When the last [Flaming Sprite] hit the floor, the team breathed out deeply. Despite their pitifully low HP, the sheer number of them caused the team to focus fully.

That said, for an experienced team of players, this much was more than easy to deal with.

Journeying on through the tunnel nothing happened on their advance. The dungeon was eerily quiet. From coming into contact with the [Flame Sprites] they had walked for a minute, minute and a half and nothing happened.

They were neither attacked nor did they see anything.

Yet the feeling of being watched was noticeable to everyone.

Faith was the first person to get creeped out and say what was on her mind, "Guys, do you get the feeling we're being watched by something?"

"Stop being such a scaredy-cat.." Big Papa said as he was using the chance to toy with Faith. Only to be interrupted by Alex's concerned voice.

"Everyone cover your ears and stay sharp. Do it immediately!"

Not given enough time to process what Alex had said properly they simply mimicked Alex's actions and thankfully they did.

"ROARRRRRRRR!" A deafening roar thundered out from the end of the tunnel. Along with the roar came a wave of beasts.

They seemed to be scared themselves. All frantically running for their lives, it just so happened that the only direction was towards Alex's party.

What they could see was close to 800 advancing mobs. From [Flaming Sprites] to [HellHounds] to [Ghostly Fire]. What was noticeable though was that every mob was higher than Level 24!

For a short moment, everyone was panicked, falling into utter disbelief.

This was normal mode? The lowest difficulty?!

What's worse they had yet to see the main boss.

"Get into formation." Connor voiced thankfully to wake everyone up from their shock.

"We slow their approach with projectiles, while we fall back to a smaller parting in the tunnel. We can't let them flank us or we will stand no chance." Alex shouted out after everyone reconfirmed their resolve to fight.

"I agree, let's retreat 300 yards, that way we don't have to worry about keeping the healers safe since we can just focus on a frontal collision." Iced Cola agreed promptly.

"You heard Little Chick! Mages and archers slow them down. Healers start retreating."

Alex didn't immediately turn and run back to the parting in the tunnel. He was by far the fastest person in the party and could catch up. Instead, he took this time to give the rest of the team some more time to gather in formation at the chosen location.

He spammed out [Mana Blade] after [Mana Blade] focusing on the closest enemies that could slow down the retreat. That being the [Flaming Sprites], they out of all three mobs had a ranged attack and they had low HP.

Whoosh* Whoosh* Whoosh*

Blade after blade sliced at the incoming pack as he then used [Flashed Steps] to retreat.

[Ghostly Fire] was a mob with great speed and stealth as they liked to get close and personal we dealing damage. They were quite hard to pin down as they would always use their spell [Flame Whip] to deal damage and move position.

On his retreat around 30 [Flame Whip] spells were focused on his previous positions. Showing that if he didn't pick and choose when to use [Flash Steps] he would have been tied down and then forced into a frontal assault from 800 attackers.

Of course, Alex was aware of all of this and he knew he couldn't stay still for too long. So he retreated in a zig-zag pattern. Stopping along the way to send up to 3 casts of [Mana Blade].

By the time he reached the parting in the tunnel, he had single handly, reduced the initial collision. Killing over 80 [Flame Sprites] and damaging a few of the tankier [Hellhounds].

The main way [Hellhounds] dealt damage was to spew fire from one of their three heads. Using their skill [Waves Of Flame].

Arriving at the parting he slipped behind Connor and the other berserker while he fished out some common grade [Mana Potions] from his inventory. This was a necessity that he had stocked up on to go out hunting in Blood Moore Valley.

Since he had more than enough, he didn't hold back. His depleted MP of nearly 800 was refreshed within seconds.

With now only feeling slightly fatigued he was ready once more to fight whatever came at him.

"Good work Alex!" Connor said as he check up on him before continuing, "Mad Dog, focus your CC skills on the [Hellhounds] and slow their approach."

"Mages block some of their projectiles otherwise us tanks are going to be overrun by stacked up damage."

"As for Healers, well, just heal!"

With the plan set in motion, Alex and the team tediously held on using any of their spells that they could as soon as they came off cooldown.

The horde of enemies was huge but it was achievable as long as they didn't commit any mistakes.

Alex used this chance to gain an abundance of XP. Targeting the mobs that were slightly weaker from the spell damage from the mages and the archer.

just like that he rapidly started levelling up.

4%..

28%..

72%..

99%..

[You have Levelled up!]

He didn't bother to mess about too much as he was amidst a battle. The only thing that he did do was equip his secondary dagger.

[You have equipped (Bone Dagger)]

With the refreshed Mana Pool from levelling up, Alex turned into a different person. As if a sword was finally unsheathed, Alex was finally able to remove a limiting factor to his battle prowess.

His aura seemed to show it as he went from having a gentle disposition to radiating a brutal and deadly sharpness. A sharpness that screamed a threatening warning of 'DO NOT MESS WITH THIS PERSON, IF YOU WANT TO LIVE!'

From being able to release 3 [Mana Blade] spells every couple of seconds. He doubled his output. Dual-wielding daggers, working in cohesion as they changed and slashed in a rhythmically set pace.

Alex was neither sloppy with his movements nor was he wasteful. Every moment was elegant. From cutting down up to 3 enemies per usage he claimed 6.

The change was noticed but everyone just roared with laughter.

"Hahaha, Little Chick you finally started to get serious huh!"

"Wow, Little brother, keep it up!"

Even Rex who normally kept a straight face showed signs of disbelief. That was until he then started to speed up his attacks, clearly not willing to be left behind.

*****

[Flaming Sprite]

[HP 500/500]

[Spells - Fireball]

[Hellhound]

[HP 4000/4000]

[Spell - Wave Of Flame]

[Ghostly Flame]

[HP 1800/1800]

[Spell - Flame Whip]