Anomaly (2)
While sliding down the narrow and steep hole like a wild rollercoaster at its downward climax for what felt like an infinity, the slope finally leveled out, reducing his forward momentum.
Trying to keep his balance like a professional skater on slippery ice, Evan noticed the girl from earlier at the end of the downward slope just meters ahead.
She was engaged in combat against a few slimes.
"Watch out!"
The girl became alarmed but was barely level-headed enough to hastily duck, which sent Evan flying over her head, butting his ass on a level 2 slime that was already in a sorry state from the girl's water-type missiles.
[-4 HP]
[+2 EXP]
After bouncing off the slime, reducing the fall damage ever so slightly, Evan slid several meters across the ground face first.
[-2 HP]
[-1 HP]
[-1 HP]
[-1 HP]
He couldn't blame the game for being too realistic. That was the main reason most people decided to play VR games in the first place. He sighed and swiftly looked through his status.
—
Level: 4 – EXP: 58/80
HP: 56/64
Soul-Meter 12/12
—
"Hey, you alright over there?"
She released an area spell that somehow slowed down the two remaining slimes. If the wobbly amoebas weren't slow enough as it was, they were now moving at a snail's pace.
Which irritated Evan to no end. He replied with a question of his own.
"Why didn't you use that spell earlier? We wouldn't have ended up here if you had."
This in turn upset the girl.
"I told you already. It takes too long to cast! It's even harder while moving!"
Evan wasn't one to resent easily so he decided to discard his momentary frustration by awkwardly scratching his head.
"Fine. Let's find a way out of here."
The girl simply nodded. Luckily, she didn't seem to hold any resentments for his earlier remarks either.
After taking care of the two remaining slimes, they ended up forming a party. Evan would take the front, while 'Alice' would play a supporting role.
The girl introduced herself as Mille, a level 3 healer that specialized in party healing and area of effect debuffs.
"So, Alice- I mean, Mille," Evan corrected himself. "What were you doing so far out in the forest by yourself?"
"Who's Alice? Anyway, because of this stupid hidden quest, I was looking everywhere for this so-called Anomaly."
"You too? No luck, then?"
"Nope, not a darn sight of it. I mean, I don't even know what to look for."
"Yeah. That's why I've been focused on leveling up." He half-lied.
In truth, he wanted nothing more than to score some nice rewards from the hidden Quest.
"What class is a Soul Demo- What did you call it again?"
"Soul Demolitionist. It's a warrior class for some reason. But as you saw earlier, I use a ranged weapon as my main." Evan explained. "I also use items like bombs, so pay attention to where I throw them."
"Oh, I've seen other players use bombs. It seems ineffective for combat though. Plus, they don't hit their target most of the time and they're pretty expensive as well," she added.
What Mille didn't know was that the Soul Demolitionist had several combat proficiencies that directly increased the effects of consumables like grenades and mines. While other players could hurl similar explosives purchased from NPCs, the attack power and other effects were much less significant due to their lack of proficiencies.
Comparatively, while a grenade thrown without a combat proficiency supporting it would have no added effects, a grenade thrown with an E-ranked Ranged Explosives proficiency gave Evan the Steady Hands effect, increasing the throwing-precision of his ranged explosives.
Still, he couldn't argue about consumables being expensive. That was the main reason he had refused to buy additional HP potions in the first place.
As they moved on, since the underground system possessed little luminescence, they had to proceed slowly, particularly around the corners in case of monster ambushes. In fact, the only things that gave off light were small firefly-like insects occupying the cavern walls.
Mille proved to be quite sharp as she marked the ground whenever their path intersected into more than a single route.
They chatted from time to time, fought the occasional slimes that hindered their path, and learned more about each other's combat abilities.
After exploring the whole cave, Evan deduced that this had to be the last passage, otherwise there were no damn exits. And there was indeed something different ahead, as a large stone door was blocking their path.
"Cobblestone again?" Mille sarcastically commented.
"That's good news though. It means we're still somewhere close to town and the forest."
They tried to push open the double doors, motivated by the thought of finally leaving this cursed underground bullshit, but to their surprise, the door wouldn't budge.
Evan threw his boomerang at the doors a couple of times, only to do minimal damage as small chunks of cobblestone eroded.
Mille tried shooting the door with her only offensive magic spell – a water-type magic missile.
Since her patron was the Aquamarine Guardian, water was her strongest element. However, the water spell had little effect on stone.
"This is taking too long!" Mille exclaimed, her patience withering.
"Step aside," Evan eventually said. "I've only got seven of these babies left," faking a grenade toss that landed in his palm again.
'Boys.' Mille inwardly admonished, but at the same time felt eased, since Evan's plan seemed plausible.
BA-BANG!
Two grenades blew up in quick succession.
Due to gravity, the cobblestone double doors soon collapsed as their structural integrity had been sabotaged at its foundation.
Mille was about to exit the damn claustrophobia-inducing underground system when Evan held her back.
"Wait... Something's off."
"What now?"
"I don't know why, but my gut feeling is telling me that this isn't the exit."
"I know."
"This might be some sort of boss room."
"I know."
"So we should come up with... Wait. What do you mean you know?!"
"It's pretty obvious." She interjected. "No other exit. Weird-looking door. Come on."
"Alright, spare your sarcasm. Let's form a game plan."
"Fine."
—
—
Witnessing the system message, the duo looked at each other and steeled themselves for the fight ahead.
The hidden room felt warm and damp. At the zenith of the room's center, a ray of light shone through a narrow crevice, pointing its beam at an enormous figure, like a giant household plant being nurtured by daylight.
—
Level: 5
HP: ???
Description: A slime that has absorbed a Soulstone!>
—