Still, not once did Merlin's gaze leave her, making her feel uneasy much more than the fact that Lancelot had already breached the entire line of hired mercenaries.
His sword was one that found its way through any kind of defence or retaliation, piercing through with technique alone. Eventually, a breaking point was reached.
"F-Fuck this shit, who needs money if it can't be spent!"
Almost at the same time, the mercenaries dropped their swords and weapons and began fleeing. Some who were desperate enough even stripped down to their last garments in hopes of lightening themselves further and running faster.
Within moments, the surviving thirty mercenaries fled, leaving only the guards and subjects of Marteo, Elanor, and Dillan behind.
"Cowards!" Marteo growled out, hiding the anxiety he felt under a show of bravado. "Ready the beasts and kill this monster!"
In response, Lancelot didn't utter a word.
He simply stood there. A tower of an individual whose presence was immovable behind a cold helm.
And then there was Gawain.
"Hmm?" Gawain hummed absently, watching the way a flustered Marteo directed his men to produce a type of summoning crystal purchased at high prices.
Gawain didn't care much for such things. From his memories of fighting against Players, summoning crystals weren't of much use against him anyways, but he did understand their rarity amongst warrior-type players.
He nodded his head.
"The Knight of the Lake deserves this much credit for his skills that even I must yield to on different occasions. But ignoring myself and the others, that's too much of a folly don't you think?" His tone dipped lowly, an unfathomable might exuding off of him that forced Marteo and the others to realize that it wasn't just the Knight of the Lake that they were facing, but the might of the other Knights of the Round as well.
Mordred had already attacked without a moment's notice kicking down an enemy with the strength of her physical body alone which she then used to crush the enemy underfoot. The sickening snap of bone and pained wails was silenced by the descent of a sword more dazzling than any silver. Combined with her horned helm and crimson patterned armour, none dared approach her in retaliation.
Tristan, Agravain, and Galahad were more reserved, choosing to remain idle should the situation shift drastically.
Seeing the situation as it was, Dillan snapped out of his stupor.
"Form ranks!" He was quick to command. "Rangers in the back, melee classes to the front! Treat the enemies as High-Level Beasts and do not engage alone!"
Nervous as he was with the situation, Dillan still maintained a proper mentality and knew that if he continued to allow Marteo to lead then their lives would be in danger.
"Marteo," he called out. "What level of Beast did your family capture in those crystals?"
Hesitating for a moment, Marteo knew that Dillan was better at leading than him and reluctantly provided the information with a hint of pride.
"My father didn't tell me the level, but the two beasts contained in the crystals are a Basilisk and a Barghest that my family paid a great deal of effort to obtain by commission from Adventurers."
Dillan's expression immediately brightened. "A Basilisk and a Barghest, why didn't you say so earlier? Both of those monsters have a difficulty rating of eighty-three or higher from the Adventurer's standard. W-We just might have a chance."
Determination swelling from within him, he cut off his connection with his Forest Stalker Class and donned the mantle of a young but experienced commander once more.
"Elanor, how are your magical reserves?" He asked out of priority.
In any battle, magic was game changing. Just the numerous buffs and heals alone were enough to allow regular soldiers and fighters to persist in combat. As such, any Kingdom valued Magic-Casters above all infantry class military. It was vital then that he get a gauge of what Elanor could and couldn't do after expending her magic to buff their men and women earlier.
Unfortunately, he got no response.
"Elanor?" Dillan pressed.
Again no response.
Marteo turned around in confusion, meeting Dillan's eyes and frowning. However, there was nothing that they could do.
The enemy was approaching.
Unexpectedly, Lancelot returned to where Arturia and the others stood. Tristan and the others were the same, though unwillingly on Mordred's part as she grumbled in complaint.
Initially, Shirou had summoned the entirety of the Round Table out of precaution, but after watching how things played out, the anger within him on Arturia's behalf gradually faded. The weapons he was moments away from tracing disappeared from his mind as a result.
After all, the enemies were simply too weak.
Mordred's display of crushing the enemy underfoot in the first place probably wasn't intentional. In fact, due to his heightened hearing, he hadn't missed the tiny yelp that escaped Mordred's lips when the enemy had instantly crumbled from her initial kick and she lost her balance.
He could already picture her face flushed red at the moment from embarrassment for even though the enemy had not heard her outburst, Arturia and the others certainly did.
"B-Bastards, I'll kill'em all, I swear it," Mordred muttered lowly, the heat rushing to her cheeks causing them to redden even further within her helm just as much as the mortification of it all.
He didn't pay much attention to Mordred's words as she was simply venting while kicking a tree, unable to meet the gazes of her fellow comrades who smiled at her expense.
Instead, what he was paying attention to was the way Marteo and Dillan had ordered all of the magic classes on their side to fuel energy into two summoning crystals. Each crystal had around fifty to sixty people supplying their power, causing the crystal to emit trails of smoke.