The Earth After Rebirth

Chapter 30: The Cave

"Sorry." Was all he could manage.

"T-that's okay... It's pretty. T-thanks."

They awkwardly walked in silence. Kiro had no girl experience, so he was sure he f*cked that one up.

"Hey, look, a cave." Hiro's voice up ahead could be heard.

They hurried over. The mouth of the cave was huge, it made them feel like ants. They contemplated whether to go in, they couldn't fathom the monster the cave housed.

Ding!

[You've discovered the cave of the Ancient One. Find the ancient manuscripts for rewards.]

Kiro noticed that, ever since he left beginner's village, the system lost its sassy side. He was somehow sad, he kind of missed its snarky remarks.

"Should we?" Saanvi asked.

"Of course." Kiro passed them entering the cave.

They all followed.

[Warning. Warning. Intruders. Intruders. Exterminate. Exterminate.]

A robotic voice sounded. Red lights flashed, acting as a silent alarm. Kiro was already in his fighting stance, so was Hiro.

"Saanvi, stay behind Hiro." Kiro commanded.

"How, he's so short..."

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"He's sturdy, and his shield will protect you," he said without taking his eyes from the shaking ground up ahead.

He had to be cautious, he had no idea what the enemy will be. Nobody in his past life found this ancient cave. Which instilled more doubt in his mind, he now more or less thought he was in an alternate world. How could anyone not have seen a huge cave like this one?

"Princess, climb that rock over there. The further you are the better." He continued giving out orders.

She didn't quite like the nickname, it sounded like he was mocking her because of her rich background. But she obliged nonetheless, because the thundering footsteps could be heard coming closer and closer to where they were. She couldn't afford backtalking.

Now they were just, anticipating whatever it was, to appear before them. In front Kiro held his position. He was the only one who could fight in close quarters.

Then, a big chunk of metal entered the room. It was not even twice their size, it filled the room. It had long metallic legs and arms, a sphere for a body. A body that was also it's head. It's eyes were almost falling out.

[Three. Three. Four. Four. Intruders. Extermination will begin.]

"H-how are we supposed to beat that?" Saanvi asked.

"It's just a chunk of metal we—"

Swoosh—

It threw a punch from that distance. If Kiro was any slower to dodge, he'd have been crashed to death. Possibly.

"You were saying?"

Kiro quickly blinked, leaving Saanvi staring at nothingness. He appeared in front of the robot, and swung his staff has hard as he could.

Clang—

The two metals met, and there were a bit of sparks. The robot didn't barge, instead, it got down on its arms and swiped its foot causing kiro to fall on his back.

"Hey! Are you alright?" Isla panicked.

"When are you even going to shoot? I'm fighting alone at this point."

The robot once again, threw its arms, aiming for Kiro's abdomen. He quickly activated Hurricane punch. The impact made it stagger backwards a bit.

Isla joined in the party, and rained arrows on the robot. It roared in anger.

"About time, Princess," he remarked and quickly got up, falling back.

"Shut your mouth, don't call me that." She was angry and took it out on the robot, the arrows went one after another.

"Do you want to run out of mana?"

"Saanvi is here for a reason." She snapped back.

And sure enough, Saanvi started healing her. Ignoring Kiro who got hit by the robot. She healed him last. But the robot didn't wait for them to finish up.

It was struggling to knock Hiro over. When it realised banging the shield was futile, it jumped over him. It was agile. It landed behind him, right in front of Kiro and Saanvi.

Kiro instinctively activated vibrations, though it didn't give him much time. As the robot was already moving half a second later. He palm struck it before it could move towards them again. Saanvi was already behind Hiro once again.

"Okay, let's do this rusty."

They both ran toward each other. The robot threw a punch from a distance, Kiro dodged by jumping up and as he was falling back down, he pinned the spindly arm with his staff on the ground.

Now the robot was stuck. He continued forwards and activated hurricane punch, and got the robot right in the gut, if it had one.

It flew back and almost hit Isla. As it crashed closer to her. She quickly changed positions.

"Are you tryna kill me? I didn't mean to shout at you!"

"I'm not a petty person..." He made a thinking face, "well I am, I'm just not that petty."

The robot got up, it was feeling ominous than before. Though it looked like it had shrunk, it looked more dangerous. That's when it disappeared from where it was.

It appeared right in front of Kiro, he was still in the middle of smirking at Isla, the punch the robot threw connected. He flew a couple of meters away, falling shot of being thrown on the wall.

-200

Isla shot a few arrows at it, but it totally ignored her. It seemed to have locked in Kiro as its enemy.

Kiro got up from the rubble, the damage wasn't enough to kill him but it was significant.

"Hiro, this would be as good a time as any to use your crowd control."

"You think I haven't tried? It's not working."

"Dammit. And you're too slow to follow it around."

Kiro wasn't sure he could beat it alone. Now that it focused only on him, the pressure was on. It didn't wait for him to make a move, it was already throwing another punch. He dodged, but barely.

Kiro was certainly not going to stand around, he swung his staff, it connected but it was less effective. It seemed the robot shrunk and got stronger in the process.

"Don't think too much, there's still me. You aren't fight alone."

'Oh right. Isla can keep chipping at its HP while I avoid getting killed and wait for the perfect moment to strike a finishing blow.'

Kiro was getting a pummelling of his life. At least they had a priest, so he didn't have to waste any of his potions. He could dodge some attacks, but others were impossible. He noticed its speed was drastically decreasing, and its punches were losing their fire power.

It threw another punch, he blocked it with his staff, and struck it in the eye. It fell a few meters back.

Kiro didn't wait for it to fully get up, as he ran to it and used his staff to jump much higher, he almost reached the cave's ceiling. His comrades watched in awe, as it looked like he was flying without wings.

He was then dropping again, fast, he activated bending kick, and landed with a kick right ontop of its head.

The robot exploded into fragments. Kiro originally had his hands in the pockets when he was dropping for a kick. His posture was still like that after the fact.

"Cringe." Saanvi commented

"Thank you, for your unsolicited opinion," Kiro said, and fell where he stood. He was exhausted.

It felt like the time they fought those vampire foot soldiers. It dawned on him that, the monsters out here are much more stronger.

Ding!

[Congratulations on defeating the ancient guardian. Rewards will be given once the manuscripts have been found. Happy hunting.]