(Denzel's POV):
"William?"
"I heard you! Stardust Thorns!" - William
Multiple dots of light were emitted from William's Astroburst. From the orb itself and slowly spreading with more dots towards the branches. Each one started to glow brighter until it reached the point. Thorns of light were formed from the branches and pierced through the hostile party.
The enemy squad didn't stand a chance to evade or defend and are now bleeding while freezing... Aight, everyone's on stop for a while so this should be a chance.
"Let's make a break for it!"
"What about the loot?" - Malech
"I can't hold out something like this in a desert for more than a minute! Nigerundayo!!!"
After urging them to run towards the cave. Everyone broke out into a run, racing towards the cave which was also frozen and couldn't be entered from the outside. Crap, gotta wait then...
The female camp was already inside the cave and explaining the situation to the members inside the cave. William who arrived to the entrance starts banging on the ice while screaming. The ice returned his way of knocking by transmitting its temperate to Williams palms which made him stop banging.
"Cold!" - William
"William, you know that my ice will not break or twitch to anything like that."
"Let me in... Let me in!" - Malech
William finally noticed his behavior and shrunk back to wait for the ice to thaw. Malech tried to do that one meme where he screams to let him in.
"Malech, you can dispel the chronorift bombs now."
Malech nodded and dispelled the chronorift bombs around the area. I noticed that it was wearing down his mana by a lot since he was noticeably absorbing some of the enemy's barrages with his time cloud. Not only that, he has used more than half of his stock on the mana potions.
After ten seconds the ice finally started thawing down. I charged up Omnitelum and broke the ice that's blocking the cave entrance with a full swing.
"Even though I did it with my full strength, it didn't even twitch..." - William
William was mumbling about something which I didn't clearly hear as we enter in the cave.
"Is your order a savior?"
"Denz, I don't even..." - Malech
Malech seems to know which reference I used in that line.
"Denz, thank you helping me." - Gayle
Gayle comes in front of me while looking downwards. Well, I don't think it's not that big of a deal...
I pat Gayle's head and told her what was in my mind.
"It's not that big of a deal. Plus, I can't have someone who I consider my daughter sad."
Gayle smiles from relief and looks up to me while I still have my hand caressing her head.
"Anyways, have you completed the talks?"
"Ah yes! But..." - Gayle
Somehow, I get the feeling of 'But wait! There's more!'
"We need to collect more mystic ore before leaving." - Gayle
Yep, there's actually more... But isn't it hostile territory? Not like I have an issue going through it.
"Are you guys gonna be okay with it?"
"Yeah, as long as nobody is going to invade here in this cave." - Gayle
"Alright, I'll plan out later, so these guys are?"
I looked at the six residents of the cave and saw each of their distinct features as Gayle introduced each one to me.
The girl with the pink hair is Rebecca, she has a slender body and my eyes are drawn to the pair of spheres below her neck. Malech comes near me and whispers something to my ear.
"Denz, you also got drawn in huh?" - Malech
"It's male instinct, that doesn't change the fact I love Rika."
Her height was somewhat shorter by Keish by a few inches or so. Which made her style a bit unreasonably voluptuous and kind of unproportional. She's more voluptuous than Lilith but I'd prefer Lilith in this case. That is unless she has a kind and clingy personality, it will be a huge array of bonuses.
Her class seems to be Cyber Angel which is a very rare one. It's basically summoning metal soldiers which you can freely control. So if she can do well then she can be a great swarmer. Should I teach her the ropes of multisummon?
Gayle introduced me to the next girl in their group. She looks tall and has peach light brown or peach colored hair around shoulder-length. Her height is about the same as mine but she falls short by a few centimeters or so.
"Greetings Denzel, I am named Claire. I'm thankful that you protected Rika from Chrominus successfully." - Claire
"Don't make it sound like a mission. He tried attacking the Asylum, so he simply got what he deserved."
I waved off my hand and smiled confidently without showing any pride. I simply had to keep it as something like his collateral after being unable to pay his debt with his life.
"Even though you almost died?" - Claire
"Death's door is an everyday experience so seriously, don't mind it. Rather, I have interest on your classes."
"Me? I'm an Arcane Magus." - Claire
Arcane? Are you for real?!
Arcane type classes have very powerful bursting abilities. Which is why she could more or less annihilate an entire group all by herself if she trained for some time. They're a riskier version of Mystics with a biome specifically for them but it can cause heavy mana outbursts in an interval.
I have no known information about their passive ability but, Karl might know some information.
I turned towards the last girl in the group as Gayle introduced her to me. Her height is a little shorter than William who is around shoulder height on me. She had short hair and had similar looks to Claire. Huh? Are they sisters?
"This girl is Vanessa, she's Claire's younger sister. She's a cryomancer, just like you." - Gayle
"Hoo? It's true that cryomancy is my expertise but I didn't say it was my main class."
"Then what class?" - Gayle
"It's Frigid Wanderer right?" - Malech
Malech comes in towards us who has completed his greetings and introductions of William and Isaac.
"Correct, but I am more or less a cryomancer. So if you want some tips about ice magic then you can come to me."
While pointing my thumb towards myself, I gave Vanessa a note about some basic principles when using ice magic. It's not a power-boost note but it's some words to live by. She was smiling and received the note happily without any serious thoughts. Gayle called out the male group and introduced me to them. All three of them were somewhat humble just like Malech's impression on them. Why can't Miguel and Leo follow their example?
Gayle introduced me to her boyfriend Lester first. He's a redhead that's taller and has the same build as me. From what I remember, he is a soul cleaver... So why does he look like he's just a swordsman?
"I'm sorry if I interrupted your thoughts but he uses handmade clothing as vanity armor to keep his class a secret." - Gayle
"So nevertheless, it's a powerful class huh?"
While thinking about the abilities the soul cleaver can use, I know an ability that eats off your own health points in exchange for extreme power.
Lester lowers his head to seemingly show me his gratitude. Again, saving them is not a big deal.
"I want to thank you for saving,and helping Gayle on our distress signal." - Lester
"Raise your head up, it's natural to help a friend... Specially when she's like my daughter."
"Daughter?" - Lester
"Mmm, Denzel is kind of like a great and helpful dad. Specially when he's very close to mom." - Gayle
"Right, he had saved Rika and protected her from Chrominus." - Lester
"Again, it's no big deal. Chrominus simply received collateral for raiding the castle... Rather, aren't you guys cramped in here? It's better if I let you guys in as residents on my Crystal Palace."
"Crystal Palace, it's where Rika and the others are lodging right now right?" - Lester
"Well yeah but since we're running out of guest rooms you might have to build a house outside. Lester will be sleeping with Gayle though."
"Huh?!" - Gayle
"Wh?!" - Lester
Both became surprised with my thoughts of these two sleeping together. Isn't it natural for lovers to sleep together?
When thinking like that, I noticed that Gayle's cheeks start blushing which extended to her ears. Lester who noticed that laughed lightly to the tense atmosphere between the two of them.
"Alright, but it's priority on my party members which will be settling under the sky floor. To my personal friends on the resident rooms... Wait... Gayle, which floor do you reside?"
"There are still two empty rooms in the sixth floor and the entire fourth floor has empty rooms..." - Gayle
"No, that one room in the sixth floor is special, that's a prepared room in case that person visits."
After remembering that I had a frost bow that I gave to her. I noticed that I haven't been spinning the wheel after accumulating at least a hundred treasure potions I have in my inventory. Before that though...
"Alright, I'll take over here Gayle so-" - Lester
"Mm!" - Gayle
Gayle moved away from us while passing through a guy with the same height as me. He had emerald green hair and covered his stomach as Gayle passed.
"The guy who had covered his stomach is Terrence, his class is a Gunslinger Duelist and a good friend." - Lester
"So why is he covering his stomach?"
"He often enters arguments with Gayle, calling her childish or so. In fact, she already socked him in the gut as a greeting." - Lester
"I see now, what about the last guy?"
"He's Lawrence, an Arcane Sage." - Lester
Sage? They have higher damage output and lesser mana cost than magicians. They can make quick bursts and large-scale magic. I have seen some sages but this is the first time I saw one that's Arcane.
"Honestly, it sucks that your first class is just impossible to be chosen by yourself." - Lester
"You got Soul Cleaver as the first class?"
"Yep, it did help dealing more damage when at low health but as expected, it's a bad risk." - Lester
Such a fun style of fighting...