My System: An Evolved Computer I Made With My Unique Ability—

The expression on Vinny's face took a sudden change as all the colors were drained from it. Even her lips paled and her hands were shaking. This was the first time Lloyd and the rest of the party saw Vinny react to an enemy like that. Usually, even if the enemy was close to impossible to defeat, Vinny would always remain calm and collected, telling them all the information she knows about the enemy as per her Clairvoyance Skill.

From the looks of it, Vinny saw something just by the end of the Ice Cave, and whatever it was, they cannot defeat it. However, how could they possibly get out of the Gate if they couldn't defeat whatever it was that resides there? Besides, the Gate that leads to this place disappeared right when all of them got in. There was no way out, and the monster/entity at the end of the Ice Cave could just come up to them and slaughter them at any moment.

Whatever it was, it was a figure that none of them could take alone or at once. Everybody saw that pretty clearly in Vinny's expression.

"Why, what is it?" Lloyd asked, but his question was drowned by the sound of skittering that filled the white noise of the Ice Cave. The skittering became louder and louder until it became so annoying that Lloyd almost lost his temper.

Skitter.

Skitter.

"Formation," Lloyd screamed amidst the skittering. In an instant, Vinny took the backlines, and Caleb and Rachel went forward along with Lloyd, sort of like an arrow formation. While Rachel took care of all the holes in their defenses, the three of them could run wild, supporting each other as they do split-second decisions.

No sooner had they started charging when a group of ants emerged from the multiple chambers of the cave— no wonder the skitters were louder than expected.

"Rargh!" Lloyd pressed both his fists against each other before jumping upward, causing a small crater to form from where he leaped. On his way up, he smashed a couple of ants crawling at the ceiling of the cave. The cave rumbled which made the ants crawling on the ceiling lose their footing. Before they knew it, they were raining down at the party. On his way down, he clenched his butt cheeks and tightened his core, screaming another 'Rargh' before crashing down on the ants.

"Leader, be careful." Caleb voiced out as he engaged in close-quarters combat. He was surprised that Lloyd sprang up to shake the crawling ants on the ceiling but after a few seconds, he realized that Lloyd probably did that so the skittering would lessen. He particularly hated the skittering.

"Sorry about that," There was a hint of excitement in Lloyd's voice as he said that. This was one of the rare times when he could go all out as a power augment-type superhero and he wasn't going to blow up the experience. Instead, he would enjoy it to the fullest  (they could just think about the unbeatable monster by the end of the Ice Cave after they dealt with the ants).

Meanwhile, Caleb would get overwhelmed by the ants from time to time but he would stand up and plow his way through like a bull. His lips curved upward as he obviously enjoyed the brawl just like their leader Lloyd.

As for Vinny and Rachel, they were more cautious compared to the two. They carefully burned the ants that would interrupt Lloyd or Rachel's attack, and at the same time cover their blind spots. It's as if the two were lawn mowers and Vinny and Rachel were the people behind it, cutting the grass that was missed in the process. Of course, from time to time, Rachel would charge at the ants and burn some of them with her phoenix wings and a blazing sword made out of flames that shoot out of her body.

Vinny used her psychic powers to make some of the ants float for a split second so Caleb and Lloyd could better aim at them. As for Rachel, she was like a flaming torch touching a colony of ants.

"Should we help them? It's not like they're having a hard time." Satoshi asked. The reason why was because he noticed that the ants were much tougher than expected. Even those that were crushed by Lloyd were only scratched. Fire seemed effective though since Rachel's attacks more than compensated for Lloyd and Caleb's lack of firepower. Nevertheless, the raid was taking too long and Satoshi feared that they will exhaust their energy before the boss fight even began. And to top it all off, they don't have a healer in their party. How could a group not have a healer in their party? He was dumbfounded.

"Let's wait a bit. I'm sure they have a plan in mind. They seemed like an experienced team so every move they made should've been calculated." Emma suggested. As much as she and Satoshi wanted to fight the ants, they knew that they have to conserve their energy for the Gate Boss Fight. After all, Vinny was terrified by it. She probably saw the sheer powerlessness of their group against the monster.

Lloyd couldn't help but steal glances at Emma and Satoshi, wondering why they weren't helping. At first, he was annoyed, thinking that they were probably holding up their false bravado since they wanted to enter the Gate out of curiosity. And now that they're here, they're wimping out. He was furious. Why would they come here if they'll just be a burden? Why aren't they helping at all? From what Vinny said, I'm sure they were powerful. But what are they doing with that power?

Those questions blinded him for a bit, but just before he was about to bark orders at Satoshi and Emma, he realized that they were looking directly at them as if they were staring right into their soul. It was confusing, to say the least. Why were they staring so intently at our actions?

Just then, he realized that he was pondering the situation from a different angle. It's not like the two of them were backing out due to cowardice, it's because they were carefully analyzing their allies and their enemies alike. There was a certain calmness to Satoshi and Emma's gaze that made Lloyd realize. 'They weren't panicking, that means they are fairly certain that we can take care of these small fries.'

And he was right on the money. Emma and Satoshi didn't want to step in as it might ruin the pace they've set for themselves.

"We're almost done, leader," Caleb said, seeing the last of the ants crawling out of the chambers.

"NO! NOT YET!" Vinny exclaimed much to everyone's surprise.

"What do you mean?!"

"The ants... they're... they're running away from something else! Another horde!" Vinny continued.

"WHAT?!" Lloyd exclaimed. "All right, it's not like we didn't prepare for such a scenario. Everybody calm down and let's deal with these ants before we engage the other horde in combat. What horde is it, Vinny?"

"Spiders! Big Ones!"

'So they were running away from the spiders. Why were the spiders trying to attack them? Aren't they monsters from the same Gate? It seems like much is still left unseen from these weird Gates.' Satoshi said to himself.

As the last of the ants died down from the mighty hands of Lloyd and Caleb, the party of four nodded to each other before bracing themselves a second time. The spiders were about to come out.

"They won't survive at this rate. They've almost depleted their energy reserves." Emma whispered to Satoshi.

"Yeah, but Lloyd did say that they were prepared for this scenario. I'm sure they have a plan in mind."

"Right,"

Screeeeeeeech!

Kieeeeehh!

Kiyaahhhhkk~~

This time, the skitters were replaced by shrieks, a more annoying sound that made Lloyd want to bang his head on the cave's rocky walls. A good question though, why were the spiders shrieking? It's not like they do that on earth.

"Formation!" Lloyd screamed for the second time, pressing his fists against each other. That was his ritual to get his gears in the fight. As for Caleb, he just crouches down low as if he was about to pounce on his prey. He might think it looks cool but he looks stupid. Even Satoshi badly wanted to tell him the cold hard truth, but he and Emma found him amusing so they decided to keep quiet, sneaking in snickers here and there.

Needless to say, the spiders were much tougher than the ants, and Caleb and Lloyd suffered heavy injuries fending them off. Of course, they were the front-liners of the party so that was normal for them. They didn't expect the spiders to be that strong though. The ants were already tough shells to crack in the first place, how could the Gate be so unforgiving?

"It's time, Rachel," Lloyd said as he collapsed on the ground after bashing the brains of the last spider.