Roots burst out the ground wrapping around the Centipede’s trunk but it just ripped through them after a slight struggle But that moment was enough for Randidly to cover the distance to the centipede and hit it with an Empowered Phantom Assault
Randidly’s brow furrowed as most of his blows skittered off its chitinous shell and even the direct attacks barely cracked it He would need a few direct hits to get through The centipede spun its body smashing outwards and Randidly easily dodged it landing on its back Its head twisted and smashed towards him but was met by a fireball in the face
While it was hissing in pain Randidly looked at Decklan Aim for the legs When it’s looking at me get close and try and cut them off Watch out for when its body spins
It’s legs Decklan’s eyes were confused But there are so many Cutting off a few
I’m not talking about a few Randidly said grimly dodging out of the way of another diving bite Then the head twisted and spat acid at him He spun his spear in a Spear Deflect and knocked away most of it but some still landed on him Randidly grimaced
Why always acid
I’m talking about them all Randidly finished grimly It’s gonna take a while to wear down its health And I feel like this will finally shut up Sam about his needing new materials And you
He spared Lyra a glance She just smiled cheerily and waved at him well don’t do anything stupid
The centipede screeched and attacked Randidly spread his hands wide roots springing out of the ground to seal its movements fire in his hands to cause it pain A small smile played across his lips
This was what he lived for now this thrill
Carefully keeping an eye on his stamina and mana levels Randidly rushed forward dodging closer The centipede could spit acid and writhe its powerful body but it couldn’t do much else
Decklan stayed to the side and would rush in severing one or two legs with his blades then hurry away If the centipede noticed this Randidly hit in the mouth with a blast of fire earning its ire
The battle dragged on minutes crawling passed Minutes clumped together until the total time they were fighting neared an hour and a half Randidly continued to swallow potion after potion maintaining a reasonable condition
Every few minutes Decklan would stop and take a break his chest heaving Only after his stamina recovered did he rejoin the battle
There were several large holes on the Centipede’s torso now ichor oozing out It’s hisses became more and more wrathful however as fury at its attackers overwhelmed any self preservation instincts
Eventually after a battle so long that even Randidly was reaching the end of his potion fueled stamina the creature swayed and fell one of Lyra’s birds perched on its head
Randidly collapsed 2 whole levels of Physical Fitness 1 of Spear Deflect another 2 in Fireball 2 in Haste and Empower 1 in Running
Just enough PP to finally finish off The Monster Slayer Path
Congratulations You have completed the The Monster Slayer Path +10 stat +5 to Health Regen Mana Regen and Stamina Regen + 5 Health Mana and Stamina Regen per level Although the path before you is long you cannot stop You can only drink the blood and bath in the gore You may emerge changed but you at least you will be alive
A growth rate that includes regen stats Although this wouldn’t help him currently the other bonuses were enough of a boost to his current abilities that he didn’t mind It was a good haul Randidly slowly got to his feet and grimaced looking at the huge body
Annoyingly it looked like most of these points would go into Strength just so he could bring the thing back
It started as a low noise pretty similar to the usual bustle of activity at the Newbie Village which people had begun calling Donnyton a grunting and dragging But it had a strange way of spreading As if everything nearby the source of the noise went quiet
All in all it was extremely annoying to Daniel who was working out schedules for the Dungeon They had split their now almost 200 strong Classers into 20 person groups putting veterans with some fresh blood sending them into the Dungeon for tempering as most of the nearby monsters had been pushed back by their expansion
There had been a few casualties which made Daniel regretful but it was hard to take it too much to heart so many people had died since the System came to this world and more would die tomorrow That was just the way the world worked
And why this was necessary they needed to gain strength to survive
Now though Daniel was stuck with the annoying task of scheduling it all Theoretically they could have it in use almost constantly except for the 24 hour cooldown But they would need more people for that So for now
Daniel looked up Finally the strange dragging reached the front of the village and everything else seemed to have fallen completely silent Annoyed he walked out to see what all the lack of fuss was about
The sight made Daniel just as speechless as the rest of them
Randidly walked forward a veritable Atlas carrying a huge centipede body on its shoulders He appeared to have looped it several times around himself so he could carry a larger portion The body of it was thicker than most men’s torsos and stretched for 30 meters The tail dragged on for about 20 of those the rest on Randidly’s shoulders a exhausted Decklan pushing from the back
A lovely girl with blonde hair appeared to be napping on the middle section of that thing’s back heedless
Randidly looked at them all and grunted Dozer give me a hand Decklan isn’t pulling his weight
The joke earned a few nervous chuckles from the crowd and Dozer walked forward gesturing for several people to follow Dozer went to the middle of the body and lifted Immediately his expression changed He shifted his stance and picked up again taking the weight onto his shoulders Two of Dozer’s men nervously approached the lovely girl unsure of whether to help or leave her alone but her eyes snapped open and she snorted
Hopping off the Centipede she blew a kiss at Randidly It’s been fun Let’s play again Doggy You take me the most interesting places Then she walked away
As Dozer’s men came to the centipede Decklan collapsed grateful
Randidly grunted again and began walking Taking this to Sam’s Let’s see him complain about materials after I drop this on his fucking doorstep
Almost all of Dozer’s men holding the Centipede gulped and began to sweat
It wasn’t a far walk but
But more importantly how the hell far did you bring this thing all by yourself
Daniel could hear it too The whispers
Ghosthound Ghosthound
That’s the Ghosthound
Slowly those individuals who were new to the town looked on with bright awestruck eyes
Chapter 45
Sam didn’t even bat an eye he just scratched his ear noncommittally
You’re gonna have to take it around back Can’t work on it here Sam commented Dozer stay for a bit too Gonna need you to smash the joints so we can work on it one segment at time
Scowling and more drained than he had ever felt Randidly left He could have at least been a little surprised But at the same time Randidly had gotten his own reward on the way back
Congratulations You have learned the skill Mana Strengthening Lvl 1
Mana Strengthening Channel mana through your body to slightly increase physical attributes Effect increases with Skill Level and Intelligence Mana cost decreases with Skill Level
Just on the walk home chugging mana potions he had gotten the skill to Level 7 It was the only way he had managed to drag that huge body back to the Newbie Village
It also made Randidly excited for the future When he had both Haste Empower and Mana Strengthening going his consumption of Mana and Stamina would be prodigious but he abilities would also be impressive
After returning to his hut avoiding the wondering and slightly fearful gazes of the people he collapsed finally alone He rubbed his eyes incredibly weary Slowly but surely he was finding strength He raised his hand still laying on the ground reaching for the ceiling