It wasn't long before Abel came across his first monster. It was a large lobster the size of a pony with a fierce appearance. Its exoskeleton was a mix of dark and vibrant hues, featuring a tough carapace that looked like it provided excellent protection. But its most defining feature were its massive claws. Each claw was about 1 meter in length, ending in sharp, serrated points.
"Inspect"
*Ding*
[Lobster Clawguard] (Normal Monster)
Level: 15
Attack: 95-101
Defense: 98
HP: 1,200/1,200
Skills: Pincer Crusher ???, Shell Armor ???
'My inspect seems to have improved…'
Abel didn't have the leisure to take a look at his inspect skill since the monster got aggroed to him right away. Although he didn't know much about the monster skills shown, their names conveyed enough information. It could also have other skills that didn't show up but he thought it unlikely since it was a zeroth-tier monster at the end of the day.
The Lobster Clawguard seemed to be a high attack and high defense type monster with low agility but that suited Abel just fine. His own agility was lagging behind as well but he was much faster than his adversary. He sidestepped the pincer attack and struck out with his sword, trying to strike at its joints.
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His first 2 strikes landed on its thick exterior and he even used his ecliptic slash at the end, bringing its HP down by 25%. He easily dodged its next attack and swung his sword again, trying to aim for its joints instead of its dense exoskeleton.
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He got lucky with his last strike and got a critical hit before he had to dodge, his sword lit up in flames as it dealt extra fire damage that seemed to irritate the monster further. Subsequently, its exoskeleton lit up with a bluish hue that seemed to be its defensive skill, the light kept lingering without abating at all. When he swung around to strike at its exposed rear, he noticed the difference in damage straight away.
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The Lobster Clawguard was down to 50% HP but its defense had shot up by 100%. It would have been ridiculous had the monster not had abysmal agility in the first place. While Abel wasn't sure, he had a feeling its agility would be higher if he fought it in the water whereas his own agility would suffer instead in such a situation.
He kept dancing around the monster, slowly grinding down at its health for the next couple of minutes. As he grinded its health down by another 30%, the defensive skill finally entered cooldown.
'So, it's around 2 minutes… that's good. It'll make taking them down easier.'
He hadn't tasted its pincer attack skill, though not for a lack of effort from the monsters' part. The difference in agility was too much that he could easily slip away before the fierce claw ever got close to him. Even if he was surrounded by several of them at a time, he still had his Harmonic Breath and Serpents Dance skills he could rely on to get himself out of a quick pinch.
After the defensive skill wore off, he swung by its side and finished it off with a couple of sword strikes and an ecliptic slash.
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*Ding*
+720 EXP (x2 EXP)
The monster gave an abundant amount of EXP for its level, especially since it was doubled from the dungeon discovery. It was generally quite easy to kill but he didn't put down his guard just yet. There were a few other types of monsters within this dungeon.
The term "Coral Creeper" referred to a family of crustaceans that evolved a certain way with the corals but they encompassed different lobsters and crabs with the latter having higher speed than the former. Even the lobster-type of monsters within the dungeon would vary with a possible high agility type amongst them.
'I should skin it straight away, although it will waste some of my time in double EXP, I doubt I can clear the dungeon in 24 hours and the carcass will disappear before I can get back to it.'
He had read that the Coral Catacombs consisted of 4 floors, making it one of the average small-sized dungeons. He got down to skinning the monster right away, it actually didn't take as much time as a mammal, he would simply run his skinning knife along the exoskeletons joints and separate its carapace from its body. Once it was separated into several pieces, the system would deem it as complete.
'Though, perhaps its more appropriate to call it deshelling them instead of skinning.'
*Ding*
Skinning success:
+ Coral Claws x2
+ Lobster Meat x2
+ Coral Eyes x2
After putting away his loot he carried on deeper into the dungeon. Just like the name implied, the dungeon was made up of a network of tunnels, passages and chambers made out of corals. Though Abel wasn't sure if it really was a burial site in the past.
Thankfully, he had purchased some parchments and a quill to try and draw up a map otherwise he was sure to get lost in these endless passages. The first few turns revealed some Lobster Clawguards but they were either alone or in pairs so Abel took them down easily enough.
Killing them just required some time, especially when they activated their defensive skill. After a couple of battles, he got the hang of striking at their weak spots such as their leg joints and their compound eyes, though he tried not attacking the latter as he noticed he wouldn't get the eyes as loot if he damaged them. They sold for a good amount considering they were a requirement for night-vision potions, it was unfortunate Chronelix was still too low-leveled to make such a thing.
Even after killing a few of them, he still found the monster to be disturbing. Anyone would find a pony sized omnivorous lobster covered in corals to be eerie but he eventually managed to shrug off this feeling. He was bound to come across more disgusting beings in this world and the full immersion would make sure he experienced it as though it was reality. In all honesty, the Rat King was far more disturbing than these large lobsters.
It helped immensely when he thought about cooking their meat, Abel was already drooling at the idea of roasting fresh lobster meat covered in spices. He just wished he had the equivalent of cumin and lemon to sprinkle on the lobster meat. Unfortunately, all he had was regular salt and black pepper.
After an hour of going around in a large circle, killing and deshelling more than a dozen Lobster Clawguards, his sword skill finally broke through to Adept! He was still a little far from a level up, requiring another 20% of his EXP bar but he guessed he would be able to level up before he logged off for lunch.
He had circled around at first because he thought the entrance to the second floor would be at the back and he wanted to see if he could kill a stronger monster. The higher leveled the monsters were, the more EXP he would get and with the double EXP buff he had, he'd be getting closer to a leveling up.
But the entrance to the next floor seemed to be in the center instead, he started heading directly towards the center of the dungeon and didn't forget to record the paths he took. As he went deeper into the dungeon, the monster finally changed. It was a large crab-looking monster that was around the same size as the earlier Lobster Clawguards except its dimensions differed.
It was around 1 meter in height but extended by more than double in width. It's 8 long and sturdy jointed legs each ended in a sharp and intimidating pointy tip that could do some serious damage were they not needed to keep the hefty monster balanced. It also had 2 fierce and serrated pincers up front like most crustaceans. The exoskeleton was a blend of earthy tones combining shades of deep blue, green, and sandy brown. Overall, it looked like a fast and aggressive monster whether in the sea or on land.
'It's just crab meat, yeah it's sea food on the chopping block. Let's see what its stats are…'
"Inspect"
[Crabby Scuttler] (Normal Monster)
Level: 16
Attack: 92-99
Defense:85
HP: 1,250/1,250
Skills: Skittering Movement ???, Pincer Crusher ???, Shell Armor ???
The monster instantly aggroed onto him and scurried to his side in a flash. Even before taking a look at all of the monsters' stats, Abel could already tell it would be much faster than the lobster. It was actually as fast as him and perhaps even had a slightly higher agility than him.
He blocked the pincer attack coming his way without taking a step back then swung by its side and slashed with his sword at its joints.
Clang
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Clang
The monsters' weakness showed itself right from the first exchange. While it was indeed fast and could move about quickly, it's turning radius was awful. It suffered from the same weakness as any normal crab would, it had to reorient its entire body to strike at its foe. Although it could scuttle about quickly, it would suffer a momentary pause that proved to be Abel's chance to strike.
He blocked the attack coming his way and tried to sidestep again when the crab actually moved to orient itself before he could strike. He blocked another attack but took a blow from its claws as he was thinking about his next step.
Clang
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He couldn't just rely on Serpents Dance to attack this monster. He'd only have an opening to attack for the duration of the skill and be forced on the backfoot when his speed buff entered cooldown.
'I have to move more, I can't just move a single step to the side. I should try and move towards its back.'
He sidestepped again but this time, he blocked the attacks and swung further to its side right after, as though he were a pendulum that made a half turn. He saw his opportunity and attacked relentlessly after using ecliptic slash.
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Clang
He was able to get in double the amount of strikes before the monster could reposition itself in his direction. After eating another claw to the gut and blocking the successive sharp attack, he decided to swing by the other side this time while the monster foolishly repositioned itself in the other direction.
'That's it, even if you're faster I can still kill you without my movement skill.'
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Clang
The monster activated its defensive skill when its HP fell below 50% but Abel had already gotten the hang of dealing with it. Even without Serpents Dance, he dealt with its fast scuttling movement and slowly whittled down it's HP bar until it reached 0.
+800 EXP
'It's much more mentally taxing to kill this crab than that lobster. But it's definitely worth it… ah, I should have gotten a pot, then I could make a nice crab and lobster soup.'
While Abel was deshelling his latest kill, he dreamily thought about the different dishes he could make if he had the right cooking utensils. Unfortunately, he was missing a lot of things but he couldn't just fill up his spatial bag with miscellaneous goods. He was already carrying some ingots, firewood, a flint, arrows and a bunch of other stuff.
He was hoping to buy a spatial accessory so he could carry more things but still have enough space for loot. He could designate his spatial bags inventory for loot only and use the spatial accessory to carry different goods. He could even put more loot into it since the cheapest spatial accessory had as much space as his spatial bag.
*Ding*
+ Crab Meat x2
+ Coral Claws x2
+ Coral Shell x1
'Alright, I'll just need to hunt another 19 of these guys for a level up. I shouldn't waste anymore time; the pods for Frankie and Melly are coming today.'
Abel didn't dally further after packing up his loot and pulling up his HP with a bandage, he had to level up within the next 2 hours!