章 46: Blood Cavern
The lips of the man trembled as he spoke. Amina rushed over and helped him up. "Captain, the blood carven here…it is rank D", he said, coughing more blood. His face was pale, and he had a claw mark on his chest. Amina stabilized his condition with her element. Her face turned ashen as her eyes rolled in a direction. Before she gave a command, a bullet whizzed past her toward the direction she was gazing.
A woman in a red-capped outfit appeared behind her and fired into the darkness. The sound of flesh being pierced was heard as crystal bullets pierced through whatever was hiding in the darkness. The woman put her crimson crystal guns back into their holsters. She had blue eyes which sparkled behind a pair of red-framed glasses. She had a braided flower bun of golden hair with two braids hanging at the sides of her face and had a fascinator over her head.
"A rank D blood carven is trouble. We have to get out of here", she commented as the body of a beast dropped onto the floor with a thud. "I'm afraid we won't be able to do that", a burly man in a designed white long-sleeved shirt and blue trousers said. He had dark blue eyes with a shade of white around them. He had short spiky hair and was quite handsome. He turned to look back as a white metal bat manifested in his hands. "We are surrounded", he said calmly.
"Vice-captain?" the woman in red, Crimson Slinger called out.
Green eyes shone in the darkness around them. Those were the eyes of humanoid-like beasts with long snouts and razor-sharp teeth. They had bizarre-looking black and red fur with pointy ears pointed upwards. Their fur appeared as though it was coated in metal, and they drooled uncontrollably as they peered at those before them. Seeing as they did not attack immediately, one could conclude they were beasts with a bit of intelligence.
"So, he is the vice-captain." Lin thought as he looked at the bat-wielding man. "No wonder he dared to 'test' me in the Captain's presence." Lin's face fell immediately, looking at the beasts in the darkness. "This is trouble. Most of the beasts here are above rank 15. The lowest is ranked 11. I now understand why they hunt in parties here. Unless one was insanely strong, clearing these 'Blood Caverns' alone is impossible." Black flame erupted around Lin's eyes as he looked on in anticipation.
"Nova, we are clearing this blood carven. This is our home, and we can't abandon it", Amina said in a calm, unhurried voice. She tilted her head and looked over her shoulder towards the vice-captain. Their eyes met, and he realized how determined she was as if saying we can win this time. A low howling was heard as the wind began to blow around her. She gritted her teeth so hard that everyone thought they would shatter.
"Amina…", Nova uttered, then fell silent. As the vice-captain, he understood her pain and the burden she carried. He thought to persuade her but felt the same way she did. Though angry, he could tell she didn't make that decision out of anger.
Moreover, she was very confident they would win, which was not something they had seen in a while. Basilisk had always shunned clearing higher-ranked blood caverns due to Basilisk's low strength and difficulty level of such caverns.
Nova smiled and tapped the floor with his bat, creating several ice spikes that sprouted amid the beasts. With that attack, everyone understood what was expected of them. It had been a while since they took on a blood cavern of a higher rank. One beast among the many with purely silver fur growled loudly, and the beasts charged the party from all sides.
The first to move to intercept was Yu. Having been defeated by Lin, he felt it was time to direct all that anger toward another target. Green flames burst forth as he unleashed a barrage of attacks with his sword, sending limbs and heads of the lower-ranked beasts flying.
The flames on his sword brightened and became more scorching than ever. "Out of my way, you little flies!" he barked, painting the cave with emerald sword lights. That was another skill of his <Emerald Flare Slash>. The skill delivers flame sword lights that explode upon contact with a target.
Green flames brightened part of the chamber. The lower ranks were burned to cinders. The higher-ranked beast simply shrugged it off. A rank 16 beast dashed at Yu as he continued pruning the lower-ranked beasts from their ranks. It slashed at him with its sharp claws. Yu was knocked into a wall, sending cracks into it. He coughed up blood as his chest gushed volumes of blood. He fell face down, and the beast raced to finish him off. Clang! A bullet struck it in the head and sent it barrelling down.
"Oh, so you have a metal element. Too bad, for a beast like you, I expected your ability to be the offence type. Defence sucks on you", Crimson Slinger said and shot again.
"Thanks", Yu said. She winked with a smile and charged in herself. "Bow before her crimson majesty, you insignificant bugs", she cackled and fired into the horde. She inclined her gun and fired rapidly into the air, giving her immediate vicinity a crimson glow. That was one of her skills <Rapid Fire skill: Crimson Hail>. Like torrents of rain, bullets fell on the beasts around her, killing and injuring most of them.
A man in admiral blue exquisitely designed hanfu stepped into the middle as heavy chains appeared in his hands. Half his face was covered by a mask, while the other half had a wheel tattoo. He had dark yellow eyes and very long black hair which stretched to his lower back. "I had been training for this very moment for a long time. To fight alongside you all in this manner. Now allow me to bestow unto you my gifts."
<Strings of Time Enhancement type: Unhindered Flow> A blue glow appeared around all the party members and sped up their movements. "This skill quickens the time it takes to perform an action but has no outright effect on one's ageing. Though powerful, I can maintain it for 2 minutes max. Though it does not affect the captain, vice-captain, and purple prince much since they are of a higher rank than I am, the others should be able to hold their own for a while."
He looked around to buff the rest of the party members but paused after noting a member's disappearance, "Weird, why haven't I seen the newbie since this battle started?"
Up on a large stalactite, Lin hung upside down on his spear and watched the battle keenly. "According to Dzifa, the vice-captain is called Nova and wields an ice element, rank 20. The woman in red, Crimson Slinger, wields a crystal element, rank 17. The guy in Hanfu is Osayo and wields the time element, rank 17. Oh, and that guy in the floral shirt must be Purple Prince and wields a flower element, rank 19."
"So, Amina is the only Hector and a low rank at that. She is only ranked 21 and appears to have ranked up not too long ago. Their coordination really sucks looking at them now. No wonder they haven't grown much. It's like, everyone does whatever pleases them because Amina is being lenient with them."
"There's the issue of my levelling, so I can't help much. Though I get the gist of how it works now, there's no telling what might happen if I jump into a killing spree."
He looked around and tilted his head after some time. "Hmmm?? There were so many beasts at the beginning, and it's been barely fifteen minutes. Why does the number seem to be thinning out? And that silver one still hasn't moved yet. From what I can tell, it's the strongest among them. And it looks like the party is having it easy killing them… wait, don't tell me…"
週次パワーステータス
-- 推薦
ランキング 
-- 推薦
チケット