The Cave (2)

"LIANA RUN." I quickly screamed at her to get away.

Lost in the intensity of my battle, Liana had failed to notice the other spiderlings that were swarming towards her.

My voice grabbing her attention Liana quickly grasped the situation and began running. Thankfully, Liana's agility and endurance stats were pretty high if I remember correctly. Therefore, she could outrun the spiderlings.

Unfortunately however, she cannot fight back while running. It takes a couple seconds for her to fire off one of her shots, however, she does not have the luxury to do so.

All 7 of the remaining spiderlings relentlessly pursued her. The spiderlings would shoot webs in an attempt to slow her down, however, Liana adeptly dodged each web with nimble movements.

Although we were safe for now, the spiderlings don't seem to feel any fatigue. 

'We need to do something and fast.' I thought.

'I could go behind them and pick them off, but if they all decide to turn at the same time, I could get swarmed and die... Yet we have no other choice right now.'

Deciding to act now and think later, I increased my speed and dashed towards the spiderlings.

Barely managing to reach one, I cleanly slice one of its legs off, causing it to lose balance and fall.

Thankfully its comrades disregarded it and kept on chasing Liana, allowing me to finish it off quickly.

[Progress: 9/15]

I continued to pursue the swarm.

Liana had managed to gain quite a distance, however, she was not far enough to be able to shoot one of her arrows.

Managing to reach the swarm once more, I tried slicing another spiderling.

This time, learning from his comrades mistake, the spiderling jumped. Dodging my slash.

Undeterred, I pressed on, quickly slashing it before it could react once more, causing its blood to gush everywhere.

Growing overconfident, I intensified my attacks. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to stay cautious.

The swarm that was initially chasing Liana, had turned around heading for me, deeming Liana not possible to catch.

Mid-dash I was unable to stop the spiderling's attack as it pounced on me.

As my only option I quickly deflected the attack, though the impact had sent me hurtling towards a rock.

*BANG*

"Argh..." I winced in agony, although I had managed to parry the attack, I was unable to stop the force that I had built its attack.

Getting up, still lightheaded, I braced myself for the incoming onslaught of attacks by the spiders.

Thankfully, since the swarm had stopped chasing Liana, she had seized the opportunity to shoot an arrow.

*SWOOSH*

Her arrow, pierced the back of the spider and came out of its head flying past my body causing a deafening roar.

[Progress: 10/15]

The noise of the arrow had disoriented the spiderlings a bit, leaving an opening.

Having regained my composure, I dashed towards the spiderlings once more.

Using my lingering aero affinity, I deftly slashed through the barrage of webs launched at me and closed the distance with the two spiderlings.

As I was nearing the spiderling, it frantically shot one more web out of desperation. Leaping over it, I slashed downwards splitting its head open.

Without any rest, I pounced on his buddy as soon as I landed, decapitating it.

Meanwhile, Liana had managed to shoot 2 more arrows, injuring 1 and killing another.

[Progress: 13/15]

The last healthy spiderling rushed at me in a desperate charge, emitting shrill cries with each attack. However, I was ready for it and sliced it open without effort.

[Progress: 14/15]

The last spider lay wounded on the ground, bleeding from the earlier arrow shot by Liana.

Walking over to it, I quickly stabbed my sword down on its head, ending its cries and killing it.

[Progress: 15/15]

[Sub-Quest: Take out the Spiderlings! - Complete!]

[Top Contributors:]

 1. Atlas Lancewell [9/15] 

 2. Liana Moreau [6/15]

[Rewards: 180 XP]

Hearing footsteps behind me I turned and found Liana running towards me.

"That.. that.. was so terrifying." she gasped, catching her breath.

"Yeah, that was, wasn't it. I'm exhausted." I said, collapsing to the floor. I took deep breaths, finally finding the time to relax after the stressful battle.

Seeing my exhaustion, Liana retrieved the canteens from her bag and offered me water.

"Thanks, you really saved my but out there." I expressed my gratitude, a warm smile appearing on my face.

'She really did, without her I don't know if I could've taken these guys on.' I reflected silently.

"It was nothing, I was just shooting from a far. You were doing all the heavy lifting." She said, a faint smile crossing her lips.

While resting, I decided to open up my stats to check on my HP.

[Personal Information]

 - Name: Atlas Lancewell

 - Nationality: English

 - Height: 182 cm

 - Weight: 77 kg

 - Sex: Male

 - Age: 16 - Partner: Liana Moreau

[Status Screen]

 - Level: 4 (180/400 XP)

 - Class: Magic Swordsman (Hidden)

 - Health: 74/118

 - Defense: 9/20 (+1)

 - Strength: 12/20 (+3)

 - Agility: 10/20 (+0)

 - Endurance: 8/20 (+1)

 - Mana: 62/158

 - Intelligence: 140

 - Stat Points: 0 

[Skills]

 - Inspect (A) - Provides subject with extra details about the target (active)

- Elemental Blade Mastery (B) - Allows subject to materialize mana on their weapon (active)

[Affinities]

 - Hydro - Pyro - Gyro - Aero

[Titles] 

 - Pioneer - Grants skill 'Inspect (A)'

 - Adapter - Granted 2 Stat Points (Used)

 - Adventurer - Next quest will have double the rewards

'I sustained quite a bit of damage from that one hit, guess they were like glass cannons.' I thought to myself.

"Atlas, what should I use my skill point on?" Liana spoke up taking my attention away from my stats.

"Hmm.. maybe just invest it into your strength. That way you could deal more damage with your arrows. Considering your agility and endurance is already pretty high, you should be good." I responded.

"How do you know my stats?" Liana frowned, a hint of suspicion in her expression.

"Oh... it's a skill. Don't worry about it." I explained.

"Can I learn it too?" Liana asked with enthusiasm in prospect of learning her first skill.

"I don't think so." I responded.

'Considering I got the inspect skill for being one of the first to get a hidden class. It seemed improbable for Liana to secure one unless they get lucky.'

"Although if you get lucky enough perhaps you can get one." I reassured her.

***

After resting for a while Liana and I got up. Though the lake was beautiful and the crystals were mesmerizingly bright. The stench really dampened the ambience.

"Since this cave is a dead end we should head back and enter the other opening to the cave." Liana suggested.

Agreeing with her, we went back in the direction we came from.

Before leaving the lake-cave, we made sure to pick up some crystals that had fallen during the battle, as they could pose useful.

***

Due to the break we took I had managed to heal back up to 107 HP and my mana had gone back up to 128.

With that I had enough mana for roughly 118 seconds of active use of Elemental Blade Mastery, that's if I don't switch between affinities.

'I need to find a way to have a sustainable mana source.' I thought to myself.

Nevertheless, Liana and I continued through the cave and entered the other cave opening.