Gates

Killing the last skeletal being Leo retrieved his weapons and went on to inspect the swords skeletons were using. He wanted to steal a skeleton's sword when he killed one in the forest, but the sword skeleton wielded was badly damaged and in no condition to use.

Assessing the swords Leo noticed multiple cracks on the sword skeleton without an arm had. The weapon wouldn't be of any use to Leo, hence he disposed of it. On the other hand a sword which assassinated skeletal being wielded was in a better condition. The blade was a bit dull and rusty, but Leo noticed no details indicating that it would break during the fight.

Putting the new weapon inside his inventory Leo resumed his trip. While walking further he realized that the tunnel was slowly expanding.

After a few minutes of walking Leo noticed light at the end of the tunnel. Walking closer he saw a few torches hung off the walls of the cave. The light source illuminated huge rusty gates with two stone statues standing near it. Both statues looked like a low ranking demon, because they had horns, but didn't have bat-like wings on their backs which would indicate that they are high ranked ones.

Carefully approaching the gates Leo tried to push the gates open, but was unsuccessful, because of a huge chain with a lock hanging around them. Looking at the lock Leo noticed that there was a massive keyhole.

While Leo was engaged in his own business. Statues' eyelids suddenly opened. A red glow of their eyes illuminated the previously dim tunnel. With a loud cracking sound the statues turned their heads towards Leo.

Crack... Crack...

Not even turning to look Leo cursed his luck.

' Hmmm... Gargoyles... Well, aren't I a lucky fellow to meet some beings from the myths ? '

Dejectedly smiling Leo shifted his body to look at the creatures. Both statues were gaping at him with red eyes that looked like flames from hell. Gargoyles were barehanded, but because they were in the form of demons they had sharp claws that could easily pierce metal.

Leo noticed that stone structures were trying to move, but because they hadn't moved for a long time they were a bit rusty. Enhancing his legs with Mana Leo stomped the ground and bolted towards one of the statues.

He slashed one of his daggers at its leg, but the strike didn't even scratch it.

' How can stone be this hard ? '

Leo expected daggers to have close to no effect on the stone, but it was honestly depressing. Avoiding the descending claws Leo rolled to the side and took out the sword. Evading another pair of claws Leo swung his sword at the gargoyle's wrist.

At first there was no result, but after hitting the same place Leo noticed the statue's arm cracking a bit. After a few minutes of chipping its wrist Leo finally destroyed one hand of the first gargoyle. It elevated a bit of pressure off Leo's shoulders. Continuously dodging strikes that can end your life instantly is very stressful.

Leo started to attack vital points of the gargoyles. The neck areas were Leo's target, but because the statues were huge it was hard to reach it. The only way Leo could attack the neck was to dodge the statue's strike and hit it while the gargoyle was recovering.

After 10 minutes of fighting the gargoyle without an arm finally fell.

[ Gargoyle { Low Demon Form } Defeated...]

[ Reward +60Xp ]

Leo's eyes momentarily widened.

' I found a Xp farm '

He was very happy that fate didn't abandon him. It was just leading him towards success. While Leo was on Cloud Nine. The other gargoyle was momentarily stunned. It Slowly approached its fallen comrade and let out a low growl.

Snapping out of his thoughts Leo felt a sense of doom hanging above him. Suddenly cracks started appearing on the dead gargoyle's body. Soon enough the statue broke apart in a lot of stone parts. some parts of a dead statue started gravitating towards the other Gargoyle forming a crown on its head.

' Fuck the fate '

Leo was about to tactically retreat when a system notification made him rethink his decision.

[ Anomaly Detected.... ]

[ Scanning... ]

[ Evolved Gargoyle { Demonic Statue } Detected! ]

[ Defeat the Statue to receive extra rewards ]

Grinning Leo closed the system and gripped his sword's handle tightly.

' I hope the rewards are worth it ! '

****

A figure could be seen used to mop the floor and clean some spiders on the walls. Unfortunately that figure was Leo. Vomiting blood he cursed himself for thinking he could defeat a creature which had so much strength.

' How this dude pack such a punch that even sends iron gates fly of their hinges '

That's right the creature became more powerful, but its intelligence didn't increase. Leo positioned himself before the gates and baited the creature into punching him. Sure enough gates flew away like birds, without any resistance. He could've ran away from it, but wanted extra Xp and didn't know what's waiting ahead, hence had to defeat the gargoyle to guarantee himself an escape route.

Leo managed to avoid most of its strikes, but against fists the size of car's wheels it was practically impossible to dodge all of them. The statue also stretched its body enough, hence there were no hindrances to its movements making it move faster.

Clenching his teeth Leo decided to kill the gargoyle by using an oldest trick in the book - Stalactites.

Maneuvering around the barrage of fists Leo positioned himself before the wall and awaited for gargoyle's punch. Blinking once Leo saw the first appear before his face. He quickly lowered his body to dodge the strike and gazed at the stalactites hanging on the ceiling.

Bang...

The collision was very loud. The whole ground shook and the cave trembled. Some stalactites started cracking, but none fell. Gritting his teeth Leo saw another punch heading his way. Using [ Mana Envelopment ] Leo enhanced his leg muscles and jumped high in the air dodging another punch.

Crack...

A few stalactites fell, unfortunately none of them hit the raging statue.

Bang.... Crack... Crack... Crack... Bang... Bang... Crack... Crack... Crack...

Punches were thrown and stalactites fell right after. Unfortunately odds of it hitting a moving object were not major ones.

Crash...

Finally one of them hit the gargoyle's shoulder.

' Finally ! '