31 The Girl and Red...

Checking the mana level of the red crawler, Cage's expression immediately became grim.

It was not only a mutant, but it was a Stage Three as well. With every progressive Stage, the gap between the previous would increase exponentially. Needless to say, the gap between Cage and the crawler was like the distance between the two sides of a canyon.

'Was it toying with me? No... probably not. It's intelligent, but it's like a newborn. Is it trying to gain leadership experience or something?'

Cage shook his head to clear it off needless thoughts. No matter the case, he definitely had to fight it.

He heard the sweet voice of the white-haired woman sound through out the cavern he was in. "Aww- Red, Look at you being considerate and holding back..."

'Red? is that the name of the crawler? But to think it was holding back...'

While it was shocking, it wasn't that unexpected for him. A Stage Three is on an entirely different level. As the Stages progress, the skills or spells one has will evolve with them.

If a Stage one could make a fireball the size of a human head and a Stage Two could make one the size of large car tire, then a Stage Three could make one the size of a semi-truck. That was just how big the difference was between Stages. The gap would only get bigger as well.

Cage really couldn't understand their goal. "While I appreciate not being incinerated, what is the purpose of all of this?"

A small laugh sounded through the air, "Ufufu, you will know eventually..."

'Guess I'm not getting an answer... yet.'

Cage no longer had his dagger, it had been thoroughly buried underneath the ruble. Even if he had the time to find it, it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Normally, a person without a weapon would be a sitting duck. Fortunately, Cage had other methods...

[Resonation!]

Using his skill on his arm, he prepared for the confrontation between the crawler named Red.

Jumping out from the cover of debris, Cage quickly rushed out to get in close.

[Burst!]

Boom!

Red quickly responded with his own his own spell.

[Scorch Speed!]

Boom!

A shadowy streak of black and a smoldering streak of red could be seen. One gave off a brilliant glow while the other seemed to devour all the light near it.

Cage followed and observed Red for any and all movements, but his eyes could only keep up for less than a second before he lost sight of Red.

Like a ghost, Red vanished from Cage's vision.

The next moment, he felt a pricking sensation on his neck.

'Damn... I got bit.'

Cage staggered as he felt the strength leave his body.

'I guess a Stage Three truly is something I can't contend against as a Stage One... I didn't even see an after image...'

Cage fell down to his back and his eyes began to close.

He heard the clicking of legs against stone. The white-haired girl appeared in his vision.

She bent down and placed her hand on Cage's cheek and smiled softly, "I have been observing you for a while now... When you are lost, come and see me..."

Cage's mind finally slipped due to the crawler's venom.

-=-=-

"Hurry! We need to see if anyone was caught in the cave in!"

Andrew and a group of 9 others quickly made their way to a segment of Quadrant Seven where a cave-in had occurred.

As they got closer, the smell of iron permeated through their noses.

Andrew tensed his muscles, 'Blood... It seems a lot of it as well.'

Climbing over a natural stone pillar that had fallen, they were stunned.

"What the hell happened here?"

Hundreds of crawler corpses were scattered about. They were killed in almost every conceivable way imaginable. They were maimed, pierced, squished, sliced, some seemingly exploded even.

Pools of blood that were ankle deep could be found in various locations. The floor and walls were cracked severely and it looked like they could fall apart at any moment. Not even the ceiling was spared and had fallen from its own weight. It could only be described as a chaotic battlefield, but even that might be an understatement.

One of the weaker-willed people following Andrew lost their lunch.

Blurgggg.

Ignoring the foul smell, Andrew traversed the battlefield looking for the cause.

Something shiny caught his eye. He walked over and found something metallic buried underneath the debris.

Andrew reared back his arm.

[Gale Fist!]

Compared to the Gale fist from when Cage fought Andrew, it was like comparing the sun and the moon. The current Gale fist had all of the winds compressed to a single point as opposed to how before it was loosely gathered in a general area.

Boom!

The rocks covering the shiny object were, quite literally, blown away in an instant and crashed into the wall.

Andrew had controlled the mana so it would only affect the rocks, it was clear just how much his mastery over mana had improved.

Bending down, Andrew picked it up. It was a dagger, a dagger that had the blade dyed blood red. It was a dagger that was like his own, so its original owner should also be working in the mine. The only question that remained was who was the owner?

Exploring for another minute or so, he found a place where the epicenter of the cracks seemed to have originated from.

Observing it for a little, Andrew felt the way it looked was somewhat familiar...

It seemed like the cracks had spread out, then the stone began to fall apart, and it then exploded violently...

A little less than four-dozen crawler corpses seemed to have died underneath the debris.

Thinking back to where he saw it, he recalled when a certain kid had shown him a new skill.

"Cage!"

Andrew quickly ran a little further deeper into the battlefield and found a spot on the stone floor that was scorched black.

It had residual fire type mana that still lingered.

'Going based off the size... It should belong to a Stage Three!'

Andrew had a strong feeling Cage was involved somehow. "It hasn't even been a full day since he woke up and he already got into another fight?! Is he a trouble magnet or something?!"

Wherever he went, crawler corpses could be found. Continuing his rant, Andrew maneuvered around more stone debris and found a slightly open clearing.

'It seems my suspicions were correct. How the hell did he cause so much carnage?

Andrew found Cage sprawled out on the floor. He was covered in small cuts, but that wouldn't be enough to make him go unconscious from blood loss.

Upon further inspection, he noticed that the veins around Cage's neck were a slightly different color.

'Crawler poison... It seems he got overpowered, but why didn't they take him? They would certainly be able to? Was it because of what he is?'

Crawlers would always take back anything they incapacitated. Be it for food or reproductive purposes, but normally food. Crawlers were a lot like cockroaches in how they were incredibly resilient and could turn up anywhere and everywhere if there was food. It didn't matter if it tasted bad or was poisonous, they would eat it without hesitation.

Andrew shook his head to clear it of useless thoughts. He wouldn't get any answers from asking himself, he could only wait for Cage to wake up. 'Sigh, this is going to be a whole mess to clean up.'

He put moved Cage and carried him on his back. Cage was the only one there, so Andrew quickly began to make his way back to Zaria and the rest of the group.

Even if there was others at some point, they would have been taken away or were as dead as a door nail. He also wouldn't waist time checking because the crawlers would no doubt be back to scavenge the remains.

Andrew traversed by jumping from stone pillar to stone pillar. About ten minutes or so later, he felt movement on his back. Turning his head slightly, he saw Cage begin to stir out of the corner of his eye.

His eyes fluttered open, "Mmm, Andrew? What happened? Where did that girl go?"

Andrew made a funny face, "Red? Girl? What are you talking about? Rather than you ask questions, I have some for you! How the hell did you fight hundreds of crawlers and come out with a few scratches?"

Cage brushed off the question and said sleepily, "Mmm, too tired... to think. All my mana... Is dried up..."

Cage promptly fell asleep on Andrew's back.

Andrew's eyebrow twitched, "Oi! I'm not your personal ride! What do you think you're do-? Ah, forget it..."

Andrew could only sigh, 'Knowing him, if he's determined to sleep then not even a point blank boom-fruit would be able to wake him up...'

He eventually made it back to where Zaria was waiting. Seeing that Cage was on his back, she said, "Let me guess- he was involved somehow or another. Right?"

Andrew sighed, "Yeah, I couldn't get any information out of him but it seems he fought a bunch of crawlers. Three hundred at the very minimum were slain by his hand. He also mentioned two things before he fell asleep. He mentioned something called 'Red' and some girl or something."

Zaria's eyes opened up slightly in surprise. 'I don't know what a Red is, but a girl? Interesting... I'll have to tell this to Axel later.'