8- Predator of the tunnels
Even though Siphex couldn't see the day or night, he understood that a long time had passed in the outside world when he began farming the first floor of the maze trial, but he didn't give it much attention because the only thing he knew during this time was hunting without ceasing. At first, all he encountered were the same low-leveled valaptors who didn't yield enough Souls as his level increased, but as he progressed deeper into the cave, he began to encounter a variety of higher level beasts, which, while still common, provided a larger number of enemies and the number of souls their hearts gave him.
Despite the fact that Siphex was killing mobs nonstop, he didn't seem to get tired. Every time he felt tired at the end of a fight, as he devoured a heart out of a corpse, he felt a warm sensation spread through his body, refreshing both his stamina and slightly healing any minor scratches and injuries he developed during the fights, as he later realized there was another side effect of < bloodlust >.
He proceeded randomly through the tunnels for the first several what felt like days, following any living presence he sensed, but after a while, he observed that he occasionally returned through the same familiar passageways. He knew it wasn't termed " maze trial " for no reason when he noticed that.
After that, he began going over his notes.
Following that, he began going through each tunnel while learning its ins and outs and grouping all tunnels that were connected in some way into zones, assigning a number to each zone.
Zone number 1 was where he arrived via the portal, followed by zones 2, 3, 4, and 5.
Zones 1 and 2 were to the east and largely populated with low-leveled valaptors, whilst zones 3, 4, and 5 were to the north and west, wider and darker, and housed a variety of animals ranging in level from 8 to 14.
There was only one zone left for Siphex to explore after he cleaned and wiped all mobs up to zone 5.
"If there is a route out of this tedious maze riddled with tunnels, it should be at zone 6," Siphex muttered after hundreds, if not thousands, of hearts were consumed, he couldn't tell because he'd lost count. But he was content with his progress so far, as nothing in these tunnels could threaten him any longer. He took a look at his status
< >
Name: Siphex
Race ( Arachnoid: Rare )
Class ( null )
Level ( 17 )
Souls ( 35/640)
< stats >
STR ( 15 ) VIT ( 15 )
WIS ( 15 ) INT ( 15 )
DEX ( 15 ) CHA (15)
- available points (1)
< Skills > Active ( 1/3 )
- < Venomous Touch: Active > ( your physical attacks deal 200% of your INT + DEX as poison damage over 30 seconds. this effect stacks to a maximum of 3 stacks. cooldown 20 seconds. ).
- < lesser nightmare > ( inflict a lesser nightmare at the targeted enemy putting them to sleep while leaving them vulnerable for the next attack. attacking an enemy under the effect of will break the effect. cooldown 1min )
- passive ( 2/3 ) -
Arachnoid insight : ( the pure blood of the Ancient Reishalion runs through your veins, you gain the blessing of your ancestors: you are 100% resistant to poison & cold. 25% resistant to illusions).
- Nimble : (your movement is partially muffled, your movement speed is increased up to 25% the closer you are to your target ).
Utility (1) < bloodlust ( Racial passive )> ( as an apex predator, consuming hearts will increase overall Stats by 1%, but will also increase skills cooldown by 5%. this effect lasts for one hour and stacks to a maximum of 10 stacks).
< >
Because each level gave him three stat points, it was at this level that Siphex finally managed to balance all of his stats, leaving him one open point.
Furthermore, when Siphex achieved level 15, he received the first evolution and class selection quest, which he had been waiting for.
< Evolution quest received >
< Achieve Level 20 >
- Progress (17/20)
< Reward >
( Race Evolution ).
( 1+ All Stats ).
( Class Selection ).
< >
"So I can finally Evolve at level 20, I'm hoping for something with fewer legs and more... humanoid looking, there's no time to waste, I've been in these tunnels for God-only-knows how long... and I seriously miss the outside world, I've probably killed every single living thing in here except for zone 6,. It's time to get out of here, and with my current stats, I should be prepared for whatever challenge awaits me at the end of this tunnel maze or beyond it," Siphex said, feeling he'd lose his mind if he stayed in these dark tunnels any longer, as he began to talk to himself more frequently out of loneliness.
He decided that he was ready and that it was time to travel through the last zone, because he had seen that mobes there began at level 18, and that they were animals that looked like cats but had scales instead of fur, as well as little batlike wings and a tail.
He was confident in his ability to defeat them after achieving his current stats and unlocking a new useful Active skill, which was a single target CC that put an enemy under a lesser sleeping curse for several seconds, the length of which depended on how strong the opponent was, but so far with his high INT and WIS, it hadn't failed him once as it always helped him roll out the most troublesome mob in the group, either the strongest or the fastest just for enough time to kill the weaker ones.
For two reasons, he didn't get to use his first active skill very often. First, the skill was difficult to stack and Second, He didn't need to wait for the poison DOT to finish a victim as most enemies get one-shotted because to his superior sharp body bolstered by high base stats, plus the 10 percent + stats bonus offered by a completely stacked.
Siphex dashed through the tunnel on his way to zone 6, when he ran into the first set of level 18 mobs.
< inspect >
< Deepcave Bacat: beast : common: level 18 >
Five of them were chilling, two on the right and three behind them down the passageway.
Using the momentum of his dash. Siphex wasted no time, leaping and pointing his sharp legs like a gigantic claw, crushing one of the bacat in front of him, impaling all of his sharp pointed legs into it deeply and shoving it crushed at the tunnel wall, leaving its body filled with deep holes.
" fwooooooooooooooooo. Spliggg. * badufffb
landing quick and agile Turning around in time to avoid a direct bite from the other, Siphex stepped back and used lesser nightmare on it, leaving it motionless as if petrified, quickly shifting his attention to the other three, sprinting and jumping at the wall, landing right between them.
the three bacats in the back noticing his assault on the first bacat, they ran and prepared for battle, but they weren't prepared for his quickness as he came right between them, attempting to kill the metallic black monster and avenging their fallen colleagues, the bacat attacked in wrath. Siphex blocked out a paw by stopping it in the middle and bending his spider-like body into a round slice, slicing its paw. An uppercut followed, slicing the poor bacat's face in two.
retracing a few steps Siphex prepared himself for the other two as they attacked, he didn't dodge but rushed at them, getting a direct hit from both of them, but it didn't matter as his legs sunk deep into their bodies, holding them immobile, the next minute he twisted his body while using his claws and sharp pointy legs to rain a tornado of slashes, forcing them back and inflicting serious wounds and cuts all over their bodies on both bacat.
*slash*
*swishh*
*blachkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk*
Looking back at the last bacat who was under the effect of nightmare, Siphex appeared right in front of it, placed his razor pointy edge just between the bacat's eyes, and slowly shoved it forward right through its skull, like a knife through butter, his stab met no resistance as it penetrated through its brain and came out the other side.
*soethhhhhhhhhh swissssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
They were all laying limb in their blood on the ground..
"Even level 18, I guess I have no reason to worry yet," said Siphex as he sliced open their bodies Devouring their hearts.
< Hearts Consumed x5 >
< Souls +150 >
< bloodlust increased+5>
" Not bad," Siphex said, smiling as he was pleased with the quantity of souls gained and the fact that he was getting closer to his next phase...