank class raider, and usually had a shield as well, but he only had the sword right now. That aside, he was still capable of amazing things. This was the first time I had ever witnessed a four-star at work, and it was a sight to behold. Despite being at a sever disadvantage at this time, he fairly mowed through Cave Wolves like they were blades of grass. It made me understand just how different those who are three-star and above are from the lower ranked Raiders.

On that note, the three-stared Eric and Grayson were also power houses. When we had all been giving Parker a brief rundown of our individual combat styles, the twins had mentioned that they were beast class, close combat fighters. And they were definitely that.

There were many and varied ways to distinguish raiders, but the most common way people liked to differentiate them- besides the star ranking system- was to classify them by their combat style/ skill set. Beast class fighters were raiders who, most often, take on animal like characteristics when they fight. The twins were the personification of that.

Both men fought bare handed, employing a transformative magic that had them both manifesting mana claws, and in Grayson's case, a freaking tail. Both men were like wild tornados when compared to Parker's stalwart power. They bounced around the monsters, breaking bones with each hit, tearing flesh, and doing it all with somewhat psychotic smiles on their faces. After every monster interaction they would high-five one another, or laugh... honestly, I was partially convinced that the pair thought that we were at some kind of fairground attraction, rather than being trapped in a sealed dungeon.

Yet, I didn't have the heart- or courage- to tell them off for their antics, given they were the ones keeping the rest of us alive and all that. Then again, I was pretty sure that Parker was also somewhat exasperated with the twins, given the eye rolls and head shaking I saw him direct their way between fights.

As much as I thought that their attitudes were a little out of touch, I had to admit that I was envious of the enhancement magic they possessed. For my own part, it was the gauntlets that Yejun had made me that were carrying me along. I didn't have the physical strength on my own to do any damage to these monsters. Not that I was able to do much, even with the leather gauntlets.