Chapter 58 – Scramble!

"What's the back look like, Mero?"

Cam's shout rang out over the grunts and growls of hellhounds, and the sounds of cutting flesh and snapping jaws, as he activated Cleave, his dadao sweeping past to finish off one of the dog looking monsters and send another flying with a large gash on its side. A shimmer of metallic luster covered his body as he cast Iron Skin just a second before another hounds jaws snapped shut on his ankle; Without thinking, he pivoted, his other foot sweeping across in a crescent to slam into the offending mobs side, jarring it loose...

Because the fight had already reached a point where even the brief moment of inattention to call out to his clone was dangerous.

It had started out simple enough, and easily handled; A couple of hellhounds here, followed by a handful of imps there, streaming in group after group with just a minute or two between each... But, over time, the groups grew larger, and seemed to be coming faster.

It took him a while to realize it, but the ruckus they had started was spreading, with the barks of hellhounds and the cackling of imps echoing out from neighboring blocks... and the sounds were getting closer, with more following behind...

What should have been a few, simple pulls to clear the street and allow them to move, had somehow cascaded into him drawing the attention of... he had no idea how many. A quarter of the massive city? Half? All of it?

He didn't know... but he did know that they couldn't stick around to find out.

Peaking out from the back, where she had been on watch, Mero only took a second to take in the fight: Cam with two dead hellhounds at his feet and still fighting three more that were injured, Eron huddled in a corner, shield almost blurring as he frantically worked to block the attacks of six more- too busy defending to strike back, and relying on Lesser Toxic Spores to slowly eat through his enemies HP, and their Big Bunnis darting around in desperation as they were pursued by a pair of hellhounds each... the whole fight was a mess.

While it was clear that Cam would soon finish his off and move to help his clone, the Bunnis wouldn't last that long... and, worse, with a single glance out the front door, she could see another flight of imps already swooping in their direction!

Knowing there was no time to hesitate, her bow came up and Twin Shot was cast, her first targets being the mobs on Cam to free him up to jump in on the mobs focused on Eron- and, of course, she sent her own Big Bunni to try to take some of the pressure off of its bunni kin...

Your clone's(Mero) Twin Shot struck Hellhound for 24 damage(physical, piercing)(critical).

Your clone's(Mero) Twin Shot struck Hellhound for 24 damage(physical, piercing)(critical).

Hellhound(Lv. 10) has been slain. +150XP

Your clone's(Mero) critical damage is increased by 10% for 30 seconds(Blood Goggles).

"The back is still clear!" Mero shouted back, already setting another arrow to the string. "And I saw an open window on the third floor of the next building that we can probably get to!"

"The third floor!?" Eron laughed even as he bashed away one of the hounds. "There better be a ladder or something!"

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"Of course there is, dumb ass!" Mero resisted the urge to roll her eyes, as she was focused on aiming carefully- firing into a chaotic melee was risky enough, and the last thing she wanted was to accidentally kill Cam... which would literally kill her as well.

"Focus!" Cam bellowed at the squabbling pair, his dadao slamming his last mob into the ground before his kick caught it in the chin, finishing it off. Rushing across the lobby, he lay into the backs of the hellhounds with his sword; Already hurt by the damage over time of Eron's Lesser Toxic Spores, he rapidly cut through the throng of enemies...

With just the four mobs left chasing after their Bunnis- though one of the Bunnis had gotten unlucky and been killed-, Cam and his clones quickly collapsed on them, hacking and bashing with abandon to hurriedly finish the fight...

"No time to loot!" Cam panted, the marathon fight having drained even him. "We're heading out the back before-"

"Screw that!" Eron hiss, shoving his shield and cudgel into Cam's arms before quickly stripping off the rest of his armor. "I'll take the Bunnis and play distraction; You two take my gear, grab the loot, and get running!"

Before Cam or Mero could respond, Eron finished stripping off his armor- even his boots!- and, whistling for the Bunnis to follow, ran barefoot out the front door while screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Fuck you, imp bastards!" The clone howled as he sprinted away, bobbing and weaving to avoid the Fire Darts launched his way, the pair of Big Bunnis following behind. "You're all too dumb to know that I'm just a distraction! And that I'm going to give Cam hell for sacrificing me again!"

"Oh, come one!" Cam softly hissed as he watched his clone rushing away with a trail of imps and hellhounds in pursuit. "I didn't even tell him to do it this time!"

"Now you're being the idiot!" Mero hissed, tugging on his arm. "We need to move before one of those dumb mobs glances this way!"

Knowing his clone was right, Cam quickly shoved what he could into his Inventory- mainly the bulkier items that would be hard to carry, as he didn't have enough free space for everything-, before tucking everything else under his arm and rushing through the door and towards the back... only to have his clone stop him just before the back door.

"Eron's off playing sacrifice again, so that means I'm on point- so give me the shield and cudgel." She said, holding out her bow to swap with him... which Cam did, if reluctantly, earning a glare from him. "Don't be sexist, jackass! Women can fight- and I'm still you, dumb ass!"

"Why do my clones keep insulting me?" He sighed, silently acknowledging her point- both of her points, even if the main reason he kept her towards the back of the group was her lower Stats and not because of gender...

"Because sometimes you need to be reminded when you're being dumb." She shrugged as she took up the shield and cudgel. Peaking out the back door, she quickly checked both ways before darting out with Cam right on her heels.

Just as she said, there was a ladder, leading up to a metal platform attached to the side of the building, that had a narrow staircase leading up to a similar platform above it... continuing all the way up the back of the building- a fire escape, if the description he read was accurate, though Foundation City didn't have any buildings tall enough to need something like that...

Not pausing for a second, Mero leapt up, grabbing the ladder and started climbing, with Cam only slowing for a second to let her get ahead of him before following her in their mad scramble up- the constant back and forth of circling the platform to reach the stairs allowing them to check down the alley in both directions as they quickly climbed up to the open third floor window...

They could have easily just broken a window to get into the building, but neither of them wanted to risk the sound drawing mobs their way, especially with Eron's shouts working to draw the monsters further and further away- though they knew that wouldn't last long.

Throwing himself through the open window behind his clone, Cam nudged her forward once more. "We can't stop here. This is an Anomalous Floor, and the mobs could have some instinct towards searching the area around where they spotted us..."

"We're going to have to change our strategy." Mero sighed, though it was obvious she agreed, as she started forward immediately.