10 minutes ago...

The room was silent, the recently arrived Adamantine adventurers sitting on one side, while Alissa sat opposite. The Adamantines each had a sheet of paper in their hands, eyes constantly flicking between emotions as they read.

"What...the hell." Was all Myrrh could say as she looked at the Stat Sheet in disbelief. At first she was pleasantly surprised at his level and class, but as she read further into the Abyss Watcher's stats the more her attention began to focus on one particular thing.

HIs Core Stats.

"4,200 health..." She heard Marcus mutter out from beside her, eyes glazed over in thought. And for good reason. Before this Abyss Watcher had showed up, Marcus had only been second to one other person in terms of health, boasting an incredible 1,150 health pool. And this was after he had focused the majority of his stats into his endurance, turning into a walking brick of unbreakable concrete.

Somehow though, this Abyss Watcher had more over 3,000 more health points than him, while somehow still managing to outclass him in all other stats as well. Sure, having higher stats when you are a higher level is basically a given, but the Abyss Watcher's stats were just too high to be someone only 10 levels above him.

"Sorry Myrrh, but it looks like your not gonna get your turn this time." Marcus said, shaking his head as he put the stat sheet.

Myrrh slammed the sheet onto the table, teeth gritting in frustration. "Celest damn it!" She yelled, slightly frightening Alissa. After all, when a person that is strong enough to give an army a run for their money gets angry, it's best to not be the target of their anger. "This was supposed to be my turn!" She let out her frustrations.

Yurem chuckled, "Myrrh, as much as I want to believe you can take this monster down, there is no way you'll ever do that." A rare serious expression came onto his face, "In fact, judging from his stats and the fact that we don't even know what sort of skills he has, I'd say it'd take all three of us working together to take him down. And we'll have to make a plan to take him down."

Marcus clicked his tongue as he leaned back after Yurem's evaluation. Yurem was the main brains behind the party, coming up with most of the strategies they used. Of course, he didn't always follow these strategies himself but let's not focus too much on the details. As such, when Yurem said that they would need all three of them to win against the Abyss Watcher, they would almost definitely need all three. And it made sense, especially since all of his stats added up was about the same number as their own.

Myrrh let out a dejected sigh, deflating into the couch slightly, "So where even is the new Adamantine?" She asked Alissa.

In response Alissa brought out another piece of paper, this one with a circular rune on it, "The spies I have placed at the gates recently reported that he left the city and entered the nearby forest with his party of royalists and a woman and child." She explained, a purple aura shining out of her hand and being mirrored by the rune, "I can use this to transport you guys near his position, and I will also soon teleport his party back once I find their data. As for the woman and child I have already sent some of my people ahead to get them out of there." She explained, gesturing to a small pile of papers near her, each stamped with a rose in the top right corner.

"Wait, why is he in a party with royalists?" Marcus hurriedly asked, brow furrowing while he occasionally glanced to his Adamantine band, the engravings now also matching the purple aura.

Alissa sighed in annoyance, "Look, I didn't have a choice alright. Our alliance with the royalist branch here in Duskrock is already shaky, and this was the best way I could postpone one problem and solve another. Even if the branch is very small, they still have those platinum's and a deep connection with the Queen. It was never going to be permanent and I was going to get him to join up with you guys after you finish."

Marcus nodded in understanding, "Ah, that makes sense then."

The glow of the aura, which had been slowly growing throughout the conversation, now peaked, signaling the spells readiness. "Try not to die guys." Alissa said with a small smile before a purple flash blinded her, her vision only being met with an empty couch once it returned...

The Abyss Watcher's form blurred as he used [Dash] solidifying again a few feet away. The fire scorched the ground, melting away the previously icy grass. His eyes narrowed as he looked to the three new arrivals. They then promptly widened as his vision was suddenly filled with metal, the newly arrived knight's longsword swinging for his head.

Unsheathing his dagger and quickly blocking the swing, he spun around, doing a roundhouse kick against the knight, aiming for his chest. The knight was fast though, raising his shield to defend and only being pushed back a few feet.

Taking this opportunity the Abyss Watcher leaped backwards to assess the situation. The knight who had recovered quickly was now silently observing the Abyss Watcher, shifting his sword in his grip ever so slightly. The elf mage was situated behind him, keenly looking at the confrontation and most likely looking for an easy opportunity.

The dwarf...was no where to be seen. His eyes swung left and right in search of the dwarf, yet he couldn't see him. A twig snapped behind him. Spinning around he hurriedly swung his sword in a circle, making sure that the dwarf wasn't behind him. A loud bang suddenly occurred and strangely enough a ball of metal suddenly shot towards him from behind a tree.

Dropping his dagger to the ground he quickly stuck out his hand, catching the metal ball about the size of a large rock. He grunted as pain shot through his arm from the force of the metal ball. Hearing the metal footsteps behind him he hurriedly turned around and threw the metal ball at the knight, who quickly raised his shield in response, the force of the Abyss Watcher's throw causing him to stumble back.

Taking this opportunity, the Abyss Watcher quickly picked up his dagger and sprinted forward to the knight. The knight noticed this, thrusting his sword out in a stab. This didn't land however, as his opponent suddenly crouched down, sweeping out the knight's legs and causing him to seemingly hover in the air for a moment.

Still using the same motion, the Abyss Watcher stood back up his sword overhead and shooting down towards the knight. The knight quickly thrust out his shield successfully catching the blow and stopping it from striking his armour directly, but still being smashed into the ground.

The knight quickly rolled away from the Abyss Watcher and to his feet, only to be kicked in his chest, thankfully not falling over this time. His opponent didn't plan to give him a moments rest, spinning and swinging his sword at the knight's head. In response the knight, instead of raising his shield to defend, lowered himself into a crouch and swung his own sword, forcing the Abyss Watcher to fall back a few steps.

Before his assault could be renewed again however, a rune of fire suddenly appeared by his side on the floor of the grassy clearing, exploding and knocking him off his feet and away from the knight. He quickly recovered, resting his great sword on his shoulder as he glared at the mage. Said mage only smiled smugly at him, irritating the Abyss Watcher who looked around for Skyla and the others, only to be met with empty clearing, confusing him greatly.

Did they leave? He didn't think they would since they seemed to be good folk. The most probable event was that something had taken them away from the battle, whether for good or worse.

Standing up to his full height he silently observed the two enemies before him. They seemed to be quite strong if the knight being able to withstand and block his hits was any indication. So far, the mage stayed at the back, only attacking when it was necessary to save the knight. That was a problem. An idea suddenly came into his head to solve this problem.

Raising up his left leg, he stared past the knight and at the mage, who seemed confused for a moment. Flipping his grip on the great sword he brought it back much like one would a javelin. As he lowered his raised leg he threw the sword with all his might, a boom resonating from it. Not wasting anytime the Abyss Watcher chased behind it.

The knight, noticing the giant sharp metal sword of doom heading towards him at super sonic speeds quickly stepped out of the way, his high level being the only reason he could do so. The sword sailed past harmlessly, instead now heading towards the mage who's eyes widened in shock. Noticing this the knight immediately tried to move towards her, but suddenly found his feet being pulled out from underneath him as the Abyss Watcher dropped down, sliding past him while hooking his ankle with the dagger and pulling hard.

Meanwhile the mage was suddenly tackled to the ground by the dwarf, who's camouflage had disappeared by the sudden movements. Because of the dwarf's quick actions however, the sword missed the mage, instead impaling the tree all the way until the hilt collided with it. The Abyss Watcher quickly sprinted toward the and pulled it out, using the motion to swing down at the dwarf and mage.

The dwarf reacted quickly however rolling onto his back and managing to kick the mage away from the incoming blade, causing the incoming sword to instead collide with the ground, dirt to spraying out in all directions. His eyes flicked to the now recovering knight and decided to switch targets, charging at him instead.

The knight, seeing the rapidly approaching Abyss Watcher, quickly swung his sword in a horizontal arc towards him.

"[Wind Blade]!" He shouted, the air seemingly solidifying into a thin blade and flying towards it's desired target.

The Abyss Watcher quickly dropped to the ground, stabbing his dagger into the ground to pull him the last few feet in a burst of speed. He smashed into the knight's legs causing him to fall face first and allowing the Abyss Watcher to raise his sword to slice down at the immobile enemy.

A loud bang sounded out for the second, the metal ball this time successfully connecting with the Abyss Watcher's arm, causing him to get pushed back, halting his attack.

"Myrrh, use [Solar Ray]!" The dwarf shouted to the elf, who looked back incredulously at him.

"That's a bit overkill isn't it!?" She shouted back while keeping her eyes on the Abyss Watcher who had recovered and was currently re-engaging with Marcus, the former keeping the armoured knight on the back foot with his greater speed and power.

"If we wanna win this we need overkill!" The dwarf shouted as he loaded another bullet, "Me and Marcus can keep him busy for a while, so start chanting elf! [Earth Shot]!" The next bullet he fired suddenly grew twice in size, also being covered in hard rocks.

The Abyss Watcher quickly kicked the knight away as he saw an opening before spinning around and slicing the incoming bullet in half. However, unexpectedly, once the bullet was sliced in half a spray of dust burst into the Abyss Watcher's eyes, causing him to grunt in frustration as he hurriedly attempted to rub it out.

Taking the opportunity, the knight charged the Abyss Watcher, tackling him with his shield and knocking him down. The Abyss Watcher hurriedly rolled back into a standing position, swinging his sword at the knight and stopping his advance. It was then that the Abyss Watcher's eyes flicked to the elf mage, who was now standing dead still, both eyes closed as she mumbled to herself, the words lost to his ears. The carvings on her staff began to glow a bright yellow as she continued her chant, the knight hurriedly stepping back.

The mage opened her glowing yellow eyes.

This was it. So far this Abyss Watcher had put up quite the fight, keeping the entire party on the backfoot and even managing to catch one of Yurem's bullets. But this was it. Should be it. For some reason there was still the faintest inkling of doubt within her, yet she dispelled it immediately. After all, [Solar Ray] was one of her most powerful spells, second only to [Armageddon], yet she could never realistically use that.

And so, she released the spell. A massive yellow beam with the diameter of the average human shot forth, covering the distance between her and the Abyss Watcher almost instantly, enveloping the warrior and continuing on for a few more seconds before finally dissipating, leaving behind only a thick smog of smoke and dirt.

Worry filled her eyes and she wondered if she had gone too far. She had reduced the power of the spell greatly so as to not kill him, but that didn't mean he wouldn't be hurt.

Silence reigned in the clearing, neither her, nor Marcus, or Yurem spoke or moved as they silently watched the smoke with suspicion.

And then, Myrrh saw it, piercing through the cloud of dirt.

A single flame going along the length of a very long blade.