5 Dungeon of the Chimera

A vile and sickening scent tickled Alex's nostrils as he held his breath. Several more hours had passed, and at this point, he had absorbed 24 Stones of Soma, causing his body to develop to even greater heights. Now, he believed he could take on the underlings of the Chimera Cat that resided in the uncleared dungeon.

As he walked around the streets of Vancouver near Bryxton Tower, he grew disgusted at the unpleasant scent that followed him around. 'Is this the Chimera Cat or its underlings' doing? No, it has to be the smell of some idiots doing drugs.'

As he finally approached the basement of the Bryxton Tower, what he saw before him was a door. No, to be precise, it was more like a gate or a doorway. Guarded by spikes of metal, a wooden door that seemed to be the size of a house with flames on each side. It produced an ominous sensation as if it were the home of a creature surpassing mortal bounds.

"It's… a little different than last time," Alex mumbled, inspecting the gateway cautiously. "Maybe it's because I discovered it too early?"

Paying it no mind, Alex approached the gate before retrieving his knife. He then swung it twice towards the two sides of the doorway, slicing the torches on which the flames rested apart.

Alex then gently pushed the wooden door on a part not infested with metal spikes, causing the door to sway as if being pushed by the wind. As the door opened, it revealed the existence of two monsters that pounced onto Alex's body immediately after seeing him.

Slice! Slice!

With two swings, Alex quickly disposed of the monster dogs, quickly swallowing the Stones of Soma. The pain caused by absorbing the stone was only a one-time occurrence, which meant that as soon as your body adjusted to the arrival of foreign energy, you would not feel pain when absorbing the stone.

"This makes the count 26 Stones of Soma," Alex announced with a content smile as he walked past the corpses of the dogs, not sparing a single glance. He followed the narrow path behind the dogs, turning right and left several times before entering another small room.

"Wolves…" Alex mumbled as he lunged forward, slicing at the skin of the wolves who previously rested inside the room. There were two wolves, and when Alex swung, he barely managed to land a shallow cut on one.

Alex took two steps back before leaning forward, avoiding the claw of one of the wolves nearly piercing his eyes. The wolf he had landed a cut on finally recovered after a couple of seconds as it charged at the one who caused it pain. However, all it received was the loss of one of its limbs, rendering it limp.

"You all are surprisingly agile and tough," Alex realized, concluding that these wolves were incomparably more powerful than the one Maxwell had fought. "If you were up against that kid, even I would have sustained some injuries if I had decided to interfere."

Crack!

The ground underneath the uninjured wolf cracked as it sustained the full strength of a monster.

"Too bad I'm incomparable to how strong I was back then, even if it was only a couple of hours ago," Alex smirked as he sprinted towards the wolf, dodging its claw before digging into its eyes using a knife.

Shatter!

Alex's smirk turned into a frown as he realized his knife had shattered due to the impact, but he did not have much time to react as a claw approached his skin at extreme speeds. Alex jumped into the air, narrowly avoiding the claw before landing on the wolf's snout, crushing it underneath his foot.

He then turned towards the injured wolf only to see the latter trembling in fear at one of its brethren being killed so brutally. Alex raised an eyebrow at the fact that the wolf could feel emotions, despite it being such a low-ranked monster.

"There's definitely something wrong with this dungeon," Alex concluded as he closed in on the wolf before punching its snout, ending its painful life of a few hours. "I can't exit before clearing the dungeon, either."

Alex was now in a predicament where the only solution was to clear the dungeon that clearly seemed to be above his current level of strength. As Alex picked up the four Stones of Soma that had dropped from the corpses of the wolves, he quickly swallowed them and experienced an instant development in his physique.

Alex sighed as he walked towards the next room, but his eyes widened as soon as he caught a glimpse of what resided inside.

Two orange-red creatures encompassed in a substance much like lava. Their skin was loose and hid their enormous, sharp fangs located inside their jaw. The two creatures looked much like giant lizards, except for the fact that they were the weakest monsters to possess elemental powers.

"The Underlings of Cerberus," Alex mumbled as cold sweat dripped down his forehead. Typically, he could have easily decapitated the two without any problems, but he didn't possess the strength he had in his previous life now. "Even if I go all out, I can't guarantee a flawless victory."

Moreover, one of the main factors why this type of monster was feared throughout the world was not because of its elemental powers, but a skill that instilled fear into the hearts of anyone who gazed upon it. It worked on anyone and everyone regardless of their position, but the level of fear depended on the person.

Alex, not having regained his full power and being far from doing so could only desperately attempt to suppress his trembling body as he peeked at the monsters through a crack in the gate leading to the room.

"I didn't think I would face such a tough foe so early on," Alex mumbled. "Well, I have no choice, do I?"

Just like that, Alex pushed the door open as he immediately charged at the Underlings of Cerberus with all his might. The monsters were quick to realize that an enemy had entered their turf as they immediately turned around and swung their tails at the intruder.

Alex, albeit a bit troubled by their unusually high agility, dodged all of their attacks without mistake. He then jumped as high as he could.

Fortunately, that seemed to be the correct decision, as the ground beneath where he previously stood slowly melted, revealing a large pool of magma that had now turned into lava. Alex squinted his eyes to analyze the monsters, trying to figure out if there were any changes in their appearance or abilities since his previous life.

Thankfully, the only thing that seemed to change was that the fear factor was more effective. However, that wasn't worth celebrating, either.

Alex landed on top of one of the monsters' heads, attempting to crush it before moving on to the other. However, what made his eyes widen was the fact that the monster's body didn't even budge, causing a troubled expression to appear on Alex's face.

"It seems your guys' durability increased, too," He commented before landing on his knees and attempting to punch the monster in the head. This time, despite there being no visible injury, a whine escaped the monster's mouth.

The other monster was quick to realize that its partner was in danger, sweeping its tail along the floor before making contact with Alex, sending the latter flying into the nearby wall. Alex's eyes landed on the gate, hoping he could enter the next room without having to engage in battle with these monsters any longer.

However, his hopes were shattered, as there seemed to be a "sensor" that prevented the gate from opening before the death of the two monsters.

"Wait, has only their durability improved?" Alex asked himself as he scratched his chin, dodging puddles of lava at intervals of about two seconds. "If that's the case, won't their endurance be the same as before?"

To test his prediction, Alex pounced on one of the Underlings of Cerberus before using what remained of his broken knife to pierce the giant lizard's scales above its head. What emerged was a cry of anger and pain instead of blood.

"Its endurance is surprisingly low," Alex confirmed, but not before a sweeping tail collided with his spine, sending him flying into a nearby wall. Blood emerged from his mouth as he frantically ran his fingers through where the spine was supposed to be located, letting out a sigh of relief after confirming that it was not broken.

Alex adopted an expression akin to that of a crazed murderer as his eyes miraculously shone brighter. He clutched his dagger as tight as possible before preparing a stance.

"Even if I don't kill you, I'll be sure to force you two into cardiac arrest, fuckers," Alex triumphantly spoke, finally initiating his assault on the poor monsters.