This was really unfortunate timing as Mako was still low on energy and if he had to fight, he would be at a big disadvantage against them.
However, he didn't have any other option other than to fight because he couldn't just escape and leave his friends behind. His hands were covered in flames as he was prepared to strike immediately if it happened to be a beast that wandered into the cave because the beast would become aggressive as soon as it saw him.
But if it was a person, Mako would only give them one chance to state their intentions, and if he even felt the slightest hint of danger from them he wouldn't hesitate to launch an attack.
The cave structure was similar to an "L" shape, where after walking a bit into the cave, there is a sharp left turn and then there is more cave which previously ended in a dead end. This was why Mako had chosen this cave as their temporary shelter as it was quite hard to notice the entrance from the outside since it was decently hidden and they won't be immediately spotted if someone did approach the cave entrance.
This paired with the laser trap had made it quite safe to stay as nobody would notice that they were there just from looking in from the entrance and if they decide to enter the cave to explore further, the laser trap would trigger and Mako would know that someone was coming.
This was exactly what had happened with Leon as he frantically searched for Mako. He had been given anonymous tip by one of the low-ranking officers who owed his father, and he told him about which plane Mako was jumping from and his general location.
While running around the island, it was by pure chance that Leon stumbled across the half-hidden entrance to the cave and decided to explore it before continuing his journey. By pure luck, Leon happened to find Mako in the same cave that he was trying to explore out of curiosity.
The footsteps got louder and louder and soon a beautiful girl walked out from around the corner and got startled as she came face to face with Mako whose hands were lit on fire and ready to strike.
The cave's dim light cast a warm glow on the girl's fair skin and highlighted the subtle waves of her light brown hair. She has a small circular face with a small chin and tiny lips. She was on the shorter side in terms of height as she looked to be around 5ft 2 inches. Her military clothes were splattered with dirt and dust which meant that she had been traveling for quite some time.
"What's wrong? Why did you stop?" A voice came from behind as another girl came into view.
The second girl had silky blond hair that was pulled back in a tight braid. Her fair skin was flawless and radiated a natural beauty that seemed to emanate from within. Her eyes were a piercing shade of green and she wore the same military uniform that fit her form perfectly. She was of similar height as her friend and her clothes were also covered in dirt in multiple areas.
The blond girl gasped as Mako came into her line of sight with flames erupting from his hands ready to attack.
Both girls put their hands up in the air as they showed that they meant no harm to Mako. Mako quickly used Analyze to assess the strengths of the two individuals who had entered the cave so that he could decide whether or not to allow them in because if they happened to be decently strong and carried ill will, Mako would be in a whole lot of trouble.
[Analyze]
[Profile: Iris Jade Cooper]
[Ability: Heal (Level 3), Water (Level 3)] ⓘ
[Profile: Erin Robinson]
[Ability: Water (Level 3), Wind (Level 3)] ⓘ
Both of them were level 3 ability users with two abilities each. Their stats were nothing special but they weren't bad in any way with both of them having balanced points in almost all attributes that were in the range of thirties.
Mako slowly put the fire out from his hands as he allowed the girls to calm down and approach him.
The girls were still frightened by the sudden jump scare of Mako being in a fighting stance with fire in his hands but they quickly threw away their fear as they slowly approached him.
"What are you doing here? How did you find this place?" Mako asked them as he still couldn't openly trust them even if they weren't strong enough to pose a threat.
The girls instantly became shy with both of them nudging the other to answer Mako's question. It was quite weird for Mako to stand there and watch as two mature girls continued to whisper in each other's ears and nudge them to speak.
In the end, Iris, the one with the brown hair spoke up as she replied to Mako's question in a shy and tender voice," Um... We got separated from our group while we were trying to find a good place to build our shelter. A beast that looked like a bear attacked us from nowhere and as we ran to save ourselves, me and my friend got lost."
"We were just trying our best to survive and find our group again but we were unable to do so. We didn't have any of the weapons that our group found in the loot crates and we just barely managed to survive last night as we were attacked by fish beasts while we resting near the river."
"We couldn't find anywhere where we could build a temporary shelter until we came across this cave. The entrance was decently hidden and it looked like it went a bit deep which would be a nice place for us to stay for a bit and recover." Iris finished giving her explanation.
Their story checked out as Mako could see that both of them were low on energy, but he didn't know what to do as he couldn't just invite them in. Not because of him not trusting, Mako really did believe that the girls were telling the truth after all the Analyze skill can't lie. The reason why Mako couldn't invite them in is that he himself was planning on leaving soon because the Terra Beetle King could show up any minute.
"Alright listen, I believe you..." Mako said and the girls faces instantly lit up as they were happy to finally have somewhere where they could finally take a break and recover some energy.
However, Mako wasn't done talking as his next set of words made the girls shake their legs with fear.
"...But, there is an advanced tier beast that resides in this cave with hundreds of high tier ones doing its bidding. This cave is extremely unsafe and has already greatly injured my friends." Mako finished saying whilst moving out of the way to show the girls Bill and Leon and in what condition they were.
Both girls froze in place and stood there in shock as they observed the two boys with huge bandages along their chests and their skin blackened all over.
Erin, the blonde girl, started to tear up and fall to her knees as she just couldn't take the pressure anymore. Iris was able to catch her before she slammed her knees directly into the ground and gently made her sit.
Erin started crying as she kept chanting the same words over and over again," I wanna quit! I wanna quit! I don't want to do this anymore!"
Iris kept consoling her and telling her that it was going to be fine and that they will get through this alive and that she should remember why she was doing this in the first place.
While all of this was happening, the ground began to shake a bit as it looked like a minor earthquake was coming.
*rumble*
"It's coming!" Mako shouted as he quickly realized what the rumbling meant.
Both girls instantly stopped what they were doing as they saw Mako say those words and instantly rushed toward his friends.
Erin quickly wiped away her tears before asking Mako what he meant by that.
"The advanced tier beast I told you about. The Beetle King is on its way back to finish the job!" Mako replied as he strapped two of the backpacks on each of his arms.
Both girls had looks of extreme horror and fear on their faces as Mako's said those words. They were frozen in place fear unable to process what was happening. They watched as Mako strapped the two backpacks on his back and then proceed to gently pick up one of his friends who had ginger hair and place him on his back.
He then turned toward the two girls who were still in shock and unable to move all the while the intensity of the rumbling continued to increase.
"Hey! You two! Help me by carrying my friend! We all need to escape before it's too late!" Mako's shout woke up Iris and Erin as they realized that their best chance of survival was to stick with this person and listen to him considering he had already survived one encounter against the advanced tier beast.
They quickly rushed over and Mako instructed them to gently carry Leon's body and to make sure that they made no sudden movements or else he would bleed out and die.
Iris and Erin gulped as one of them equipped the extra backpack on their back and then gently lifted Leon off the ground.
The rumbling continued to increase as Mako and the two girls carried Bill and Leon as fast as they could while making sure that their wounds didn't reopen. They quickly made the turn and were nearing the entrance of the cave when they heard a loud crash back near the dead end of the cave.
The Terra Beetle King had made it back to take its revenge against Mako but he was nowhere to be seen and so were his friends. While Beetle king quickly analyzed the surroundings Mako and the girls made a run for it and successfully made it out of the cave.
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