I Was a Loner, but My Class Got Summoned to Another World… - Chapter 69 - Bitter Defeat

Deciding to go ahead and enter the crystal cavern, Rubina, Kai, Chloe, and Logan, along with his raptor, falcon, slime, fox, fowl, and viper, ventured in.

His goblin was too scared, and while the raptor didn’t really like the enclosed space, it made an attempt to follow and help its master.

The cavern was just like before: rather chilly, mystical, and invigorating.

“Well, I don’t think we have been spotted. Do you think we should try getting water or go for the crystals first?” Kai asked, and like the others, stared at the water to see if they spotted anything.

“I don’t think I see anything either, but let’s try getting the crystals that are around the entrance. I don’t want to go near the water,” Chloe replied, as everyone nodded to her suggestion.

[Hey Kryst, do you know what lives in the water?] Logan asked his slime.

[Hii, hiii, hiii,] it replied, unable to form words even through his link.

[Is it dangerous?] Logan asked again, trying to sense its intention instead of understanding speech directly.

[Hii,] it shook, trying to communicate.

[Guess that is a yes…] Logan continued to mine, trying to push along with Kai to separate a crystal from the base, just enough so it could be considered an object that can enter his storage.

“Well, this will be a little harder than last time. These are even bigger. I just hope it helps your beast evolve. I really want to see what your viper changes into,” Kai commented, wiping his brow and breathing roughly.

“I… I know, right? I also want to see that,” Logan said, almost falling from exhaustion after the second one.

Luckily, his raptor was around and was busy pushing another one carefully with the help of the girls.

“I think we should just get these. It’s already making a lot of noise just to bring them into storage…” Rubina said, trying to be as quiet as possible.

“Uhm, guys, I think I just saw something,” Chloe said, looking towards the lake.

“Are you sure? I don’t see anything,” Kai asked, pushing the seventh crystal with Logan.

Logan rushed to put away the crystals he saw on the floor and turned to his tamed beasts, who did not seem to have seen anything yet.

“It was a large… shadow, yet it did not have any color. I don’t know, maybe I was seeing things. Let’s hurry,” Chloe said as she helped Scorch with the next crystal. As it fell, they felt a rumble.

“I don’t think that was the crystal…” Rubina said, looking at the water.

“Look, something is there. It’s just hard to see,” Logan exclaimed as he saw his fox’s back stand on end.

Before they had a chance to exit, they saw a fearsome beast emerge.

It was like a crystal-made leviathan, its serpent-like body appearing out of the water.

Adorned with large spikes throughout its body, it looked as if it was part of the cave.

Its scales—or should I say crystals—perfectly camouflaged the beast with its surroundings.

“No wonder we never saw it. Do you think we were spotted when we came here before?” Chloe said, trying to tell everyone to back off with hand signals.

The large beast roared from a distance. It did not know who to attack first, so it waited to see who would move.

“I think we are in a stare down…” Kai said as he readied a large sword.

“We should all back away at the same time, slowly,” Logan told them.

He explained the plan to his creatures, and everyone began walking back slowly together.

“I believe it’s working…” Kai mumbled as they saw the beast stay still.

Seeing that no one showed fear, the large thirty-meter beast decided to go for the closest prey.

It roared before using its powerful body to propel itself forward, with Rubina in its sight.

“Watch out!” Logan yelled as both Kai and Chloe cast barriers of earth to slow the creature down.

Logan used this chance to pull Rubina away while her beast took to the sky, releasing powerful bursts of fire. His raptor did the same.

Both attacks did not faze the monster.

Its crystal body shrugged off the flames, as there was nothing for the fire to burn, but it did feel the heat through its shining scales.

[Luna, try using ice magic where the flames hit!] Logan told his creature, hoping something like out of cartoons or novels would happen when heat met cold.

However, it only made the beast roar and become enraged.

“My barriers are being torn apart like thin ice. I’m wasting too much mana here. Let’s get out now!” Kai yelled, too busy creating wall after wall to see everyone’s position.

Suddenly, he saw a tail emerge from the water.

It had a fin at the end and was ready to strike Chloe from the side.

“Get back, everyone!” Kai shouted as he ran to intercept the incoming blow.

It was coming from the left in a side sweep.

He pushed Chloe back, causing her to fall, and used his large sword as a shield.

“Ugh!” he cried out as his body was tossed aside, blown a few meters back.

He felt his grip on his sword loosen and a few broken bones on one side.

“Kai!” he heard a girl call out, blood dripping and covering one of his eyes.

Logan, who witnessed the hit, was struggling now that no one was creating walls.

His viper was busy producing spikes of earth and tossing them after spraying them with venom.

It was a unique way of creating deadly weapons, but the only problem was the aim—most of them missed.

[Silis, create barriers, we need cover,] Logan ordered, taking out various traps to toss.

He threw out bombs of various kinds, hoping one of them would stop the onslaught.

Rubina joined the other two beasts, using fire arrows.

Her target was the only part that could be damaged: the beast’s eyes, which seemed to be the only flesh visible besides the inside of its mouth.

Seeing they had no chance, Logan took out twenty smoke bombs, ready to blind the beast.

“I will smoke the place. Everyone get ready to retreat, hurry!” As soon as he spoke, he threw all twenty bombs into various areas.

Within seconds, they began to release a dark haze that covered most of the cave.

Everyone had already moved to leave.

Silis the basilisk and Chloe were the last, as she carried Kai on her shoulder.

The boy had already taken potions but was far from a full recovery.

Seeing everyone exit safely, Logan placed one last crystal in his storage before running back with the others.

His exploding bombs caused enough chaos to keep the beast at bay.

“Is everyone alright?” Logan called out, noticing one of his hands bleeding from a piece of the beast’s skin that had flown out when it bashed its face trying to eat him.

“Everyone but Kai. Although he is slowly recovering, we should go back for today. I doubt we will be able to get any more for some time,” Chloe informed, as she placed Kai over Scorch’s back.

“I should be fine soon,” Kai said, knowing he would need to visit a church.

His broken bones made him almost want to cry from the pain.

“Don’t move, you will be needing a healer,” Chloe warned him, looking hysterical and losing her usual calm, uncaring demeanor.

Everyone, including Logan, just followed her lead and tried not to agitate her further.

“Glad we escaped. That thing is probably a dragon subclass. Its armor is one of the strongest I’ve ever heard of or seen,” Rubina pointed out, using a piece of mana to show everyone the way.

“At least we got six more crystals. That should hold out for my future training. Thank you, everyone. I am sorry about what happened,” Logan remarked.

He felt awful about Kai’s situation but was glad they were able to escape without anyone dying.

“I think it was worth it, even if I look like this…” Kai said, as he lost all his strength.

The adrenaline leaving his body caused the pain to hurt even more.

“If I knew, I don’t think I would have come even if they offered twice the amount of cash,” Logan told the team.

They soon got to the area where goblins gathered.