Stark pushed through the dark and ominous City Outskirts, the curse of the Black Sun looming over him like a shadow. Every step he took felt heavier as the darkness threatened to consume him. The once quiet streets now echoed with the sounds of his own heartbeat, racing in his ears.
'…' and even then, the aura around his hands and legs didn't falter, still shining brightly, a proof that his determination hadn't been moved by the circumstances.
He reached a street with many abandonned small houses, the ones around him less out of shape than the others.
Suddenly, a low growl echoed through the desolate streets, and then…
~CRASH~
A massive amount of monsters came out of the windows, their eyes glowing with a bright red aura that indicated they were ready to attack.
"1…2…4…6…10…14" he counted them, "WAIT 14?"
Just looking at their appearances, Stark could notice that it was the same type of monster all over, meaning they were the ones in control of this area.
[Name: Gloomstalkers]
[Level: 14]
[HP: 2500]
[Strength: 102]
[Stamina: 391]
[Speed: 72]
[Defense: 271]
[Skills: Infect, Gloom, Mallet Smash, Lengthen]
Their bodies were completely white, two meat mallets replacing their arms (the mallets took the form and white texture of their hands, making them blend perfectly), and red eyes that shone in the darkness.
These creatures were utterly disturbing, something straight out of a horror movie.
Their sheer number was surprising, and although their speed made them go extremely slowly toward Stark, it seemed like they enjoyed tormenting their victims by slowly watching them tremble in fear.
Stark positioned himself for combat, his fists in front of his face and his aura ready to protect him: he was completely surrounded from all directions.
But then… the gloomstalkers suddenly stopped as they were a few meters away from reaching Stark, and they began looking up, not toward the black sun, but toward the roof of a nearby abandonned house.
'…?' Stark wondered what the hell was happening, and he looked at the direction the monsters were watching.
Just to see… nothing?
It was completely dark, stopping him from seeing anything beyond that point.
'What the fuck-' he didn't have the time to finish his sentence because…
Suddenly, a figure stepped out from the darkness, their form cloaked in tattered robes that billowed ominously in the wind. The figure's eyes gleamed with a dangerous light as they locked gazes with Stark.
'Ah shit… here we go again!'
[Name: Outskirts Second Leader (ELITE)]
[Level: 15]
[HP: 12000]
[Strength: 172]
[Stamina: 581]
[Speed: 461]
[Defense: 615]
[Skills: Summon, Dark Fog, Soul Drain, Cursed Domain, Shadow Magic]
…
'Area's have bosses too now…?' Stark pondered, after all this guy had the 'ELITE' title, and more HP/Stats than any other monster he had met until now other than the 'Feathered Scourge'.
The 'Outskirt Second Leader' was wearing a massive dark cloak that stopped anyone from seeing its body, and a white smiley-face mask to hide its face.
It also had a black staff in hand, one emitting an eerie aura and a ball of void spinning around at the edge.
Seeing their leader arrive, the 'Gloomstalkers' immediately resumed walking, and the boss just sat down at the edge of the house's roof, watching its minions kill the human.
The Gloomstalkers closed in on him slowly, their eerie white bodies moving like specters in the darkness.
As the first Gloomstalker lunged towards him with a menacing swing of its mallet arm, Stark swiftly dodged to the side, feeling the rush of air as the attack narrowly missed him.
In response, he punched it back in the head.
"-3192!" it's body immediately turned to dust.
Using that momentum, Stark launched himself towards the next Gloomstalker, delivering a barrage of punches and kicks with precision and power.
The creatures fell one by one, disintegrating into ash as his attacks landed. Despite their overwhelming numbers, Stark's determination burned brighter than ever, fueling his every move.
By the end of his rampage, all the gloomstalkers had died, and the leader was still watching from the roof.
"Summon!" it lifted its staff in the air, and suddenly… more gloomstalkers started appearing from the ground and windows.
"Is that an infinite EXP generator?" Stark smiled, he was actively quite tempted to keep going and grind, but he knew he would get tired eventually, plus his time was counted because of the 'Black Sun Curse'.
'Aura Smash,' he mumbled as his fist started glowing with that crimson aura.
And then he threw it at the unsuspecting leader, who thought it was safe up there if Stark only used his fists.
"-2312!" it's defense was very high, so the damage was reduced a ton, but it was still a good amount.
Taken aback, the leader was sent flying backward, and once it came back at the edge, it had a dark aura around its body and staff, showing signs it was gonna attack.
"Black Fog!" A thick, inky fog began to swirl around the Outskirts Leader, enveloping the area in darkness. Stark could barely see his own hand in front of his face as the fog crept closer, threatening to suffocate him.
'God damn it,' his senses were on high alert in case a gloomstalker was close, but it seemed like they couldn't see either.
"-3261!" navigating through the fog, he would occasionally find some gloomstalkers he killed, and also had to avoid some others before they could hit him.
One singular touch of their mallets would probably send him flying after all…
And so after thirty seconds of that…
'Aura Smash!' He hurled his right fist again in the direction the leader was in previously, he used his aura as a landmark toward where to aim, and this time landed it on the leader's legs.
"-1937!" the boss roared in pain, and then…
~FIOU~
Losing balance since Stark had aimed for the legs, it fell forward toward the street.
~THUD~
"-728!" it received damage because of the fall, but it was still relatively fine.
Not able to see anything because of the fog, the leader deactivated that skill, and after a few seconds, the mist cleared, revealing the Outskirts Second Leader struggling to stand back up.
Dozens of monsters now surrounded Stark, and the leader was pointing its staff at him too.
'You're close to me now… finally a fair fight,' he smiled while positioning his hands.
"Shadow Magic!" the leader's staff began glowing with an eerie aura, and the ball of void at the edge of it also started growing in size.
And thus, the final battle before the real boss of the dungeon began.