How wrong they were...

One could only imagine the hunters" great dismay after Francis"s death. The bell ringing crones they had disposed of came back to life, and with them, more huntsmen had arose. They were surrounded from every front.

Crazed women swarmed the plaza they had to cross. The moment Surgit and Francis climbed the stairs, the women ran toward them while others rained Molotovs over their heads. They couldn"t evade the fire bottles without falling into the other women"s range. Francis was the first one to make the horrible mistake.

He jumped toward the women, confident in his ability to quickly dispose of them. Surgit watched them cover the old man and cut him to pieces. He managed to kill two before they caught him from the arms and legs. Surgit tried to help but more Molotovs came flying his way.

He watched them cut the man limb by limb then proceeded to slowly cut his throat open. He heard him scream, unable to get close enough to help. He quickly forgot about Francis when he heard more bells tinkering in the distance. He turned around just in time to see two trolls running toward him.

He shot the first one to approach him, staggering him. He couldn"t eviscerate him however, as fire bottles came raining over his head. He evaded those, only to find the crazed women, who were done with Francis, running after him. He immediately jumped over a railing and ran along its thin line until he reached the opposite side of the plaza.

Then he saw the Amygdala.

Then he saw the laser moving like lightning.

He saw the line being drawn below his legs and jumped just in time to avoid the explosion. A Molotov c.o.c.ktail landed on his head just then. He wailed and hastily searched for a blood vial in his pockets. By the time he had healed himself, he was surrounded. Three trolls, a dozen huntsmen and about double that amount in crazed women stood with their teeth and fangs bared.

The Amygdala shot its laser once more. Surgit jumped on a troll"s shoulder and got away from the horde just in time. The explosion that ensued took a troll and two women with it, but the rest immediately turned and chased after the hunter.

He jumped over the stairs just as two molotov c.o.c.ktails exploded behind him. He met a livid Francis at the foot of the stairs. He was drenched in blood, and his eyes fixated the horde in the plaza above.

"Leave them to me!" he said in a dead voice.

He grunted as he pierced his flesh with his sword then ran up the stairs. Surgit saw blood splatter on the railings as Francis danced in the middle of the horde. He saw him swing his sword, then blood would flow out of it, as though it was the source. Whenever it landed on one of the beasts, it would sizzle, burning their skin like acid.

"Bloodtinge..." Surgit said as he scratched his stubble. "I may join in with my arcane, see who has the better powers..."

Surgit heard the bell tinker behind him. He turned to see three trolls heading his way. He drew his sword and projected his energy toward it. As soon as he swung, a shockwave left the weapon and hit the troll closest to him in its fat stomach.

The hit propelled the troll backward and into the bell ringing crone. He hit her and both of them flew until they crashed against the metallic bars on the other side. Surgit heard bones crack and the bell fell to the floor.

He faced the other trolls, projected his energy to his sword then thrust it forward. A transparent shockwave, shaped like a spear, flew toward the trolls. It pierced the first one"s fat stomach, left through its back then hit the second one, staggering him in the process. Surgit used the falling troll"s shoulder as a jumping point.

He leapt over the troll with his hand outstretched toward his back. He drew his Kirkhammer and projected the last drops of energy he had on it. He brought the hammer down as he landed behind the troll. The latter"s head exploded, causing a blood bath with scattered brain pieces floating all over.

When Surgit came back out into the plaza, he found out that Francis had cleared the plaza. Karla came back up the stairs then. They both approached her. She was panting heavily.

"f.u.c.king old man..." she said in between deep inhales. "Scared the s.h.i.t out of me..."

"Did you find the bell ringing woman?" Surgit asked.

Karla bent over her knees to take a breath and shook her head. They heard the bell tinkering again, and the crazed women appeared all around them.

"There"s a cage down there. It"s closed, but I think we can reach from the mezzanine on top," Karla said as the crazed women approached them, blood dripping from their clothes and disheveled hair.

They gave their backs to each other and observed the approaching crazed women. Huntsmen were running out of the chapel above them.

"We can"t keep fighting like this. We can"t even get away from here. The moment you get close to the stairs on the other side, the Amygdala looks at you with its creepy eyes," Surgit said then shuddered. "Why didn"t you kill the bell ringing lady in the chapel?" he asked Francis.

"Why dwell on things we can"t change? I think I know how to get to that mezzanine Karla spoke of," Francis replied.

"I"m all ears," Karla said through gritted teeth.

The crazed woman let out a deafening wail then charged the hunters. Huntsmen had reached the round plaza then. They were completely surrounded once more. The hunters worked as one unit in disposing of the beasts. As soon as they cleared the plaza, however, they heard bells ringing again.

Francis pointed at a balcony that was conveniently placed near the plaza. "That"s our way to the mezzanine, and to that annoying b.i.t.c.h!"