[Second Zone: Path to the Bridge]
“…”
Now that Stark managed to reach the bottom of the ravine, he needed to keep going.
Considering that one of the zones would be reserved for the boss, it meant he still had two more he needed to go through.
To be honest, he felt pretty confident, after all he had successfully managed to kill a few level 220 monstes, basically enhancing his technique as the max level monster he fought until now was level 150.
A 75 level jump was a big deal, and no one usually does it if they don’t want to get IMMEDIATELY destroyed.
Thankfully enough, though, he was managing thanks to [Domination].
Before him was the entrance of a dark cave, surrounded by very close rock walls, making the entire thing extremely claustrophobic.
“Huh,” he couldn’t see the insides of the cave since it was way too dark, “Well, anyway.”
But it didn’t matter, and so he immediately went inside.
In this zone, he would surely encounter monsters that could actually fight, he needed to be ready.
Stark’s eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness and he thought that he definitely needed a kill that allowed him to see in the dark at some point.
The cave was… well… as expected extremely claustrophobic, and the actual size only allowed up to two people to go at the same time forward, meaning that if there were any monsters, he would need to fight them an in extremely small environment.
But with his current visibilty, seeing even a meter ahead of him was already a difficult task, and he couldn’t even see the exit from where he was, although it could just mean it was hidden by something to confuse him.
It was complete silence too, and he honestly didn’t see how any monsters could hide or try get away: after all they were the same as him, restrained by the small space.
“Oh wait!” but Stark remembered something all of a sudden, “Crimson Purification… Holy Concentration!”
He used up his skill, but just like before, instead of sending a wave of holy aura, he began to pour all of his energy into creating a golden balls in hands, slowly lighting up his surroundings.
“Yes!” as actually began to emit some light, Stark was almost starting to compliment his genius.
And the more holy aura he put into it, the bigger the energy ball grew.
And so by the end, once it was fully charged and ready to strike, instead of attacking like he would normally do it, Stark kept it in his right hand, deciding to use it as a light source.
Worse of all: it worked!
He could now see at least five meters ahead of him!
And so once he lifted his energy ball to see ahead…
“Huh,” he saw terrifying monsters.
They were humanoid in shape, attached to the wall with their hands as sharp claws came out of them, and their face were devoid of any features except for a massive mouth with a dangling gray tounge, so big in fact that it was almost reaching the ground.
There were three of them around four meters away from attached to the wall.
Instincitvely, Stark wanted to know if there were more, so he moved the [Holy Ball] to the ceiling, and there he saw another two of the same monsters using their tongues as some sort of ropes, slowly going down toward him, ready to slash.
“…” he looked behind, and yet again two of these same monsters slowly but surely approaching him, one of the ground and the other on the wall.
And, to make it worse, he actually pointed down and saw one of these things slowly emerging from the rock surface below.
Basically, there were eight horrifying monsters slowly approaching him from beyond the darkness of the claustrophobic cave.
“…Perception,” he mumbled immediately while the monsters didn’t realize that they had been seen, yes, they were blind since they had no eyes, so just like Lother, all they could do was feel the vibrations and sense the movements of the opponent.
….
[Name: Tongue-Claw Ambush]
[Level: 228]
[HP: 300000]
[Strength: 11261]
[Stamina: 14850]
[Speed: 2371]
[Defense: 5892]
[Skills: Camouflage, Tongue Lash, Claw Swipe, Wall Crawl, Faceless Monstrosity, Sonic Scream, Stun Saliva, Enhanced Senses, Immolation…]
….
Level 228, good hp, extremely high strength and stamina, probably to be able to crawl on the walls, but low speed (makes sense with how slow they were approaching Stark, and decent defense.
They had eight skills, but what surprised Stark the most was…
“Huh?” he read the panel several times, “Stun Saliva…? Immolation?!”
He truly didn’t know how these things could do that, but oh well.
Stark got into position, making sure to keep the energy ball close to him as it floated in the air to be able to see.
But as if to confirm his previous question…
“STUN SALIVA! SONIC SCREAM!” all eight monsters suddenly activated these skills, the two on the ceiling with [Stun Saliva] and the rest opening their face mouths wider than before and using [Sonic Scream].
~FWISH, PLOP~
Stark didn’t have eight eyes, so he couldn’t see every monster all the time, and he ESPECIALLY needed to keep watch on the one below as it was slowly revealing itself, and yes, he tried to hit it, by its head wasn’t full out so no damage received.
~PLOP~
A few drops of water landed on his shoulders.
And suddenly…
~FWISH~
[‘Domination’ cannot be stunned by ‘Stun Saliva’]
“…!!” Stark realized that these weren’t drops of water and looked above him, the two [Tongue-Claw Ambushes] opening their face mouth and letting out a few droplets of saliva on the human below, “Argh…”
It was disgusting, but Stark was just thankful this didn’t work on him otherwise he would had one hell of a hard time.
And in addition to that…
“SONIC SCREAM!” the rest of the monsters except the one below Stark used this skill, screaming at the top of their lungs.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAA-” it was a horrifying sound, and Stark had to cover his ears to not go deaf.
But… yet again…
~FWISH~
[‘Domination’ cannot be affected by the ‘Fear’ effect of “Sonic Scream”]
Yet again these status effects didn’t work, and the monsters realizing that stopped what they were doing.
“My turn, now,” Stark smiled as summoned his [Spatial Inventory] and put his hand inside of it, and with the other one he summoned [Aura Smash]’s three crimson fists, and his five [Crimson Spears].
He was ready now, the energy ball floating beside him to illuminate the darkness.
And so… the battle could truly begin now.
He needed to fight these things straight from hell, who tried to ambush Stark, and if he had just walked a few more meters, his head would have surely been cut off before he even realized it.
But… let’s not forget that Stark was in THEIR domain, he was currently in THEIR territory, and even though they were blind, they sure as hell wouldn’t miss him no matter what thanks to the [Enhanced Senses] skill they had.
And so…
~FWISH~
“TONGUE LASH!”
“CLAW SWIPE!”
ALL of the monsters, except the one crawling below, jumped toward Stark.
It was a seven enemy attack at the same time!
“Oh boy…” he got ready for impact.
