Chapter 4
Max just remembered that he received drops from the field boss.
He decided to check them, but first...
Player: MaxV
Level: 71
Titles: Forager, Explorer, Hero of Trianca, Savior of... (read more)
Strength: 54 (+30)
Agility: 100 (+50)
Constitution: 81
Aura: 100 (+75)
Investing his saved stat points.
He decided to get Constitution to 101 points.
[Your Constitution has exceeded 100!]
[Your body can now handle significantly more aura!]
[Your body can now use aura more efficiently!]
[Your passive aura and health regeneration has increased significantly!]
[Your resistance to abnormal conditions has increased!]
Max hadn't invested for a while.
Now it was time to check what he had received from the flower.
[Poisonous Shard (x4)]
A shard that quickly poisons a pierced target and drains their health slowly. Without an antidote, the victim dies (only applies to mundane and Awakened humans, beasts and monsters). The poison also slows movement and reflexes significantly (applies to all foes under Elevated rank).
[Pure Petal (x4)]
[A material with several uses. It's for you to discover them!]
And that was it. Max expected at least three drops, but maybe the lack of a third drop is compensated by a bigger amount of EXP? He didn't expect to level up four times, even if it was a field boss.
'Well, whatever.'
Max also replaced his damaged armor with a new one. It was a dark, flexible, metallic and cloth armor he crafted in a town far away from here with the help of a blacksmith, somewhat inferior to his previous armor. The sucking snakes were that strong. Who knows how many people died in that snake cave with their bodies being sucked up and disappearing? Someone probably managed to escape and closed the dungeon out of consideration for others.
Half an hour later...
"Are you ready to move?" Max asked.
"Yes. I'll lead."
"Of course."
They got up, drank some more water and continued deeper into the cave.
The duo soon reached another entrance, however the tunnel wasn't made out of dirt, but stone, so they were probably safe. There were two other entrances on other sides of the expanse. They chose this one.
They entered and were on the look out for threats. None came. They kept walking.
The two men reached a dead end and turned back, disappointed.
They entered another tunnel that was made out of stone. The dirt tunnels probably indicated that they were artificial. Perhaps this dungeon was once a mine.
After a couple of minutes, they saw a light.
Max and the robed man exited the tunnel and froze.
...
A colossal monster was lying on the ground, wrapped in darkness, no, it looked like it was wrapped in black snakes. It was lying in another giant cave expanse, far bigger than the previous actually, but the rock wasn't surrounding the two anymore. There were different ores and crystals around them, illuminating this dark expanse.
The darkness extended from the lying monster in two different directions. Left and right. They almost looked like horizontal columns, but it was a gigantic mass of snake bodies going into the dirt in two directions. If they decided to attack the monster, Max was sure that the snakes feeding this...source would come and erase them. He quickly came to that conclusion after performing a fast analysis. He was sure that those deadly snakes were extensions of this monster.
The duo looked at each other in silence. Max pressed his lips with his two fingers just in case, to tell him to be silent. The player didn't know if he would understand if he puts a finger on his lips.
Max pointed at the two cords and told him that they should cut them through body language.
He nodded in agreement and they quickly, but silently approached.
The duo soon got close enough, charged up their swords with their aura and their bodies to the limit to increase their cutting power.
They looked at each other and nodded.
Two large aura slashes, and then some more. The two warriors were fast. The creature was silent, but it moved. It was too late, their attacks managed to cut the darkness. Those cords were surely the long bodies of all the snakes in this underground dungeon that would come to the aid of the host.
The creature produced no sound and it got up. It immediately started swinging its huge arms at the duo. Ten meters in length, at least. The arms. They dodged and tried to cut the arms with ranged aura attacks. They damaged the darkness, but not the white bone beneath. Too strong. Not even Carsius damaged it.
"I will locate weak spots! Distract it! Trust me!"
He nodded and sent a few fearsome ranged attacks of golden light that distracted the monster. It left Max alone for a moment.
Max activated Deep Vision. An ability he was rewarded with for dealing the last hit on ten field bosses on their weakest spots. It allows him to see weak spots.
The player peered through the body, through the matter and looked at the energy, the aura of the monstrosity. Its flow and source. He looked, and looked...
"Just below the neck! We attack just below the neck!" Max yelled as the man dodged attack after attack of the dark titan.
"Understood."
However, there was no way to get up there. Their aura slashes would certainly deal damage, but it probably wouldn't be enough, because aura attacks weaken the further they travel.
"We have to knock it down first!" Max said.
"I'll take the left leg." The man said as he rolled a massive attack.
'I don't think we can afford getting hit even once. It would be far too devastating, even if we survive. This monster is stronger than anything I have ever faced. One hit and I'm done, my armor won't help me here.'
All he saw beneath the darkness was bone. And bone cannot move on its own, and cannot connect with bone on its own. These snake-like bodies wrapped around the entirety of the titan probably act like muscles and connective tissue. If they cut through enough volume, it'll fall. Something has to move and link the bone.
Max leapt high to dodge another arm swing of death. He couldn't use Phase here because the attacks weren't single target. These attacks would shatter part of an army.
The attacks were fast and probably one-shot. Max's senses were elevated and his aura was being spent quite quickly.
The player is at 60% already due to the previous tunnel run. Not good.
'We have to finish this soon.'
Max slid under another swing and leapt out of the way of a follow-up leg stomp, getting under it.
Max's sword was infused long ago with aura. His body as well. His attack power was at its peak. He immediately slashed at the darkness. The hooded man jumped out of being stomped.
Max used that to his advantage. He cut the darkness and leapt away anticipating a kick, but none came.
Again, after two slashes, he leapt away.
"It doesn't kick!" The hooded man said.
"Find a connection between two bones!" Max yelled.
Perhaps it's limited in movement. It did have two legs and arms like a human, but it isn't a human.
The monstrosity regenerates as well. But not fast enough. As the darkness connects almost halfway and heals almost halfway, he sends another attack.
The darkness made by snake skin was pretty dense on the legs. The monster lifted the leg to stomp the player, but failed. The robed man kept slashing. Max kept slashing, and very soon they reach the bone. Not what they seek. They need to find a connection between two bones.
Then, as if the monster adapted to the enemy, sent a stiff kick towards Max, which caught him by surprise.
The air was kicked out of the player and he flew away into a rock.
[Your health is at a dangerous level! All stats have been reduced by 30%]
The monster approached Max but Carsius sent a large, illuminating aura slash at the boss monster, then followed up with a vertical leap towards its back six meters above and slashed multiple times before landing down.
The monster turned around and tried to hook the man, but he slid under the death guaranteeing attack and bolted into its leg with his body flying and rotating in the air, aura flowing in a spiral, like his body, making his body and aura a terrifying javelin attack.
The monster staggered but that was it. Carsius hit bone and couldn't do anything significant.
But he gave enough time for Max who blacked out for a moment to get up and join back in the fight.
The player took a drug that would aid him in the weakened state and rushed in again.
"Find a connection between two bones!" Max yelled again.
His armor was ruined, his health at 10% but it didn't matter.
All he had to do was not get hit. He never could get hit by this monster. Him surviving that stiff, clumsy kick produced by adaptation is nearly a miracle.
The two men dodged stomps and kicks and slashed several spots until Max found the connection and cut it.
Two bones that were previously connected fall out and the titan loses its balance. It falls down easily.
They say no words and run and jump the length of more than fifteen meters to the monster's neck.
The man already was slashing before Max reached the weak spot and both of them slash until they see a glowing core, with parts of it being pitch black. They hit it once, twice. But then the monster started moving around on the ground and tried to hit the duo with its arms. It tried to knock the player off but he leapt high into the air and sent an aura stab at the exposed core. The man slashed again after dodging sideways with his golden glowing white sword.
The monster's health bar was halved. Max managed to get one more attack in from range and Carsius white sword finished the monster off. It stopped moving and the core was releasing aura and blinding light.
"Dodge!" Max screamed. His instincts told him he was in danger.
The two slayers leapt off as far as their legs could take them and rolled on the ground while the core burst and exploded behind them.
Then, he received notifications.
[You have slain an Epic boss monster: Parasite of the Fallen Titan!]
[You have received a title: Pioneer!]
[You have received a title: Hero King's Shadow!]
[You have received a title: Hyper Level Upper!]
[You have received a title: Fearless Slayer!]
[You have inherited a Passive Ability: Super Regeneration!]
[You have inherited a Passive Ability: Echolocation!]
[You have received a Passive Ability: Heroic Mind!]
[You have gained 200000 EXP!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have...
[A PLAYER HAS DEFEATED AN EPIC BOSS MONSTER FOR THE FIRST TIME!]
[You have received the Damaged Core of the Fallen Titan!]
[Strength has surpassed 100.]
[Your attack power has increased greatly and aura enhancement produces better results.]
[All stats have surpassed 100.]
[You have reached a new stage of being.]
[You are now an Awakened human!]
[More significant changes to your body will happen while you sleep.]
Max didn't even look at the messages. He immediately went up to the mysterious man and pulled him into a hug.
He also wrapped his arms around Max and patted his back.
"May I know your name, sir?" The heroic player asked.
"It's Carsius. You did damn fine, kid." Max never heard the name.
"I would have died without you long ago." The player said.
"You were an important help as well."
"Thank you."
The titan exploded and the menacing bone structure underneath the scattered darkness became visible. They looked around the cave expanse to see if there was anything else important.
Seconds later, the duo noticed someone sitting against a wall, completely covered in damaged, carved golden armor. It seems the deadly snakes couldn't suck up the armor.
***
"Any hints on the main boss?" A man with dark brown hair and dominating dark brown eyes asked.
"Not yet, guild master." A beautiful blonde answered.
"Just call me Priam in private. You're my girlfriend."
The couple were sitting in a luxurious restaurant. The man drank half of the juice served to him immediately while waiting for the food to arrive.
"About..."
[A PLAYER HAS DEFEATED AN EPIC BOSS MONSTER FOR THE FIRST TIME!]
Both of the players received the notification. Global notifications are incredibly rare and amazing.
"What the hell?!" The girl yelled.
They received an option to watch the video or not. Both of them naturally clicked Yes.
Two guys were shown approaching a lying titan. They cut the cords extending out of the monster and all hell broke loose.
They continued watching the fight.
The man whose name was Priam checked the location of the boss fight. The left upper corner showed the world the two were in. Floor 1.
Once the man saw that, his eyes showed surprise.
"Floor one? This is weird. I thought every player on the first floor settled down." The girl said.
"Things are getting interesting." The man smiled slightly.