Cause and effect

Alex was so laser focused on his hunt that he completely ignored the notifications from the system telling him about how his [fire resistance] , [earth resistance] , [thick skin] and [dense muscles] traits all rose in levels. The fact that zorah had these traits to begin with wasn't all that surprising considering it's abilities and behavior however these traits were so high that Alex's own were jumping levels rapidly. Zain was about to leave his own magma core after rendering it nonfunctional when Alex smashed into it aggressively. Zain could only watch on in barely contained horror as he saw Alex devouring the core savagely before gulping down the fiery blood that spilt out.

Zain much like the rest of the people of astera had grown used to how polite and calm Alex usually is and seeing such primal ferocity in it's place left him greatly disturbed. Zain shook his head and took a deep breath to calm himself before internally reminding himself that Alex is still a monster and this is probably normal. Alex totally ignored Zain after the fountain of blood dried up and shot into the sky to go after the second to last core.

No one knew for sure why zorah was screaming in agony but most assumed that it had to do with Alex and Zain on it's back. More people finally arrived on zorah's back at the time Alex left Zain near the decimated core letting them briefly catch a glimpse of Alex covered in zorah's glowing fiery blood. It was incredibly clear to them that Alex was to blame for the pain zorah seemed to be in and only when Zain explained to those he met did they comprehend why it was in such pain but they could only shudder at the ferocity Zain described to them.

Alex didn't notice it until it struck him but nergigante came running the moment it heard zorah's pained roars and took exception to Alex's actions. As Alex learned getting slammed into by a large fast moving heavy object out of nowhere sucks. nergigante smashed Alex into the side of zorah's front most mountain from the side knocking the air out of him as he fell down the side stunned. nergigante was also stunned which is why it didn't follow up after it's initial attack but rather took a moment to steady itself in the air and shake it's head to try and clear it of the confusion.

Alex crashed into the hard stone back of zorah that was mostly a flat open area no longer stunned 'well that fucking happened' he thought as he got up and grabbed a max potion from his bag and downed it healing the majority of the damage the surprise attack did. 'That thing shouldn't be here until zorah goes through the first barricade so the only thing that could explain it's appearance early was my own.' Alex reasoned with a serious expression as nergigante started to dive down at him from above.

'No time to think about stuff like that right now , I have a much bigger problem to deal with." He thought as he dodged out of the way of nergigante making it miss and hit the ground kicking up a small dust cloud. Roaring angrily nergigante blew away the dust and glared at Alex with an intense focus that had a hint of confusion in it. Nergigante visually saw that Alex looked like and elder but since he lacked the aura and presence of one nergigante was receiving conflicting information confusing it. Despite it's confusion however nergigante was a beast of action didn't even hesitate to charge Alex angrily merely because he was on it's turf.

Alex had no intention of playing fair however since he was perfectly clear that he was unable to win a clash with the elder. A thin layer of shiny blue liquid started to drip out from between the scales of his claws before turning a deep purple color. [hydrosis] + [toxirosys] = a thick toxic throwable slime. Nergigante's reckless charge ended poorly as Alex splashed the slime directly into it's eyes as he dodged blinding it temporarily.

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