24 Chapter 23: Something, Not of This World
The light which revealed itself flashed numerous times before revealing what made it...
Something was odd... I was at a vulcanic and seismic active enviroment, right?
Then... why was something straight out of the sea slithering away on his leisure?
The thing that gave off the flashing light resembled something almost otherworldly. Moist, yet dry...
Almost impossible to describe, with all the detailed aspects of the small kritter. If I had to say what it resembled it looked similar to an eal, but with claws, legs and skin that somewhat resambled scales...
Yet... they weren't hard and sturdly like what you would expect... instead they were moist and slimy...
Disgusting really... something inside me screamed, telling me I would be a goner if it found me.
So, quickly jumping withing the shadows of the boulders which were spread out throughout the area... I swiftlt blended with the shadows, masking my pressence to a bare minimum.
Still... even if the creature was too horrific and disgusting for comfort, something intrigued me to use <Observation> on it.
As the window popped up nothing could be seen... Except for its tier;
[Name: ????
Tier: SSS
Title: ????
Race: ????
HP: ????
MP: ????
Armor: ????
Physical ATK: ????
Physical DEF: ????
STR: ????
DEX: ????
VIT: ????
INT: ????
WIS: ????
LUK: ????
Skills: ????]
Shocked by the results, it was best to let it pass as it was clear I wouldn't even be worth the time to devour for whatever this creature could resamble.
The weirdest part was the fact that its body seemed formless while maintaining form thanks to the countless discharges around its body...
Observing and unable to look away at the horror,
My body had become frozen in fear, similar to when I first saw the dragon, yet... this time, it was different because I couldn't put my finger on why I was scared of the creature...
What I could see was the fact that even if it resambled an eal at first it didn't really have any distinct form... other than the continuous flashes of static electricity that courses throughout its body.
Suddenly the creature was gone, almost like...
It was never there.
Thankfully the creature left without noticing me...
I had never felt like this before,
at least... Not that I could remember.
Even thought the creature wasn't that much bigger than me... It really was terrifying...
As I sat doen thinking about the fact that I had basically cheated death yet again... I asked myself why I was actually scared of the impossible to describe entity thst had almost crossed paths with me.
After a while and considering some options like the disgusting factor, the formless body or maybe even the fact that it kept being slimey and moisturised while electricity cracked throughout its body...
That was when it dawned on me.
I had a fear... for the unkown!
I mean... who could blame me?
Ever since I had been born it had been nothing but harsh and unkown experiences which I had to endure to survive.
"Man... I hope I won't encounter that creepy creature ever again..."
*Sigh*
My stomach began to growl as the fear had made me hungry.
*Growl*
As I had not <Over-Eaten> since arriving in the lower layer, it quickly became top priority to find something to eat!
First, I needed to calm down... As my heart was still beating in my throught. I closed my eyes for a second and slowly inhaled the air around me. When I couldn't inhale any further,
I then proceeded to exhale.
Which helped me calm down and collect the mental preparation for the hunt.
I looked around, trying to find whatever was easy to catch... and believe me, I knew it wouldn't be as easy as when I was at the upper layer, because here the beasts were so much more challenging than before.
As I slowly ventured back towards the flowing river of magma, I spotted a fight which had started on a similar platform than where I had to fight for survival.
Two salamanders were locked into an intense battle of attrition, disregarding their surrounding they didn't know I was observing their fight.
Isn't this a huge opportunity to properly <Observe> them? I thought to myself. With that thought in mind I activated the skill and immidiately noticed a difference in comparison with last time. Althought...
The information was still the same, giving me the usual traits, their rank were now clearly visible. One was even stronger than the other,
was it a rank higher?
Species: Berserker Salamander
Tier:III
Title: <Ruthless> <Relentless> <Berserker> <Conjurer of Flames>
Attributes:
HP: 215
MP: 395
SP: 120
Armor: 55 (20% damage reduction)
Physical ATK: 50 - 60
Physical DEF: 20
Magical ATK: 17,5
Magical DEF: 20
STR: 50
DEX: 60
VIT: 43
INT: 35
WIS: 40
LUK: 10]
Did my skill level up without me noticing back then, when I observed the vormless horror?
I closed their status windows and found something else which had been added to my skill, it appeared above their heads.
I could clearly see it... Their names!!!
And that was not all, it also showed me the status of their HP, MP and SP!! This had to be huge!
This wouls mean my <Observe> skill gained a partially passive addition?
[Species: Scorching Salamander
Tier:II
HP: 50/100 Armor: 10
MP: 60/125
SP: 18/30]
[Species: Berserker Salamander
Tier: III
HP: 180 Armor: 0
MP: 230/295
SP: 75/120]
Looking at the state they were in combined with what the satus above their heads revealed it became clear the bigger salamander had the upperhand, even if the smaller one was putting up a fight... It just wasn't enough.
If I wanted to gain the advantage against both of them it would proof to be best to wait out the battle, while <Observing> and using <Stealth> and <Camouflage> too.
The fight almkst came to an end when a notice appeared informing me about my learning progress for the <Camouflage> skill.
I was now at 80%.
Why did it go so fast...? Was it because it had proven to be effective as I concealed myself while the formless horror passed me by as if I was nothing?
Hmm... It appeared the right time to strike had arrived. I decided to keep both skills active while jumping straight in the middle of the fight.
As I did, spitting acid on the smaller one and snatching the bigger salamanders prey right deom underneath him.
[Due to the prey being unaware of your pressence you gained critical strike bonus. Due to this <Stealth lv 6> advances to <Stealth lv 7>]
[Due to the accumulated experience <Baby Ragnoss lv 2> advances to <Baby Ragnoss lv 4>]
Was this for real?! Did I just accumulate enough to gain two whole levels?!
Damn... that's so awesome haha!
The bigger salamander looked pissed as I indeed had snatched his prey away from underneath him.
The beast trampled towards me in a blinding rage, shooting fire from its mouth as it tried to insinerate me.
Wanting to gain more resistance I weakened the flames with my own <Fire Conjuration> but got overpower by the sheer size and volume of the beasts flames. The flames struck down on me burning through my scales and even scorching the flesh underneath.
The pain was unbearable, but when I thought it had been for nothing the system let me know I gained two levels for my <Burning Resistance> meaning I wouldn't be caught on fire by these flames anymore.
Glad that it had indeed proven to be worth the struggle I used my <stealth> and speed to get begind the beast as his vision got blocked by the flames he had cast out over the platform.
Enraged the beast trashed about, unaware of my location it smashed its head against the platform and swiped its tail around it, hoping to catch me with this wide angled attack.
But it only hit air...
Making it even more frustrated...
Not wanting to give it another chance, I quickly swiped my tail unerneath its feet, my plan was to making him fall to the ground and create a windownof opportunity, but the beast proof to be to heavy for me to swipe of ballance.
It had located me as it was now or never.
Quickly I jumped above the beast as it only had a faint idea of were I was... the jump then resulted in me landing on his back.
The beast got startled by this and began trashing about more ferociously. I knew it was now or never and saw s small area which wasn't armored, this was it... it was the beast its bare skin!!
Quickly I conjured as much acid as I could muster.
Soaking the back of its neck. Slowly but surely it began biting away at its skin and I knew I had to follow up with my explosive combo.
I began conjuring my flames, but just before I could cast them onto its next the beast succeeded in throwing me off.
There I lay, face to face with what could actually be one of my distant evolved relatives.
The beast couldn't care less as it opened its mouth ready to strike. It was them I used the last of my MP to shoot out as much acid I had left.
Wanting to counter the beast shot out its flames. I knew what was about to happen and quickly turned tail as I tried to jump off the platform.
The flames of the beast came into contact with the acid creating a massive explosion which sent me flying to the other side of the river.
After the explosion I turned around as I could hear a faint cry before the body of the beast collapsed.
It's head lay on the floor as it had come off cleanly...
I didn't realize it right away... but... did I become more tactfull? Had I won against a superior opponent?!
From the distance within the shadows something smiled as it too was observing what had happened, only to vanish before I realized it was there...
