(Denzel's POV):
We had finally returned to the cave where we noticed some unexpected tension.
"Huh? What happened here?"
Everyone averted their eyes from me which seemed really suspicious for some reason.
"Well, forget it. We have accomplished the mission. So I would like to return immediately towards the crystal palace."
"Denz..." - Malech
Malech comes close and tells me some things.
"Let everyone take their time to pack their things. While they're at it, we should talk for a bit." - Malech
"Alone?"
"Yeah, I'll call William too since he also wants to confirm it." - Malech
Malech enters one of the rooms looking for William. Lester and the others went into various rooms to notify everyone to pack up.
Right now, we are currently in the middle of the desert talking...
"So, what did you two want to confirm?"
"Ah well..." - Malech
"It's about your past. The one where you committed self harm..." - William
"Ah, that?"
"What do you want to know?"
"I want to know if you're still feeling like that." - William
"Hmm, I can surely say no here... My feelings for Rika are currently pretty deep for me to feel despair."
"I see, then I think you're pretty much fine for the time being?" - William
"What do you mean for the time being?"
"You'll see... Hold up..." - William
William raised his arm with narrowed eyes. He seems to have noticed an approaching group of enemies.
"High levels, currently unidentified enemies. Is it their top brass?" - William
When I finally noticed, I felt a huge amount of power blatantly heading here without hiding it.
"This is definitely around the top brass..."
When we turned our gaze to the west, we saw a small squadron of enemies with varying sizes and heights. There's a short malnourished looking guy who's height is around 140 cm. A tall muscled guy reaching two meters height, and a handsome dude who seems to be in his 20s.
"That pressure is definitely from that handsome dude over there. I wanna trash his face..." - Malech
Malech muttered something that was only audible to me and William. We both laughed to his intentions.
"They're all pretty powerful... How do we share this?"
"I'll take someone my size. I'll show him the ropes of an assassin." - William
"Then let me take the attention of the muscle-brains over there. It probably won't take much time." - Malech
"So I'm gonna sock this handsome guy in the face? Sounds good."
The three guys finally arrived and has turned into a short talk. He raised his left hand to halt the two of them that are following behind him.
"Greetings, youngsters..." - Handsome Dude
I'm 22 you know?
"I have come here myself as the representative of Independent Marionettes to settle a deal with you." - Handsome Dude
"A deal?"
I signaled William and Malech to prepare their weapons on hidden state. I have to make sure that we do not let our guard down since I'm sensing hundreds of enemies behind them.
"That boy, with the gray hair... I've seen him fight off against my subordinates while they're trying to steal some of our mystic ore." - Handsome Dude
"So you're telling me the locations of my subordinates?" - Malech
"No, I already know that. What I want is your crew and your ore." - Handsome Dude
He's targeting them huh? Alright, I got myself a plan.
"You two, we're gonna hold the line here. Once we get messaged that they're finished packing up, you two shall immediately teleport and head to the northern desert well using my carpet."
"What about you?" - William
"I have an escape method that you guys wouldn't be able to follow up. Now ready yourselves."
The two of them nodded in exasperation while preparing a body enhancement chant.
"Finished chit-chatting? What do you say? Hand them over to us?" - Handsome Dude
"Yeah, I'll do just that... Over my corpse..."
���Y-you!" - Handsome Dude
"I declare war upon you Independent Marionettes! As one of the three kings of Asylum!"
"Asylum!?!?!" - Handsome Dude
The handsome face was gone when he found out about my faction affiliation. He immediately recovered his try-hard cool face and ordered the two to attack.
"Ready my boys? Equal share!"
"Chronoboost!" - Malech
"Astroboost!" - William
"Book of Death!"
I took out Book of Death which was dusting a bit for being unused for a few weeks. I immediately activated two spells for combat purposes.
"Crystallization! Travel Partner!"
Boosting the stats of three people, I finally have utilized these abilities on the book of death. Now, it's time to fight...
We stood by in our position and held the line, William had a small dodging range as that short guy revealed two guns.
In Malech's side, he skillfully received the greatsword and launched a high back kick.
The representative of the Independent Marionettes went in towards me and attacked with twin purple swords.
I grappled it with my Omnitelum but I started losing my mana.
"Well, well, well... An Asylum member, I'd have high recognition if I kill the seventh known strongest enemy right here!" - IM Rep
"Mana Draining? I've seen this before..."
I launched a kick while trying to pull the swords towards me. The guy was splendidly struck in the side and made him ache in pain. He lost his grip on his left hand but managed to keep the sword on his right.
"Bastard, you think you're gonna win in that state? You underestimate our power! Cannons ready!" - IM Rep
Cannons? It's much worse than I thought...
"Now, get crushed under our magic cannons!"
"William! Malech! Kick back!"
I issued the two an emergency order to jump back as far as they can. When I noticed that the two had kicked back. I followed immediately.
"Frozen Wall! Opaque Crystal!"
I formed an ice wall that couldn't be seen through.
"Hide behind me you two! Vajra!"
I changed Omnitelum into my unbreakable coffin-sized shield.
William and Malech hid behind me and assisted me in supporting the shield. The frozen wall was immediately destroyed.
It's really is made of pure magic! Then they wouldn't be able to pass through Vajra!
I absorbed the large magic particles into my Vajra and stored them into an orb I brought.
"Flash Freeze!"
I activated a spell and covered a large area with cold smoke.
"You two, now's the time to retreat!"
"But yo-" - Malech
"Just do it!"
The two entered a portal rift made by William and went towards the cave. I stayed back for some time to stall them and prepare the others for a rushed trip.
"What happened to your friends?" - IM Rep
"Nothing big, just giving my team some time. Besides, I can kill all three of you at the same time."
The representative of the Independent Marionettes twitched his eyebrow in irritation from my attempt to provoke him. I activated my Flesh Blaster and prepared one of my favorite abilities mixed to the fray.
"Frost Materium Crystal Enhancement!"
Light blue particles started glowing up inside the cannon which enhances the firepower of the Flesh Blaster. After charging enough, I noticed that the enemy group had prepared a coordinated attack.
"Fire!" - IM Rep
I launched the Chromium bullet towards the cannon with an empowered shockwave. In this game, it was known that you can use shockwaves to simply disperse mana. Using Flesh Blaster with an amplified Chromium round can cause heavy tremor within the atmosphere. The shockwave was too strong that I got knocked back quite a bit backwards. All the cannons that are visible were crushed under the powerful shockwave. All enemies including the three were included in being blown away by the heavy pulse.
Alright, I got some time off... I have to prepare another ability...
"Might as well use it again..."
I channeled a heavy amount of mana from my body and from the atmosphere. I continuously added more mana and upgraded the intended skill level up to a pinnacle level.
"Glacial Stalagmites!"
Multiple gigantic ice spikes emerged from the ground and jousted multiple enemies. Using the huge amount of mana I accumulated, I increased the entire range and area of effect to affect all hostiles within the area.
I lost around half of my mana at that time and had planned my escape. But before I noticed, a flying bullet had pierced my knee.
"Khh!"
I took out a potion and healed myself back up immediately, but the largely built man suddenly covers me with his shadow and is approaching me from mid air.
"Magic round!"
I charged the flesh blaster with a magic bullet and fired it towards the man. He took some damage but is still on the way down.
"Micro bunkers!"
I changed Omnitelum into two pile bunkers that are good enough for rapid firing. I loaded them with magic to allow me to rapid-fire a huge number of mini-stakes towards the large man that's falling down right now.
The large man lost consciousness so I finally got the chance to escape.
A purple sword starts gaining shape from midair in an attempt to cut me down. I fired a stake to deflect it away.
After that, I fired another towards midair from below the sword. The air distorted as it revealed the representative of the hostile faction.
"Ghh" - IM Rep
"I'm surprised that you actually got here. Now, time for me to escape."
I took out a single object that surprised the representative quite a bit. It has a crystal with a gentle oval shape with a handle. An ice mirror...
"Bye bye."
After channeling some magic towards it, I was teleported on top of the bed in which I tripped immediately.
"Whoaaa!"
"Denz?!" - Lilith
I ended up falling on top of Lilith while being unable to control my balance. As a result I ended up feeling something soft in my hand while accidentally locking our mouths together. Crap!
I immediately got off her and apologized profusely. I wasn't able to notice but she switched her personality to the somewhat smitten one.
"Denz~~!" - Lilith
She's dead smitten alright! Good thing I have prepared for these kinds of situations!
I dipped my hand to a small bag which contained sleeping powder. I then rubbed her cheek with the same hand while holding my own breath. Let's try to not pass out like last time I did this.
This time, I held my breath to ensure I don't take in the powder. I moved my hand around moving towards her nose. After that, she breathes in and passes out on the spot.
"Body Cleanse."
I cleansed off any objects within my body before gasping for air. Lilith was coming close towards me before she passed out which made her head land on my chest. T'was soft...
Malech arrived to the room and saw me and Lilith on the edge of the bed.
"What happened to her?" - Malech
"You- you aren't even worried about me."
"Well yeah, you hogged all the fun to yourself." - Malech
Really now...
"Anyways, is everyone ready?"
"Calling them over now." - Malech