Chapter 09: Ambush

Looking down, there was a huge hole that went down seemingly endlessly...

*sigh*

A sigh of relief overcame me when I walked around the edge. I... had won... against a flying enemy.

Wondering where it came from I lowered my head to look in the depths of the huge hole. What I saw... Wasn't what I had hoped for...

It wasn't the only one down there.

A couple more were flying around down there,

Maybe even tens of them? I was not strong enough to deal with those numbers.

Backing away as carefully as possible I slowly tilted up my head and took slow steady steps backward.

Unaware of my tail... my tail slammed into a small rock. Ths rock fell down the deep hole, startling me in the process.

I froze as I was too scared to look down.

But it was too late. The buzzing sounds that the bugs made became more intense, it even felt like they got closer to the surface.

When suddenly three of them arose to the occasion. I was shocked...

I couldn't fight three at the same time when I had already difficulty winning against one.

What could I do? The black bee-like creatures closed in on me, but something was off...

It didn't look like they had seen me and flew past me.

Each of them going a separate way.

Thinking I had dodged a bullet, suddenly another one arose from the depths of darkness.

This time scanning the area around the edge.

Unable to get out of the confrontation I steeped my resolve. Resolve that almost immediately diminished when I saw the actual size of that thing. Even worse...

It had not just one sharp needle on his behind, but even two needles like arms. Kinda made me think of a similar monster I had encountered in a game in my past life.

I wanted to try and run away, but the creature was too fast to even think about escaping...

I barely dodged each of its sharp needles when it dawned on me. Bugs, even if bigger are still bugs!

This made me realize I had acquired a crucial skill to fight my new enemies. <Fire Conjuration>

Looking at my status bars it showed I had only enough for three more conjurations,

Not to mention...

that it wasn't all that strong just yet.

Even if it did melt of the wings of the last one.

Still... I had to give it my all and try something dangerous if I wanted to get out alive in this situation. Not knowing when others might get back. Which meant I had to make this quick.

Thinking of the only option that I had against this monstrosity who was three times my size. I steeled myself once more...

The Bee rushed towards me seeing a chance to strike when I deliberately let my guard down to lure him in. Then when he readied his needles I turned around dodging his two front needles.

Now laying on my back he was vulnerable for an attack. Striking him with everything that I had

<Fire Conjuration>. Fire shot out of my mouth directly scorching the bee's belly.

Screaming in agony the beast flew away to minimize the damage. The flames had caught up to its wings slowly melting them away like how it happened with the last one. I looked at the beast unable to do anything as it slowly roasted his body and muffled its screams.

Right when it died the others returned.

"Due to enough accumulated experience <Baby Scalus lv 5> advances to <baby Scalus lv 6>."

Yes! Right on time too! Having completely healed I was ready for battle. The three from before rushed towards me. Unaware of the three others who surfaced from the depths of the darkness.

One of them tried to sting me in the back.

It did damage me, but the needle couldn't sink in.

Right at that moment the other two behind me also struck my back. Again damaging me, but still unable to penetrate my skin.

"Due to enough experience <Though Skin lv 1> Advances to <Though Skin lv 2>."

The damage they did wasn't so significantly high that I was alarmed by it. Still... I didn't give them enough credit as they did ambush me giving me virtually no way out other than confrontation.

All six of them ganged up on me striking me at the same time, hurting me enough in the process.

Thanks to this <though skin> gained another level.

Getting myself into this tough situation wasn't something I had planned and I needed to think of something fast.

But I couldn't shake the happy feeling of gaining those levels. Getting my confidence back I crawled up. Getting pumped I froze my enemies with the <Bloodlust> skill.

It did work on the entire group freezing them for a fraction of a second allowing me to shoot out fire from underneath me.

The hot air covered me instantly catching all the bee's wings on fire, immobilizing them in the process.

Quickly jumping out from underneath them I proceeded to grab them with my tail to break their necks.

"Due to enough experience <Tail Swipe lv 1> advances to <Tail Swipe lv 3>."

"Due to the overconsumption of acidic and poisonous substances <Acid Resistance lv 1> and <Poison Resistance lv 2>

both advance a level."

It appeared the beasts here all seemed to have a certain degree of poison inside of them looking at how both my Poison and Acid Resistance gained a level."

"Due to enough experience

<Fire Conjuration lv 1> Advances to

<Fire Conjuration lv 2>.

Due to enough experience <Fire Conjuration lv 2>

Advances to <Fire Conjuration lv 3>."

"You gain the title [Bug Slayer] thanks to the acquired amount of insect slaughter inflicted by you. Unlocking the following skills:

<Acid Resistence lv 1> combines with

<Acid Resistance lv 2> Advancing into

<Acid Resistance lv 3>.

<Jump lv 1>

<Tongue Elasticity lv 1>

20% bonus damage to bug-type creatures."

Damn... this title might be really useful for battle against bugs in the future.

"Due to the survival of a life-threatening situation.

<Survivor lv 2> advances to <Survivor lv 3>."

"Due to accumulating enough experience <Baby Scalus lv 6> advances to <Baby Scalus lv 7>."