All of the second-years tried to get out of the range of \\\\[Nemean Hide\\\\]'s crowd control skill. But Ashton was already too close for them to do so.
They were inevitably hit by the skill and as a result, the two level 12s were no longer able to use their skills for the next five minutes as they had the same level as Ashton. As for the level 13 baldie, the effectiveness of his skills dropped by 60% which more or less made his skills useless against Ashton's armour.
'Gotcha, bitches!' Ashton smiled and carried on with the next phase of his plan.
A moment later, a mark appeared over their heads. It didn't take more than a second for everyone to recognise what skill it was. After all, it was one of the five fabled skills a werewolf can obtain, the [Wolf's Mark].
[Presence of three marked targets can be sensed in your vicinity.]
[Damage and Agility have been boosted by 30% for 3 minutes.]
Everyone who was seeing this fight was either stunned into silence or had been awestruck, Ashton's teammates were no exception either. It hadn't even been a minute since the fight started and Ashton quickly overwhelmed the opponents, that too with just using two skills!
"Wow..."
Despite her hate for Ashton, even Amaira couldn't help but appreciate Ashton's battle prowess. Not only was he able to analyse his enemy's weakness quickly, but he was also able to suppress them before they could even throw a punch at him!
'He made it seem easy, but it isn't everyone's cup of tea to use skills in a quick succession.' She thought to herself, 'Guess, I know why the director had been lenient when it came to him. Despite being a mutt, he has some talent.'
"Anna, Nikki, take care of the one on the right." Ashton instructions snapped the two of them out of their awestruck state and headed to do as they were told.
In the meantime, Ashton used the whip to swing towards the left to dodge the baldie's attack, while also firmly planting his foot at the back of the baldie's head and using it as a platform to leap towards the third guy. In midair, Ashton transformed his right hand into a werewolf claw and using its enhanced strength planted a punch right on the senior's face with a loud bang.
'Using gears almost made it too easy for me.' Ashton smiled.
Had the seniors from the last round not used their weapons, it would have never entered Ashton's mind to use his gears in the middle of the fight. In that case, things would not have ended well for him or his teammates.
However, the moment they were allowed to use weapons and gears, all of Ashton's worries left his mind. Thanks to the [Nemean Hide]'s exclusive skill, he no longer had to worry about the two level 12s.
After all, he could easily seal their abilities and without their skills, it was child's play for him to take them down quickly. The only one he had to be wary of, was the baldie. But before he could focus on him, he needed to knock out the level 12 guys first.
However, there was one thing Ashton still needed to learn. Anything could change within a dungeon, and even a well thought out plan could become useless. Just like it was about to now.
The plan Ashton had hastily made was somewhat perfect, given the situation. However, it heavily depended on one fact Baldie in his enraged state would keep his focus on him. But what if he didn't?
"ARGH!!!"
Just when Ashton thought everything was under his control, things changed. Nikki's bloodcurdling scream was the proof of that.
Ashton quickly turned around, only to see Baldie stomping on Nikki as if she was made of rubber or something. But the smile that Baldie had on his face was even more bizarre than the mess below his feet.
Ashton didn't know what happened a moment later, but he snapped. It had never happened before, but he was angrier than he had ever been. Which was surprising, considering he didn't even care about Nikki all that much.
However, at that moment rage filled his head and his vision got severely narrowed down. All he could see was Baldie stomping Nikki, nothing else.
It was as if Ashton was seeing himself and everything around him from a third-person perspective. Then a moment later, he was inside his body, but he was no longer in control of it. It felt as if he was a passenger in a car while someone else was driving it. Just that in this case, his body was the car.
He was pretty sure it was the first time he had felt like this, still, he couldn't help but feel a weird sense of familiarity with this situation. As if he had been through all this before in a distant past.
"Let go of your inhibitions..."
He heard a voice inside his head... it was his voice, but it was unlike anything he had ever heard before. He was aware that he needed to get back in control of himself. But for some reason, at that moment, his body was compelled to do what the voice wanted him to.
"No..."
"Why resist now when you have already submitted to the primal urge before? Don't you remember the day your beloved, helpless parents were taken away from you? Don't you remember what you did then?"
"What are... you... talking about...?"
Even though Ashton was conversing inside his head, he was barely able to speak. It felt like someone or something was choking him, making it difficult for him to speak clearly.
"Tsk! You're pathetic! Resilient, but pathetic. Fine have it your way. Clear up this mess by yourself if you can but I'm afraid it's already too late."
All of a sudden Ashton's vision got cleared up and he was back in control of his body. But when he looked around him, he saw everyone was looking at him... with fear in their eyes. Only then did he realise his hands felt a bit wet.
He looked down and saw that his hands were curled up like fists... smeared in blood. He looked even further below and saw Baldie was lying there, face first and his head had been busted open.
"I.... did this?" Ashton barely managed to mumbled before fainting himself.