The place around him was much more vast than before, like it had expanded on its own. Instead of it being the same size as the large warehouse entrance he was used to, this cave seemed to be a lot bigger than the warehouse. Like it was more of a portal to another place rather than a generation of a battleground.
Andrew thought that this wasnt too far out of reach considering everything that has been happening to him as of lately, this would have been some of the minor news compared to the world ending tragedy that Andrew payed little heed too.
"Ah, my first challenger." A small childlike voice arose from in front of him.
Andrew looked over to see a small boy who looked to be around the age of 7 years old
'Please, dear god, if you are even a thing anymore. Dont make me harm this child'
This was the only plead he could muster up as because if thats what he really had too do, he would do it without much hesitation. His resolve has been hardened over the vast amount of training and he had unconsciously made a vow.
"Welcome to my lair. Im sure your anxious for a tussle, but i can assure you that there will be little." He said in a mocking voice.
The boy in front of him seemed to be very… plain, with jeans and a tight t-shirt with a popular game that was transferring around the younger kids these days. Far from a dangerous opponent that would cause anyone harm.
"How did you get here little guy?" Andrew mustered up his most adult voice possible but the look of repellance in response to the sentence was all he needed.
"I dont know, i just arrived here after something took me. But whatever it was it has been giving me food and kept me alive. So ive been here for a while and ive claimed it as mine. Do you want to hear about what i found" The boy shrugged everything off like that was normal as he trailed off playfully.
"I think youre not telling me something."
"Oh, Dont worry about that. Not central to the story" The kid blew his question off naturally as Andrew looked at him dumbfounded
"Ive made so many new friends down here, there are so many other kids ive never knew before so i was excited to play with them. We dont know how any of us got here but this place is cool so it doesnt matter." He said as he jumped up a couple of rocks, his legs slipping from under him multiple times as his small legs struggled.
"Anyway, come one ill show you around!" The little boy beconed Andrew with hurried hand movements as he jumped over another large rock out of sight.
Andrew panicked and threw all reason of this being a trap out of the window, nearly leaping after the boy as he followed him over a large rock. Whatever he was originally worried about seemed to be not true as he followed the short pale kid.
He picked up the pace to keep track of the somehow elusive kid whose black hair kept slipping out of his vision veerytime he would see it slightly.
'How is this kid so goddanm fast.' Andrew thought and then it struck him
'How was he so fast? Kids arnt granted a system until highschool.' Andrew slowed too a stop hurriedly as he looked around the small tunnel of fallen rocks. The walls seemed to want to cave in on him as he looked around.
"Come one!" The voice called from over the next rock.
Andrew stood there wearily, he now knew that the kid was probably the monster but he couldnt just launch in there without much thought. So he slowly walked towards the edge, his mind racing of thought about what he could see as he slowly pushed himself over the rock to peer over the edge.
The b0oy stood there with a smile and walked forward out of sight. The ground he was walkingon was a smooth flat surface, like carved stone.
"Ahhh…. Fuck it" Andrew solidified his thoughts and just jumped over the small rock and landed on the ground with a large thump.
The room around him was smooth like looking into well made pottery, its edges were a hint of blue as Andrew looked up and around. Before him lie a large room with torches lit red as they spanned across the giant room that was about the size of the library.
The kid was no where to be seen as Andrew looked around in wonder and worry about what could be ahead. But that wonder would soon be satisfied as Andrew heard rumbling then he felt the ground shake slowly.
Andrews back dropped in cold sweat as he didnt know where the rumbling was coming from beneath him. Weather it was right below him or across the room, not a single soul Andrews level could tell.
SO he just backed up into a corner, if something that big was causing the rumble than it would be safe to assume if he stood in a corner he would be safe from underground attacks.
Sure enough the smooth stone started to open up periodically as the pieces fell one by one down into an abyss that Andrew could not see the bottom of. Panic soon setting in as he squeezed himself against the wall as hard as he could and felt his arm scream in resistance to the wall.
"Well that didnt work." The boys voice rang loudly from above where Andrew could see the small disappointment in his eyes.
His body slowly glowed in a green hue as he slowly morphed into a handsome young man. Not anywhere close to model handsome but enough to get a few glances, his eyes sparkled with interest as he looked at Andrew and snapped his fingers.
"I should have known that it would be like this." Andrew grimiced, he knew this was going to happen and would have liked to catch the man off guard in his own trap. But it looks like he has in own measures of safety up his sleeve.
"Why a little boy, of all the things you could have chosen. Besides, why would you lead me here if we were going to fight anyway." Andrew sighed loudly as he watched the tiles slowly take place again on the bottom of the floor.
"Because, how would i lure you here? I never once lied to you didnt i? Everything i said was true,. Just missing quite a few… holes." He grinned as some tiles around Andrew fell into the abyss.
Andrew felt his blood drop as he realised he could control every single part of the floor in this room, falling would mean uncertain death. A dip into the unknown where he might never wake up from.
"And besides, why would i let you fight on even footing when i could fight with an advantage? Its common knowledge that you should use your strengths against your opponents weakness." He grinned as he jumped down the narrow boulder landing a couple of meteres in front of Andrew.
His black hair glistened slightly as it unrulled over his neck, his eyes radiated a slight blue and was filled to the brim with mockery.
"So, mr. whatever your name is. I dont think there is any room for negotiation. Now, please die peacefully so you dont have to make my job hard." His voice was cold as he slowly walked forward, drawing a thin one handed sword that could be used for jabbing.
Andrew looked at the man in front of him with defiance and rebelled against his own anxiety that was telling him to submit and beg for his life.
'Come on man, this is the last floor of the group. If you manage to defeat this you can move on, this is only the second boss. How hard can he be to kill' Andrew reassured himself nervously.
He looked around and tried to observe the situation as the Man walked closer, his smile slowly disappearing into an unhappy frown as his now blue t-shirt ruffled as he brought his sword up.
'Eyes of the impervious'
Andrew felt his vision cloud as he started to retrace the mana in his mind, walking slowly to the right to exit the corner to grant himself some breathing space.
The mans footsteps stopped as he looked at Andrew weirdly, his resolve looked as if it was slowly deteriorating and a small bit of fear shown through the cracks of his mask of arrogance.
His legs slowly continued on trembling a little bit, arms shacky but controlled as he tried to zone ANdrew back in but was unable too do so. But the impaired movement slowly came to a stop as he resumed to move towards Andrew. This time a lot faster than before
"I said DIE peacefully." He growled with malice so potent that it felt otherworldly. His arm pushing forward through the air and towards Andrew with great speed and accuracy that Andrew could barely watched the blur of the sword as it neared him.
Cancelling the activation of 'Eyes of the impervious' Andrew dodged as fast as he could, he could not afford to lose the advantage of 'Perseverance until blood'. This was one of Andrews new spells and he would love to try and test it out first.
Raising both of his axeblades that were stationed on his waist in the belt straps Andrew got into a ready position and waited for his attack. The countless hours of training slowly seeped back into his mind as he watched the man in front of him ready himself for another jab.
Andrew watched as he waited for the man to complete his form but was caught off guard when He lunged forward before he even finished his movement. Causing him to nick a part of Andrews waist.