Facing The Serocis [Pt 1]

"I'm ready."

Adonis raised the sword he had taken on his way to this room.

The Guild provided many items and equipment for those who desired to take Tests, though using them was optional.

The items were also pretty basic, so no one taking any advanced test really bothered with them.

Still, with Adonis not having a sword of his own, refusing to even think of bringing out his Divine Sword, this was his only choice.

'It should do the trick.' He told himself, taking a battle stance as he narrowed his gaze on the massive door before hm.

Once it was open, the Monster would charge out… and then came the tricky part.

'I have to try my hardest to hold back, just enough to defeat the A-Tier Monster. That way they can underestimate me as much as possible.'

Adonis would never give them what they desired.

"Very well. I shall now release the A-Tier Monster." Britta said, reaching for a lever that was right beside her.

~CLICK!~

The gigantic door began to tremble, almost mechanical in a sense. And then, the ground beneath it opened.

That very instant, the hinges loosened and the slab of metal that covered the entrance swiftly descended into the abyss.

Before even a second passed, a massive creature charged out of the dark room where it was held and wildly made its entrance.

"GRUAAAAHHHHH!!!"

The creature's body resembled a lion, albeit blackened by its dense hide. It had three scorpion-looking tails, and its six eyes were red with fury.

'Serocis, huh? This is a tricky one, even among A-Tier Monsters.' Adonis stole a glance at the dark gentleman who folded his arms and watched him keenly.

His suitcase was right beside him, as was his partner, Lux.

'Did they pick this one intentionally?'

There were many questions bubbling up within Adonis' mind, but something told him that the ferocious beast he faced wouldn't give him any chance to mull over them.

He strengthened his stance and looked at the creature with untainted resolve, his blade shimmering with the flickering lights.

"Come!"

~WHOOOSH!~

The Serocis charged at Adonis with primal force, but he refused to back down.

Not while he had his goals to fulfill.

'A Serocis is similar to the Manticore myth back on Earth, with a few adjustments.' Adonis' thoughts trailed as he waited for the thing to near him.

Not only was it much taller—about four meters—than in the myths, it had three tails instead of one.

'The strongest ones have up to five, but those are rare.'

Adonis prepared himself as he let energy surge through the rest of his body. He promised himself he would not go all-out, but it was very difficult to quell his fighting spirit when a threat was right in front of him.

Perhaps this was simply instinct—the result of spending years in a world filled with nothing but chaos and despair.

Still, Adonis calmed himself and resolved only to use one of his powers.

'[Grand Light Magic].'

~BOOOOOOM!~

The ground nearly shattered as the creature sent its claws charging at Adonis, and he responded with a slash of light.

The resultant force caused everything to quake, even the bodies of the spectators.

However, this was simply the beginning.

~WHOOSH!~

Adonis fluidly moved his body away from his position, just in time to avoid one of the Serocis' stingers.

It was a close call too—or at least it appeared to be.

He leapt to the side of the Monster, once again avoiding the next sting attack. Increasing his pace, he twisted his body as he made to slash the Serocis' hide, but the last stinger caught his blade.

~CLANG!~

"Guh!" The density of the stinger caused some recoil on the blade, which forced Adonis' hand back.

If it wasn't for the golden light that shrouded his weapon's body, it would have definitely shattered into pieces.

That was just how strong the stingers were.

~BOOOM!~

Once again, Adonis evaded the assault of the stingers that attempted to catch him while he was defenseless.

Thankfully, the Light Element was pretty fast.

Any other Elemental Attribute, and he would have had to task his body a little more.

"GROUGHHHHHHHH!!!" The Sercis let out a mad cry, causing the room to be filled with an intimidating roar.

This was some sort of 'debuff' move that caused a rapid decline in its opponent's Stats by inflicting the Negative Status Condition of 'FEAR'.

Fortunately, this only worked on fodder, and any candidate who desired to take the Test, in the first place, wasn't expected to fall under such a cheap move.

Of course, that wasn't all the Serocis had to offer.

It was just a prelude to the main thing.

~FWUUUUSH!~

The mouth of the Serocis suddenly began to suck in an absurd amount of air. It was most likely going to release one of the deadliest Skills in its arsenal.

'[Greater Air Blast]'

~VWUUSH!~

Adonis barely dodged the first blast of compressed air, causing the attack to hit a nearby wall.

~BOOOM!~

Despite how reinforced it was, the pressure made a small dent on its surface. If it was any other wall, the whole thing would have been blown away.

One needed not imagine what would happen if such an attack had direct contact with a human.

… Not even their bones would remain intact.

"Fuu…" Adonis exhaled deeply, intending on increasing his pace a little more.

He also planned to increase the strength behind his blow—

especially since he now had a proper understanding of how strong the thing was.

'Come on!'

~BOOOM!~

Adonis raced, his body becoming a blur of golden light as he dodged the several blasts that were sent at him.

His eyes glowed with incredible vigor as he leaped away from his position an charged at the Serocis from the side.

As expected, it raised one of its stingers to eliminate him.

However…

"Wrong move."

~SWISH!~

Adonis became a swirling torrent as he twisted in the air, generating enough momentum to slice off the stinger.

In that swift motion, he obtained his first small victory.

"Two to go!"