Chapter 17: Battling the 'Zorat King'!!

Monster: Zorat King

Title: Uncrowned king

Tier: 1(Uncommon)

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This was the monster I was trying to battle today. It even had a title that I didn't have even after becoming the legacy holder of an ancient magic. 

" Life truly is unpredictable"

I thought to myself before activating the ' Rune of Stealth'. Its eyes momentarily flashed with confusion before it started snoring, already asleep.

"Don't you have any other work than sleeping?"

I was left speechless, contemplating how was I going to check the effect of my other runes when a single rune could render such a formidable monster defenseless, ready for me to kill it as I wanted. This wasn't the scenario I had thought of while spending an entire night camping outside the dungeon, enduring endless worthless chatter.

So, the only option left was to deactivate my rune before engaging in combat with the monster in front of me.

ROAR…..

Oh my... The aggression it was displaying was on a completely different level compared to the defenseless monsters I had encountered earlier. Its rotten canines, coated with poison, gleamed as it readied itself to tear me apart at the first opportunity.

Squeak…. Squeak….

"Here comes the minions"

The ground trembled as a pack of 'Zorats' marched toward the chamber, their squeaks echoing ominously while following their king's command. It felt like a mini earthquake, and I realized it could have been my greatest mistake if these monsters were like monsters habituating other low-level dungeons in the town.

Thankfully, there was a leeway to this predicament.

It was killing the 'Zorat King' in front of me before its minions got the chance to even enter this chamber. The 'Zorat king' might have been the king of this dungeon but even it wasn't capable of increasing the speed of its minions that walked at the pace of tortoises, wobbling from time to time.

It took me over five minutes to reach the corridor leading to the chamber where the 'Zorat King' resided. In terms of the time it would take for these zombified monsters to arrive, I had at least ten minutes, if not more to kill the monster in front of me.

We stood in the same place for about a minute, staring at each other, the atmosphere tense. I was carefully observing the monster before me, taking in every detail because it was the first time I had a chance to stand and look at it from such a distance. 

After one last glance, I retrieved my longsword from its sheath on my back, assumed a battle-ready stance, and charged towards the monster. 

The battle with the Boss began as soon as I assumed my stance. The creature charged at me, its sharp talons dripping with poison, as I prepared to meet its attack head-on.

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Shiinggg.....

'Nightmare' flashed by penetrating the left eye belonging to the growling monster. Its roars of pain echoing in the chamber.

I followed with a longsword in my hands, slashing towards its neak, ready to decapitate the monster. But it was able to deflect my sword with its talons, even counterattacking in the process.

Looking at the piercing talon flashing towards me, I willed 'Nightmare', activating both the 'Rune of confusion', and 'Rune of Poison' at the same time. Both the runes worked in tandem, one disrupting its attack while another infusing its body with poison. 

This gave me a chance to deflect its talon while also counterattacking it with my Longsword. As for the poison, it was going to slowly erode its vitality, killing it in the process.

Squelch...

Roar...

My sword was able to chop off the limb that it was attacking me with. Just the brute strength of mine had been able to hack the limb without infusing the mana inside it. I even had the time to punch the groaning monster in its face, flinging it several feet in the air before THUD... It fell to the ground.

Splatter....

I could see the pool of 'pale yellow' blood splattering out at the place the monster had just been thrashed into. It stopped moving but the slight twitch from time to time along with the loud and heavy breaths it was taking in, gave it away. 

Even if the Boss had managed to conceal its heavy breathing, I would have easily detected its act of deception. Having seen the adventurers battle with it numerous times in previous raids, I knew its tactic of feigning death all too well.

While experienced adventurers who frequented this dungeon regularly weren't fooled by its subpar acting, new parties could easily fall for the ruse allowing the 'Zorat King' to gather enough poison for a final, desperate attack.

And I wasn't some novice adventure who would wait for the Syastem to notify them about the completion of the raid by killing the boss of the dungeon. I wasn't going to let it complete its ploy of saturating its entire body with poison, only to obliterate its monster core and scatter its poisoned blood along with its body parts across the area, injuring or even killing anything or anyone in the area.

I willed 'Nightmare' activating the 'Rune of Confusion', Disrupting the accumulation of poison and backlashing it in the process.

Grunt...

" See that. It was still alive, waiting for me to enter the range of its final attack."

Squeak...

Damn, How did they already reach the corridor? I was flabbergasted listening to the squeaks from the monsters and the thundering sound of stampede outside the chamber. 

"I wanted to enjoy killing you slowly but..." Looking at the monster that was slowly getting corroded by the poison I had injected into it, I did a quick job of decapitating it with my long sword while retrieving the Nightmare' in the process.

Despite my pitiful soul power, which wasn't sufficient to fully control it, activating the rune inscribed on Nightmare only required my thought. This was also the reason I could 'will' it to activate the runes when required, making the battle way easier for me today.

Anyway, the conclusion I arrived at after battling the 'Zorat king' was, that it was too easy of an opponent for me. I could defeat it effortlessly in any situation, without breaking a sweat.

"Wasn't it your weapon doing the job??" I would have yelled at others if their weapon was as good as the one I was using. But, that was how the fight was supposed to be as it was my weapon, the 'Runic Weapon' soulbound with me.

[Succesfully killed the boss of the dungeon.]

[Obtained the loot 'Enchanted Dagger' and monster core dropped by the Boss.]

[The adventurer can now exit the Dungeon.]

[Do you want to exit the Dungeon??] [Yes/No]

[Or do you want to stay in the dungeon killing the monsters left to be killed?] [Yes/No]

Notifications came at the perfect time as I was already done with the job here. I had defeated the boss monster, acquired the 'Enchanted Dagger,' tested all my runes in actual combat, and even had a chance to stretch my muscles during the battle. In conclusion, I was done with everything I wanted to do here.

So, I left the dungeon, not bothering the 'Zorats' that were slowly entering the chamber, glaring at me with fury in their eyes. Their fury wasn't worth my time.

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Huff....

Looking at the lively area filled with people, I took a deep breath, eased my posture, and strolled out of the waiting area towards the Adventurers Guild. I wanted to sell the monster core belonging to the 'Zorat king' and earn some contribution points. 

I was planning to increase my title in the guild to get access to information regarding Dungeons, especially runes that worked as entrances to the fragmented dimensions. For that, I was going to visit all the dungeons present in the town to check whether the runes were present in all the dungeons or only in this specific dungeon.

The presence of such runes in all the dungeons here could act as proof suggesting their presence in the dungeons worldwide, serving as gateways to other realms connected to ours through these runes.

If I could exchange the research paper holding the findings made by scholars from the past and even present times, I might learn more about my legacy, its origin, or even the way to break the seal faster than it was getting right now.

There were several questions but no answer. 

And I was determined to get all the answers regarding my legacy, the purpose of Dungeons that Runes protected, and particularly why Runes seemed absent from the town as I hadn't seen it used anywhere except the entrance to the dungeon. Even the guild as powerful as the Adventurers guild lacked any runic equipment, leaving me curious about the legacy I've obtained.

"Was the town I'm living in backward, or was the concept of runes not present in the world of 'Exodius'?" It was an intriguing question, but there was no one to provide me with any answers.

'What will the future hold for me??"

It was also an intriguing question without any answer.