"I'm afraid we don't have any time for chats. That player already entered a cave", ignoring Alab's apologies, Hiraya felt her tamed monster [Agile rat] sent her a vision of the bot entering the cave.
From his expression, Hiraya assumed that he had noticed them as well as he rushed inside the cave.
"Do you still have the strength?", she asked as she looked at Althea who was clearly out of strength at the moment. She was too wasted from using her skill and even went beyond her limit.
"No, I will stay here", she muttered in a ragged breath.
Hearing her, Hiraya nodded as that was the best option possible. Bringing her to her state would be a drag and would stall them much time. They needed to steal the item from the player before he exited the Tutorial.
Without looking directly at his eyes, Hiraya shifted her gaze to Alab who was on his knee, similarly exhausted of mana. Tears still overwhelmed his eyes as he plead for forgiveness. He felt beyond guilty for what he did.
"I— I will stay here too", Alab mumbled with shaky breath as he tried to look into Hiray's eyes.
Nodding her head, Hiraya commanded the [Nightmare Skull] to protect them before she was about to move her body to run toward Kevin.
Before she could leave, she halted on her step and closed her eyes. She then uttered.
"Don't keep being sorry, it's not your fault that we are too weak to kill that monster without sacrifice. And it's not your fault that that was the only choice at the moment. You did what you ought to do", she uttered as she finally sneaked a glance at Alab. Tears also resurfaced in her eyes as her lips trembled.
"So p--pls, stop with that cry, o--okay? You are making me cry", she muttered before she then steals a glance at Althea and expressed her gratitude for healing her. She then mobilized her body and run towards Kevin.
"Kevin!", Hiraya shouted to pull Kevin out of his trance.
However, the latter already recollected himself a while ago as he turned his head to the running Hiraya. Looking at the [Nightmare Skull] and the two people above it, he breathed a sigh of relief as everyone survived.
"Hiray—", he was about to say something only to be cut short by Hiraya as she continued dashing ahead.
"Leave the needless talk for later, that player just entered a cave. I think the item is there", she uttered as Kevin also began sprinting upon hearing that.
Fixing his demeanor, Kevin caught up with Hiraya and asked.
"How far?"
"120 meters"
"We can't make it", Kevin uttered as 120 meters was still a long distance for them even in an awakened state. The player would have gotten the item before they could even cover that.
"It's fine, we have a ride", she uttered as a gust of wind was felt by them. Above, the [Vengeful Dove] that had left before had returned.
It was the effect of Althea's newly awakened skill, [Empress' Dominance].
Looking at Hiraya hopping on the back of the Dove, Kevin couldn't help but ponder.
'She had gotten stronger', he thought as he then hopped on too.
Riding on the back of the [Vengeful Dove], the two covered distance larger than before. In no time, they saw a mountain deep in the wilderness. On its foot was a cave with an opening too little to fit the Dove.
Hopping off, they instantly vanished into the dark cave with the Dove waiting at the cave entrance.
"May the first to get hold of the item win", Hiraya uttered as they traced the dark cave. Their steps not caring about what traps might lay ahead as they sprint directly.
"As discussed", Kevin uttered as he strode bigger, trying to outrun Hiraya.
With their stride, it took them no time to see a light coming out at the opposite end of the cave. Hastening their pace, they run towards the light.
Pant
Panting for air, Kevin and Hiraya reached the end of the cave and what greeted them was a large space with an open ceiling, letting the sunlight to lit up the area.
In the center of the space, a player surrounded by a golden transculent shield was standing, looking at them as if he had been waiting for their arrival.
His body was kind of chubby as he wore a school uniform that was too tight to fit his full-figured body. Standing tall with a height of 210 cm, he rubbed his curly black hair as he looked at them. His black eyes screamed boredom from waiting too long.
It was Liam, an SSA-grade player.
"Why did you guys take so long? I was wondering how would I remove that monster over there and I think you guys could handle that much, right?", he uttered as he then canceled his skill and threw a piece of stone ahead of him.
Skeptical, the two watched the stone moving with great force as it traveled to the end of the large space. Then, with a loud thud, it hit the head of the large monster that was deep in its slumber.
Thud
Gulp
Two massive bloodshot eyes opened as they looked at the three players standing before it. Then, another two eyes unfolded, and then another two.
In total, six eyes glanced at the three players as the three-headed dogs stood up.
It was [Cerberus], an SS-grade monster.
With three heads of a dog with a horn protruding on each head and a serpent's tail glued on its back, the quadrupedal monster gnawed its teeth as drool oozed out of its mouth.
"It seems that it has not eaten for a long time now", Liam uttered as he glanced at the two players at the end of the large space.
Hearing footsteps getting closer to him, he instantly activated his skill once again as a golden shield surrounded him. Its strength seemed too strong as the three heads of the [Cerberus] bite violently, leaving no trace of damage.
The monster tried a few more times before it got enraged by helplessness and it was this time that the sight of the other two players occurred to it.
Gnaw
With its four feet moving in a flash, Kevin and Althea retreated inside the narrow cave. With the size of the [Cerberus], it could fit inside the narrow entrance. Once more, it could only gnaw and scratch the opening.
"Hariya, can you tame that monster?", Kevin uttered as he glanced at Hiraya.
Pondering, Hiraya nodded her head. "I can, but that would take a lot of time. At least five minutes", she replied.
Looking ahead, Kevin saw Liam walking closer toward the corner of the large space where the [Cerberus] lay earlier. And in that space, Kevin saw an item that was dazzling and brighter than the sunlight.
"An SSS-grade item!", Hiraya exclaimed as she also saw the item.
"I'm afraid we don't have much time. Hiraya, step back, I will kill this monster and that player", Kevin uttered as he held the sword upfront, pointing towards the [Cerberus].
Behind him, Hiraya walked a meter away.
"Farther", he uttered as he started releasing a sharp aura.
Feeling that the aura was getting stronger, Hiraya stepped back by another meter but she heard a "farther" word from Kevin so she moved a meter away again.
"Farther!", Kevin uttered.
"What?! Is it still not far enough?!", Hiraya uttered as she started to get annoyed.
"No! Get away from me for at least 20 meters! The collision would be too strong that it might hurt you!", Kevin explained as he released another set of sharp aura.
Behind him, Hiraya hesitated for a while but seeing that Liam was getting closer to the item, she clicked her tongue as she ran farther till she reached 20 meters behind Kevin. Alas, she was near the entrance of the cave!
Smirk
Releasing a smirk, Kevin looked ahead as his plan had worked. Truth be told, the collision would not be that strong.
Activating his newly comprehended skill, he uttered.
"Azure Sword Beam", he shouted as an azure beam of light radiated from his sword and was released hurling forward. If one would just look closely, one could see that the azure light was identical to the beam of light used by Alab earlier.
"T--this!", with mouth agape, Hiraya exclaimed in shock as the attack was similar to Alab's only that this sword beam was denser and compressed into a 5 meters diameter beam, giving it more power.
With rapid speed, the [Azure Sword Beam] came hurling toward the [Cerberus], inflicting painless pain as it died. A large hole could be seen in its enormous body.
However, the sword beam wasn't extinguished as it continued to travel at a speed that became faster over time. Without letting Liam have a chance to discern what happened, his golden shield felt like paper pierced by a pen as a similar large hole appeared on it.
His shield only lasted for a minute before it was penetrated by the sword beam and made contact with his body. Then, doubtful of what happened, Liam died under the azure beam as it finally turned into nothingness.
Then, Kevin rushed to the edge of the large space.
Meanwhile, Hiraya instantly covered her face after the [Cerberus] died as she waited for the strong collision. However, seconds passed without anything happening until she heard footsteps that seemed to be in hurry.
Looking ahead, she saw Kevin rushing inside with a smirk on his face. Seeing that, she realized that it was all his plan.
"Y----you!!!", she could only let out a shout as she chased after him.
But, she knew it was futile. The 20 meters gap was just too long to catch up. The moment she reached the entrance of the large space, she saw Kevin on another end, looking at her with a smirk as he uttered.
"I guess, it's my win", he uttered as he held the SSS-grade item in his hand.
AN: WAHHH, DIDNT EXPECT THAT AGAIN T_T really, Kevin, that's a nice move HAHHAHHA