The Unlucky Chameleon Group!

"This is the place." James murmured to himself, pulling out the route map and carefully comparing it to the terrain ahead.

He stood before a vast cluster of stalactites, towering like ancient stone giants. The enormous stalactites stretched from the ceiling of the cavern down to the ground, creating an eerie stone forest. After double-checking the map, he was sure, this was the area marked as the blood crystal vein.

With a wary glance around, James cautiously made his way into the labyrinth of stone columns. The silence pressed in on him, unnatural and unnerving. He hadn't encountered a single soul; no aliens, no humans. Not even a whisper of life.

"This isn't right," James muttered, his instincts prickling. The absence of any threats or noise felt wrong, like the calm before a storm.

Inside the stone forest, his visibility was reduced to just a dozen meters, the towering stalactites obscuring his view. The jagged rock formations seemed to close in on him, making it easy to lose his bearings. Reaching out, he ran his fingers along the surface of a stalactite, feeling its cool, smooth texture. His touch left a shallow scratch on the soft stone, a reminder of the fragility hidden behind the hard surface.

Navigating through the stone maze was tricky, but James relied on his gut and experience to find a vague sense of direction. He moved forward cautiously, always alert. But then, without warning, he came to an abrupt halt.

Something was off.

His sharp eyes fixed on a particular stalactite ahead, its surface unnervingly smooth. He scanned his surroundings, sensing something lurking just beyond his sight. A grin slowly spread across his face.

"Well, well, this is quite interesting," he said, scratching his head in mock confusion. Without hesitation, he raised his right hand, and with a clench of his fist, the Death Scythe materialized in a flash of dark energy. In one fluid motion, he swung it at the seemingly empty space in front of him.

'Poof!'

Blood splattered across the stone wall as the sickle sliced clean through the air. A light green, wriggling tail thudded to the ground, still twitching.

At that moment, the owner of the severed tail scrambled up the stalactite, revealing itself. The creature came into view; a light green chameleon, more than a meter long. Its eyes bulged as it locked its gaze on James from above, glaring at him with a mix of fear and anger.

"Hmm, looks like I missed the main target," James muttered, observing the dark aura that clung to the chameleon's wound. His corrosive skill was already working, gnawing away at the creature's flesh like an insidious poison.

He had to admit, the chameleon's camouflage ability was impressive; so much so that even he hadn't detected it initially. The creature had blended into the environment so perfectly that it was virtually invisible. But it wasn't just his sharp senses that had revealed it. As he had passed by the stalactite, his 'Life Harvest' skill had lit up, signaling something alive where the space should have been empty.

"Your camouflage is good," James said, his eyes narrowing, "but not good enough."

Suddenly, a chorus of rustling noises filled the air, growing louder and more insistent. James's eyes darted upward, and his heart skipped a beat. His jaw tightened as he took in the scene above him.

The ceiling of the stone forest was swarming with them, light green chameleons, hundreds of them. At a glance, he counted at least two or three hundred, all creeping silently, their bulging eyes fixated on him.

"Well, this just got interesting," James muttered under his breath, his grip on the Death Scythe tightening.

It seemed the real battle was about to begin.

It was unclear whether the chameleons realized James could see through their flawless camouflage, but whatever the reason, they suddenly abandoned all pretense. They hung from the stalactites, their green, bulging eyes fixated on him, unblinking, their eerie stillness sending a shiver down his spine.

"Ugh, this is just gross," James muttered to himself, his gaze sweeping across the unsettling sight of dozens of chameleons staring down at him. Their eyes twitched and swiveled in different directions, but none of them moved to attack. Instead, they surrounded the injured chameleon, the one whose tail James had severed, watching him with a heightened sense of wariness.

He could see the black aura of his corrosive skill creeping up from the chameleon's wound. It stiffened, its body giving a final shudder before it lost its grip and plummeted to the ground with a thud.

[Host has devoured 47 points of life force. Life force purification activated. Growth value increased by 94 points.]

[Secondary erosion activated: Killing low-grade F-level alien species rewards 1 point of dark matter.]

James's eyes flickered with recognition. 'Dark matter…' It was part of his Corrosion skill, which granted him dark matter whenever a target died from the eroding effects of his attack. But there was no time to dwell on it now. The moment the first chameleon died, the others reacted with startling aggression.

In unison, the chameleons' mouths snapped open, and without warning, hundreds of long, pink tongues shot out toward James like a volley of arrows.

"Shit!" he cursed aloud, diving to the side as the barrage of tongues whipped past him. The scene was unlike anything he had ever faced before, hundreds of sticky tongues stretching through the air toward him. He narrowly avoided being caught, but it left him momentarily stunned. 'Have I ever been this close to being licked to death?' The absurdity of the situation was almost amusing, even if the attackers were anything but human.

The tongues slammed into the ground where he had just been standing, smashing the solid rock into crumbled dust. James couldn't help but wonder if their tongues ever got tangled up with each other when they did that.

But before he could entertain the thought further, the second wave of attacks came; another volley of tongues, each more precise than the last. This time, there was no dodging it.

James stood his ground, letting the mass of tongues rush toward him. Just as the pink tendrils were about to pierce through his body, his form blurred and dissolved into a swirling mass of black mist.

A moment later, James reappeared, this time emerging from the stone wall behind the group of chameleons. The 'Night Walk' skill, while limited in bright areas, gave him an incredible advantage in the dim light of the underground. Here, he could teleport almost anywhere within a hundred meters, using the shadows to his advantage.

The chameleons hadn't yet retracted their tongues when James struck. A sly grin spread across his face as he gripped his massive scythe, the Death Scythe gleaming ominously in the dark.

"Let's see how you handle this," he whispered, raising the scythe across his chest. Channeling his 'Gale' skill, he transformed into a swift gust of wind, spiraling through the cluster of chameleons.

The scythe cut through the air with deadly precision, slicing into the creatures with ruthless efficiency. The chameleons barely had time to react before the sickle tore through their ranks, leaving a trail of severed limbs and tails in its wake.

James didn't hold back, moving like a phantom wind, his scythe cutting down the swarm without mercy. The once menacing group of chameleons was now nothing more than a heap of twitching bodies, their camouflage no longer a threat.

The group of chameleons, despite their numbers, were not formidable opponents. All of them were merely F-grade creatures, which meant they couldn't hope to withstand the devastating power of James's Death Scythe. The true strength of his attack didn't just lie in the single blow; his 'Gale' technique allowed him to strike multiple targets in quick succession, with each strike further enhanced by the scythe's deadly special effects and the unique buffs from his 'Heart Method: Night'.

Even the most resilient of the chameleons—those with close to 200 points of life force—stood no chance once they were caught in the whirlwind of his attacks. A few gusts from the scythe were all it took to decimate them.

This was precisely why James had chosen the 'Gale' spell over more powerful group attack techniques. While other spells might boast overwhelming strength, 'Gale' was fast, struck multiple times, and inflicted continuous damage. The perfect spell for someone who needed to deal with numerous enemies quickly.

[The host devours 48 points of life force. Life force purification activated. Growth value increased by 96 points.]

[Secondary erosion activated: Killing low-grade F-level alien species grants 1 point of dark matter.]

[The host devours 37 points of life force. Life force purification activated. Growth value increased by 74 points.]

The system prompts rang in James's mind as chameleon after chameleon fell, their bodies thudding to the ground like broken dolls. With each kill, he could feel his power growing steadily. The air filled with the sickening sound of flesh hitting stone as dozens of mutilated bodies rained down from the stalactites above.

But the remaining chameleons weren't ready to give up. With their numbers dwindling, they retracted their long tongues and shot them toward James in a desperate counterattack, their pink tendrils snapping through the air with surprising speed.

"Hmph," James scoffed, unimpressed by their feeble attempts. Dark energy flared around him as he activated his 'Huaye' skill. The moment the skill came into effect, the cooldown for his 'Night Walk' was reset. In an instant, his form flickered, and before the chameleons could blink, James reappeared right in their midst, as if he had never moved at all.

Standing in the heart of the chameleon swarm, his scythe gleaming in his hand, a cruel smile spread across his face. He looked like a reaper surveying his harvest, his eyes cold and unfeeling as he regarded the creatures around him, mere lambs awaiting slaughter.

"Same old trick," he muttered under his breath. And with a swift motion, he unleashed another round of 'Gale', the winds tearing through the air with lethal precision.

[The host devours 50 points of life force. Life force purification activated. Growth value increased by 100 points.]

[Secondary erosion activated: Killing low-grade F-level alien species grants 1 point of dark matter.]

[The host devours 32 points of life force. Life force purification activated. Growth value increased by 64 points.]

In moments, the battlefield was littered with the remains of his enemies. The few chameleons that had dared to strike at him were now lifeless, their bodies torn apart by the relentless winds and the unforgiving blade of the Death Scythe.

James stood amidst the carnage, the dark energy around him slowly receding as he let out a satisfied sigh. He had devoured a significant amount of life force, and his growth value had surged with each kill. But more than that, the dark matter he collected would only serve to fuel his future endeavors.

With a final glance at the fallen creatures, he knew his work here was done. There would be more challenges ahead, but for now, he was content with the power he had reclaimed.

And with that, the god of death faded back into the shadows, ready for whatever came next.