Hugh braced himself and walked down the stairs to the underground. He did not know where it would lead to, but he knew that it would be dangerous.
The stairs were made of cobblestone, and his footsteps echoed in the staircase downward. He braced himself and readied his armor to be taken out as soon as an enemy came towards him.
The hot air was blasting towards his face and making him sweat profusely. It got hotter and hotter as he went down into the staircase.
Pools of sweat dripped into the floor, and Hugh felt a little bit exhausted due to the heat. He had to eat five wings from his storage just to keep himself in top condition.
The floor underneath him gradually became redder and redder as he went down. The cracks on the cobblestone glowed bright red and gave off heat to his soles.
After about an hour of walking down the red hot stairs, Hugh finally reached the bottom of the underground. It was a cave that seemed to be carved out from the rocks underground.
There was only one path forward, so Hugh decided to walk through it. It was not big, nor was it small; it was just right for him to walk through unimpeded.
As he walked further to the underground tunnel, Hugh saw more and more red ores on the walls. They flowed bright red like there was a small ember on the ore.
Hugh dug one ore up and tasted it. The outside was hard, but the inside was gooey. The soft part of the inside tasted tangy, while the hard outside tasted cool.
As soon as he ingested the ore, he felt a cold feeling envelop his body. The heat he was feeling before vanished for a few seconds, giving him relief from this hot underground.
It only lasted for a few seconds, so Hugh started to feel the hotness again as soon as his body's cold feeling disappeared.
He looked at the ores on the walls and decided to dig multiple ores to eat while inside this underground tunnel. He would eat the ores in his hand as he walked in the tunnel.
After a while, Hugh finally saw the end of the tunnel. He could tell because the end opened up into a large dome. Hugh could feel that the air here was hotter than the air back in the tunnel.
Hugh did not know what was inside this dome, but he knew that he should not barge in there without a care. He started to tiptoe towards the dome, making sure that his presence would not be known.
He peeked his head through and observed the surroundings. Immediately, the fiery ores on the walls were the first thing he saw. It was plastered all over the walls like stars on a clear night.
It was a sight to behold, and Hugh would have enjoyed the scenery if not for the giant creature in the middle of the dome.
Hugh squinted his eyes and investigated the large creature in the center. It was brown and was filled with fur. It had its head on the ground, and two of its arms were digging further down the ground.
It did not seem to notice Hugh, so he was relieved. He tried to use his inspect skill, but it did not show up. It looked like he had to walk near it for his inspect skill to activate.
This was a risky move, but Hugh was willing to take it. He had to know about the creature's details to see if he could take it on.
With great care, Hugh stealth Ed his way towards the large creature. He took it step by step, not getting impatient with his actions.
He had learned this fact from fighting with the eagles and the squirrels. If he were to get too aggressive, the creatures would always punish him for his mistake with an injury.
Hugh made sure to erase his presence as much as he could, and he could reach the creature until he was only a few meters away from it.
++++++++++++++
INSPECT
Species: Giant Fiery Mole
Stage: *unadvanced*
Rank: C-rank
*Locked*: *locked*
++++++++++++++
The giant mole in front of him was a C-rank. It was a dangerous creature because it was two ranks above Hugh, but Hugh debated whether he should take this creature on.
He had already defeated a C-rank before when he fought the squirrel. He could win and survive against a C-rank, but that was only because he knew the creature's attack patterns.
This was the first time that he would fight with a giant mole. He was not familiar with it, which meant he could not entirely dodge against its attacks.
He wanted to fight it, but it was still risky. Before he could even decide for himself, the faint mole in front of him raised its head.
It sniffed the air and seemed to smell something wrong in the dome. Hugh knew that he was found out, so he had no choice but to fight it.
Taking advantage of the element of surprise, Hugh decided to attack it while it still had not realized that Hugh was there.
He pierced his fist towards the mole's body with his armor. As soon as his hand collided with the mole's skin, he felt a hard resistance that prevented him fr deep towards the mole's body.
He could only make a skin-deep incision on the mole's body, even though he used his armor. This was the point where Hugh realized he would not have a good time fighting the mole.
*TSKSKSK*
The mole let out a shriek and turned towards Hugh. Its sharp claws appeared from its hands and pierced towards Hugh.
Hugh used his armored leg to dodge the attack quickly, but he realized that the claw was not aimed at him. The mole's hands pierced through the ground, and it started to dig furiously into the ground.
It was not long until the mole disappeared into the ground, leaving Hugh to wonder where it was. Hugh kept his guard up at all times as he knew that the mole would strike when he least expected it.
Hugh felt a rumble at the ground underneath him and tried to roll away, but it was too late. The mole's claws pierced through the floor and towards Hugh's thighs.
Hugh's body was thrown out due to the blow's force, and his left thigh was bleeding. It had a large gash due to the sharp claws of the mole.
Hugh limped as he got himself back up. He had to recover fast because the mole disappeared in the ground again, ready to strike him from below.
This time, Hugh activated all of his focus on dodging the mole's attacks. As soon as he felt the rumblings on the ground, he would roll away from the attack.
Even though Hugh was able to detect when the mole would attack, he could not dodge away faster. He would always activate his armor on his leg too late to make any difference in his speed.
Hugh's hamstring was injured from the mole's attack. He had trouble standing up as he tried to balance himself with one leg.m
He realized that the only way he would dodge the mole's attacks was to activate his armor at all times. The problem with this is that he only had less than thirty seconds left on his armor.
With this time limit, he was only able to dodge five attacks from the mole. Then, he felt the strength fade away from his legs, and his armor turned back into liquid form.
He had no choice but to eat more food to keep up his armor. He only had 145 wings left, so it was not a feasible way to defeat the mole.
He had to think of another way to power his armor. He looked around, and the bright star-like fiery ores filled his eyes. He could eat those and power his armor.
He took out ten wings from his storage and put them into his mouth. With ten seconds of armor, he was able to dodge another attack from the mole and reach the ores on the dome's walls.
He used his exceptional grip to use the ores as climbing edges to crawl up the dome. He would take some ores out of the wall to power up his armor.
He was now hanging on the wall with one hand. He looked down and saw that the mole burst out of the ground. It looked around, confused as to where Hugh went.
Hugh figured out that the mole could not see him if he was not on the ground. It looked around and tried to feel the ground to see if Hugh was there.
It did not sense Hugh's presence, so it stood there blankly while confused. Hugh used this chance to jump down towards the mole and through its body with his armored hand.
*TSKSKSKS*
Hugh was able to penetrate deeper due to the force of gravity adding to his power. It screeched and slashed towards Hugh.
Hugh dodged, used his armor, and dodge away from the attack. The mole had a scrunched-up face as it dug down the ground again and disappeared.
Hugh rushed towards the wall and hung off it, keeping his legs above the ground. He used this tactic to deal damage towards the mole while keeping himself safe.
It took a long time, but the mole finally screeched its last screams and fell powerless into the ground. Hugh panted and stood tall next to the mole.