In the end, it didn’t take long for me to regret my choice of not dealing with the cloaked guys as soon as possible… a lot more often than before, Glacien began to growl in the direction we came from. The time between those also decreased a lot. Before long, I started to feel it… the ominous aura approaching.
‘They are up to something really nasty… what now?’
It felt like if I tried to ignore the problem and keep going deeper into the labyrinth, I would regret it even more. I couldn’t understand anymore people trying to play the role of a hero… I was just trying to help people a bit in memory of Zyra and her crew, but look at where that put me? Being targeted by guys who probably worship Cthulhu or something similar.
They should know by now that their allies had died and now they were using all the means necessary to get me. While I was thinking about that, I eventually noticed… the labyrinth shaking a bit.
“What the heck…”
Glacien suddenly jumped on my shoulder and began to tremble a bit while trying to get ready for a fight… she was still a kitten, so while she showed some courage against the boss, it looked like the threat this time was on another level.
I decided to wait and see this time what I was dealing with, and it didn’t take long for that to happen. A large shadow approached in the distance, and soon I opened my eyes widely. It was the large mouth of a dark purple worm, and it was large enough to completely cover the corridor.
“What the heck is that?”
The creature didn’t have eyes or anything else… It made me recall the tentacle monster and it was moving relatively slowly, but now and then, its movement speed would increase.
I immediately jumped backward and then fired some explosive arrows inside the mouth… but I didn’t hear the sound of explosions until several seconds later… it looked like there was nothing inside the beast.
Still, I managed to recover some mana during the attacks, and the speed of the monster slowed down.
“Damn, it looks like they aren’t wasting time now…”
I began to dash in the opposite direction to gain time and some room. Soon enough, some ice slimes showed up, but then I destroyed them. Still, at such a moment, the monster suddenly sped up for a couple of meters.
“Wait… don’t tell me.”
Usually, dungeons and labyrinths make the monsters spawn in the same areas or at the same time. So, a certain possibility came to mind… What if in the other parts of the dungeon, the monsters were still spawning and the monster was absorbing them to grow like that? This thing clearly wasn’t something normal…
“What the heck did those idiots summon to get me?”
I had no idea, but I wouldn’t go down or be captured that easily. The idea of holding back or considering my pride vanished from my mind and soon I turned around after equipping some items to slightly change my build.
In the next moment, I used Mystic Barrage on the mouth of the work. Massive explosions began to take place and destroy the flesh of the monster… pieces of flesh flew away in all directions and after they touched the ground, they evaporated.
If that wasn’t proof enough that this thing was some insane creature, nothing would. The progress of the beast was slowed down and I couldn’t help but smile, but soon I realized the flaw of my plan. Nothing would end unless I killed the beast or the ones who summoned it.
Name: ???
Race: ???
Health: ???
Regen: ???
Mana: ???
Regen: ???
Stamina: ???
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Regen: ???
“Of course it wouldn’t work…”
At this point, I could keep draining the mana of the beast and destroy around one foot of its length per second, but if the beast already reached this far, I would have to destroy more than thirty miles of monster flesh to reach the end of the monster… my bow wouldn’t last that long.
I had to make things work better… I stopped with the Mystic Barrage and then used Infernal Bane on a single arrow and then fired it. The projectile hit the flesh of the monster and then created a large hole in it as the flesh around began to dissolve, but soon the beast began to regenerate the flesh.
“You have got to be kidding me…”
I looked down at my hand, and my breath caught at the sight of bone-like marks etched into my skin. The skill had left its mark, a very clear reminder of the cost of my vampiric heritage. My power wasn’t just hurting my target, it was hurting me, too. I could feel the subtle ache spreading from the marks, a warning that using this ability came at a steep price.
I clenched my fist, testing the sensation, and winced. If I kept relying on this, it wouldn’t be long before it wore me down entirely. The trade-off was clear: I could try to push through, but it wouldn’t work. I’d burn out faster than I could finish the fight. My options were few, and I’d have to find another way to turn this around.
“I guess this is their foolproof plan…”
I used Demon’s Snare, and the beast was stopped completely… Even if it was that strong, a skill like that was really useful against such entities.
I couldn’t destroy the whole thing using my bow, but I had other tricks. Not very safe tricks, but they could be of used to gain time against the monster. Deep down, I knew that I could use this thing to grind some levels, but also deep down, I knew that this thing had to be stopped as soon as possible. War of attrition against such unknown entities was never a good idea.
I summoned some arrows and then fired them inside the monster’s mouth at four different spots in the area. They had been enchanted with Internal Bane, so when they pierced the skin of the monster, the surrounding area began to dissolve. I fired them in the ground, walls and the ceiling, so soon I created a spot where the head of the monster was separated from the rest of its body. Thanks to that, a new mouth began to emerge on the area beyond the arrows and then the remaining head dissolved in the air.
“Much better… I just hope that my hand will endure this.”
My arrows destroyed thirty feet of the monster’s body in the blink of an eye. It wasn’t nearly enough to make my heart race, but it was progress. I was using Dread Enchantment to restore my health as well, but since the power of the Infernal Bane was highly effective on me, it even halved all my healing sources.
It should have the same effect on the beast, so I kept going… destroying large chunks of the monster’s body at a time… even though I was using my gloves, Infernal Bane still burned my right hand.
The Skill Infernal Bane leveled up. You received 500 experience points.
The Skill Demon’s Snare leveled up. You received 400 experience points.
The Skill Dread Enchantment leveled up. You received 900 experience points.
I endured the burning pain in my left hand and kept destroying the monster until I was back to the boss’ chamber. The only good thing of all that was those level ups and the fact that the beast couldn’t do anything aside from devouring everything it touched. Still, I was quickly reaching my limits.
“Damn… what now?”
My right hand was getting numb thanks to the pain and thanks to it, my accuracy was dropping. I had to find another solution for this mess. Infernal Bane already nullified all the magical defenses of the monster… Demon’s Snare was also helping me restore more mana to attack more often, but I couldn’t keep using Infernal Bane.
My options were to keep heading to the depths of the dungeon and get stronger or try to keep using my head here, but even if I could, my resources would eventually run out. I had another option… let the monster taste my blood. Just like the worm covered kraken, it should suffer with it quite a bit, but I had a bad feeling about getting inside that huge maw.
I wasn’t ready to give up just yet. Gritting my teeth, I shifted my stance, abandoning the familiar right-handed shooting position. Instead, I swapped to a left-handed stance, the motion awkward but manageable. My left hand took up the strain, and I adjusted my aim, hoping that it would hold out long enough to make a difference.
Glancing at the marks on my right hand, I could only hope it would recover before my left hand started to show the same signs of damage. Each movement felt precarious, but I wasn’t about to let the pain dictate my next move. If I could hold out a little longer, maybe I’d find an opening, something to turn the tide in my favor.
Before long, I began to shoot my arrows and soon smiled when I noticed that my aim was still as good… my insanely high dexterity came for the save once again.
I kept destroying large pieces of the monster’s body and eventually reached the next floor… I kept motivating myself imagining how much experience that freak would give me, but eventually, my arrows began to miss the target… not exactly the monster, but the spot I had aimed… both my hands were completely messed up.
“Damn it… what now?”
Perhaps I should have made a specialized bow to deal with monsters like this… then again, the same bow would hurt me quite a bit as well. It looked like I didn’t have any other choice but to start an attrition war with this beast and, given its size, it was clear who had the upper hand.
Still, all of a sudden, a certain idea began to form in my mind… perhaps not all hope was lost. With that in mind, I turned around and then headed to the depths of the labyrinth.