The entrance to the cave was enormous. Light shone in, but it was not enough to dispel the darkness inside the cave.
Sylvia and Donovan began their "expedition" inside the cave.
Just like the entrance, the inside of the cave was enormous.
"Stay alert." Sylvia kept walking, while Donovan followed from behind.
There were four dots on Sylvia's holographic map.
"I'll head in first, and quickly deal with the three Drone-types. Meanwhile, you'll keep your distance. I'll weaken the Reaper-type enough, and when I give the signal, that's where you come in."
Donovan nodded. His grip on his umbrella tightened.
"Cast a Flame Ball to light our surroundings," said Sylvia.
"Huh? But won't they sense—"
"Just trust me."
Donovan did as she said. With a small tap of his umbrella on the ground, a ball of fire appeared in his palm.
The deeper they ventured inside the cave, the darker it became.
Looking at the map, Sylvia knew they were getting closer to the Annihiliths.
She ordered Donovan to put out his Flame Ball. "Don't let the Reaper-type spot you." Sylvia suddenly stopped, and so did Donovan.
Then, she crouched, hiding behind a large rock. Donovan also crouched right beside her.
Sylvia took a peek, and saw a faint green and yellow light in the far distance. The green light came from the Reaper-type, while the yellow light came from the Drone-types.
"What will you do?" asked Donovan.
"Wait," she answered.
Wait?
Sylvia paused, and added, "Sometimes, a Reaper-type may kill a Drone-type for reasons unknown. But some say it is because of the Reaper's anger issues, or the Drone's incompetency."
Sylvia grabbed a small rock, and tossed it at them. Then, she quickly hid herself.
As the rock hit the ground, the noise attracted the attention of the Annihiliths.
The Reaper-type let out incomprehensible sounds, and suddenly, two Drone-types stood up, walking towards the direction where the rock made contact with the ground.
And after half a minute, the two Drones returned. They made incomprehensible sounds towards the Reaper-type.
The two Drones just stood there, as the Reaper stared at them blankly.
And then, the two Drones started to take a few steps back, and at that moment, their bodies were sliced in half.
The miniature black hole that acted as their head slowly disappeared.
"See, what did I tell you?" said Sylvia in a low voice.
Donovan couldn't say anything.
Now, only one Drone-type and one Reaper-type remained.
The remaining Drone stared blankly at its two comrades that had been sliced in half.
The Reaper-type sat back down, letting out incomprehensible sounds.
Sylvia hummed, and said, "How about this? You deal with the Drone, I deal with the Reaper."
"Got it." Donovan nodded.
"I'll rush in first." With that, Sylvia stood up and rushed towards the Annihiliths.
Hearing the sound of footsteps approaching, the Reaper-type immediately stood up and faced the direction where the footsteps were coming from.
Then, in a split second, Sylvia clashed with the Reaper-type, the Annihilith being pushed back as the two went deeper inside the cave.
Meanwhile, Donovan fired a Light Beam at the Drone-type.
The Annihilith dodged, and "roared."
What am I doing? I'm Category 5 now, I don't need to hold myself back.
With that, Donovan cast Light Chain, and chains of light appeared out of thin air around the Annihilith, binding its limbs.
Then, Donovan fired another Light Beam at the restrained Annihilith.
Meanwhile, the Reaper kicked Sylvia from the side, and she was sent flying.
The Annihilith landed on its feet safely.
Suddenly, a black sword materialized out of thin air in the Annihilith's right hand.
It walked towards the direction it kicked Sylvia as it let out incomprehensible sounds.
"I really hate fighting enemies who are too stubborn to die, and just want to waste my precious time."
"Do yourself a favor, and get on your knees."
Upon hearing Sylvia's words, the Annihilith "chuckled."
"Yeah, I really hate you guys." Suddenly, a figure emerged from the darkness. It was Sylvia.
Determined to end this fight quickly, she decided to change how she'd usually fight.
Usually, she'd fight without having used any spells at all, except for that one time on the planet Litus.
But this was a different case. She was helping someone with their advancement to Storm Rank.
With that, she immediately cast a lot of spells at once: Titan's Grip, Icicle, and Ironblood.
If the Fighter class didn't have so little Umbrella Fuel, she'd have also used Frozen Warrior—a very strong spell of Fighter-types.
Titan's Grip enhances weapon strength, allowing for devastating blows. Ironblood temporarily grants the caster resistance to pain and wounds. And as for Icicle, it summons sharp icicles.
Icicles immediately appeared around Sylvia, floating.
Then, she immediately lunged.
The Annihilith was too slow to react. And so, its left arm was quickly cut off by Sylvia's "sharp" umbrella.
And then, an icicle was headed for the Annihilith. But it was able to react to this, quickly deflecting it.
But while the Annihilith was distracted from deflecting the icicle, Sylvia used this opportunity to strike the Annihilith's side.
And her strike connected.
But even though she had used Titan's Grip, the Reaper's "skin," or rather, "armor" was too thick and hard.
So, Sylvia's umbrella was stuck in the center of its stomach.
Suddenly, the green flame that acted as its head intensified, and it immediately spread throughout the Annihilith's body.
Using her superhuman strength, she immediately removed her umbrella from the Annihilith. If she hadn't, her body would be burning right about now.
The Annihilith's black sword also caught on green fire.
"Fine, then. If that's how you want to play, let's play," said Sylvia.
She then cast Ice Imbuement, a spell that imbues the caster's weapon in ice, freezing everything the weapon comes into contact with.
The Annihilith's fire that was green in color that could burn anything it touched, against Sylvia's umbrella that could freeze anything it touched.
Sylvia smiled.
Suddenly, the Annihilith seemed to have realized something.
Her icicles that she had summoned earlier were gone!
But just as it finished that realization, its back was immediately pierced with four icicles!
The icicles immediately melted, and the green fire surrounding the Annihilith's body intensified.
"You may be stronger and faster than the average Drone, but you still lack the proper combat knowledge. Well, I shouldn't expect anything from you guys."
"You filthy Annihiliths only appeared around a thousand years ago, but the only thing you've evolved and adapted to is the ability to sense our mana."
"But because of your arrogance, and the three Drone-types' fear towards you, they didn't really have the time to keep up their mana sensing, and you were too arrogant that you thought no one would come after you, hence why you didn't use mana sensing."
"Oh, why am I saying all of this to a filthy Annihilith who can't even understand what I'm saying?"
The injured Reaper-type "roared," and lunged wildly at Sylvia.
Sylvia's Ironblood spell had already ended. But then again, she thought to herself:
Why'd I even use it if I don't plan on getting hit?
Looking at the Annihilith's wild and reckless charge, she decided to cast another spell of her own—Indomitable Charge, a spell that'll make her charge towards the enemy without being interrupted.
And in the next second, the Reaper-type's right arm was cut off. The Annihilith didn't get frozen from her umbrella, and Sylvia didn't get burned from its green fire.
"Now, Donovan!" she yelled.
Suddenly, chains of light binded the Reaper-type, and a beam of light struck its entire body. But even with that, the Annihilith was still alive.
In fear of messing up, Donovan quickly cast Light Spear and launched it towards the Annihilith. He also cast Lightning Strike.
The spear of light wasn't able to pierce through the Reaper-type's thick armor.
But then came the Lightning Strike.
The sound of the lightning strike echoed throughout the cave.
The Reaper-type's green flame that acted as its head slowly faded away.
And with that, Donovan had killed a Reaper-type Annihilith.
He flew back down, landing in front of Sylvia.
Suddenly, his body glowed a very bright light. It was so bright that it instantly expelled the darkness inside the cave.
Sylvia had to cover her eyes at this.
After a few seconds, the bright light emitting from his body started to die down.
"Congratulations. You're now Storm Rank, Category 1," said Sylvia. "Want me to explain to you what happens at this stage?"
"...Sure." Donovan nodded.
I did it… I'm really Storm Rank now… Holy sh*t… I'm so happy that I almost can't contain it… Stay calm.
"You get no new spells, but your current ones will be significantly improved with every advancement. It is only at Category 5 that you will get a very big reward." Sylvia started walking towards the exit of the cave.
Wait, seriously? So, at Category 1-4, I don't get any new spells…? And I only get new ones at Category 5… Agh…
Huh? Where's she going? Can't we just teleport back to Umbrellas…
"Where are we going?" asked Donovan.
"To say goodbye to Sir Vilvatore," she answered.