Chasing Myth: The First Quest { Part - 2 }

The giant beast was pacing the lengths of the hall, producing a prowling sound, which sent a chill down Remirg Kryptos's spine.

It was about the size of the entirety of his shack.

It possessed a black hue, with the tips of its fur emanating an eerie cyan glow. Its eyes bore no pupils, producing the same homogenous cyan glow. 

The slight opening in its jaw revealed a set of super-sharp metallic teeth, which looked like they could rip away even the tough skin of a Chisaka (A type of wild boar found on Sebras with an unusually tough hide).

Its spiky tail swerved behind its figure, as though searching for intruders.

And it had already did.

The tail stopped its swinging motion and started pointing directly, motionlessly at Remirg. This caused the beast to instantly stop in its tracks.

Turning around to look at the anomaly in the chamber, the shadow beast easily spotted Remirg by reading his "prana force", which was a dazzling orange to its eyes, contrary to the deep blue surroundings.

Alarmed by this fact, Remirg Kryptos instantly swung himself out of his current position, adjusting himself behind a massive pillar.

Ten of such pillars were lying equidistant to the center of the chamber, forming a distinct ring. The ceiling was as high as the sky itself and Remirg couldn't fathom its features. Yet.

The floor of the chamber formed a certain symbol, which Remirg had never seen before. Queer though it was.

The hilt of a broken sword, surrounded by a serpent, which coiled itself around the artifact. The symbol was surrounded by numerous textual characters, which Remirg Kryptos realized, were just like the characters on the key which he received to open this dungeon.

But he did not possess much time to analyze more of the hall.

The beast had already noticed his movement. With huge strides, it started sprinting towards him, baring its fangs. Its fur was now glowing brighter than ever.

Meanwhile Remirg Kryptos, who had already noticed the beast's movement, cleared all of his senses. Now was not the time to panic.

Feinting towards the right, Remirg tried to lure the beast. All of his instincts were dependent on whether the beast possessed intelligence of not. Because if even for the slightest, even a ten-year-old could recognize the shoddy maneuver.

To his utter astonishment, the beast really did fall for his novice trap. It changed its course mid-sprint, shifting its center of mass to the right, losing his balance for a slight moment.

Remirg, taking advantage of this slight moment, swerved to the left, easily changing his position. 

Compared to the beast, his mass was astronomically smaller.

Tilting his body, he let the gigantic body of the shadow beast topple, which flew over him and landed flat onto the stone tiled floor of the cylindrical chamber.

Producing a smirk at his work, Remirg Kryptos adjusted himself in the center, standing right over the queer symbol. Visible from every nook and corner.

Mark was watching the skirmish with a great interest, holding himself from providing more information about the beast to Remirg. Though he was not barred from providing this information, it would easily disrupt the flow of the real storyline. Now was not the right time...

Meanwhile, Remirg watched as the shadow beast hoisted itself up on its legs, angry at the utter humiliation.

Bringing its foe into its focus, it charged again, now intending to deliver a vicious, fatal blow, finishing him in an instant.

But Remirg had already thought of a brilliant plan.

Killing his movement, it allowed the beast to approach him. Almost as if he had given up on his life. But something was cooking up in his mind...

I do not possess the physical or raw power to defeat this beast. The only way I could do it is by attacking it with its own blow. Surely, this should work.... It definitely will....

Though he was still unsure whether his plan would work or not, he had no other viable choice. It was now.... or never.

The shadow beast, quite sure that it has secured its prey, increased its pace. Just as Remirg had expected.

The moment it entered a radius of ten meters around him, Remirg charged forward, towards the beast itself.

The beast, surprised by its prey's uncanny action, extended its massive claws to deliver the final blow. It would not fall for the same trap again.

But suddenly, Remirg let himself fall, meticulously sliding right below the beast, though still dangerously grazing his back on the stone floor. The deep scratches producing little streams of blood which started flowing down his back.

Meanwhile, the beast, which had swung its arm to hit Remirg, hit hard itself, hitting squarely in the chest.

Its eyes widening in shock, it watched as its limb pierced its very own heart, unable to stop its momentum, due to its large mass.

Blue blood rained everywhere, coloring Remirg Kryptos green, as his and the beast's blood mixed.

Remirg Kryptos was experiencing pain which he had never experienced before. Never before in the sixteen years of his life. It hurt like hell, blood still gushing out of his back at a considerable rate.

"Aargh! It hurts! It goddamn hurts! IT REALLY HURTS!

Shit! I should not have acted so recklessly. Foolish actions do cost lives. Shouldn't even have considered believing what this 'Simulator' thing was saying to me. Put myself in such a ****** situation.

Still, I managed to kill this godforsaken beast... All this is... really messing up my mind."

Somehow managing to stand on his knees, he examined the seriousness of his wound. Thankfully, the stone floor didn't graze him deep enough. Though, the constant blood loss would take toll on him if he didn't stop the bleeding soon.

The moment Remirg started rummaging his shaggy shirt to tear a piece of cloth to stem his blood flow, The Simulator popped a new notification.

[CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY DEFEATED A Z-CLASS SHADOW BEAST! YOU HAVE LEVELED TO "-1"

PHYSICAL STRENGTH: +10

AGILITY: +10

IMPERVIOUS TO SLASHES: +10

MP: +5

AS A REWARD FOR THE DEFEAT OF THE SHADOW BEAST, YOU HAVE BEEN AWARDED WITH THE INNATE SKILL, "PRANA PRESENCE".

YOU WOULD NOW BE ABLE TO FEEL THE PRESENCE OF LIVING BEINGS BY RECEIVING THE RESONANCE OF THEIR LIFE FORCES. SIMULTANEOUSLY, YOU WOULD ALSO BE ABLE TO ASSESS THEIR SKILL LEVEL BY THE PRANA DENSITY, OR IN YOUR TERMS, THE "COLOR" OF THE BEING'S LIFE FORCE.]

Remirg Kryptos read the entirety of the notification while he tore a piece of cloth from the sleeve of his shirt, revealing the whole of his arm, binding it tightly around his back and tying it in the front.

When he completed reading the message, instead of reflecting the emotion of surprise, a prominent frown appeared on his face.

"What the hell do you mean by leveling to "-1". That's clearly leveling down! At least you should be clear with your goddamn nomenclature!"

Clearly reading his protagonist's thought, Mark produced a smile on his face (that's what he thought he was doing, even though he had no mouth, first thing). He knew Remirg would start thinking about that the moment he would have received his first leveling up message.

But that... was something about which Remirg Kryptos had to find out about in the long run of his life. It was something, which depicted the transient change in his character. It was something... which the protagonist will realize at the end of the story.....

Remirg, nevertheless, had deemed it a nomenclature error and moved on to analyze the rest of the rewards he had received.

He was intrigued that his "MP" had been raised by a magnitude of 5. Though he had encountered a beast which possessed magic (no normal beast had glowing fur), he himself had not received any instructions by the Simulator on how to practice magic by own.

He also noticed that his health stats had increased significantly. He could feel that the weariness in his body after the heated battle was slowly fading away. 

Reaching out his hand to touch his back, he also got to know that the bleeding had already stopped, though the wound still remained.

But the most astonishing reward he had received was his new innate ability, "Prana Presence". 

Somehow, he already knew how to activate it.

Turning his gaze to the slain beast which lay in the center of the hall, lying in the pool of its own blood, Remirg Kryptos strained his optical nerves.

Suddenly, the world around him transitioned smoothly into the darkest hue of violet. The terrain and physical features of the surroundings appeared to him as a vague white outline.

The beast was different from its surroundings as it depicted a slightly darkish green color, which was rapidly blending into the violet of the surroundings, announcing that the beast clearly was passing away.

But the most prominent thing which was visible was he himself.

Looking down upon himself, he found out that he was glowing a bright orange, emanating strange orange particles in the surroundings. The source of these particles appeared to be his heart.

Relaxing his optic nerves to bring back his normal vision, he realized that "Prana presence" was a skill which stressed his brain a little. Maybe he should use the skill when absolutely necessary to detect an enemy.

Coincidentally, Remirg's gaze turned up to the ceiling.

It was no longer cloudy and didn't seem high.

The ceiling now bore a prominent look. The ten pillars surrounding the center of the chamber curved and converged in the center of the ceiling. 

Its edges wielded ten different symbols which were glowing ten different colors. Checking them once with "Prana Presence", Remirg found that they were emanating traces of "Prana" which was cast upon the ceiling long ago.

Still queer to know about the characters which were emblazoned everywhere, he started moving forward, limping slightly.

At the very moment, the Simulator popped its notification,

[YOU HAVE COMPETED THE FIRST CHAMBER OF THE Z-TIER SHADOW DUNGEON! YOU SHALL NOW ADVANCE TO THE NEXT CHAMBER!]

Simultaneous to the message, a giant opening appeared in the perimeter of the circular chamber, allowing passage to Remirg.

Turning to face the new passage, Remirg exclaimed as he slapped his palms on the top of his head.

"No, Hell No!"