The Oni fighter looked down at the large pincer with a horrified expression appearing on his face as he saw the monster that held him. He tried his best to struggle and escape but he was unable to budge the thick armored pincer.
SNIP! The large red pincer claw snapped closed with only a little force applied causing the Oni's body to split apart raining blood and guts onto the dry rubble as the lower half fell to the ground.
The large red pincer lowered the Oni who was still half alive even with the lower half of his body severed and his guts hanging out...
The large red creature lowered the oni towards its wide-open maw that was lined with hundreds of sharp teeth! Crunch! The Oni was truly dead now as his head disappeared from his body.
Akira regained his and did a quick scan of the area to make sure everyone else was okay and no other monsters had jumped out of the ground.
Ding!
A mysterious rare [Lobsoach] has appeared! In ancient times meeting a [Lobsoach] was good luck... If you survived.
Kill it to receive a reward!
The [Lobsoach] monster in front of them was an ugly thing to see. Its body was low to the ground with a height of at most 3 feet tall using its stubby, but thick, 4 legs to move. Its width was 3 or 4 feet wide while its length was over 14 feet long largely due to its long tail. Its entire body was encased in a large red exoskeleton with the only things not protected were its underbelly pincers and the two antennae that were on its head.
The monster paid them no attention as it continued to munch on the fresh corpse in front of it creating many sickening snapping and crunching sounds.
Akira silently motioned for the werewolves and Zundar to get ready for a fight. Since he was not too confident with the help that the Minos might be able to provide he held up a hand to stop them from coming over to him, he did not want any of them to die here as it would be troublesome to try and explain it to the villagers and might start a blood feud that they did not need right now.
Even so, Spearia and the other young Minos inched closer to the werewolves to try and provide support.
When the [Lobsoach] finished with its messy meal it turned to see that the rest of its meal had all gathered behind it!
“SCRREEEEEEEE!”
With a howl, it rushed forward at a quick speed and attacked the closest person which was Zundar!
Snap! The red pincers cut nothing but air as Zundar leaped into the air out of reach of the [Lobsoach] pincers.
“You ugly roach I'm going to %^&$ to your $%^&!” shouted Akira as he activated his potty mouth skill bringing the [Lobsoach] attention to him instead of Zundar.
“SCRREEEEEEEE!” the [Lobsoach] scurried forward and swiped its pincers at Akira slamming them into his shield and trying to beat him into the ground.
As it did this Zundar fell onto its back and slammed his weapon down with a force that sent a shock wave into the ground that everyone could feel!
The [Lobsoach] squirmed in pain for a few seconds but resumed its attacks on Akira not worrying about Zundar as its armored shell had not been damaged at all from the attack.
Akira continued to activate his skills to keep the [Lobsoach's] attention on him while everyone continued to hammer it with attacks.
The [Lobsoach] was growing more frustrated as it tried to get through Akira's defenses while also trying to snap at the flies that were hammering its thick armor.
In its rage, it started to randomly stampede around the room slamming its tail into the rubble-strewn ground, sending large chunks of rock flying everywhere.
During its rampage a loud Crack! Was heard which continued to spread out from where the [Lobsoach] was.
“The floor is collapsing! Back into the tunnel!” roared Akira.
But it was too late!
The floor beneath their feet disappeared as it fell into a large hole that was opened up... the last thing Akira saw was a large flash as he slammed into a bright light that knocked the wind out of him.
As the light covered everything he was still falling through a bright nothingness...
***
OOF!
Akira let out a low grunt as he landed on something hard and rolled off onto the rubble-strewn stone floor with a clang, all of his breath being knocked out of him.
Ding!
You have killed the [Lobsoach] and have received your reward... your life and the life of your companions!
Cough! Akira waved his hand in front of his face to clear the dust that had exploded everywhere blocking his vision.
Several more grunts and clangs rang out as more people fell to the ground next to Akira.
Ding!
You have entered an ancient hidden [Underground tower] dungeon!
You are the first to discover this ancient research lab that was lost to time. All experience and rewards will be doubled!
You are on the first floor of ten. Climb up the ten floors of the [Underground tower] to escape.
An Overflow is imminent!
As the dust cleared Akira could only see dark shadows around him since the lanterns that they had been using had gone missing after falling through the portal and ending up here.
“Who's all here? Did anyone get left behind?” asked Akira between coughs trying to clear his lungs from the dusty air.
“I made it through in one piece,” said Zundar as he stood up and patted down his shoulders while looking around in the dark cavern room.
“Uuuu I'm going to be sore tomorrow...,” said Spearia in the ancient language as she sat up.
“Yap...” said Fluffball as he shook his head. He had reverted back to his small form and was just laying on the ground regaining his breath after running around so much and then getting the wind knocked out of him from the fall.
Everyone else gave grunts or a few words to let Akira and the rest of the group know that they had not been left behind and were still alive.
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Akira pulled out two torches from his pack and lit one by striking a flint sending sparks everywhere lighting up the dark room for a brief moment before the sparks ignited one of the prepared torches. Using the lit torch he was able to easily light the second one which he handed off to Spearia who had landed on the ground next to him.
With the room now lit up he was able to look over at what he had fallen on and found it was the [Lobsoach] which was now impaled on a large stone spike that rose out of the middle of the stone room they were now in. He had been so close to also being impaled by the large spike.
“Never know when you'll need a torch,” said Akira as he held up one of the torches to look up at the smooth and flat gray ceiling that was low enough to be touched if he jumped up with his hand stretched out.
There was no sign of a hole in the ceiling or the portal that had dropped them into this room. As he looked around at the smooth-walled cavern room there was little of interest save one exit from the room and the large spike in the center of the room.
Akira nearly jumped in fright when he turned and saw a gray statue step forward only to realize a second later that it was just Zundar who was covered in gray dust that made him look like a stone statue.
“Why are you acting so jumpy?” asked Zundar.
“Have you seen yourself in a mirror lately?” asked Akira.
“Like you can talk... besides we're all covered in dust,” muttered Zundar.
“Where are we? And that portal...?” asked Spearia.
“A dungeon,” said Klyn.
Akira walked to one of the walls and placed his hand on it, as he walked along he knocked on it lightly to see if there were any hidden doors.
“So this is a dungeon?” said Spearia as she looked around.
“You know what they are?” asked Zundar.
“Of course! The ancients wrote about them all the time in the old scrolls. It's just I have never seen one let alone been inside one. Is this normally how you get into one?”
“Not exactly,” said Zundar as he scratched his head.
When Akira had nearly finished a full round trip around the room and had arrived near the sole exit to the room his ears perked up.
Clickity-clack...Clickity-clack.... Clickity-Clickity-clack!...Clack-clack-clack!
“Everyone get up! A large group of something is coming our way!” said Akira as he set the torch down in the nearby corner of the room.
He then took a few steps forward and stood in the middle of the entranceway blocking much of the path as he braced himself with his shield in front of him. He stood firm to allow those behind him to regain their footing and join him near the entrance.
Fluffball was the first to join Akira and stood to his right just a little behind him so that he could hide. He had once again transformed into his large hulking ice armored adult form.
“Grrrrrr!” Fluffball let out a low growl aimed at the wave of clacking that was coming their way. Whatever it was that was coming their way was not deterred in the slightest so Fluffball began gathering an icy cold ball of energy in front of his open mouth.
Both Dolph and Vilkas took places on either side of Akira and Fluffball to fully block the entrance to the stone room.
As they did, Akira was able to see the first glimpse of the enemy rushing towards them... or should he say swarm of enemies.
“What do you want us to do?” asked Spearia from behind the group.
“While we hold these monsters back I need everyone else to help whittle them down with ranged or long-reach attacks. Anyone with the skill and melee equipment to stand on the front line needs to be ready to trade places with Dolph or Vilkas if they need it,” answered Akira allowing Klyn and Zundar to translate his orders.
“I'll make sure that anything that leaks past you is clobbered!” said Zundar as he slammed his fists together and grabbed his large metal maul.
Fluffball spat out the glowing icy energy ball and shot it between Akira and Dolph as it flew into the dark room ahead of them and lit everything up in a blue light revealing the monsters rushing towards them. [Baby Lobsoach lvl 70]
The [Baby Lobsoach] were only the size of an adult human head and had a black shell. Although they did not look to be as deadly as the [Lobsoach] from before the entire floor was covered with [Baby Lobsoach] that were all crawling over each other in a swarm trying to get to the torchlight inside the room.
Bang!
The ice attack from Fluffball exploded in the air sending out ice shards all over piercing dozens of the [Baby Lobsoach] and freezing even more. But the wave of [Baby Lobsoach] was not stopped!
Fluffball began to prepare another attack while Spearia and the other Minos and werewolves with spears all stood a short distance behind the front line ready to attack.
Seeing that the [Baby Lobsoach] did not have the near impenetrable red armor he readied skill and waited for the moment when the [Baby Lobsoach] were almost on them...
“Now!” roared Akira as he stabbed his sword down slamming it into the ground and activated the skill [Dark Shockwave] sending out a shock wave down the tunnel knocking hundreds of the [Baby Lobsoach] onto their back where their soft underbelly was revealed and hundreds of pointy legs flailed trying to get off of their backs to no avail.
Several spears and other ranged attacks rained down on the helpless [Baby Lobsoach] but these [Baby Lobsoach] were soon covered by others that had been behind them and were now crawling forward over their squirming comrades as if they were not there.
A second gust of icy cold air swept past Akira as another ice attack from Fluffball exploded, it slammed into the pile of [Baby Lobsoach] sending shattered bodies everywhere while also clearing the path for a few seconds only to be filled back up with more [Baby Lobsoach] rushing forward!
Akira continued to activate his skill [Shield bash] and [Sword Slash] to try and push back and cut down the tide while everyone else beside and behind him constantly launched their own attacks to try and help whittle down as many of the [Baby Lobsoach] as they could.
As the fight waned on there were many close calls that made Akira sweat a bit... and it was not from the [Baby Lobsoach] attacks but the Minos' wild attacks from behind him!
He had not noticed it before in the previous fight but now that he was right in front of them it was hard to not notice their skill at fighting... they were like a child in their first fight who was just swinging their arms around randomly like a windmill hoping to hit something.
He was unsure if they were trying to kill him with such close calls or... if they just really sucked at fighting.
Experiencing all of this brought back flashbacks to his past nightmares that had haunted him for months when he had first started hunting with Mileena. Back then she had been a specialist at triggering every trap... and now... well she was not as bad as before, he still had to stay alert when in a dungeon with her but he did not remember it being this bad.
When the last of the clacking [Baby Lobsoach] were blasted to pieces by one last attack from Fluffball the Minos teens behind Akira slumped to the ground exhausted.
Fluffball was also panting heavily as he lay down and closed his eyes trying to regain some strength after using his skills so many times.
Akira was also breathing heavily and covered in sweat... not from the actual fight, but from having to dodge the wild attacks of the Minos. He leaned against the nearby stone wall as he pulled out some hard blue candies and fed one to Fluffball before also eating one himself. The feeling of muddied thoughts and tiredness in his mind slowly washed away as his energy slowly flowed back to a somewhat normal state.
“So this is what a real battle is like!” said one of the young Minos teens.
“I can feel it! My strength grew a lot from just this one fight!” said another as he happily head-butted the first teen.
“What the hell was that?” asked Zundar looking at Spearia and the other Minos teens suspiciously.
“Fighting what else?” asked Spearia who was wiping her face that was covered in sweat and dust.
“You call that fighting?” asked Zundar. He was appalled to even be related to such weak and horrible fighters.
“Hey! We are actually pretty skilled fighters out of the other villagers and if we want we will be able to join the lake guards in a year or so!” said one of the teens.
“Stop!” said Zundar, holding up his hand. “If this is considered skilled... then no wonder your faction has trouble fighting against those Oni. We are a warrior race! Why is your fighting skill so horrible? Where is your honor? Our bodies are built for battle! And yet...”
“You're being a bit harsh are you not? We have not had much combat experience since we live far from the main battlefields in the center of the island,” said Spearia.
“With these pitiful skills in fighting you will not be able to defeat the Oni faction. Don't even think of trying to fight against a demigod! They will just kill you before you know what happened,” said Zundar, not letting up on his opinions of the Minos standing and sitting in front of him.
Akira nodded even though he did not understand what Zundar was saying he understood that they were getting a good talking to. Although Spearia was somewhat better than the others since she was older, she was still far too rusty and had just as many errors as the other Minos.
“The demigods are far more powerful than you can imagine and are always growing stronger,” said Akira allowing Klyn to translate for him as Zundar was silent and trying to control his emotions.
“Then what do you want us to do? Not fight at all and run away?” asked Spearia.
“Hmph!” said Zundar with disdain. With a fist thumping his chest he said, “I will make it my mission to train you green recruits into proper soldiers. You will know the true path of the warrior when I am done with you!”
The other young Minotaur's all looked at each other not sure what to think about such crazy talk coming from Zundar.
“Judging from this fight... there will be plenty of battles for you to get experience with fighting... just make sure to aim your attacks properly. It wouldn't be nice to make me think you are actually targeting me...,” said Akira.