After walking for a bit, we soon got to a huge room. It was different from all the rough crevices we were before, and with a huge space. It seemed to be the core part of the dungeon, or at least one of them. Spatial distortions could be felt clearly, and a huge runic word was imprinted on the wall.
But before we could analyze it clearly, an enormous presence is felt before us. Standing quietly in front of the runic word, it watches us silently. Ferociousness showing on its expression, as it looks at us with sheer rage and, for some reason, hunger, as it clenches its fangs hard while saliva is slowly coming out.
Growls could be heard from its mouth, and readiness to attack us at any time shows on his physique.
Zenith frowns and murmurs out loud, “Demi-human…”
Seriousness and wariness towards our enemy shows on us, we were ready even before we saw it, so we could respond to anything it throws us, but it is still surprising seeing a demi-human.
While its complexion was pale, it showcased a firm posture and tremendous physical qualities, towering 2.5 meters. It had its arms crossed, as if it was waiting for us for quite a time. It had white long spiky hair as a mane, and it covered different parts of its body too.
It didn’t have any visible weapons besides its very threatening claws and fangs.
Its eyes were white, but they showed endless fury, as if barely containing itself from attacking us.
Then, the demi-human beast looks at Juran, and its expression softens for a second, but then looks at Zenith and strong undulations of death comes out from the Rune on the wall.
“ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!!!!!!!!!” It let go of its hands, roaring fiercely to the sky. Sound waves blasting off as we flinch at that. Our hearing a bit impaired because of that.
Then it looks at us again, curving its body slightly and blasts off from its position, leaving indentures on the ground it was stepping. It furiously reaching with its right claws to hit Zenith with all its might.
All of us open our eyes wide at that, its speed was no joke!
We react fast, mine a bit faster than Zenith as I suddenly slash against it strongly while annulling slightly its charge with the camp I made. Zenith reacts with his broadsword slashing horizontally, its trajectory being neat and perfect. His swordsmanship was by no mean less than mine.
Vladi and Grudell shot at it quickly, their attacks the fastest of our group, managing to decrease the powerful charge of our attacker.
The monster gives a furious howl at Vladi and Grudell, but still focuses his all on Zenith. They clash, Zenith’s sword barely cutting a bit of its flesh before stepping back. His opponent had full momentum on its side. My swords arrive before it manages to change its position, hitting its sides mercilessly. I knew from the impact that it was not a critical attack, hell, I highly doubt it could be called a normal attack.
Zenith grits his teeth and I could feel his aura surging sharply, the activation of Heaven Splitter was always straining, but he was left with no choice with the opponent planning on attacking him without stop.
The defense of our opponent is terrifying, but it didn’t seem impossible to penetrate.
I activate my elemental enhancing, increasing my light element with my dark element, sharply feeling how my attacks become condensed and sharper. One elemental enhancing would be almost fruitless against a monster like this.
I sneaked a glance to catch the power of the monster and I grit my teeth while looking at it.
– Elite Ghoul, Alwen. Level: 380
‘This is not going to be simple at all’ I think as I attack it with a furious barrage of sword slashes. Focusing my all in my attacks as Zenith tries to defend himself while looking for a way to counter attack. His eyes determined to not fall back and retreat.
Everyone joins the fry, Isa trying to gain the Aggro of the monster. Being the one with the best defense out of all of us, she would clearly have an easier time against Alwen.
But as if laughing at her efforts, it snarled and attacked with its claw at a distance. Those flew at me with tremendous speed, sharp aura sprouting from that attack menacing to reduce me to shreds.
I clash against them with my swords and absorb them, I smirk at it and slash again strongly. My attack, boosted by Alwen’s, becomes so sharp that I felt for a moment I was cutting a hard substance on the air. My swords materialized in front of it, and Alwen’s expression changed, crossing its arms to block while slightly jumping on the air.
Boom!
A small explosion could be heard when my attack clashed against his arms, throwing it on the air. Its instincts are very sharp! It manages to regain its balance on the air and falls on the ground swiftly.
Two arrows and a full burst flying at it without a moment to rest.
Alwen reacts rapidly, and evades the first arrow to arrive, which seemed weaker than the second that had such a powerful aura and rotation speed that generated a small tornado behind it. It receives the second while seemingly hardening its body as the first swiftly flew behind it.
Grudell’s eyes become cold and sharp and mutters something quietly.
Alwen prepared, to receive the second arrow, and consequently the full burst, receives a huge blast from its back.
Gritting its teeth slightly as it steps forward at the same time as the explosion and manages to stop just in front of the second arrow, furious whirlwind of sharp power clashes against it and the full burst behind it, being pushed back slightly at it receives the impact head on. The searing explosion from the back didn’t let off, seemingly strong and piercing waves of power clashing against its back.
Without knowing that Grudell held onto such good stuff and skills, we react fast and rush at Alwen. The Barbarians and Arksen were a step faster than us, as they were waiting for their turn. Arksen takes out his spear, a sharp glint flashes at its tip, his expression very serious and focused.
Arriving at Alwen, who was still defending against our long-range trio attack, they blast it with powerful attacks.
Its expression changing a bit, Alwen suddenly roars again, tremendous soundwaves are felt on the surroundings, and our group stops momentarily again. Arksen almost pays no heed to that roar as he brings his spear forward.
As Alwen already finished defending against the attacks, it tries to evade Arksen sharp spear attack, but it soon finds itself going straight to Aren’s sword slash.
Our Barbarian friend seems to have grown exponentially during this trip, most of his attacks beyond those of his current level. His attack, while blocked by Alwen, still pushed the beast towards Arksen’s attack.
Alwen grits its fangs and receives the attack of Arksen head on, the tip of the spear piercing its skin, damaging it harshly. But without retreating, it steps forward and grabs his spear as it waves at Aren with its left hand. Its Aura hitting Aren, sending him a few steps back, while pushing Arksen towards him.
Arksen, without wasting a breath, let go of his spear, utilizing the momentum to kick Alwen’s side as hard as he could while coating his leg with his Aura.
Boom!!
Retaining a cough in its mouth, Alwen reacts rapidly, doing a roundhouse kick with such ferocity and speed that strong gales came from it.
Arksen’s expression changes while sensing the impending attack. But instead of becoming desperate, he calms down as a small spatial fluctuation is felt from the surrounding. Kagito appears at the height of Alwen’s head, slashing with all his might at its neck, not leaving anything behind, sword intent menacing to separate its head from its body.
Feeling the incoming attack, Alwen deviates its attack, instead of trying to hit Arksen, it impossibly moves its leg to direct the attack at Kagito while pushing its head closer to the ground.
Suddenly, a shield appears besides Kagito, standing on the way from Alwen’s attack.
Shield and leg clashing against each other, unleashing fierce reverberations from them. The Shield cracks and breaks apart, but the fierce power behind the legs decreases a lot as Kagito changes his attack to the leg.
His sword flows deadly, small spatial distortions could be felt from it. Without being able to evade it, Alwen tries to take back his leg, rotating inwardly while taking the chance to attack at Arksen again. Not being able to evade it on time, gushes of black blood appears on its legs as Kagito’s attack manages to land.
Alwen persists on attacking Arksen, but he had already moved from his position, but instead of stepping back, he steps forward, firmly planting his leg on the ground and kicking fiercely against the pillar-like leg of Alwen that kept it on the ground.
The kick makes Alwen unstable, shaking slightly and failing to keep the line of its own kick, letting Arksen evade it by a small margin, but then, vicious aura full of death sprouts of it, grazing him ever so slightly, pushing him back few steps.
Zenith and I had already come forward, the previous attacks fresh in our minds as they were executed at lighting fast speed and precision. The other Scardinians that didn’t focus on long range attacks, except for Isca who shot that second arrow and was preparing another, also arrived, unleashing a combo attack on Alwen’s upper body. The Barbarians that were pushed back because of the sound attack of Alwen also strived onward attacked its middle body.
Despite our brief meeting, our teamwork has been polished over and over again as we have been constantly attacked by huge groups of monsters. Juran timely buffed all of us up and Isa maintained her skills shielding all of us as she herself rushed to our side. Despite being unable to go forward with the rest of us, Juran’s presence was slowly building, pressuring the powerful Alwen all the time, as his own powers were seemingly a nemesis to all being on this dungeon. A seemingly divine aura sprouted from him, ready to attack at a moment notice.
Noticing his current predicament as its leg touches the ground, Alwen, instead of roaring like usual, sucked breath in its body, and suddenly, its whole body expanding abruptly, reaching a height of almost three meters. His muscles ballooning, producing shockwaves to the surrounding, the ground on its feet crack open and explodes outwards.
The collision against the fierce shockwave stops almost all of us from charging, some being directly sending them flying off. The only one to maintain her ground was Isa, pushing each step forward with her great shield in front, using it to clash head on against the fierce beast in front of her.
Zenith steps hard and crushes the ground to keep in his spot, I use my elemental enhancing with absorption to keep myself from flying off too. I activated Razer body, too, feeling our perilous position.
Alwen’s body trembled for a moment and then it stabilized, his muscle mass slowly, almost imperceptive, decreased.
‘Damn, what a fearsome opponent!’ I grit my teeth as I think that. Even after all of our attacks and teamwork, it has managed to almost fend everything off, and while it seems we have overwhelmed it, all of those attacks drained us quite a bit. That was a bad sign to start off the battle against an opponent who seems to have terrifying physical prowess. Thankfully, because of my Fast Recovery, a battle of attrition for me would be ideal, but for the rest, it isn’t.
Isa, already clashing against Alwen, steps back hard, trying to stay firm in her position, as our long-range attacker are swiftly covering her, annoying Alwen to no end. While they seem to be faring the best of us, the mental consumption to keep attacking precise and powerful attacks takes a toll on them.
I look at Zenith, and he looks back at me, and we swiftly nod as we resume onward.
Overflow! Three-Elemental-Enhancing! Light-Fire-Wind!
Maximizing my perception, I had to increase my physical prowess if I wanted to keep up, along with light to be able to inflict the most damage possible on Alwen. My body feels stronger than ever as the aura of elements shroud my surroundings, constantly making me stronger.
I calculate my strength to its optimum state before the strain is too much of a hassle. In an instant I am already besides Alwen, receiving the buffs from Isa, fiercely blocking the oncoming aura attacks of that beast.
Zenith, appears on the other side and we start doing a pincer attack, overwhelming it with fearsome attacks, slashing as strong and as fast as we possibly can.
Alwen grits its fang and starts blocking our attacks with counterattacks from its own. Tremendous waves of clashes resound from our battle. Taking brief steps back as everyone else attacks it.
Alwen soon reaches a corner, wounds covering its body from head to toe, a few deep ones looking very dangerous.
The Barbarians besides Aren were closing their limits on the ongoing battle, as they had to keep striving and striving, even when Juran did his best in replenishing their life force, the damage they sustained have been the most out of all of us. The Scardinians also suffered a lot, as their build was not one to face a monster with these characteristics.
Truth is, even I had trouble evading its barrage of attacks when they fell on me. They were so fast and powerful that the hair on my skin stood on its end, always alert to not accidentally calculate or perceive wrongly.
I counterattacked and counterattacked, but the mental straining was already affecting me. My physical body also suffered a lot because of the constant use of the elements, even when I switched off to recovery with other combinations in moments of brief rest.
Our long-range attacker couldn’t keep up sending powerful attacks one after another from a distance, so they had to come closer, suffering from residues of the clashes.
But Alwen seems to be almost on its final rope as it directs us a menacing look, without moving from its spot, black blood oozing from every wound on its body.
I exhale deeply as I look sharply at it, without taking my eyes off Alwen even for a second. I walk forward for a final push in strength, Zenith does too, and Isa takes off his bow as he takes out his sword, Arksen prepares himself, even when his left hand was broken, yet visibly healing to move again because of Juran buffs, and walks forward along with Isa. The Barbarians grit their teeth as they fall back, fully knowing they would be more of nuisance on this final clash than be of help. The only one staying is Aren, whose body also sporting serious wounds, but resolution shows on his face, standing stalwart.
Juran also steps forward, with a serious look on his face, Grudell and Vladi ready themselves to start shooting whenever.
As Zenith takes a step forward, Alwen’s expression becomes sharp, narrowing an gritting its fangs furiously, gnashing hard.
Suddenly, undulation of strong death aura flows from the Rune, and Alwen roars fiercely.
The whole place seems enshrouded in death, flowing to Alwen. Zenith clenches his teeth as it revolves around him, keeping himself to grow on madness unnoticeably to the others. Because of my sharp senses towards the elements, I feel how they surround him and slowly seep into his body, making him stronger.
I grit my teeth and my bad intuition from the starts becomes true.
As if mocking me, a notification shows up.
– Elite Ghoul Alwen eats concentrated death aura. Temporarily becomes Death Grand Beast, Alwen.
“ROOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR~~~~~~!!!!”
