Marco stirred awake. The fog in his mind cleared, and a numbing pain rushed through him. He tried to sit down, but his body felt like a thousand needles were piercing him.
"Aaah!"
His sharp cry echoed inside the dark silent room. Only the sound of his labored breathing can be heard.
"What...what happened?"
Where is he?
Where's Shaira and the others?
Another wave of pain surged through his body and Marco could only suppress his scream.
He glances blearily at the ceiling, his eyes blurry from the pain.
His gaze flickered and he saw his Health Points decrease at a dangerous rate.
With no one by his side, he immediately took a Health potion out of his inventory and drank it.
What the hell is happening to him?
<
<< Infected >> [ 00:24:08 ]
A debuff status?
Where did he get it?
His mind flashed at the Hazard that hit him.
Ah! That's right. He got hit by that monster and Rey did say to be careful of that one.
The red substance the Hazard spat out hit his hand. At that time, he dismissed it as nothing but to think he will get infected...
But what happened after?
The last thing he remembers is the worried faces of his friends, and he vaguely has a memory of being threatened for his potions...
Ha... weird...
Anyway, where is this ghost place?
Marco tried to stand up but he almost slip out of bed as he did so.
Looking at the dark musty room, he figured that they got separated for this last trial that's why he was alone right now.
"No time to waste then..."
Marco clumsily stumbled out of the room, only to be greeted with a sinister dark hallway.
Seeing this, Marco's eyes flickered and gazed at his System Map.
He sighs in defeat upon seeing the black areas on his map.
Not knowing where else to go, Marco headed left, ignorant of the danger that lies ahead.
Marco's footsteps echoed as he walk down the hallway with the wall as his support. Another wave of pain surged through his body and his labored breathing became more intense.
He drank another potion and his pale face eased. As he continues to venture into the hallway, the light suddenly flickered on, revealing a horrific sight before him.
There rushing towards him is a tall humanoid monster.
What?
Even from afar, he can sense the resentment overflowing from the monster. The monster has long wiry appendages. It has an exposed brain and particularly large sharp ears. Its mouth is wide open and you can see sharp rows of teeth rotating inside.
Suddenly, it stops four meters before him. Countless eyes of different sizes emerge from its flat face, and numerous spindly tentacles burst from its back.
One tentacle, in particular, hovered beside it. The tentacle wriggles and its tip bursts open like a flower. Then like it was vomiting something, an eye emerged from the tentacle.
It rushes towards him, stopping just in front of Marco's face. It stared unblinkingly at him.
It paused for a moment, then suddenly, it let out a sharp shriek.
"Kkiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeiii!!!!"
Countless tentacles rush to attack Marco.
Seeing this, Marco can only bite the bullet and frantically dodges its attacks. Unfortunately, another surge of pain erupted from his body, making him distracted.
STAB!
"Fuah..."
"Ha...ha..."
Blood dripped down on the floor as the tentacle drills into his shoulder. The tentacle lifts him into the air and throws him against the wall.
"Aah!"
A huge wave of resentment overwhelms him and the wound where the tentacle is piercing immediately turned black. Black veins emerged and started to climb and infect his body.
With a momentary glance, he saw his Health Points decreasing rapidly.
Damn it!
Resentment poisoning!
[ Resentment Poisoning ]
Acquired by being injected with Resentment Energy into the physical body causing the destabilization of the spiritual and physical energy of the body.
Amidst the pain that he's feeling, a dagger appeared in his hand and he decisively cut the tentacle hooked on his shoulder.
With a shriek of pain, the limb thrashes wildly and Marco is thrown into the floor.
"Ha...ha..."
But he is still not out of danger, without a moment of rest, numerous tentacles sharpened and rush to attack him. Just as he was about to get hit, a black shadowy shield sprang up and shielded the blow.
Good thing that he was able to activate the skill but at this rate, the shield will not hold on for much longer.
Various sharpened tentacles continue to smash at his shield. Seeing that its attack can't break the shield keeping it apart from its prey, the creature rush towards Marco. Its elongated arms and long sharp claws smashed frantically at the shield keeping him safe.
"Aaah!"
Another surge of pain engulfs him. Combine with the resentment poisoning, his Health points decrease at a critical point.
Marco quickly drank a Health potion. After drinking the potion, he also took out a small plastic bottle, and with great difficulty, he poured its contents towards his wound. Immediately, black smoke flew out from his wound, causing him another great pain.
Heaving, he push his fingers inside his wound and dug out a piece of a tentacle.
"Fuah...ha...ha...."
The creature becomes more agitated after hearing Marco's screams inside the shield. It continued to smash the shield over and over again, making spindly cracks in the shield.
Seeing this, Marco took out another plastic bottle and drink its contents. Seconds later, Marco heaved and spat out a huge amount of black blob. The black veins from his neck and body also receded.
Ha...ha... Damn! It's a good thing that he always has a bottle of Blessed Holy water with him. Without it, he might truly become a goner or worse. Who would think that it can be of use in the Transcender's instance?
Bam!
More cracks appeared in the shield and just as the creature is about to burst it open, Marco summoned his katana and activated his skill << Shadow Slash >>.
It smashes the shield open and hits the creature at once. The creature hissed in pain and another wave of resentment emanated from it.
Suddenly, the wound that he caused to the creature began to heal, knitting the flesh together like nothing happened.
"Not good!"
Marco immediately used << Shadow Steps >> and vanish from the shadows, thus escaping the creature.
With prey not in sight, the creature shriek a frustrated yowl and began thrashing and destroying its surroundings.