Damn!
With the monster stepping on to another level, it would be nearly impossible to leave the cave alive much less to give some blows and acquire any experience. They had to now seriously focus on keeping themselves alive.
But they knew they definitely cannot kill a level three monster with their present dexterity limit.
On the other hand, Qiao was no more worried.
He could see the frustration on the faces of the chasers. Their initial plans had failed and now they might die as this monsters was not going give any path for retreat.
"Use your weapon dumbass," the leader shouted at his ally who was running around and not using his weapon to counterattack.
He was irritating the monster even more.
"How I am supposed to use my weapon when I am running for my life already," the guy shouted, running around recklessly. It was not that he was out of rationality yet but the Qiao was maddening the monster with his reckless moves and in turn he was panicking.
The chaser gritted his teeth.
To think that this newbie would resort to such mean act to implicate them, "Stop being smart already, you can not possibly escape from here," he shouted toward Qiao who just now jumped and barely made through an opening. The layers of slimy liquid which was destined to fell on him and burn his skin fell on the ground created steam smoke.
*HISSS*
The sizzling sound from the impact of the slimy liquid falling on the ground made the others aware that the monster was now getting serious. This smoke that appeared was also fatal but it was not too much yet to entirely fill the cave. It disappeared soon but left chasers coughing.
The leader was angered now. He decided to give it his all to kill the monster no matter what. He stepped ahead and clenched his rustic sword, raising it in a slashing motion. It met the slimy body of the monster tearing a wound on it, but immediately started to melt. If it were a level four weapon, it might have sustained against the presently level third monster. But it was just a low level sword and was corroded quickly, leaving just the handle.
The chaser was sent flying with a slap. It seemed the monster felt a bit pain by the wound that was created by the now melted weapon. It let out a horrible screech and the chaser was severely injured with the slap. He fell right on his chest and he coughed out blood.
The other chasers were frightened but there was no way out now. If they had not showed their greed, they might have hunted the monster before it reached to level three. They looked at the youth who was also injured but not much because of his constant running around. He was much more tired and out of stamina as compared but fared better.
Indeed…
It was his reckless running angered the monster too much. They looked toward him with fiery eyes, a strong resentment present against him Qiao.
Qiao could feel the death glares but he didn't have time to stop his running and tell them their mistake. Even if he told, they would not listen so it was better to keep quiet and do what he could do to save few more moments of life.
Now they had started to directly attack the monster. Although deep down they knew their mistake, they were too stubborn to admit it. How could they have let the newbie take the spoils without effort?
'Alright! This was your plan from beginning so bear the outcome! '
Qiao could only curse them in his head.
The leader stood up and looked around. Without his weapon he was afraid and had no idea how to attack. Just as he thought of a way to overcome this, the monster came hurling his way to squish him.
The monster closed in on him and there was no way left for him to escape. Other than to see his coming death he had no other option.
"AAAAAH" The guy shouted. But to no avail.
The monster spread its slimy arms and the chaser met his dead right front of other's eyes and they could not do anything since the body of the chaser corroded quickly.
It was horrible.
Intensely horrible that other two chasers lost their rationality.
Qiao happened to have respite for a few seconds as he judged the situation. But it was not the same for the other two. When the monster took a sharp turn to kill the chaser, its slimy body flipped some of the layers in every direction.
Qiao happened to dodge on time but the other two who were looking at the horrible sight forgot to move.
It slammed into them and their bodies were severely burning now. Having lost all sense and rationality, they were shouting vulgarities. They could see death lurking on their heads now and knew that this would be the end.
Qiao felt pity once but then he thought to take care of his own life first.
To be honest, he felt that there was no way.
He had no damn weapon on him, no guidance, nor did he know what kind of monster he was facing.
Few of things were known to these chasers but because the two remaining had lost their rationality, they were about to die now.
After killing them, the monster came toward Qiao. It was excited that only one prey was left and what more this one only knew to recklessly run around.
"I might die…" Qiao said to himself. He was injured.
Sweat poured from his face as the monster was reaching closer, there was no one left to divert the attention of the monster now.
But he did not want to die like this. This is not how it should end. He still had his little brother to take care of. And the damned voice which landed him in this situation was still out there. He started to think hard for anything to help him in this hopeless situation. As he looked around, he saw that the chaser's weapons had all melted.
But there were many hard stone scattered on the ground which were actually the slimy layers which kept shedding from the body of the monster. Qiao chose one exceptionally sharp looking one.
This shredded skin was lime color no more but was slightly red, which meant this piece of skin was shed when the monster reached level three.
With this sharp stone as a dagger in his hands, he scuttled around to avoid the monster. Now he already knew that the monster although had great strength, its speed reduced as it increased in level.
He had to maintain some distance constantly to have any chance at survival now.
The temporary weapon he had was around a foot long and sharp at the edges. Crimson red aura glowed off the stone and as Qiao ran around he kept observing the monster for any weakness.
It was impossible to see through the vitals of the monster but what gave a little courage to Qiao was the slowed down speed of the monster.
At that moment he noticed something. The right part of it was emitting exceptional lava slime. It was not possible to notice it with just a glance in presence of the shredding skin but right now every detail mattered.
Glancing at this part of the monster, Qiao thought up a plan.