Forgotten City of Alomanthus

I forgot to mention this in the last chapter, but do expect a few grammar mistakes. While I may live in Australia, English is only my third language, so it's not the greatest. Also, a question, how strong would you say Arifureta is in comparison to other worlds physically, not including their hax.

Anyway, aside from that, I hope you enjoy this next chapter!

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As Ryuga made his way through this cavern, he noticed something very important. No matter how fast or long he ran, he didn't seem to be getting physically or mentally fatigued in the slightest. It seemed as though he was completely incapable of becoming exhausted.

He wasn't entirely sure if this was just an unlisted effect of the Gamer's Body or if it was due to his demon physiology just having far greater physical capabilities, but he certainly wasn't at all complaining. He had a few run-ins with other monsters as he went, so getting attacked while he trying to rest would be bad.

Speaking of monsters, as he continued making his way through, the monsters he encountered seemed to either be based around animals he was familiar with back in his old world or from mythological pieces. Either way, he had been able to deal with them accordingly, and it continued to become progressively easier as he continued gaining levels.

Of course, levelling became significantly slower as after each time he gained a level, the experience barrier needed to level up again always doubled after each level. This was expected though, it was normal for it to become harder to level the higher you are.

His stats right now were as follows.

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『Status』

● Name: Ryuga Kanezuka

● Level: 11 - [EXP: 11,400/102,400]

● Classes: None

● Race: Demon - [EXP: 3,600/5,000]

● Health: 2,520/2,600 - [10 Health Per VIT]

● Mana: 5,200/5,200 - [20 Mana Per INT]

● Status Points: 100 - [10 Points Per Level]

● Equipped Items: None

● Strength: 260

● Agility: 260

● Vitality: 260

● Intellect: 260

● Magic Attack: 260

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It wasn't just his stats that have improved, his new ability to resist poison had also seemed to improve upon longer exposure. He had a few encounters with more minotaurs during his run, all of which seemed to share the poisonous trait. Along with the poison, he had gained other forms of resistance as well from other creatures.

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『Abilities』

.● Moderate Poison Resistance [Rank: MAX] - [Grants the user a moderate resistance to poison, lessening the duration in which the individual remains poisoned and how much damage said poison does over time]

.● Minor Fire Resistance [Rank: MAX] - [Grants the user a small resistance to fire, making it so the user's skin becomes more resistant to not only becoming scorched by flames but naturally heated temperatures as well]

.● Minor Frost Resistance [Rank: MAX] - [Grants the user a small resistance to the cold, making it so the user's skin becomes more resistant to cold temperatures]

.

While he was certainly pleased to have gained more resistance to other forms of attack, there was something about these monsters that were really bugging him. It was the whole 'Black Vile' trait they all seemed to share, they all seemed to have those words in their name.

First, he encountered the Black Vile Minotaur, and then came the others in the form of Black Vile Griffins, Serpents, Bears, Eagles and more. He wasn't entirely sure just what it all meant, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to find out either, he more just wanted to find a way out.

At first, he took the route that the minotaur came at him from due to it appearing to lead upwards instead of down. When it comes to caves, people would usually assume they're underground when in them, and that's what Ryuga thought as well. Now though, with all the ups, downs and turns, he wasn't sure where he was going at this point.

'What the...?' Ryuga stopped in his tracks and blinked upon noticing something up ahead. He had taken off his school blazer as well, revealing his button-up white t-shirt underneath as he had his blazer now stored away in his inventory. 'Is that a body?'

Cautiously, Ryuga began approaching what looked to be a skeletal corpse resting against the wall of the large cavern he was walking through. The closer he got, the more details he could pick out. He saw that the skeleton was most likely here for a long time, the condition of these bones showed incredible amounts of decay.

'Looks to be the skeletal remains of another human. Well, human. I'm not even human anymore...' Ryuga sighed to himself before kneeling down to inspect it closer. He felt a bit disgusted touching these bones, but he continued shifting them around before finding something underneath all the bones. 'A book?'

Ryuga carefully picked up the book, he was being extra careful seeing as this thing looked to be decades old at the very least. Ryuga then slowly opened up the pages and noticed that there was only writing present on the first three pages.

'A journal? Not a very long one... Surprisingly, these pages are still legible, albeit barely.'

[To whoever finds this, I am most likely already dead. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Crede Alloteirene, and I'm an explorer. I'll get straight to the point, I've always loved to discover new things, and that's what lead me here to my most likely current resting place]

[If you have also found yourself here in these halls, then you must know that you have stumbled upon the very remains of the city of Alomanthus. If you don't know, it was a city that housed a civilisation that supposedly existed millennials ago, and the very civilisation that first attempted to fight back against Ehit himself]

'Ehit? Who the hell is that?' Ryuga frowned upon coming up to the unfamiliar name, and from the way that it was written. He had long since come to terms that this was obviously not his world, so there was much for him to learn, and this was one of those things now.

[Though their existence was long since forgotten in the very annals of times, only my family and my family alone have managed to pass down their existence after tens of thousands of years. Being myself, I have come here to rediscover them, but it's unfortunate that I'm to perish here. My only wish was to see the city for myself just once]

[You can probably guess the cause of my death, it was those beasts that roam this place. While I do not know for certain what they are, but I'm willing to say that they are most likely mutations. Formed by the festering negative influences of the Alomanthus people who have refused to leave their city, most likely remaining here for eternity]

[If you wish to continue my journey for me, please make the Alomanthus people known onc...]

'It ends there... I guess the guy was most likely on his last legs when he wrote this entry.' Ryuga closed the book upon seeing this. He had a complicated look on his face as he stood back up. 'Alomanthus, huh? There is a lot more about this world than I thought.'

Ryuga put the book into his inventory before giving a small silent prayer to Crede's corpse before continuing on his way, his interest honestly was at its peak now as he wanted to see just what this supposed lost city looked like for himself.

After how that guy hyped it up so much, he needed to see it.

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Continuing his journey through these caverns, Ryuga noticed that the further he went, the fewer monsters he actually happened to encounter. This kind of confused him, it was usually the other way around. Unless of course, he was going in the entirely wrong direction.

Ryuga really hoped that wasn't the case, he didn't want to have to turn around and run that entire distance back again to where he started. Those worries weren't necessary though as Ryuga soon found himself walking towards what looked to be an open area.

Upon walking out, Ryuga's eyes widened considerably.

If the cavern he was travelling through was considered massive, then the area he was in now would be considered abnormally ginormous. He was still underground, but this open area he found himself in was large enough to fit an entire small modern city inside.

This was actually the case as Ryuga found himself staring in awe at what looked to be a series of pure white marble buildings with golden accents and more standing within the cavern. The design and arrangement of these buildings were so abnormal that it actually hurt to look at them for too long.

"This is... the forgotten city?" Ryuga muttered to himself as he stared wide-eyed at the amazing spectacle in front of him. Completely opposite of what he expected, the place looked pristine, as if these supposed millennials of dust collecting didn't exist. "Dude, this is some Lovecraftian shit..."

"Welcome."

Ryuga immediately went into a defensive stance when a new voice suddenly sounded, and when he turned to see who it was, he saw what looked to be a humanoid figure standing straight right in front of the city gates and staring at him.

Though it was hard to tell if they were really looking at him though, they had no fucking eyes. The humanoid looked to be composed of a shining silver material, along with gold linings running along its body that eventually lead up to the head and formed an almost crown-like accessory over its head.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, you can call me ALO-Guide-1." The humanoid spoke as Ryuga narrowed his eyes. The being didn't seem hostile, but he kept his guard up regardless. "You are the first guest to have come here, please follow me."

Ryuga watched as ALO gave him a small bow before turning to walk into the city, Ryuga frowned in hesitation before ultimately deciding to comply, he remained cautious though. Glancing upwards, Ryuga almost croaked when he saw that this entity had a status.

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『Alomanthus Guide-1』

● Level: 70

● Race: Automaton

● Health: 25,000/25,000

● Mana: 60,000/60,000

● Strength: 2,000

● Agility: 2,000

● Vitality: 2,500

● Intellect: 3,000

● Magic Attack: 3,000

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'Fucking hell, this thing's only supposed to be a guide?!' Ryuga felt his eyebrow twitching upon seeing the insanely high stats that this supposed robot held. 'Just who the hell were these Alomanthians really? Makes me wonder how strong that Ehit person mentioned is...'

Ryuga knew that if this robot proved to be hostile, then he had close to no chance of escaping, let alone even winning. For now, the best course of action was to comply with what the robot was saying and followed it.

As they walked, Ryuga kept a close eye on ALO while also sending a few glances around at the massive city around him. Throughout the entire walk, not once did Ryuga nor ALO speak to one another, Ryuga simply followed the automaton.

It took a bit of a walk, but they eventually reached what looked to be the biggest building amongst all the others. If Ryuga were to compare it to something, it looked almost like a church of sorts, albeit much grander and massive in comparison to any other he's seen.

"Please enter, King Felgrand awaits you."

'Felgrand?' Ryuga frowned at another unfamiliar name before nodding as the church doors opened automatically. As the doors slowly opened, Ryuga proceeded to walk forwards as the guide from before seemed to disappear completely. 'I really hope I make it out of here...'

Ryuga walked through what appeared to be a long white hallway, which soon lead into a massive round almost gladiator-like arena. To add to that comparison, there were seats surrounding the round room, along with a massive throne at the opposite end from where Ryuga's entered.

Upon walking to the centre, Ryuga blinked when what looked to be some form of sparkling dust or glitter was collecting itself upon the throne. That dust soon condensed before forming a massive figure covered in pure white and gold armour, reminiscent of that of a medieval knight that would only be seen in fantasy books.

"Greetings, guest." The massive knight sitting upon the throne spoke in a rather deep yet refined tone of voice, his voice seemingly carrying throughout the entire room. "My name is Felgrand, the first and last king of Alomanthus. I welcome you to our home, young guest."

Ryuga widened his eyes again when the previously unoccupied seats surrounding the room were soon all filled in as other figures of similar nature to the king in appearance soon appeared. They were all motionless and staring down at him from their positions.

"I give you high praise, young one. You are the first to ever step foot in our city since our fall, and the fact that you managed to arrive after constant attacks from the beasts surrounding our city speaks volumes of your strength."

Ryuga smiled wryly at that. 'Yeah, strength. Like this guy's one to talk...'

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『Felgrand, King of Alomanthus』

● Level: 100

● Race: Ghost

● Health: 80,000/80,000

● Mana: 160,000/160,000

● Strength: 6,500

● Agility: 6,000

● Vitality: 8,000

● Intellect: 8,000

● Magic Attack: 8,600

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What made Ryuga even more potentially shocked was that it said that this dude was a freaking ghost, which meant that either the king was a ghost from start to finish or was now a ghost after perishing or something. Which could even mean that he was even stronger when he was alive.

"Such an accomplishment deserves a reward. However, before such a thing can commence, a final test. A test to determine whether or not you truly are worthy."

Ryuga didn't get to say anything in response when the ground suddenly began shaking, and on instinct, Ryuga found himself jumping back to the edge of the room. In doing so, he narrowly managed to avoid something that suddenly dropped down from the ceiling.

What landed was a massive creature almost twice as big as the king himself, which was saying something as the king looked to be more than five meters tall. The beast that appeared resembled that of a western dragon, one with white scales and golden horns.

Unlike a normal western dragon though, this one sported three pairs of wings along with, as strange as this sounds, seemingly two separate mouths. One was located in the normal place on its head, while the other was present on the dragon's chest.

As the dragon glanced down at Ryuga, it then released a powerful roar that shook the entire building and more.

"If you can hold yourself against my beast, you shall earn my utmost respect!"

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『New Quest Available』

Objective: You have been issued a challenge by King Felgrand, survive against his dragon for at least five minutes and prove that you are worthy of his respect!

Rank: To be determined

Rewards:

● 300,000 EXP

● 180,000 Luta

● Class Token

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Ryuga gulped as he mentally and physically prepared himself. 'Aw shit, here we go again...'