Spirit Weapon was a summoning skill. The spirit it summoned was based on the user's weapon. The higher the grade, the stronger the spirit. Similar to other summoning skills or spells, once out, the spirit could operate on auto or controlled directly for more finesse.
Domon was not the type who bothered to control the spirit. He just summoned the spirit to afford him some leeway from the enemies surrounding him. While the glaive spirit went and hacked at the nearest enemies, Domon continued dishing out slashes, kicks, and occasional punches to the closest players.
While he was dishing out punishment, Domon suddenly felt danger underneath his feet. He quickly stabbed his glaive to the ground and pushed himself up. His body spin before his foot landed on one of the enemy's faces. He then kicked on the face to propel himself away just as Arcane Turbulence spell flared in the area he was before.
"Continue casting! No need to be afraid of friendly fire!" Prideful Josh bellowed. That old man was not less troublesome than the demon behind there. They had to eliminate the old man first before dealing with the commotion on the back.
However, none of the spells hit. Domon had dexterously used the players' heads as stepping stones. His footwork in the air made it as if his body was without weight. The others who were still fighting couldn't help but stop and watch this circus-like performance. Domon's spirit weapon followed after his trail as it continued to slash any enemies it passed by.
Some of the players whose heads were used as stepping stones tried to move away, but the old man was very spry. Domon adjusted his footwork even though the players down there continued moving around. Additionally, there was not much room to move as everyone was packed inside this constricting cave space.
His lightweight steps brought him to where the mages and healers were. He dropped down there while cleaving at one. The magic users that were present during Crestfall Plain and Heavenly Citadel battle, felt as if this was a repeated scene of when Jack came down in their midst. The aura this old man gave out was not less terrifying than the demon.
And soon, all hell broke loose.
Prideful Josh, seeing his team formation in shambles, gritted his teeth as he slowly admitted that things had taken the turn for a worse for them.
"What should we do?" Lustful Elly asked. "We have lost quite a number and the casualties kept increasing. If this continued…"
Prideful Josh gazed at the inside of the cave. He then made his decision. "This settlement's reward is not worth our loss. Retreat. Retreat!"
Seeing the enemy retreating, Trinity Dawn immediately issued her order, asking everyone to stop chasing and let the enemies go. Jeanny had placed her there to issue this command if they somehow won. They were not to chase after the enemy but to return to aid the main team that was fighting the trolls.
Domon also stopped when he saw his opponents lose the will to fight and move away. He was not the battle-lust kind of man who wanted to continue fighting.
There were, however, many of these battle-lust types there. The Warriors of Solidarity continued to attack their enemies even though the enemies were retreating. They completely didn't pay any attention to the chat command issued by Trinity. Even when Trinity came to shout at them, some still acted as if they didn't hear.
They only stopped when Domon came before them, slamming one into the ground while throwing another two back. Noticing Domon's presence there, they totally froze. This group of rough men was like kittens before the old man. They knew that they would have a hell of a time during the morning training if they dared to show disobedience now.
So, Domon who had been Crowd of Sins' main obstacle when they were attacking, had now turned to be their main savior when retreating. Crowds of Sins players didn't know if they should send thanks or curses to this old man.
Jack had indeed arrived and was hacking and slashing his way amid Crowd of Sins players. He had activated Gold Scale Armor. Combined with Peniel's and his own body recovery rate boosted by Gold Scale Armor, he completely neglected defense and played his sword art to his heart content. If anything happened, Peniel still had her healing skills to save him.
The enemies were powerless against him. Those that fought with him before found him to be more unreasonable now. He still run around evading attacks before, now he was like an unkillable monster. Even their attacks that caused status effects were useless to him.
The leaders who were amongst the crowd received a message and then simultaneously cried, "Halt! Halt!"
Everyone started shouting and they moved back, pulling away from Jack. Jack was about to chase but hearing their weird shout, he decided to stop and observe first. Soon the crowd parted way as Prideful Josh and Lustful Elly came out to meet him.
"Cute boy, we meet again," Lustful Elly said with her alluring voice. Jack felt a shiver from it.
"We have lost. We won't bother your guild from raiding this monster settlement. Will you be kind enough to let us leave?" She continued speaking to Jack.
Jack was slightly surprised by the statement. He had been trying to barge through so he could join with his guildmates on the other side and repelled their enemies together. He didn't expect the enemy to give up so soon.
Prideful Josh stayed silent by the side. He couldn't bear to bring himself to talk about losing, so he gave silent instructions to Lustful Elly, who read from her private chat, "Do not think that we are afraid, though. If you insist, we can continue fighting and perish together. We might not be able to…"
"All right. Leave," Jack said.
Both Prideful Josh and Lustful Elly were slightly taken aback. They were expecting this battle-frenzy demon to insist on continuing to fight. They had been prepared to have a team hold off the man while the others squeezed by the sides to escape.
Prideful Josh was still having trouble believing. It was Lustful Elly who gave the command to her guildmates to orderly go out of this cave.
Jack simply stood there watching.
Prideful Josh and Lustful Elly stayed at the back in alert until the last member walked past Jack. They remembered how Jack had decided to still attack Scarface during the battle of Crestfall Plain despite the guild leaders issuing him a cease-fire.
If it was before, Jack might have indeed continued fighting. Reducing this guild's power so they gave Everlasting Heavenly Legends less trouble in the future. But after the encounter with Master and after Wilted informed him of the coming conflict. He understood that this country would need all the strength it could muster. That included player guilds. Crowds of Sins was amongst the guilds that had gotten a Guild Headquarters in Themisphere. Which meant during the coming country wars, their strength would also be needed. Hence, Jack stayed his hands.
The two leaders of Crowds of Sins were still eyeing Jack as they retreated by walking backward. Jack laughed inwardly at their cautiousness and simply turned his back on them and went inside the cave.
Most of the team that came to halt Crowds of Sins' advance had returned to where Jeanny was to aid her. Only a small team stayed before the opening to the large cavern, in case the Crowds of Sins decided to attack again. Domon was amongst those that stayed guard.
He saw the figure of his grandson coming into view inside the cave tunnel.
"You are finally back," he said to Jack. "What have you been up to all this time?"
"Well, let's see. I met a vampire, fight with a vampire. Then I met a whole town full of vampires, and then I met some vampire nobles, kill a vampire noble, and then I got betrayed by a dwarf who I thought was a friend. After that, I met a cheater who I can't beat, yet. Got captured, got saved by a girl. We then saved a dragon, after that we saved the vampire who I fought previously before finally, we escaped."
"Interesting. Do you still diligently practice the martial arts I thought you?" Domon asked.
"Yes," Jack answered.
"Okay, that's all that is important," Domon said.
Jack simply nodded. He looked at the far side of the cavern where his guildmates were fighting with monsters.
"You are not going there to help?" Jack asked.
"We were asked to watch here, in case that group or another one came again," Domon answered. "Besides, they needed the fighting experiences. If I keep on assisting, they won't grow."
"Well, in that case, I will stay back as well."
The grandfather and grandson continued to chat about trivial matters as they waited.
After many of their members regrouped with Jeanny's team, the pressure from the trolls was much reduced. No longer getting bogged down by the worry of a back assault, the group fought better. They rearranged their formation and slowly wore down the monsters. Even though their number had decreased, this settlement was still not something they couldn't overcome.
After another hour of fighting, most of the trolls had finally been wiped out.. Leaving only a large brown troll in armor who now stood in front of the largest wooden structures at the farthest side of the cavern.
