(Robin's POV):
Everyone is currently resting and talking to each other about the events so I felt somewhat left out. I moved around to check for some areas without letting anyone notice but as expected. When I moved a little bit away from the resting area, Jay somewhat showed up and tried to call out for me.
"Robin? Where are you going?" - Jay
"Ah, since you guys are having a long chat altogether after a long time of separation. I'm gonna check around if there are enemies sneaking so stay here and don't let your guard down alright?"
"Oh, okay! Be careful alright?" - Jay
"Of course I will be. Now go have some fun with your friends there."
I urged Jay to go back towards the group who are chatting and playing together after a long time. It's already a big thing that they are reunited so I should pretty much give them the time to be together.
I went deeper into the cave out of boredom and mainly because the enemies came from the cave even deeper from here.
"Is there an entrance to Praetorian from this cave here..."
Without hesitation I moved in even deeper. At some point I have arrived to an area filled with a huge amount of lava in the floor and a bunch of scaffolding. So this area is going to be an extremely dangerous one.
The area is pretty spacious and has a lack of monsters excluding bats in it. Thinking that this area is pretty clear, I ventured even deeper by using two grappling hooks to traverse on the walls slowly.
At some point I arrived to another area but with almost no lava this time. The area is built in a somewhat synthetic manner so I'm starting to get pretty wary.
"Well, hello there Asylum. What's your purpose of visit here?" - ???
While trying to sneak around, one person appeared alone in the dark open area. He is in a somewhat diplomatic pose with him trying to act noble with his hands behind his back but I know for a fact that when I'm noticed, I know this enemy will be troublesome. Because of that, I went out from my hiding spot and revealed myself.
"Surprise surprise, it is the lightcaster hero huh? Well, state your purpose on coming here." - Praetorian Member
"I had my group collect a bunch of ore in this cave and now they're resting."
"Resting? So the group we sent you wasn't enough huh? I guess we shouldn't be conservative after all." - Praetorian Member
When I noticed, the aura this person makes isn't normal. The fact that he's standing there alone already makes me think that this guy will be a tough battle.
"Well then, shall we commence our battle. Light caster?" - Praetorian Member
I brought out Mana Breaker and Paladin's Sword without hesitation and tried to dash forward quickly. I tried to land a few strikes but everything was blocked with his two sickles with something dripping on them.
"Kuh, quite speedy are you? Oh well, let me introduce myself lightcaster. I am one of the seven pillars, they call me Satan. Pillar of Wrath." - Satan
Goddamnit, not another guy with a childlike behavior...
While moving pretty smoothly, this guy moved his hands around quickly that I had to avoid the attacks he tried to deliver swiftly. I managed to get off with a little scrape on my right shoulder.
"Aren't you hit there? You should treat it quickly~" - Satan
Half of me wants to kill this guy in an instant because of this speech pattern but the other half is telling me to retreat. Noticing that I have feelings of retreat, I decided to stall even further to see what kind of reason I have to retreat.
"No treatment? Well I guess it's unfortunate for you then! Scorpio!" - Satan
A Zodiac?! What kind of power will it bring?
I simply stood there while this chuuni was laughing pretty unnecessarily. Dude? What's the effect? Come on.
When he finally noticed, he turned his gaze towards me and narrowed his eyes.
"Oh? There's no effect? Interesting, is it a hero passive?" - Satan
Now that I think about it, I do have a passive that prevents all forms of status effects like poison and whatnot.
The fact that I'm not taking any damage means that the zodiac Scorpio will be completely useless when used against me.
"Oh well, I guess I'll end you myself." - Satan
The guy's speed is actually decent when it comes to combat. However, if you're an arrogant little shit, then you're an arrogant little shit. I will even refuse to call you by your name because my braincells will die off.
"Arch Paladin!"
"Ho? What kind of power?" - Satan
"Commandment!"
"Guh!!" - Satan
Honestly, the Scorpio zodiac is wasted on his weak personality and skills so I might as well just kill him off.
"Converge and attack!" - Satan
When I noticed, an entire army of a hundred enemies started emerging from the darkness so I decided to abandon the skill and started retreating. One hundred enemies is pretty difficult but I should just retreat for now.
"Searing Light!"
I fired a laser and grappled myself backwards for a speed boost. Using the justice here will be great since it will amplify my stats to somewhere near Seymour's level but it's still not the best for the time being.
"I hope I would be able to get a more grandiose duel but you're still pretty weak!"
"Wha?! You!!" - Satan
After eliminating multiple enemies with the laser, I immediately try to traverse without care of myself through the cave filled with a large number of lava pools and lava dripping down from the walls and ceiling. One touch of lava and I take a great deal of damage. I tried grappling through the ceiling since it is the fastest way of travelling through this cave. It somewhat feels like Spiderman but I can't think of those things right now, I have to run.
I made various quick ends but I had gained a large distance in between us so when I returned back to where the group was, I instantly told them to get up and escape.
"Everyone, we're going to be swarmed here! Let's retreat immediately!"
Everyone started to panic a little with the sudden appearance and warning and started running back to the entrance. While we were retreating, I started to notice that something was off. The enemies didn't give chase to me for some reason but I have pretty much known the answer as of now.
When I looked back, I noticed that the lava has started rising pretty quickly.
"Shit, Illumination!"
I boosted everyone's stats so we can exit the cave immediately, Gayle was pulled up by both Lester and Jay and they're stopping her from doing something unnecessary.
Currently, I'm behind them as they try to get up quickly and prevent anyone from falling behind. Slowly but surely, we ended up having to go even faster but Grace helped us out on that.
"Tailwind!" - Grace
Oh right, I also have that skill I forgot...
"It's the surface! Last stretch everyone!"
I immediately saw the surface area with the lava rising up in a dangerous level. We may have to run even more just to get away from the area that this lava could reach.
After some time, we had exited the cave and started running off quickly back to the carriage we left in some spot hidden by rocks. I had noticed that the lava has stopped rising up after we had gone out from the cave. I still sensed a huge amount of danger incoming so I told everyone to keep going. I fired lasers and bullets from my revolver back to try and thin them out a little.
That's an entire army they're sending us... What the hell...
I noticed a few hundred presences heading our way from three sides, I told them the current situation and they continued running towards the carriage. The reason why I made them to retreat is because handling a hundred players is not my forte. Multiple targets are actually better dealt when at least Michael is around. Denzel is the most reliant person here when it comes to dealing with a few hundred all alone. However, he does get a hard time when it comes to dealing with a single powerful enemy. Thus, there was some trouble when he fought against Chrominus during that time. Michael on the other hand actually can do both dueling and crowd control decently so he was a powerful force that we could bring. His attacks deal a major amount of damage to monsters so he's a good choice when it comes to getting through.
After some time, we had arrived to the carriage. Ridley and Rylle immediately started to get the horses to make us escape the area pretty quickly. We were pretty exhausted but we had escaped in an almost unscathed manner. Everyone was panting and exhausted once again after the long run out.
"R-Robin, why did we retreat?" - Jay
"Well, we don't really have a choice... I'm not great at facing an entire army alone..."
"Didn't we face an army of monsters a few days ago?" - Jay
"An army of players is an entirely different story. We would need someone like Denzel if we have to fight an entire army all alone..."
"I, I see..." - Jay
"So that's why we ended up having to retreat huh..." - Grace
"Actually yes, Denzel has the power to deal with hundreds of opponents easily. I saw it myself when he tried to handle the amount we could handle. It's a single skill he used but as expected, it's scary." - Lester
"And he can even make great weapons like the one I have..." - Gayle
So there is some recognition to Denzel's abilities... Well, I guess I don't really have to explain after all...
"So, we're heading back to the palace?" - Jay
"Yep, we're gonna drop these three off and head to the Asylum castle for preparations. Sorry guys but you have to be separated for a bit more."
"Ah... I guess it's alright then..." - Jay
"Don't worry Jay, I'll try to arrange things with Denzel once he's back up in combat to let you guys stay in his palace."
"Really?!!!" - Jay
Jay stood up in excitement but I made him sit back down.
"Of course but, sit down for the moment, we all have to rest after all..."
We managed to escape a deadly attack but we at least had our hands on the ore we needed...