Lizard Boss (1)

Elior hacked the sword silently to kill the last one lizard that came after him. The sword had no mana infused into it, but it was a weapon for a third order guardian, so with its amazing cutting power and his skill, it was not that difficult. It only took more time than usual.

After his mana ran out, he had killed a few lizards in a small group while waiting for his mana to recover, and finally then a message appeared, brightening his mood.

[Congratulations! Guardian apprentice Elior, you have reached the limit of your being. You can not level up further without choosing a path.]

[All the karma points will be stored temporarily until you succeed in a Class.]

[The system will calculate the most probable class according to your expertise and talent. You can choose one among them.]

"Finally," he muttered under breath. The system would need only a few minutes to calculate the most suitable classes for him and he would get to choose one among them. He had thought about it before on which way to go, but that thing had to wait, as he had to make way for a hidden reward. If he chose the class now, then the rewards he would get from cleaning the dungeon will be far less.

According to his past experience, he found out that killing a boss chaosfiend of higher order than you alone will get you a hidden rewards than the usual time when you do it with others or in the same order. And the rewards will only be given once per order.

Elior had got this reward probably twice on his third and fourth order, and anything above that he was not so sure. But that was not important at the moment. Now, he wanted to take advantage of every order to get the hidden rewards, and that would start today.

To get the hidden rewards here, all he needed to do was kill the boss monster that was higher than him in order and clear the dungeon alone. Quite simple and easy enough for him, if only he had his all mana reserve.

Elior moved to the spot where he killed the lizards first, and found a few smaller ones were eating the corpse of their own kind. They were cold-blooded creature after all. But the moment they sense him, they charge right at him, baring their teeth.

Sighing, Elior finished them without using any amount of mana.

Only one-third of it had recovered in the meantime and he could suspect the boss lizard would come at any moment, as he had been killing without restraints. Even though he had been silent most of the time and hid his tracks, he could not hide the blood and its smell and more, even though the lizards were not the noisy bunch, they did make some noise while dying.

So it was about time the boss roused itself and there were still the other ones remaining. He most probably had killed two third of the lizards and the rest probably will come with their leader.

Elior was now regretting not buying any mana recovery portion. Even though he did not have much guardian points left, it was still enough to buy a dozen of the minor mana recovery portion. He made a mental note on that, though he forgot most of his mental notes.

While there was still another way to have mana, but he was saving it for the boss lizards. He had 10 free attribute points stored up—6 from levelling up from 13 to 19 and 4 as a reward from the trial. That's 100 odd mana points if he invests all of it in intelligence.

Abruptly, he felt the earth shake a little and sensed discomfort in the far corner of his eyes.

"So it is time," He said grimacing. Without a second thought, he invested the 10 odd points to intelligence with a mental command.

[Mana: 96/305 → 196/405]

It was still not enough, and Elior knew it. The thing that he has to face now was probably double his level and not to say it was a boss monster. It will have harder skin than any other lizards and probably could use its chaotic mana in some inherited ability, or else how could it be the leader of all the lizards here.

Other than heredity, a monster had to stand out from the norm to be the boss. There was no small talk between the chaos fiends, they were violent by nature. Who ever had the strength rules the pack.

"Guess I have to tussle with the lizards for a little more," Elior thought out loud and readied himself for the abominations to come.

When the boss lizard was about twenty metres away from him, he could see it a little, though not too clearly in the dark. It was tall to reach his neck and about four and half metres long. The appearance was like the other lizards, though it had an extended tail that went further, raising its length to a couple of metres more.

Other than that came a dozen or so first order lizards from the rear. The beasts made contorted noises, finding the trespasser who had wreaked havoc in their home, killed a bunch of the leader's offspring and its kind.

"Aye, aye, I get it. You don't have to be so courteous." Elior smiled, raising the one-handed sword. He did not infuse mana into it as it would empty his stock only slower than his spatial ability, but he did coated his body with enough mana.

He was facing an animal that was double his level. It was given that he would protect his body, adding that he could not use his ability freely.

He did not fight head on like he did with the others, but dodged the dash of the boss monster, rolling sideways. When the lizards found it hit nothing and came at him again with similar pace.

It squeaked with all its might at him as a cold air spread towards him. Elior did not have to get in contact with it to know it was poisonous. Most of the Chaos Fiend has natural poison that decays all things, some slow, some fast. The cold breath here could get into his system through breathing and even from his skin.

His mana coating could put a resistance against it, but it would pull more mana than usual, and he dangerously would not want that. He tried to move away from the chilly breath, not breathing.

'Guess, I can't wait for my mana to recover,' he thought and ran not only from the lizard leader but its lesser counterparts as well. Now there were about a dozen chasing after him and worse, a few of them had that icy breath of poison ability as well.

They were not that stupid either. The taint from chaos made them advance faster, and give violent nature, but with that came a faint bit of intelligence as well. Even though the cold-blooded creatures eat even their own kinds, they knew how to hunt together too.

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Bonus chapter tomorrow. Thank you for voting.