Guardian spent a good week making all of the arrangements he needed to raid the prison dungeon.

Firstly, he got his robes modified slightly. The inner side of them now had a leather vest and padding sewn inside. This was done to add some protection. Then he got himself a bunch of potions and stored them by his side in a satchel. He also has visited the swamps again and gathered some of the pods swamplings had used against him before.

Secondly, he entrusted his three swamp pets to Ithayiga. The critters were now somewhat trained and were able to follow basic commands. However, the critters running away was still a problem. The boy also got better at using the spear, all thanks to Tiramisu.

Thirdly, he had to convince Cynthia of giving him a hand with all of this. He explained what had been happening in the prison dungeons and this deeply unsettled the young golem master. She wanted to report it to the authorities and bring half of the city guard to clean out the mage's lair. However, Guardian could not let that happen, not if he wanted all of the loot for himself.

Guardian tried to convince Cynthia that this had to be done in secret. He told her that some of the higher ranking guards and even nobles might be involved in this and that they might alert their friends, the rogue mages. This sounded quite convincing and not too far from the truth, but this was an absolute speculation on his part, he had no evidence to support his claims. Cynthia did not ask for any proof and took his words as truth, after the swamp incident she trusted Guardian and considered him to be a good friend. Furthermore, giving Cynthia one of the staves made from the treant they have killed helped to win her over.

Lastly, he managed to obtain a map of the old sewer system which ran beneath where the slums were now. The bookkeeper warned that the map is of 200 years old and completely outdated, many of the tunnels will be closed or collapsed by now. It did not matter for Guardian because he still could use it to some extent. Well, it was not him who was using it for the past week, it was Tamia who had to remap it. Guardian did not want to get dirty in that filthy and smelly place.

All of the preparations were compleated and a party led by Guardian gathered inside the swamp tunnels. The plan was to split into three small groups. Guardian and Rocky will storm the ritual hall while Ithayiga and Tiramisu will sneak deeper into the dungeon ambushing mages and guards before they get a chance to organise themselves. Tamia’s job was to warn them of any possible reinforcements coming from the surface.

The group carefully weaved their way through the narrow sewer tunnels. Guardian could see in the darkness but others could not. Cynthia had used a strange glowing orb to illuminate their path. The light the orb emitted was faint and did not stretch far. Occasionally, they had encountered a huge slime or an oversized rat but Rocky did a quick job and turned them into the slurry.

“Guardian, look at my Rocky. It is all filthy and covered in muck and slime. You will have to get me some of that fragrant soap you been selling.” Cynthia whispered.

“Okay, okay. After this is done I will reserve some for you.” He was waiting for a new shipment from Aiu. It was supposed to reach Harbour Town in a few days’ time.

“We are here, I recognise this part.” Tiramisu informed the group that they have reached their destination.

“Lead the way then.”

Tiramisu guided the group towards where she had found the entrance to the prison.

“Ok, as agreed we are splitting here.” Guardian began their plan.

“Good luck and be careful.” Said Cynthia to the others, she had to stay with Rocky to issue commands.

Tiramisu and the boy, his pets included, went through the rusty grate leading to the old storeroom. Tamia tried to squeeze through but she couldn’t.

“Hey, guys.” The thief whispered.

“What?”

“I am stuck” Her body got stuck midway through the narrow gap of the grating..

“Ha ha ha. You are so fat.” Giggled Tiramisu.

It was not because she was fat, it was because she had more womanly proportions compared to Tiramisu. Still, the lizard’s remarks peeved off Tamia.

“Help me!” Hi whisper-shouted.

“Quiet! If I could hear you so could they.” Guardian warned the fat human. He heard her and came back to check what this ruckus was all about..

“I am stuck.”

“Shush! And you are calling yourself a thief, getting stuck like that.” He was not impressed.

Guardian got the golem to assist her out. Rocky pried the grate bars off allowing Tamia to get to the storeroom where other two waited for her. Tiramisu was still giggling at her.

“Do not go yet. Wait for the signal.” Guardian made sure to remind them just before he left.

“What is the signal?” Tamia asked the lizard.

“Weren’t you listening when we discussed all of this? He told that we will know once we hear it.” Tiramisu answered with a shoulder shrug.

Guardian and Rocky trailed a bit back following the wall. In the wall there was a small hole, a small beam of light coming from that hole proved that where were someone living behind this wall.

“Well, this is it. It is your turn, Rocky.” Guardian motioned towards the wall.

Cynthia gave issued a command and the rocky tackled the wall with its heavy body. Upon the impact, the masonry gave out instantly and a torrent of bricks and dust were sent flying. This had made an awful lot of sound; this was the signal for Tiramisu and others.

They had burst into a large room. There were tables and chairs, it was a dining room. Also, it was not empty, There were people too. They were startled and confused, they could not fathom in their heads of what had just happened.

“Cynthia they are dirty mages do not hesitate!” Guardian shouted as he made his attack.

The few mages were taken by surprise and dispatched immediately. They did not have time to prepare their spells. More of them came from the corridor to investigate the sudden noise. Rocky ran towards the doorway slamming into it and the mages standing there. The golem was too large to fit but it managed to widen the door gap using a momentum of its heavy body.

The bricks forming the doorway did not hold and were widened in an explosion of dust and debris. The humans who were standing there got knocked out to the ground.

Guardian ran past the golem towards the knocked down mages and stomped on their heads breaking their skulls. The golem imitated him. They had to act quickly and It was getting very bloody.

They rushed through a corridor hoping to find a ritual room Tiramisu have mentioned before.

“It should be somewhere here if Tiramisu’s description was correct.” Guardian judged it to be close.

They did not have enough time to look properly. More of the mages emerged from various rooms to the corridor and were blocking Guardians way. The robed humans raised their hands and fired their spells. They were mostly simple spells of magic projectiles. The robed mages were only at the level of an apprentice.

The spells hit Rocky and fizzled out. The humans lacked battle experience and probably common knowledge that their attacks would be useless against the war golem.

“Fortify!” Shouted Cynthia just before another barrage of spells.

Guardian flung a number of vials towards the mages, they broke releasing an obnoxious smoke forcing mages into the coughing fit. This will slow them down since they won’t be able to chant their incantations to cast anything more serious. Only the simple projectile spells and the like could be cats quickly pretty much without the need to chant.

“Ward me!” Guardian commanded Cynthia to give him some protection from the magic.

“Ward!” Cynthia did just so.

He squeezed past the golem towards dashing towards the mages. The humans shot their projectiles towards him, the smoke affected their aim. The magic which hit the Guardian got absorbed by the Ward. Once he got close enough he released a tornado of hits and kicks. Mages were too squishy to handle a melee attack like that, they could not block or avoid Guardian. The men had their bones broken and flesh slashed rendering them useless in a matter of seconds.

Rocky did not idle either. The golem smashed its way through the wall into the large room. Cynthia made a lucky guess, it was the ritual room. There were a dozen mages there, they were ready for it. The rogue mages had formed a formation and were waiting for an intruder to emerge from the main doorway.

The golem coming through the wall slightly surprised them, but they were prepared for surprises. The mages fired their spells at the rocky. The projectile smells were much larger and stronger compared to what they saw in the corridor. These guys were advanced in their craft.

“Just how did you get in here?” Shouted the mage. “And with a war golem! Slow! This will have to do.” The eldest looking mage cast a slow glyph just beneath the golem. The magic hampered the speed of already sluggish golem, slowing its advance significantly. A person under slow debuff would feel like trying to go through viscous oil.

Rocky’s would take at atomic a few minutes now to reach the mages. The mages did not wait for the construct to get into the melee range they were firing magic at it. The golem was resistant to the magic but not invulnerable to it, small chunks of rock got chipped away with each magic projectile. By the time it would reach the mages it would be defeated and Cynthia knew that. She was safe behind her golem, but she did not know for how long. Lucky to her she was not alone in this battle.

Guardian emerged through the main doorway and the mages reacted to his presence firing a barrage of magic projectiles towards him. The projectiles hit their target but Guardian remained unscathed. He had blocked them with the recently made flesh shields he was holding in each of his hands, they were dead mages he killed in the corridor. The projectiles quickly eroded the flesh of his impromptu shields making them useless way too quickly. Magic was that scary. One good hit was enough to end a man’s life, especially if he was unarmoured.

“Ward!” Cynthia shouted out buffing the Guardian.

“That must be one good caster casting at such a large distance away.” Noticed one of the mages.

This was not because of Cynthia’s good skill but because of the high-quality treant stave she was using. It helped to extend the range of her active buffs.

In between their cats, the mages talked about the ones who dared to invade them.

“Men, we are having a threat. A caster, a war golem and a beastman. Those guys do not mess about.”

“If that is all they got, they do not stand a chance.”

“Just what is this beastman supposed to be?”

“Not a beastman, some kind of a monster!” Exclaimed the mage getting a better look at the Guardian.

“You fools, it is clearly a type of a beastman.” The oldest mage lectured his incompetent colleagues.

“What did you call me?!” Guardian sprinted even faster than before towards the mages.

“Fire!”

All of the mages directed their attack from the golem to the monstrous beastman running towards them at the frightening speed. The ward managed to shield most of them but not all. Some of the projectiles got through and hit Guardian. His injuries were minor, his reinforced robe helped in that.

“You bastard! Just die already!” The mage cursed. He could not cast another slow spell as he could maintain only one. And he needed that golem to remain slowed down. “Fire!” the old mage commanded again.

A barrage of twelve projectiles raced through the air threatening to blow away the Guardian. His ward shield was broken and Cynthia could not cast another. She was concentrated at reinforcing her golem so it does not crumble before it reaches its targets. However, Guardian had a good old ‘ace card’ he could use.

The air rippled and a blast of magic energy radiated from the Guardian’s outstretched hand. The blast hit the projectiles sending them off target or completely fizzling them out if their caster was too weak.

“You humans have a good saying for this, what was it? Fight fire with fire?”

“He is a mage too!!!” Exclaimed the rogue mage, but this was not the point.

Guardian will crush them with his hands, not with his magic. He was close to the mages now. His robe not only had some armour underneath, it had two heavy chains which were not just a flashy decoration. They were crossed on top of the robe, around his torso. He unclipped one of the chains and swung it towards the closest mage, tackling him down. He gripped another chain in his hand and was aiming it towards his next target.

“Shit! How did this happen?” Swore the old mage. The beastman was too quick for his size.

“The reinforcements will be here soon.” Another mage was trying to calm himself down.

“Yeah, they will take the beastman and the golem from behind.” Added another. The mages did not like having someone this big so close to them. They were spell slingers, not melee fighters.

“How did you call me!?” Guardian roared at the man.

The mages were not just chatting idly, they were casting their spells at the golem and Guardian. Guardian managed to duck a few, but quite a few hit him. The magic singed his flesh but it mattered little to him. He was within the rogue mages formation, close enough to unleash his wrath towards those who confused him with a mare beastman.

Another projectile burned at his chest, his leather vest managed to dampen it but he still felt it. He swung his platted chain at the head of the mage who just did that smashing it into the face. The man slumped down, he was either dead or knocked out. As he hit the ground blood leaked from his ears, he was definitely dead.

A single hit was all he needed to take care of these squishy mages. Soon all of them will be dead. Guardian stretched his arm trying to blast the mages with his magic blast. The blast should knock the annoying casters down giving the Guardian some room and time to dispatch them.

As he did so the air made a visible ripple and a thunderous sound echoed through the room. His blast hit the mages but they were still standing.

“Do not take us for fools. We now know you are a mage too, beastman! What was there us to stop from warding ourselves? Ha-ha-ha.” Laughed the old mage.

Guardian disliked that but he had another ace in his hand to use. He opened his satchel and threw swamp pods towards the mages. The pods got shot by projectiles or burst on the ground upon the impact. They did not need to hit the mages, this was not the point. A purple cloud of poisonous dust was released into the air. Covering guardian and the mages.

His blast did knock the mages so he needed to put something between him and them. He did not want to be blasted by twelve projectiles at once. To do this Guardian used a temporary purple cloud, while it was still thick, to hide beneath one of the benches and chugged some stamina and antidote potions. He was resistant to the poison but this was just an insurance, he did not want his mind to get too slow.

The mages covered their noses. They had mana and healing potions with them but no antidotes from poison. They felt the effects of poison slowly take over their mind and body. However, this did not stop them from blasting the table away, ruining Guardians cover.

The winner was still to be decided. Guardian was still within the melee reach of the mages and they needed to take care of him quickly before the poison sapped their strength. The golem was awfully close too.

“Fuck this. Slow the golem down!” The old mage released his slow spell. “Entangle with Shadows!” He cast another, more potent one on the Guardian instead.

A shadowy vine coiled around Guardian binding him in place. Before that, Guardian managed to injure another mage, this was done by throwing some chunks of a broken table at the human.

“Do not get distracted! Concentrate on the golem. I alone will take care of this beastman.” The old mage instructed those who were still able to fight.

Guardian was immobile but he was still able to cast spells. He cast a magic blast again hoping to get free from the entangle spell. The blast did the trick releasing his body.

“This should not be possible, you wield interesting magic.” The old man said with interest and disbelief.

“Shut up you human!” Guardian stretched both of his arms and aimed at the old man threateningly.

“Enhanced Ward!” the old mage covered his entire body in a magic shield. He was smart enough to suspect that he is about to receive the strongest spell this foreign beastman mage has to offer.

To the old man’s surprise Guardian moved his hands towards the mage he distracted seconds ago and cast his spell. Thick vines coiled from his hands enveloping the mage. This unsettled the mage. Guardian initiated the final stage of his spell and set the vines aflame. The mage had a magic ward and it helped, but it did not hold long enough. Eventually, flames engulfed the man setting him ablaze.

A good number of mages were out of combat already. The morale was not the best.

“I do have to resort to this after all.” The old mage reached into his pocket reluctantly and took out a black crystal. “Take that!”

A wall of blue energy slammed into Guardian carrying him towards the wall, away from the mages. It burned his robes completely. If not for the robes and the leather under them his skin would have received even more damage than it did. He got burnt but he was okay for the most part.

Another dozen of men burst through the doorway. They looked like guards for the most part, few of them looked like fledgling magic casters. Fledging because there were fear and anxiety in their eyes, they looked like this was their first proper fight.

“Damnation! Why didn’t you come sooner!? I could have saved the charge on the crystal.” Shouted old man in displeasure. “You two are done now!” The old man addressed the golem and Guardian, a broad smile was plastered on his face.

Guardian and Rocky had men in front and behind of them; they got ambushed and were about to be surrounded.