37 Chapter 37 ~ Caiden and the Trio - P1

[ Haah... ] with a sigh, Caiden relaxes his muscles and put both of his hands on his legs to support himself standing up. He then picked up his axe that was on the floor and stores again the remaining potion back in the waist part of his heavy armor.

Only a few minutes have passed since after he drank the recovery potion, and now, the wound on his head is finally healed, but still, he had kept the clothing that's wrapped on his head to prevent the wound from opening up again.

( Haah... I don't know which direction I should go to, but I need to start walking around this dungeon if I want to find Alicia and Vlad-san. The slaves too... Vlad-san-san trusted them enough to take them to this subjugation so I'm sure they can be of use. I just hope they're still alive. )

Caiden is pretty confident that Alicia and Shiro are still alive. He knows how strong they were, especially with Shiro. Seeing how strong he is when he fought Arthur, his companion, Caiden ultimately believes that there is no way Shiro would die in this dungeon; it was the same for Alicia too, he believes that she's still alive since he witnessed that Shiro had tried to save her.

[ That's no action of someone who is evil... I knew since the first day I've exchanged words with Vlad-san that he can be trusted... Or at least by the people he trusts too... ] Caiden whispered to himself in the dungeon as he reminiscent of both the first time he had met Shiro and this current time where how Alicia had disobeyed Shiro and have shamed themselves to him.

( I just hope Vlad-san would not get angry to the point of abandoning us here... If that would happen, I don't think the both of us will be able to survive.... )

Caiden trusts his own capabilities, but he's not an arrogant idiot who doesn't believe in what other people say. Despite his wild attitude towards battle and survival, he is extremely open to the suggestion of others. Yes, he's willing to fight someone stronger than him if it's 1v1, but having to fight with multiple opponents all at the same time is not his style, the odds of him dying before he could actually defeat multiple opponents is higher than when he fights a single person, but of course, that's only if those 'multiple' enemies are all worthy fighter.

And so with the case of him trapped inside this dungeon, the chances of him meeting with multiple opponents is high, and he might get exhausted before he could find its exit. That was why it's necessary for him to find his companions immediately before he gets exhausted by the monsters that will keep on coming even if he rests in one area.

He knows that he needs to immediately move, and so he had prepared himself up; both physically and mentally. He had fought with many enemies already, but right now, it's different, he just doesn't know what kind and how many the enemies that will come to him.

***

Only a few minutes had passed since Caiden had started to blindly search around the dungeon, and now he had already met with a few of his enemies.

*Swoosh!*

With a slash of his axe, green-colored liquid splashed to the concrete walls of the dungeon.

His current enemy resembles a dragonfly. The only difference there is between the two was that the one in front of him has an orange-colored exoskeleton that is much thicker and tougher than steel - They're called Antlions and they have many different variations of species, and these insect-monsters live underneath the earth in which they will build their nests in and multiply.

[ Haa... ] taking a deep breath, he removed the green sticky liquid that's clinging on his axe by spinning it around in a very fast motion.

And once again, after catching up his breath, Caiden had raised his axe above his head to prepare for his next attack. He looks to the figure of his enemy and...

[ Haa!!! ]

With one fell swoop, Caiden's axe split the body of his enemy in half, making its blood explode in all directions.

[ Haa... Haa... This is bad... There're too many... It's already hard enough to kill one in one swing... If I miss a move, it would be very dangerous... ]

In the guild, Antlions are being considered as a B-level threat to an A-level threat base on what variations. In terms of level, on the other hand, they're averaging 55 - with a minimum of 50 and a maximum of 60 levels.

That was why despite Caiden's already high level, killing one with only one hit doesn't have a high chance of success.

[ There's only one last left... ]

It didn't take long before he was able to kill four of these Antlions, but compared to the usual effort Caiden pours in in his battles, this one undeniably has one of the most he had poured his efforts in. Trying to attack while dodging their flying attacks was very difficult for Caiden and it takes him a lot of energy doing so.

[ I need to finish this fast! ] with a shout, he dashed towards the last Antlion.

[ ...! ]

But before he could leap and do his attack, the Antlion suddenly backed up and started to flap its transparent wings in a very high speed. Then, A second later, the Antlion made a loud screeching noise.

With his ears suddenly distressed, his hand immediately went to cover his ears without his intention to do so. The eerie sound resounded to the whole dungeon and it almost shook the walls.

[ Thi-This is! ]

Lifting his head up to the enemy, Caiden realizes what it was doing.

The Antlion...

Was calling for its companions.

***

[ Tsk! There's too many! ] Sarah uttered in distress as she dodges the attack of one of the enemies by leaping into the concrete wall of the dungeon.

Landing on the ground, she was faced again by numerous attacks from the enemies - from ranged-spikes attacks that can put holes on metal shields, to melee-pincer attacks that might be able to cut Sarah's body in half.

But all of these attacks were skillfully avoided by Sarah.

( With master's training, both my power and skills have definitely improved... I can easily take out a single one of them, but with this many... I won't last before exhaustion...! )

It might be a sight to look at how Sarah was carefully and skillfully dodging and blocking the attacks of her enemies, but none of those dodges and blocks hold value if she can't use or land a single attack.

[ This early...! I don't want to use these items master have given me, yet! It'll be a shame to master! ]

The attacks of her enemies almost never tire. Bullets of spikes and sword-sharp pincers are attacking her endlessly. Sarah really is in a very difficult position and the only thing that she will be able to do is to use the items her master had given her - but of course, she was hesitant to use them.

Of course, Shiro knew that it would turn out like this; that they would be hesitant to use the items he had given them as they respects and holds dear almost all the things he gives them. That was why he had given them instructions to only use them when their life is in danger or if they think it's necessary because he knows that they won't use them to make their task much easier, as they think that those items were very important to him.

But still now, despite being in a really difficult position, she was still hesitant to use those items.

And before she knew it, she was already surrounded...

[ These monsters... ] with those two words exiting from her mouth, she finally took an item from her small pouch and prepared herself to use it.

She was still hesitant but remembering what her master said -

\"Your lives are more important than these items; don't be afraid to use them when you're in danger\"

It was not a big deal for Vlad to lose the items he had given them, but for Sarah and the others, as his slaves, it was shameless for them to use their master's personal items.

But right now, Sarah's life was more important than those items; she knows that her master will say the same thing - and so she took the courage to use them.

Finally, she was gonna use it...

*Screech!!!

[ ...! ]

But before she was able to use the item, a loud ear-piercing screech echoed and resounded through everywhere, and with that sound, the movement of her enemies suddenly pause and returned only to face the other direction where the screeching sound came from. They have lost interest in Sarah and they immediately rushed towards the other direction.

[ Wha... What happened... ]

Author's Note: Umm... So as you may have noticed... I'm again is trying to get used of my own writing style since it's been already too long since I wrote something. Anyway, please bear with it.