Capítulo 232: Horrors of the dungeon (7), intermission
"We can still run! It doesn't know where we are yet!"
"It knows."
Dawn blade sounds defeated.
"I don't know a lot about soul types but I heard from a friend, that soul detection works differently from normal senses and as a rule of thumb, if it can attack somewhere it can detect what's there too."
"But that's only if it's a soul type."
"Other types might have similar if not better detection abilities. We should split up."
"You want to leave us behind too?"
"No, all of us should split up. If we all go in different directions a few of us might make it out alive because from what I can tell the monster seems to act alone."
Before we have any chance to argue, Dawn blade whirls around and fires a glowing blade at what looks to be thin air. The blade disappears and the air suddenly begins to tremble.
"It's also a space type! Scatter, now! As don't stay in one place for too long."
With those words, Dawn blade launches another three glowing blades and vanishes down a hallway in a sudden burst of speed.
The glowing blades reach where the spatial disturbance was before and are blocked by a shield of swirling darkness. If a monster can easily block an attack that could cut those pangolin kins in half then we can't beat it. We won't even stand a chance.
We all know this, so as Dawn blade suggested we attempt to scatter. The thing is, with the monster's position there are only three viable paths to take and four of us. Two people will go down one path and split up again later increasing their chance of survival. Everyone wants to be one of those two.
However, I know that waiting in this stalemate is far worse than going in one direction by myself. So I speed off into the closest hallway and hope that since I'm the weakest one here, the monster will come after me last.
Shortly before the intersection vanishes from my sight, I see a lance made of darkness poke out of that swirling darkness and head straight for Brigitte.
I halt in shock. Brigitte reacts quickly and deploys multiple skills at once. The glow of her tower stance lights up as twenty-seven energy shields materialize layered up in front of her. The glow around her intensified further as she activates defense overdrive causing her constitution stat to rise above 450 for a short while.
An ethereal structure begins to form around her as her skill guardianʼs bulwark begins to take effect. With the energy shields, her high constitution stat, and guardian's bulwark mostly formed, she should be able to take that hit right?
The lance of darkness pierces through the energy shields and shatters them all to pieces like it's nothing. Those shields are fuelled by a stat that is approaching 500, you know? To break through that the magic stat of that monster should be around... 1000?
Since the energy shields failed miserably at stopping the lance of darkness, the half-formed bulwark fares similarly. The lance pierces through the bulwark and prevents it from fully forming.
Next, Brigitte's physical shield is penetrated, followed by her armor, and finally her body. I'm not sure if she's dead or alive but I don't want to stay long enough to find out.
I run away as fast as my legs can carry me. Left, right, kill a few badger kins, and continue going straight. I run without much plan, hoping to simply be hard to track and make it out. Then I hear fighting up ahead and see Clive be eviscerated by icicles that can only belong to that dreadful monster.
Not that way I guess.
I turn and run in the other direction. More mindless scurrying about follows as I begin to feel truly lost in this darn place. It may be nice and symmetrical but everything looks the same!
I feel myself grow increasingly frantic as I realize that I have witnessed the death of three of my teammates and heavily suspect another one. The only two people that might still be alive are Larissa and Dawn blade.
Which means my chances of being targeted are already high and rising every second I fail to get out. Just when I wonder how the other possible survivors are faring, I hear two sets of footsteps from up ahead.
Dawn blade is sprinting at full speed with Larissa slung over his back like a sack of potatoes. From the glowing blades that he is frantically firing towards the direction he came from, I presume that nightmarish monster is behind him.
Running isn't an option anymore. Dawn blade has higher stats than me and is therefore faster than me too. He'll quickly overtake me and I'll become monster food.
With no other option, I open the closest door along the wall of this hallway and enter. I hear Dawn blade rush past the door followed by the sound of something massive hurtling past in pursuit.
I scan the room I entered and find another storage room much like the one we came in through when we entered the dungeon. However, the door at the back of the room that should lead outside isn't there.
Obviously, how lucky would I be to enter a random room only to discover an exit from this damned dungeon. I don't dare to leave the room while the monster may still be nearby and yet I fear the monster may have heard or seen me enter this room.
Time to use another trump card of mine. My skill, hiding in plain sight, allows me to transform my body into a perfect replica of any mundane object I have made contact with shortly before. The drawbacks are of course quite harsh since the skill can fool pretty much all perception skills known to mankind. While in this state, I will be unable to move or transform back for twenty-four hours.
I clench my fists in determination and touch a clay pot. A bunch of them are placed neatly in one corner of the room. I move them to create a free space where I stand and transform into a clay pot.
Minutes go by and I already begin to hope that the monster won't return. The opening of the door to this room quickly dashes those hopes and lets me sink into despair.
A mass of gelatin-like substance enters the room and coalesces into a sphere the size of a car tire. It's a slime. Could this be the monster that has been chasing and killing us?
Before I can think about the ridiculousness of a slime chasing us, a blade made of darkness is formed and the clay pot I have transformed into is cut in half.
How?
"Hiding in plain sight is a skill that doesn't affect soul types since mundane objects don't have souls. Also, you showed up on the map, sorry."
And with that darkness engulfs me and it all ends.
Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder