The whiptail wolves were surely one of the feared creatures in the Nether Dungeon, but there were plenty of other vicious creatures that could pose great threat even to alphas, especially when in groups.This was why nobody liked to roam alone in the dungeon. Even alphas with great pride would generally avoid wandering alone because nobody knew what kind of threat would pop up at any place.A slight mistake could lead to death, so one group didn’t easily let another group come closer to them, as it could affect their teamwork negatively. After all, new plans needed to be formed if multiple groups were to join for a hunt.The same issue cropped up today when two groups spotted Stone Soldiers at the same time. The stone soldiers were like medium-sized golems that were known to work under a Stone Hulk.And a stone hulk was known to guard star crystals and power crystals until the higher ups—the creatures that lived in the deeper levels of the dungeon—showed up to collect the crystals.Na
These were no ordinary rats but Irontooth Rats, ones that were capable of eating iron with their extraordinarily tough teeth. And a mischief of such rats swarmed onto the five humans with no mercy.Together, they could eat a bull down to the bone in under a minute, so five humans were worth nothing more than snacks.Kong threw his fist at a rat, but the rat bit his fist and chewed on it. Another rat jumped on his nose and bit it off. He or the others in the group wasn’t even given any time to breathe.It seemed like they were all doomed to death, until Ria turned into a werehawk and started and flapped her wings, creating a powerful wind that startled the rats, forcing them to scurry back into the holes.While her new appearance shocked the others, they had more pressing matters to worry about, which was their injuries. Justin lost his entire left hand, Casey lost her ear, and she fell down and was bleeding from the neck, uncontrollably. Biskie's shoulder had a big chunk missing.Ria
Myles wasn’t alone. He had to take five more people with him. If he were to keep using his strength to fight against every beast he’d come across, he’d empty his tank sooner, which he didn’t want.The best solution he could think of was to form an alliance with a group that was neither weak nor too strong.And he came across a lone old man in his late fifties, carrying an ax and a sword.Before Myles could say anything, the old man with a stylish haircut and beard said, showing his identification card, “Can I join your group? Temporarily?”His name was Albert Anthony. An ex-alpha hunter & gatherer with a mage score of 7.5.Mage score was given to every registered group, depending on their achievements and clean record. For instance, if a group of four people entered the dungeon and only one person managed to come out of the dungeon without sufficient proof of what had happened in the dungeon, their score would be negatively affected. Groups that would find star crystals or any other
Albert actively led the exploration. He was also eager to see what Myles was after.“So, Mr. Albert,” Biskie hesitantly asked. “What abilities do you have? It’s totally fine if you don’t want to answer.”“I don’t have any ability,” Albert replied with a friendly smile. “I just absorbed only power crystals, so my physical attributes are like that of a superhuman. My strength, speed, reflexes, they can compete with beasts.”“That’s cool!” Biskie got excited. “How many power crystals did you consume until now?”“More than ten,” he said. “It’s not easy to find them. In all my years of exploring, I could only find six crystals. I bought the rest in the auction.”“Are all power crystals the same?”“Of course not. Red crystals boost your strength. Yellow crystals boost your speed. Blue crystals boost your agility and reflexes. Orange crystals boost your stamina and durability. Translucent crystals boost your five senses. Brown crystals boost your overall abilities. There are some other types
“Use your flames!” Myles yelled.Justin, who stood frozen in trepidation as four spiders converged onto him, suddenly felt the desire to prove himself. “Haaah!” he screamed and punched the air. Blue flaming fists flew forth and struck the spiders.Parts of their bodies were burnt instantly, but pretty soon, their entire bodies caught on flames and exploded, killing the spiders then and there.This surprised everyone, including Justin himself. The smoke that came from the flames made the other spiders run back to their hiding.Albert, who saw the flames, covered his mouth with a special mask he took out from his backpack. “Those blue flames that are giving off gray fumes. Did he absorb a whiptail wolf’s crystal?” he began seeing Justin in a different light. “From what I saw, his attacks were reckless. He wasted a lot of energy, but that helped us scare the other spiders, so it worked out well for us in the end.” Sheathing his sword, he jumped down using the webs and landed close to Jus
The big pig had boils all over its body, even under its feet. It was angry. It was in pain. It was boiling mad. It looked like it wanted to destroy everything in sight.“It’s the Plague Pig! Run!” Albert unsheathed his ax and threw it at the pig. The ax struck the pig’s head and created flames, which blinded the pig, but that didn’t stop the twelve-foot-tall monster from charging.The bridge was about 100 meters long, but the pig caught up with them before they could cover half the distance.Albert was the closest, but he jumped forward so that the pig would go after others. The one that was now closest to the pig was Myles. He didn’t run anymore. “You pitiful thing,” he stopped and slapped the pig with the back of his hand. The pig fell over the bridge and got sent rolling on top of the black river.The others turned and looked. By then, the pig had already sunk into the river.“Where did the pig go?” Albert asked.“It jumped into the river,” Myles answered and looked at his hand tha
“Heal.”A drop of water flew out of Myles’ palm and struck the pig.A ghastly amount of black vapors escaped out of the Plague Pig’s body the moment a single word escaped out of Myles’ mouth. The Plague Pig which had been suffering for a long time with all kinds of illnesses now felt the changes in its body, and that quickly brought its feet to a halt. All the boils on its body were gone. Even the dirt and filth on its body was gone, making it look like the cleanest pig in the world. The anger in its eyes also faded away, though the pig still seemed to be in shock.It thought nobody could ever help it, but this stranger that had come out of nowhere was able to miraculously heal it.And this brought tears to the pig’s eyes. Until now, everybody kept running away, but this young human didn’t.The plague pig turned into a humanoid pig and spoke, “O, Great Human. I, Porcius, owe you my life.” He fell to his knees. “Ask anything, and I’ll do it for you.”Blood rose into Myles’ throat, but
Myles moved his hand, and Albert’s body was pulled toward him. Albert ended up landing behind Myles, surprising everyone.Porcius increased his speed and speedily left the region fast and reached a place where there was knee-deep water infested with Bonebugs.Bonebugs were nasty amphibious bugs that would enter another being’s body and eat their bones until all the bones were consumed.They were numbered in hundreds of thousands. All of them flew out of the water and scared the living daylights out of Justin and others.Just when Albert was thinking his life was saved, he and everyone else was surrounded by the overwhelming number of bonebugs. Fighting such a number with a sword wouldn’t be possible for him even if he were in good health. As all of them came buzzing toward him, Albert gave up on his life.“You filthy little shits,” Porcius started stamping on the water. “Pig’s Feet Shredding Water!” Water droplets flew like needles and pierced through multiple of the bugs. In a matter