3 Hours.
That was how long he had been traveling deeper and deeper into the forest, constantly keeping his guard up. His eyes and ears were strained to notice any movement or sound.
During this time, he had some close calls, groups of various monsters and beasts, that had almost crossed paths with him. However, he was able to find a way around them, he needed every weapon he had for the boss of the dungeon.
Despite traveling for so long with almost no end in sight, Andrew knew that he was slowly creeping closer to the core of the dungeon. In dungeons such as these, that don't have a direct singular path, it's hard to navigate where exactly to go.
However, there are clear signs that can be spotted, signs that are telltale of the dungeon itself as well. The air had grown thinner making it harder to breathe, the trees seemed to be withering losing their former luster and vitality, and the temperature had also decreased.
Finally, the deeper into the forest he walked, contact with any monster sharply decreased. Steeling himself Andrew remained cautious and continued moving.
Until he stopped.
In front of him hidden by some collapsed trees and rubble, Andrew made out what seems to be the entrance to some sort of cavern. Moving towards it slowly Andrew carefully stepped towards it, his eyes scanning the area for anything suspicious.
Finding a gap large enough for him to squeeze through, Andrew entered the cavern.
The air instantly changed as Andrew picked up a metallic scent in the air.
Blood, Human.
The cavern had minimal light, due to the trees and rubble that covered its entrance. Turning on his flashlight, Andrew continued onward.
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Andrew moved his light towards the sound. The culprit appeared to be just loose stones that happened to fall. Gathering his wits Andrew continued moving forward.
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Andrew's foot tripped over something as he came to descend a slope in the cavern. Shifting his light, Andrew's eyes narrowed, his foot had hit something he hadn't expected.
A Serpent's head.
A large Angular head of a serpent about the size of a large rock lay decapitated, its piercing yellow eyes still open as if staring at him. Shining his light at the part of the head which was decapitated Andrew found violet blood which stained the floor. As he moved his light he found a trail of blood that led deeper into the cavern.
Choosing to continue Andrew followed the tail until he was met with a large section of the cavern. Golden yellow light seemed to light up the area as it crept through cracks in the ceiling, forming spotlights across the place.
Just under the light was what seemed to be a monster corpse, which the trail of blood led back to.
Moving closer he noticed large black bugs which seemed to be feeding on the corpse of the monster itself, chittering as they consumed the flesh of the fallen monster.
Their appearances were a cross between a cockroach and beetle, they appeared to be larger than your average human and their black carapace possessed a natural sheen that seemed to to reflect any light that fell upon it.
The monster that they were feasting on seemed to have been dead for a while. Its size was about that of two large school buses in length, its entire body despite being a corpse was monstrous in size. A fair amount of its flesh could be seen to have been missing, with some of its bone shining through.
Looking at the corpse of the monster Andrew felt a strange familiarity towards the monster. Its head seemed to resemble that of a lion, its back seemed to have another head with horns protruding out of it, and its tail was long and possessed scales, however, it seemed to have been severed somehow.
Continuing to analyze the situation, he suddenly realized what the giant beast was.
Chimera.
In Greek mythology, the chimera was one of the most well-known monsters. It was said to have been characterized by being a combination of three animals, a lion's head, a goat's head on its back, and finally a serpent as its tail.
The Chimera was definitely strong enough to be the final boss of a dungeon. However, there were some issues with this theory. Firstly, if the chimera was the final boss and it had been defeated, then why was the dungeon still open? Did this mean that there were other clear conditions? If so what was he supposed to do?
Secondly, the Chimera was a strong creature that only appeared in C - rank dungeons and above, so what was one doing in an E - rank dungeon?
Questions that led to more questions, swirled around his head Andrew noticed a slight shine coming from within the Chimera's corpse, one that he was very familiar with.
A Core.
5 bugs, each the size of a small car at least. While light shined off its black carapace, their bodies would twitch as they consumed the chimera.
With the current equipment that he brought, Andrew held no confidence that he would be able to fight the black bugs. If he could remove their exoskeleton and expose their insides, but his options were limited.
Despite that the core of a Chimera would possess great power and worth, for a beast like that to appear in an E-rank dungeon is nothing short of a miracle. He needed every ounce of power he could muster for the future, he couldn't afford to give up this opportunity. His best bet would be to find a way to take it, without being noticed by the bugs.
As softly as he could, Andrew cautiously tried to use the spots of dark and shadows around the area to move closer to where the bug monster and the corpse of the Chimera is.
He controlled his breathing, holding his breath so that it wouldn't give away his position.
Approximately 210 meters.
That was his estimate for the current distance between him and his goal. He needed to get the bug monsters away from the corpse if he wanted to retrieve the core.
Looking around him Andrew picked up a sizable loose rock. In a smooth motion, he deftly flung his arm and threw the rock across the entirety of the area. The rock flew silently sailing through the air before hitting the wall on the opposite of the large cavern.
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The sound of the rock hitting the wall rang loosening other stones on impact.
An echo of the tumble and clattering of rocks and stones sounded throughout the cavern.
Instantly the chittering of the bugs stopped. They instead seemed to vibrate as their antennae began to twitch as if locating the direction of the sound.
Once finding the direction of the origin of the sound they began chittering again, this time even louder as they quickly began scurrying towards where Andrew threw the rock.
Seeing them moving toward the direction of the rock leaving the corpse, Andrew quickly began moving toward the Chimera's corpse. Controlling his breathing Andrew tried to ensure he made minimal sound.
Moving quickly and carefully he ran towards the Chimera.
200 meters.
180 meters.
160 meters.
The figure of the Chimera grew as Andrew drew closer to the body.
140 meters.
The glow of the core could be seen more clearly shining through the corpse of the Chimera.
120 meters
With swift and skillful movements Andrew ran, dodging any loose stones that may have caused him to fall.
100 meters.
The features of the Chimera began to clear up as he continued moving toward the corpse.
However, as Andrew took his next step a deep rumble could be felt. It shook the walls of the cavern as the loose rocks began to fall from the ceiling.
Looking up Andrew saw a large rock the size of a person dropping down on top of him. Quickly he reacted, leaping out of the way at a moment's notice and crashing into the ground grunting while he did.
The rumbling soon came to an end as the cavern began to settle, clouds of dust had been kicked up into the air of the cavern but, Andrew could still see his goal.
Getting up he continued forwards, however, he soon came to a stop as he heard a familiar chittering near him.
Turning around Andrew came to face to face with one of the bug monsters just a ways away from him. It seemed that one of the bug monsters had noticed his movements during all the commotion.
Beady black eyes in multitudes stared back at him as its antennae began to twitch and shiver. Andrew held his breath as he faced the monster in front of him, not moving a single muscle.
Despite staring straight at him, the antennae on the monsters continued to move, shiver and twitch. Andrew's eyes narrowed as he observed the monster, despite its multitude of eyes, it seemed that its eyesight was rather limited.
Instead, if the rock thrown before was any indication, it appeared to rely on mainly sound and vibrations to navigate. Slowly moving Andrew tried to move towards his target without making a sound.
๐ต๐ค๐ฉ๐ฌ๐ฌ
Andrew's eyes narrowed as the antennae of the monster began twitching and shaking before its head spun towards his direction.
Immediately Andrew broke out into a desperate sprint.
80 meters
Running with everything he could muster, Andrew sprinted towards the Chimera corpse, escape was no longer an option.
60 meters
His current weapons would not help him and there were no clear escape routes, the only thing he could do was run, run like he had never had before.
40 meters
If he could get to the core and assimilate, he may stand a chance at facing the bug-like monster. However, he knew this was a big "if".
20 meters
10 meters
5 meters
4
3
2
1
Approaching the Chimera Andrew suddenly felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. Turning his head he found a spear-like black leg pierced deep into his shoulder.
In a mixture of shock and pain, a horrific sound made its way to his lips.
"AAARRRGGGHHHAA"
His whole world began to twist as the monster flung his body upwards, before slamming it straight down next to the corpse of the Chimera.
As Andrew's vision began to blur from the pain and blood, just beyond the monster that had currently stabbed him, the rest of the bug monsters had begun to towards his direction.
His mind began to fall into a haze as he entered a desperate struggle against the monster that held him down, with its leg still deeply embedded into his shoulder.
With his remaining strength, Adnrew began to look around for anything that could help him. Just then his eyes met a glowing iridescent gem.
The Chimera corpse with its core.
It was only just about an arm's distance away.
Reaching his arm out he just missed it, about an arm's length out. He had to get loose if he wanted to reach it.
Looking back up he was met with the sight of the grotesque bug-like monster bearing fangs that seemed to glisten and reflect whatever light was in the cavern.
He finally recognized this monster Black Fanged Beetles, just like the chimera they shouldn't have been in this dungeon and they shouldn't have been this big. C - rank was their standard classification, his current E - rank abilities paled in comparison.
Andrew's mind raced, when he was stabbed most of his equipment was tossed aside and scattered, he didn't have anything on him, and his options were limited.
Slowly the monster began to move its fangs closer to Andrew. Andrew stared on as venom dripped off its fangs leaving a slight sizzling sound as it hit the ground in front of him.
Quickly arriving at a decision, Andrew began struggling and moving. Gathering whatever strength he had Andrew began trying to tear the spear-like leg out of his body.
"ARGH"
Biting his tongue so he wouldn't scream Andrew tore his body away just in time to roll away as the monster tried to devour him.
Rolling, his mangled shoulder ached and stung but he had no choice.
Quickly he leaped, and using his less injured arm he reached out towards the core of the Chimera.
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Andrew coughed, as blood began to spill out his mouth looking down he found the same black leg stabbing out of his stomach.
He collapsed on his knees, as his blood began to flow pool forming a puddle beneath him.
Just before he fully lost consciousness, he heard a familiar sound ring in his ears.
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