"Hold up." I told her, and thought about our next course of actions, even if it was just a random attack. "Okay, you are going back, now."
"No, I told you I wasn't." She spoke with such authority.
"Please forgive me." I said apologetically.
"For what?" As the words came out of her mouth, she toppled over, and I caught her.
"It took you long enough." I told Callias as he appeared.
"How'd you know it was me?" He asked as he approached us. "And what did you do to the Princess?"
"Well, I sensed your blood, and when you caught up to Samantha, I figured you would be the first to arrive." I looked down at Tessia in my arms. "I made her pass out."
"Oh." Callias muttered. "What's the plan? I caught up to Stannard right after you guys ran in here, so I am all caught up."
"You are taking Tess back to the base." I told him.
"Why?" He asked as I motioned for him to take her.
"Tess and I can't be in the same place at the moment, it's not safe." Callias bent down and picked Tess up. "I'm trusting you'll protect her."
"I will, are you going to be okay?" My good old friend was worried about me.
"Ah, are you worried about this Devil's safety?" I smiled at him, because he should be.
"Shut up, you know what I meant." We both turned to Samantha jogging towards us. "I'm gonna go, stay with Samantha now, you shouldn't be alone in here, even if you are strong."
"Okay." I motioned for him to go, and he started to jog back to the base.
"What happened to her?" Samantha asked as he ran past her and walked up to me out of breath.
"She will be fine, but Samantha, if you come with me, I can't guarantee your safety." I truly couldn't, if this source of power I sensed, is what I think, I'm going to be in a dog fight soon.
"I can't leave you alone in here." She smiled at me. "Anyways, I know you'll protect me."
I closed my eyes, and sensed for Darvus, he needed the help more than Caria. "Fine, let's go." I started to jog at a pace Samantha could keep up with. I was going to listen to what Callias said, but as soon as we get Darvus, she is leaving with him.
"How far are they?" Samantha asked me as we turned down another tunnel.
"Pretty far." I don't know how they separated themselves this much. "Samantha, we are going to run into Alacryans or mana beasts before them, unless we do this quietly." I paused as we entered a cavern with no one in it. "However, none of us have earth magic, so that's going to be difficult."
"I'll stick behind you and lay down support." I turned to a smiling but determined Samantha.
I basically had all my mana, should I create a clone to protect her? No, I can't, I'm going to need all the mana I got, otherwise today will be my last day alive in this world.
"Samantha, don't join me in the battle, let me clear it out." I told her as I continued to jog.
"I can't do that, Veer, it's my duty." I shook my head, this is a little different, but I guess I'll keep the enemy in front of me, so nothing gets to her.
"Fine." I sensed people down this tunnel. "An Alacryan party up ahead, maybe a hundred and fifty yards, only four of them."
"Okay." We continued to jog until I stopped, maybe fifty yards from them.
"Samantha, I'm not going to kill them right away, I need to know something." I was about to reveal something to her, but hopefully, she won't pick up on it.
"I got your back." She told me with a head nod. I started to walk up to the Alacryans. "What are you doing?" Samantha whispered, but I ignored her, and made sure all the blood I controlled was in my tubes on my waist.
Eventually, they saw me, but I continued to walk up to them. "Stop!" The one shouted, and a shield appeared.
I stopped in my tracks and looked at them. "Please, don't hurt me, I got separated from my team." I spoke in a kiddish voice, Samantha was hiding fifteen yards behind me.
"It's a kid." The one Alacryan said. "The Dicathen's will send anyone with powers into dungeons to defeat us."
"Wait." The one with the shield said.
"What? Relax, we will take the kid in." The one with a sword went to step toward me, but the shield Alacryan stopped him. "Dude."
"Remember the stories we heard about a kid killing one of our companies." He paused and looked at me. "What if it's true? He could be that kid, I mean look at him, he isn't even shaking looking at us."
"I mean you now harm, I don't even have a weapon on me." I felt for the blood in their bodies.
"Come on, let's bring him in, the kid isn't some monster." The sword Alacryan said, who I assumed was a striker.
"Let's at least make him wear mana restricters." The shield Alacryan handed the one a pair of hand cuffs, and then released the shield he was projecting. "You can go put them on him."
"I don't mind wearing them." I created an illusion of myself, standing where I was, holding my hands up. The real me, watched as the Alacryans walked up to the illusion, unable to see the real me.
"We won't hurt you, as long as you do as we say." The striker stood in front of my illusion, and got ready to place the cuffs on my wrist.
"Sorry, but I won't be doing that." My illusion smiled as the cuffs passed through the illusion, and I disrupted each one of their mana cores, and made them all fall to their knees. I made it so they could see the real me and began to talk as they looked up at me in horror, unable to speak. "So, that shield guy was right, I am the kid that killed the company by himself."
"Told you." The shield couldn't move his head, but I am sure he was going to look at the striker.
The other two Alacryans haven't said a word yet, maybe I should just kill them. "What are you doing to us?" The striker asked me.
I leaned against the wall and motioned for Samantha to step out of the shadows. "I am controlling the blood inside of you."
Like a lightbulb turned on inside of his mind, the shield's eyes widened. "You're the kid."
"Shut up." One of the other Alacryans told him. "You know we aren't supposed to talk about that."
"I'm the kid, what do you mean?" I asked the shield, Samantha walked up next to me.
"Veer, what are you going to do to these men?" Samantha grabbed my arm.
"I don't know yet." I did, I was going to kill them, I needed information first. "It's fine, they can't move or use magic."
"Kid, you don't know what you are up against." The striker spoke, not in a threatening tone, but one that was more serious.
"Actually, now that you bring it up, I do have a question, and whoever answers it, will live." I turned to Samantha holding my arm still. "I'm going to kill them, you either need to turn away, or accept it."
"Shouldn't we bring them in?" She really didn't want me to kill them.
"We don't have the time." I knelt down, so I was face to face with them all, Samantha let go of my arm.
"We aren't going to tell you anything, so just kill us." The shield tried to spit on me, but I didn't allow that. I waved my hand at him, and the blood inside of his body was shot out of his back, killing him instantly.
"Does he speak for all of you?" I asked them, they shook their heads no, seeing that I was being serious. "Good, I have a simple question, and I know you can answer it." I paused and gave him a deadly stare. "Who's here in the dungeon with us?"
"What do you mean?" The striker asked, and I pulled the blood out of the Alacryan behind him, so the three of us, Samantha, him, and I were all covered in blood.
However, I didn't budge, there was zero reaction from me. "I know you know, who is here?"
"There are fifty of us." The striker said, and I turned to the Alacryan next to him, against the other wall.
"Please, I have a fa---" He was cut off as I made him gargle on the blood in his throat. I released my grip on him, and then we watched as he slowly died in front of us.
"Veer." Samantha said, but I ignored her.
"Not the number of soldiers you have here, which Retainer is here?" His eyes widened. "Of course, I know there's one here, I've been sensing them for a while now. I can't fully track them, but I know they are here."
"Ha." The striker laughed in my face. "It doesn't matter who is here, you are done for." I waved my hand at him, and he flinched. "Kill me, because I'm not saying shit to you, brat, the Sovereign will protect me."
"That's a shame." I stood up and stared down at him. "I had high hopes for you, I guess today is your last day alive." His eyes widened as I turned my back on him. "Let's go, Samantha."
"What about ---" She froze as the striker exploded into chucks and it got all over her legs. "Veer!"
"What?" I snapped around and looked at her. "Samantha, this is war, I couldn't allow them to live if we weren't going to bring them back with us."
"You could have knocked them out." Samantha walked up to me; her body covered in blood. "This isn't something you should have to do at your age, I know you've done it before, but you are doing it too easily."
I shrugged. "I don't know what you want from me, either go back, or stop complaining." I started to walk to where I sensed Darvus.
Samantha followed me. "Well, I can't leave you alone."
I'm worried about what the striker said, what if I am completely wrong, and it isn't a Retainer, and it's a Scythe. It would be a problem if it was Uto, I mean, don't get me wrong, I want to kill him, but we are in a dungeon, and his powers are based off of shadows. There were shadows in every single place in the dungeon, it would be a serious issue.
I don't know much about the other Retainers, but if my clone's info is right, I might not be fighting just a Retainer or Scythe.
"Veer, what's next?" I sensed Darvus ahead, there were eight Alacryans around him. They must be in a cavern searching for him, because the wounds I am detecting on him are pretty serious, he wouldn't be able to put up a fight at all.
"The next cavern is where Darvus is, but there are more Alacryans." I turned to her. "Samantha, I am going to kill them, and you are going to get Darvus out of here, so I can retrieve Caria."
"Didn't you say a Retainer was here?" I nodded my head. "Aren't they the strength of a Lance, or even stronger?"
"I am surprised you know that, but yeah, they are a little stronger than the Lances I suspect, but I'll be fine." I faced ahead. "I promise, I do not plan on dying today."
"That's what everyone says, this seems a little too dangerous, I say we get Darvus and let everyone else rescue Caria." My body stiffened for a second as I felt something coming, and I started to walk on ahead.
"Samantha, we need to hurry." I told her as the cavern came into view.