Now that Theo was fighting monsters here and there- he was actually a lot more confident. And definitely not scared. Like he wasn't scared at all- he was just shaking a bit from time to time.
'And this only makes it halfway?'
He could have sworn that he traveled at least ten-fifteen kilometers so far and yet-
He was glad that at least he didn't come across any reptiles. 'So, they really were extinct.' Which was great but there were still a lot of bugs here.
Very large bugs at that too.
Blip!
At this point, whenever he heard a blip- he just mindlessly watched it.
Apparently, he'd more or less given up.
'Not another kill quest?'
Instead of the typical, 'kill that' quest, he got something new.
[Travel to the site-1]
'That's it?'
It wasn't an immediate quest, but the location was near. As in too close. He was just standing maybe ten meters away from it?
The bugs kind of stopped following after he killed all the centipedes that came his way. They were still hostile, but they weren't actively trying to eat him or anything.
'Seriously, just how much of all this was already planned by this thing?'
He really, really had to look into this a bit more once he got out of here- assuming he could.
Even after walking this far, he didn't see any exits on the map, so he didn't have anything better to do anyway.
Which was why- he walked ten meters and arrived at his quest spot.
'Not a golden spot?' His map showed nothing. His quest marker, however, pointed at this very spot, towards the ground.
But there was nothing here.
Not even those scarce black plants. And definitely no bugs.
No patterns.
Which was odd and kind of eerie. 'Something doesn't feel right about this…'
But he had to complete the quest somehow.
'So, what am I supposed to-' He slouched down and touched the ground.
It lit up.
A bright red light.
[Quest- travel to the site 1- completed; rewards- 1000 exp]
'Well, this can't be good.'
Because the bright light just got brighter and he could swear he saw something come out of the ground, as he jumped back fast.
A very, very large shadow, just coming out like it was no big deal.
[FQ. Kill the royal Roudian Centipede and acquire its fangs.]
Very specific, and very scary.
The centipede only had one head- but it was at least ten times bigger than the ones before.
The other ones had black scales but this one had golden red.
The fangs were sticking out and they were wet with poison.
"UGHHARR!" And its roar shook the very soil!
Theo used Examine- the first thing. His mouth started hanging. 'Oh shit.'
Sweat didn't just pour, it drenched him. Where did he get so much water anyway?
Every stat was at least ten times more than the centipedes he'd killed before and most stats exceeded his- some by five- six times. Meanwhile, the life force of this thing was roughly one hundred times greater than a typical three-headed large centipede.
'It's official-' Theo smiled defeatedly. 'You really are trying to kill me.'
[Suggested skill- Turbo]
It was big and it was just glaring at Theo- not quite making a move. Theo meanwhile, sweated, and he breathed hard. He couldn't even move his hands. 'I can't outrun it.'
His gun was kind of running low on power- so he wasn't confident about killing it either.
But Theo took a deep breath. He couldn't just let fear get to him and get eaten or something.
If the system really thought he wouldn't be able to make out of this alive, wouldn't it have given him the quest to run instead, or something?
Actually, it wouldn't have brought him here, right?
Right?
'I can do this!' But his body refused to move. It was frozen in fear. His body just didn't want to move.
'TURBO!'
Power surged within him.
Instead of the bluish aura from before, he got surrounded by a rather thin golden aura and it empowered him greatly.
[All stats increased by 10%!]
UGHHARR!!!
With another roar, the giant centipede dived forward, straight for Theo's head.
Fast.
Its crawling motion sent shivers down his spine and he knew- it was move or die.
Theo dodged, or more like he rolled left, desperately making distance, so he could pull out his gun which was still recharging.
But yeah, the centipede was just behind him and he didn't have a moment to rest.
It was almost like he could hear certain crackling sounds in the air-
Theo kept on rolling and in a split second, took the opportunity to jump back.
His stats were boosted but he had to admit, this terrain wasn't the least favorable to him. And the centipede's stats were just too high.
He couldn't keep up with the centipede and he didn't have the time to launch an attack.
Besides, both Charge and Charm were not usable.
He was running out of options.
Slam!
The centipede almost stomped him with its spiked tail- but he leaped right at the last moment.
A streak of electricity blitzed towards him from the ground, striking his left shoulder.
Paralyzed.
Pant! Pant!
'This is not working.'
But he did manage to get his gun out and even take a shot.
Bang!
The plasma ball went through the motion but the centipede just evaded it like no big deal.
'That can't be right?'
He kept firing consecutively but the centipede just created some distance and continued to dodge everything like it was no big deal.
The whole thing felt awfully familiar.
'It's almost as though-'
As though he was back in that forest again- fighting the large tiger with Sizzy.
But unlike last time, Sizzy wasn't here, and he didn't have anywhere to run. Besides, his gun was almost empty of juice.
And the timer on his Turbo skill was also ticking. He could feel that it was about to run out.
'Aren't I screwed?'
SO, without further ado, he turned around and started blitzing.
But then- the centipede just stopped. It didn't follow him.
It didn't move and it didn't even try to come near anymore.
Rather-
'NOW!' Theo took his aim and fired, as he kept on running.
Bang!
Bang!
Every shot missed.
Clack! It was finally depleted.
And the golden aura also left him.
[All stats decreased by 20%]