The Villain's Story

They flailed their breaths all around the vast cave, trying to stop the sea of bats heading their ways. However, the best they could do was slow them down, they were unable to kill even a single one. The bats would always run away when they reached a critical health, and a dozen more would take their places.

They were closing in, and at a great speed. The group hurried to get inside the crevice and in a minute Alan and Kazikato were all that were left. Alan grabbed Kazikato and threw him towards the crevice, gesturing him to go away first.

Kazikato stopped his breath and scurried into the cave. To keep up, Alan increased his mana consumption and his breath grew twofold, covering the entire ceiling almost. It was like a tornado of blue fire, scorching the bats. Or in his case freezing them.

The breath increased and increased, and Alan slowly made his way towards the crack, walking backwards.

"Hurry!"

He could feel the cave they were in trembling. The stalactites the bats rested on fell down and were swallowed by the Red Sea, one fell on his head and almost made his breath explode inside his mouth, thankfully, Alan was able to prevent such a thing from happening.

He put on foot inside the crevice, but the bats followed. They ignored the breath and one rushed ahead, its body freezing. It cut the side of Alan's neck with its bladed wings. Alan's steel like skin was cut so easily like it was paper. The members inside the room held out their hands to help him get in, trying to grab him. Sabrina formed a whip made with her mana and wrapped it around him, just as she was about to gesture to someone else to pull the whip...

The bats, enraged dove towards the crevice, and sealed it with their bodies, their frozen bodies exploded, and the crevice was covered with their blood and guts, The members retreated, blood on their entire beings.

"Oh no..."

On the other side, Alan stared at the suicide dive they did with shock, He grabbed the pieces of flesh with his hands and tried to throw it away but failed to do so. The pieces of flesh could be removed quite easily...if he was given the chance to remove them.

They swarmed him like moths to a flame, leaving multiple cuts on his body, their weight caused the small cliff he was on to crumble. He activated his Draconian transformation and managed to stave off their attacks. With his sharp claws, he dug into the walls of the cave and made a final attempt to climb towards the cave.

The bats climbed on his back, tried to bite him, but his scales held on. They screeched, and the screech which was enhanced with mana was like hell to his ears, causing him to bleed. But he held on and climbed.

But then, the attacks stopped and he heard a different sound. A roar.

"... Shit."

He cursed, as he began to jump towards the crevice, he reached the place and threw the corpses of the bats away, but whatever roared at him was near. A bat larger than all the others tried to grab him with its large feet. As Alan was digging through the crevice to throw the flesh out, he accidentally grabbed Sabrina's whip. Unaware, he pulled it. On the other side, Sabrina, who was still connected to her whip, felt a pull and found herself being catapulted towards the flesh wall.

The others were surprised and failed to react, She was able to erect a mana barrier just in time to protect herself.

Alan, on the other side, screamed in shock as he saw her face coming towards him.

"What the fuck?!"

She crashed into him, being knocked unconscious by the collision with his scales. Her mana barrier had been broken.

"Huh?!"

Only then did Alan notice the black whip around him, He grabbed Sabrina with one hand and put one hand inside the crevice.

"Pull!"

He yelled, the others grabbed his hand and pulled him inside. The big bat grabbed him by its large feet. Alan's entire upper body was within the grasp of the foot.

And in an instant, the larger bat swung with its wing. The bladed wing flashed and Alan found himself falling.

The grip of the foot was released, and instead of the others on the other side pulling him, he saw himself falling. His crimson blood dyed his scales red.

His arm had been cut off cleanly, and the members brought it back. He, was falling into the Red Sea of lava below.

The bats, together with their leader, looked at his falling body and seemed to be laughing.

"..."

With Sabrina in his hand, he threw her on his back and bound her together with ice. It would be cold, but that would actually benefit her in this environment. Growing his arm back with the Phoenix bloodline, he dove his claws in the wall again. This time, he covered Sabrina fully in a block of ice.

It would be cold, but the situation called for it. Alan made the ice extra thick, so her body couldn't be attacked by the bats. He didn't even know what kind of creatures existed inside the lava! This much protection was necessary.

The king of the bats, clearly enraged its plan had failed dove towards to eat him, Alan dodged the king and fired an ice spike larger than a car towards him. It bounced off it's skin and fell to the lava below.

There was no steam, surprisingly. The spike was simply devoured by the lava. The phenomenon seemed peculiar, but he didn't try what he was thinking.

The cave stretched far and wide. The original entrance he had entered from was filled with corpses of the bats and pieces of rock. Trying to find a way out from there would take too much time, and the bats would eat him if he did.

Alan ripped off pieces of the cliff and threw them at the bats, It caused some of them to fall towards the lava. The other bats tried to save them, but whenever they got near the lava, they retreated.

"Huh?"

Alan was confused at this, although it was close to the lava, there was still some distance they could have utilized to save the others...but they simply turned up, with a look of fear on their disgusting faces.

That could only mean that there was something inside the lava the others...but they simply turned up, with a look of fear on their disgusting faces.

they didn't get close too.

"Damn..."

Feeling at odds with himself, He moved Sabrina from his back and carried the globe she was in, and unfurled his wings. He didn't want to fly, but he had too. The cave was vast, if he couldn't exit from where he came from. He would have to look for a new way out.

The original entrance was now filled to the brim with bats. Those blood-sucking bastards wouldn't let him leave through their.

"Fine... Have it your way."

He inputted mana into his wings, and they glowed an iridescent hue. Looking at the king high in the skies, he flew up with a high speed. His spear appeared in his hand and before the king could react, its body was cut in half.

The monsters had high attack and agility, but had terrible defence. The other bats went into a frenzy and charged towards him, the annoying thing was that the bats at the entrance didn't leave!

Alan hoped they would so it gave him a chance to leave, but those bastards were stubborn!

Having no choice left, he flew forward. The underground expanse above the sea of lava was large. He could only search for another exit now.

The bats stopped chasing him after a while, and all Alan could see was the lava beneath him, an endless path in front of him and rock walls to the side. The stalactites above were also a depressing sight.

However, what annoyed him most was the occasional whips of lava that would rise up, one managed to hit him and the sphere Sabrina was in. The lava almost made its way right to her before Alan could extinguish it. Not only that, it burned through his scales and reached his flesh. His right arm had been charred, and the burnt skin and flesh produced a foul smell.

"Come on..."

He didn't know how long it had been since he was flying. He was using his mana at a rapid pace to both fly and keep the sphere around Sabrina stable. He was getting tired. Exhausted even.

It was hard for him to maintain his usual speed.

Alan, as he was flying above the Red Sea, caught sight of a hole in the cliff walls. He flew closer to it and found it was a cave. After activating his dragon eyes and scanning the interior of the cave. He found it was empty. The cave didn't lead to anywhere.

"Finally..."

Heaving a sigh of relief, he ignored the hot waves from the lava below and threw himself towards the cave. His charred scales and flesh fell to the floor of the cave, and Sabrina, still in the sphere, rolled off towards the end.

Alan made the ice melt around her, and after he examined her injuries he found out that her head was bruised, some of the skin had cut and blood was leaking out. He poured a potion on it and with his remaining drops of mana formed an ice wall to block themselves in.

"Ugh..."

The lava that had hit did quite some damage, it burrowed into his body. Alan rested along the walls of the cave and went to sleep, leaving his Phoenix bloodline to heal his body and replenish his mana.