It didn’t take long for Stark to reach the end of the hallway after traversing the crimson barrier, leaving all the other classifiers behind to wonder how he did it, since many of them attempted afterward, and the barrier literally wouldn’t let them pass no matter what.
And then… Stark arrived in front of the portal to the rift, also crimson in color.
[WARNING! DO NOT GO!]
[EVEN CLASSIFIERS THAT ARE LEVEL 250 AREN’T ADVISED TO ENTER]
[This rift was placed here but wasn’t supposed to be this difficult, the difficulty is “Determination”!]
[CALAMITY BOSS INSIDE!]
Dozens of signs were placed all around the portal, instructing anyone foolish to have gotten here to back away.
And to be honest, after remembering Lana’s words about not needing to risk your life for no reason, he did indeed feel like it was futile to go this far even though none of the other classifiers did that.
But… once he closed his eyes…
The image of the [Crimson Moons Trio] appeared before him, all looking at him with their single pupil, their giants body judging him.
This sent a shiver down his spine but also… determination!
“If I can’t beat that rift, these things are going to absolutely destroy me,” this was what he thought at that moment, remembering the overwhelming despair he felt when seeing them for the first time.
And so he jumped inside, not caring about anything else.
…
Fwish!
Stark traveled through dimensions, after a few seconds landed on solid ground.
Fwish! Thud!
It had become a habit, so he immediately lifted his gaze to look around.
And the first thing he noticed was…
Snow, there was snow everywhere.
It was even pouring down from above, the grey sky filled with clouds, the small snowflakes visible.
The floor was made of dirt, but it was white in color because of the snowy texture.
Though it wasn’t actually thick enough to make a difference.
Basically, the snow in itself wouldn’t disturb him because there was only a small amount of it, only enough to cover the surface.
And so, soon enough he received the panel he had been waiting for.
Ding!
….
[Welcome to the “Sunken Valley”!]
[Difficulty: Determination]
[Number of classifiers: 1]
[You are in the first zone: “The Descent”!]
[Good Luck!]
[Tip because of low level: watch out for the snake and ape, you won’t win against them.]
…
This was all the information he would get.
The name of the rift was ‘Sunken Valley’, and once Stark actually took the time to observe more, he noticed that behind here were walls blocking his escape: the only path was forward.
And what was forward you might ask…
Well…
[First Zone: The Descent]
In front of was a massive ravine delimited by two giant mountains that were impossible to climb, so all he could was go down.
Thus the title “The Descent” for the first zone: he needed to go all the way down, and just by looking from his current position, he couldn’t see the bottom.
[Rift Zone Number: 4]
This was a small amount of them, but if every zone was as big and time-consuming as this one, then it would take him hours upon hours for each.
Was this why this rift was locked up?
Or was the worst to come?
In the end, it didn’t matter.
Stark peeked at the void below from above, and he noticed several rocky platforms set along the edges of the ravine, making it possible to go down slowly by parkouring.
“…Alright,” he didn’t know what awaited for him down below, but going into the unknown abyss made him anxious.
Though not enough to stop him.
But, even if the wanted to leave…
“Hm…” the exit portal was gone.
[Rift Type: No Return]
Just like a [Normal] rift or [One-Classifier] one like [Sierra’s Death Path], this rift was one where you couldn’t go back once you entered, which is why it had been locked by the association for being too dangerous.
But there were many other reasons why, and Stark would soon find out about them.
“Let’s go, I guess,” he mumbled as he jumped from the top of the valley into a platform attached to the rocky wall of the ravine.
Debris fell once he hit the ground, and Stark made a mental note to be careful as any of these things could fall at any point.
Nothing much happened afterward as Stark made his way down the ravine, parkouring his way from one rocky platform to the next. He had to be careful not to slip, as the fall would be fatal.
As he descended, he noticed that the snow was getting thicker, and the wind was picking up.
The visibility was getting worse, and he could barely see the platforms in front of him as the darkness of the abyss was slowly taking over: the only thing aiding him was the white color of the snow.
But even with that, Stark didn’t see how this was difficult, as any classifier above level 200 should be able to manage this much.
But the moment he thought about that, he received an answer.
~FWISH~
He heard a sound behind him.
And when he quickly turned around…
“…!”
A dozen arrows were in front of him.
“SHIT!”
“INVINCIBLE DODGE!” he rolled away, but was hit by one of the arrows in his shoulder, “Argh…”
“-17621!”
Not that much damage, but it still hurt.
~FWOOSH~
He removed the arrow from his shoulder quickly, hurting him a bit more, but it didn’t matter.
[+2 EGO]
Oh and yeah, the one week cooldown for EGO had ended, so he was now able to use it again!
[EGO Meter: 2/100]
~FWISH~
More arrows rushed toward him, and Stark activated [Time Vision] to pinpoint where all his enemies were since the arrows came from different directions.
~CLICK, CLICK, CLICK~
He darted his eyes everywhere, taking notes of where all the monsters were, and after he saw them all, he deactivated the skill, taking him less than a second to do that.
~FWISH~
He avoided all the arrows easily now that he knew where they came from, then he looked at the different locations.
What was shooting him were a bunch of human-sized monkeys with bows in their hands, each standing on a different platform, either above him or below.
Yes, this was pretty much all, they didn’t look that strong to begin with, and they didn’t have any clothes, only their brown fur.
Though by looking at their faces, it seemed as though they were incredibly intelligent, easily wielding their bows and throwing two arrows at the same time.
One of them even had glasses!
~FWISH~
They launched another barrage of arrows, but Stark this time began to run.
The platforms were actually abundant at this part of the ‘descent’ zone, and so that meant he could parkour to the monsters easily if he managed not to fall.
Since falling = death.
“PERCEPTION,” he decided to check them out while running though.
…
[Name: Sniper Monkeys]
[Level: 220]
[HP: 260000]
[Strength: 4631]
[Stamina: 14628]
[Speed: 8790]
[Defense: 3725!]
[Skills: Arrow Shot, Bow Strike, Ultimate Arrow…]
…
These were the first monsters that were over level 200 he fought, but there didn’t seem to be that much difference.
Sure, they had double the HP of a common monster, even though they were common too, and their stats were comparable to those of an elite from before, but they only had three skills!
‘So they can only shoot when far, and attack with their bows from close-range, huh…’
The main difficulty with these things was the fact that they ALWAYS kept running away no matter what, and that if the classifier in question didn’t have good agility or speed, he would be fucked as he would never be able to catch up.
Basically, the monkeys’ strategy was to play like cowards.
They were just hoping for one good strike to end the classifier in question.
But…
[Spatial Inventory!]
He pulled two speed potions and drank them, as well as three [Crystal Stun Potions], keeping them in one of his hands.
“Crimson Spears! Aura Smash!”
Stark actually had ways to get to them!
~FWISH~
He threw two spears toward one of the monkeys who was moving away from Stark as he was getting closer to him, piercing its head and stomach.
“-137261! -274179!” the attack in the end dealt the entirety of its life since it was a critical hit.
And so it died.
But Stark wasn’t done: 5 of them remained after all.
“HIikk!” the other monkeys got scared and began running, parkouring through the different platforms and taking shots at the human.
~FWISH~
But Stark would avoid it all, smiling mischievously as he chased after them.
He threw yet another two spears toward the closest monkey to him, but Stark was strategic, so he threw one of the spears at the position where it would be, and another right behind it.
~FWISH~
The monkey had seen its friend die, so it immediately backed away, avoiding the first spear.
And… what had to happen happened.
~CRACK~
The second spear exploded its face.
2 down, 4 more to go.
~FWISH~
“Invincible Dodge!” he rolled away from another dozen spears, the rest of the monkey increasing their fire rate.
Everytime he dodged, the monkey’s despair grew bigger.
~FWISH~
He aimed at one of the monkeys while it was jumping to another platform, and predicting its movements pierced its stomach, making it hit the wall and fall into the abyss as it failed the jump.
Now… the snipers were getting sniped, and in this ravine, there was nowhere they could go to escape.
“=)” the chosen one had them in his sight.
