Dark Pit

'How the heck did this even happen?' Leon thought to himself as he tried to hold his ground against the unending swarm of millipedes. Ghost Millipedes, Ghost Millipede Soldiers, and a different variant pushed against him endlessly, forcing him back to the pit that laid behind him.

"Argh!" Leon cried out as a portion of the ground behind him gave out and crumbled, making him lose his balance. A millipede slammed against him, tipping him over, and finally pushing him down into the pit of darkness that awaited him.

.

.

One Hour Earlier...

Leon carefully walked through the wide tunnel with his sword held out at the ready. His steps were slow and steady as he focused his vision on every possible opening where he could be ambushed from. There was nothing...

Shhh...

The sound of sand and earth giving way alerted Leon to a tunnel that branched out on his right. He quickly turned there and followed after it. His intuition told him that the millipede that passed there was most likely heading deeper into the nest.

Ever since he had gotten this body, his intuition had played a decent role in his decision making up till now. Even though it had only been a bit over a week since he came here, he felt he could trust it up to a certain point.

He continued making his way deeper into the nest while keeping his senses perked up for any sounds or movements. It continued this way until about fifteen minutes later when he heard the sounds of movement from up ahead.

Gripping his sword tighter, Leon continued moving until he came to the end of the tunnel. Bright blue light shone from crystals that were embedded into the walls and ceiling of the open underground cavern. Underneath the bright light of the crystals, a multitude of millipedes rolled and crawled over each other, with their minds pointed in one direction. They were all focused on Leon.

Leon's mind screamed at him and alarm bells rang in his mind as he dove forward, just in time to dodge the rain of rubble that blocked the path behind him.

'Crap!' He screamed inwardly as he jumped to his feet, raising his sword up. Upon seeing that their foe was trapped with them, the millipedes finally swarmed forward, rolling over each other in order to reach him.

The lesser millipedes were at the forefront of the charge, and met Leon in battle first. His sword easily cleaved through them as he swung them about, but their sheer numbers were almost enough to overwhelm him. He was sure that there were roughly about seventy lesser millipedes in this crowd alone, and all of them were decently strong.

[Level 50 Ghost Millipede killed.]

[Level 43 Ghost Millipede killed.]

[Level 71 Ghost Millipede killed.]

...

The notifications kept pouring in as he killed foe after foe. The lesser variants were being thinned down, but the rate dropped immediately the soldier variants joined in on the attack. Leon was immediately pushed back as he was forced to defend against frontal attacks from the soldier variants, as well as flank attacks from the lesser variants.

He slowly moved to the left where a tunnel led out of the cavern he was currently trapped in. He was sure that there was something else inside there, but he was willing to take a bet that he might be able to survive if he went in that direction, then be drowned in the wave of dark purple chitin.

Upon entering the tunnel, the pressure on him immediately dropped a few notches, as the millipedes were unable to carry out attacks from his flank. He focused on thinning out the numbers of the millipedes, so that the pressure he would have to face when he reached the end of the tunnel and entered into the cavern at the end of it would be less.

At least, even if he was not able to raise his level, the level of his only skill was still climbing higher and higher.

[Beginner Weapon Mastery has gained a level.]

[Beginner Weapon Mastery has gained a level.]

[Beginner Weapon Mastery has gained a level.]

[Dexterity +1]

[Dexterity +1]

The level of his Weapon Mastery skill had already gained three levels during this high paced battle, and his Dexterity stat had also been kicked up a notch because of all the funny angles he had to bend his wrist and fingers at in order to respond to the odd and difficult directions that the millipedes attacked him from.

Dong!

A strong vibration travelled up Leon's right arm as his blade got bounced off a hardy piece of rock that jutted out of the wall of the tunnel. Because of the rock, he failed to kill the millipede soldiers that were right in front of him.

"Oof!" He let out a grunt as the closest one to his slammed into his middle section and sent him rolling down the path and out of the tunnel. "Dammit!" Before he could even get back on his feet, the wave of purple had already reached him. He quickly raised his sword to parry and hold against the millipedes, but this time, the third variant of the millipedes with darker chitin came to the front this time.

Unlike the lesser and soldier variants, this variant had a pitch black exoskeleton, and its first five sets of front legs were longer and more wicked looking. Their spear like tips easily pierced through the rock and earth beneath them as they rushed forward to deal with Leon.

Even with their overwhelming number, the tempering, however short it was, that Leon had undergone in the past week managed to see him through.

His mind was as cool as ice, and his eyes never lost their focus as he focused entirely on making sure they were not able to push him back. Their limbs were sheered off by his sharp blade, and their heads were hewn off as his blade danced in the damp air.

[Level 2 Ghost Millipede Royal killed.]

Surprise ran through Leon's bones when he saw the name of the third variant with spear-like frontal legs. He tried cutting through their legs, but the chitin around their frontal legs was many times stronger that the one covering the rest of their bodies.

Upon the death of the first royal variant of the millipedes, the rest were thrown into a raging frenzy. They began throwing themselves at Leon without abandon, not caring one bit if their lives were only wasted to allow one of their brethren to kill their enemy.

Leon began losing ground even further, and that was when he saw it. The dark pit that laid at the center of the chamber sent a ripple of fear through his heart. They planned to push him down there!

Over the next few minutes, Leon steadily lost ground against the dark wave of chitin until the pit was directly behind him. Despair bloomed in his heart as he tried to hold his ground, but failed.

'How the heck did this even happen?' Leon thought to himself as he tried to hold his ground against the unending swarm of millipedes. Ghost Millipedes, Ghost Millipede Soldiers, and Ghost Millipede Royals pushed against him endlessly, forcing him back to the pit that laid behind him.

"Argh!" Leon cried out as a portion of the ground behind him gave out and crumbled, making him lose his balance. A millipede slammed against him, tipping him over, and finally pushing him down into the pit of darkness that awaited him.