บท 11: Ragnar, The Honorable One.
From obtaining a freaking 'authority' to having to face an Ogre, Adam's first day as an awakener was becoming more and more surreal.
' I just want to go home at this point.'
As mentioned earlier, Adam was not confident in going against anything above D- Rank.
Starting from the C rank, things weren't as easier as with lower ranks.
At this point, monsters started gaining intelligence and their strength would become more catastrophic.
Not to mention the fact that the energy needed to generate a C-rank creature was leagues above that of lower-ranked dungeons.
When a dungeon outbreak took place, it was of utmost importance to determine the Rank of the monsters coming from it.
In the case where a dungeon wasn't cleared regularly the energy within it would accumulate and a 'portal' would allow monsters to invade the outside world.
This happened because each dungeon had a limit of energy that it could hold.
In other words, an F- Rank Dungeon would barely be able to support the energy needed to create or accommodate a monster that far surpassed its limit.
And an Ogre was a good example of that.
So how in the seven hells was this dungeon holding up?!
Adam had that question too.
' What the fuck am I supposed to do?!'
Well, more than that one question you could say...
' This fucker is at that guy's level if not higher, and I'm sure as hell it won't be holding back like he did.'
As he remembered a certain spiky-haired guy with an unfortunate temper, Adam readied once again for combat, just that this time his confidence was flaking slightly.
As if on cue with Adam's stance, the Ogre, which so far was simply examining the intruders, snorted in disdain.
It could tell that regardless of how many of these ants were standing before him, nothing would change who the victor would be.
The thought of running away quickly manifested in Adam's mind. Very logical thinking considering that the foe he was facing far surpassed him in every aspect.
But then, a quick realization hit him.
He was currently in possession of fifty Venomous Spiders.
Although they were not precisely lethal, and their venom was the only thing going for them, it was a fact that it could affect C-Rank monsters, even if minimally.
Now the problem was that...
No matter how many spiders he had, if he could not wound the Ogre, a feat that his minions more than likely would be unable to do even in their enhanced new shadow forms, the poison he could supply would be meaningless.
' Thinking too much won't solve anything. I can teleport out of here if things get ugly anyways.'
With a newfound resolution, Adam teleported right in front of the seven meters tall, green abomination while he mentally commanded his undead to surround the Boss Room, which was sufficiently spacious to accommodate a few hundred.
Before the Ogre could react, Adam placed his right hand on its forehead, as he commanded his flames to burst all over the beast's face, brightening the entire room completely in the process.
Not wanting to wait and see the result of the biggest explosion he could allow himself to create without outright running out of EP, he automatically teleported back to the same place he was before.
At that moment, no matter where one looked, dozens of violet dots could be seen surrounding the Boss Monster, including the ceiling.
The shadows patiently awaited their master's command.
As soon as the curtain of dust secondary to Adam's flame outburst dissipated, the Ogre came into view, in its full splendor.
It stood proudly with its Axe resting on its shoulder, looking directly at Adam's eyes with a mocking grin.
*BOOM!*
Then, with almost no effort, the Ogre swung its axe to its right side, obliterating over thirty shadows.
Not even once, had it stopped looking at Adam.
He could swear that it was trying to convey something along the lines of: ' No matter how many buddies you bring, ants will be ants.'
Adam clicked his teeth in annoyance at the Ogre's provocation.
' So, my flames can't do shit to it.'
Giving little importance to the loss of thirty-five members of his troop, Adam took a second to think of his next actions.
"Since my flames are a no-go, then my martial arts will do the job!"
This, ladies and gentlemen would have been his reasoning if he was braindead.
There was no way for him to counter a foe with martial arts alone when the latter was multiple times stronger than him.
But then, a dangerous idea popped into his brain, which, if it worked, would allow him to possess a new shadow buddy and make his leveling up all the easier consequently.
' If this doesn't work, I'm out of here...'
Ordering for his legion to step back a few meters, Adam advanced until he was standing in front of the boss, this time though, he did not attack, nor did he teleport, he simply walked toward it with steady steps. Since the Ogre had just been playing around with him so far, he had a hunch that it wouldn't attack right away.
Seeing how the pathetic human commanded his group to stand back, the Ogre raised an eyebrow in contemplation.
This contemplation grew into curiosity before it evolved into interest when Adam removed his white T-shirt and threw it on the floor.
He then patted his right hand on his chest thrice, to which the monster opened its eyes in bewilderment.
Ogres were a race of warriors, and what Adam just did was something only a 'true warrior' in their culture would do.
" Human. Want. Duel?"
A chilling voice that would make any low-rank hunter faint came out of the Ogre's mouth.
Once Adam nodded, without removing his hand from his chest, the Ogre laughed loudly, shaking the entire dungeon and imparting primal fear to whatever creature was left outside of the Boss Room.
" You. Honor. Human. I. Like!!!"
Sporting an amused smile with hints of excitement the Ogre threw away its axe a few metres away, the latter landing on the ground with a big tremor.
' That thing looks quite heavy, perfect for my plan.'
Adam thought as he saw the Ogre mimicking the action he had done.
With its enormous fist in its chest, the green creature announced loudly enough for anyone to hear.
" I.Ragnar.Accept.Human.Challenge."
Suppressing the smirk that was threatening to show on his face, Adam removed his fist from his chest, adapting a martial art stance with his arms at the side and his knees bent.
Seeing this, the Ogre did the same and the two looked at each other with different types of expectations.
Then, as if in tune with the two warriors' intentions in mind, a single drop of water that had formed on the humid cave's ceiling fell right in front of the duo, which provided an indirect signal to start the fight.
As soon as the drop made contact with the ground, the monster launched at Adam at high speeds that he could barely follow, coming to proximity in mere seconds before delivering a devastating punch at his midsection.
Contrary to what one would expect from someone who specialized in evading attacks, Adam received the attack with his arms crossed on his chest instead of teleporting away, which proved to be unfruitful provided he was propelled several meters away from where he was before collapsing on a wall.
*BOOOOM*
The impact was so loud that the dungeon trembled to its mercy, scaring away the remaining monsters that had not gone into hiding already.
The Ogre stood triumphantly, although a much greater sense of disappointment was tangible on its face.
"Human.Weak"
It said in disdain after seeing the tattered mess that was Adam now.
On the other side of the room, stamped in a wall, the hunter could be seen in a devastating state.
His limbs were dismembered while his thorax was caved in.
His face was a gory mess that misrepresented the handsomeness he once displayed.
The Ogre could see he was still alive, but barely so.
Nonetheless, a duel in Ogre culture was not completed until one of the combatants died, and the monster was about to ensure it was the victor, regardless of its opponent's strength.
"But.You.Die.Like.Warrior"
Spouting these words that contained certain intelligence in them, the creature walked toward the barely breathing mess that had just fallen face-first against the ground after falling from the wall he was plastered into.
"Mmh?"
Its condescending attitude flicked the moment it stood before the human it would claim the life of.
"Weren't his limbs detached?" Would have been its thought if its intelligence allowed it. But a simple confusion-induced scowl was all it managed to sport.
Shrugging its shoulders, the abomination interlinked its humongous fingers and raised them in a double-handed fist.
"Good Bye.Human."
With that, it brought down an equally devastating attack than earlier, which prompted the shaking of the dungeon in its entirety once again.
*BOOOOOM*
A curtain of dust erupted from the point of impact, which the Ogre felt was oddly solid in contact.
Once its vision allowed it to see the after-match, its eyes widen in utter confusion.
Instead of seeing a mush of blood and viscera, Adam's body remained perfectly fine, it even looked healthier than before the last attack.
"Human.Alive?"
Then, before it could process anything, Adam's body vanished from existence and reappeared on the other side of the room, standing next to the huge axe that was around three meters long.
" That hurt quite a bit you fucker."
Turning to see its opponent without a scratch while his hands rested on the weapon it had tossed aside, the Ogre threw away any intelligence it previously showed and rushed to attack Adam.
Holding a weapon in a duel was the most dishonoring thing a true Ogre warrior could do, not to mention holding a foe's weapon.
*Growl!!!*
" Finally acting like the beast you are. Much too late innit?"
Before it could connect any attack on its adversary, Adam blinked in space and found himself on top of the creature's head.
" I don't know if I can hurt you now so let's bring it up a notch."
Still, on the boss monster's head, Adam conjured a fire coating on the axe, which proved to be quite heavy for him even as he held it with both hands while using all the strength he could muster.
Without further ado and utilizing all the mentally imprinted knowledge he instinctively knew regarding martial arts that would allow him to put a bit more force into his attack, he swung the Axe toward the monster's neck.
*AAAARRRGGHHHH*
A creepy scream came out of the Ogre's throat as it felt an unanticipated slashing pain on its posterior neck.
" NOW!!"
Teleporting away from the Ogre's head, Adam commanded the combined attack of all of his shadow forces.
The goblins launched at the boss's arms, attempting to prevent him from covering his neck, the dire wolves bit on its legs, trying to immobilize the creature if only for a few seconds.
The main protagonists that would decide this battle, the venomous spiders, spewed torrents of venom from their chelicera* in unison, falling on the screaming monstrosity's wounded neck.
This combined effort resulted in the Ogre's body collapsing on the floor, still far from dead, yet motionless.
"*Sigh*... That was risky as fuck."
Adam allowed himself to rest for a few seconds before appearing on top of the Ogre's back.
The creature was affected by the toxins in the spider's venom, but he wasn't sure how long it would take it to rise again, so he decided to proceed with the hunt.
" I'm sorry I couldn't be as honorable as you, but worry not, for I promise to exploit that honor of yours as much as I can while you serve me for eternity."
With that said, Adam delivered a barricade of slashes at the same spot he had previously wounded, the giant axe serving its purpose beautifully.
After a short while, the screaming of the creature ceased as its body became lifeless. Even after all of that, Adam still did not manage to sever the creature's head completely.
'Tough bastard.'
Before he could contemplate any further, a notification sound removed his attention from the unmoving corpse.
[!]
[The host has slain a monster several times stronger than himself!]
[The experience obtained from the latest hunt will be doubled!]
[A power booster will be in storage until the 15-day deadline is met!]
"*Whistle~* Sweet, that power booster thingy might be very useful. Now, let's see how much this guy gave me."
With a small smile, Adam summoned his stats interface.
***
[Status]
Name: Adam Zenith
Age: 21
Level: 30
Race: Human
Karma: error!
[Stats]
HP: 1,825/1,825 (Health Points)
EP: 3,700/3,700(Energy Points)
Strength: 25
Dexterity: 35
Stamina: 30
Intelligence: 21
Luck: Error
Free Stats: 100
***
Looking at his level Adam couldn't help but smirk from ear to ear.
He was expecting to get a level rounding the twenties but the boost from the system did not disappoint as usual.
His HP and EP were greatly boosted as well, and it was apparent that the way these points increased was not as simple as he thought.
(A/N: The explanation will be down below.)
Since there were high chances of him being targeted by someone, he quickly placed 20 points in strength, 20 in dexterity, 20 in stamina, and the remaining 40 in intelligence.
" I want to make my pyrokinesis stronger so I should focus on intelligence for a while."
As soon as he finished organizing his stats a rush of euphoria invaded his very soul, and before his eyes, the remaining shadows that had remained after the encounter against the Ogre started changing before his eyes.
The Goblins grew in size and gained a more "human-like" appearance while retaining goblin features. The wolves did the same, attaining the size of a tiger, and although their looks did not change as much as the goblins, they became more horrifying than they already were.
The spiders had the most significant change, as they became four-legged creatures with a pair of extra limbs at the front that were more humanoid, with horrifying claws. All in all, they still resembled spiders, but they were more bizarre than any arthropod he had ever seen.
" So, you guys can also evolve Uh? This is good, I was starting to worry about reaching the limit of shadow soldiers I could command and having to dispose of the weak ones~"
Adam could swear that after saying this his shadows shivered in fear, unaware of their master's sense of humor.
With everything taken care of, a Blue Portal opened in the middle of the room, signaling that the Dungeon had been subjugated.
Before leaving though, Adam turned to the Ogre's corpse, his right hand raised as he looked down at his soon-to-be subordinate.
"Arise."
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This chapter is a bit rushed and I'm still learning how to write fight scenes so feel free to point out anything that would help me to improve in this manner.
Down below are the things that needed some explaining:
Chelicera*: These are appendages that spiders have in their mouth. They are connected to their venom glands.
Regarding the Increase in HP and EP.
From Lv 1 to 10 HP increases by 25 while EP increases by 50.
But every 10 levels these numbers are multiplied by two.
So, from Lv 11 to 20 HP increases by 50 while EP increases by 100, and from Lv 21 to 30 HP increases by 100 while EP increases by 200. And so on.
That's the gist of it.
Suggestions are welcomed.
Have a great day.
Oh, and BTW I will leave some concept pictures of the evolved monsters in a few minutes...
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