Chapter 18: Ancient Ruin
"Hmm?!... Did you break through?" Fiona inquired after scrutinizing Loki.
(Remember, Loki has Deceit Robe ability so, appraisal skills don't work on him.)
"Yes." Loki refrained from providing more information.
"Let's go."
"What about those mobs behind us?" Loki cautiously asked watching the group of mobs following them.
"Don't worry about them." Fiona shrugged and started moving.
Silence enveloped as nobody talked throughout the journey. The stalkers also vanished like they never existed.
An hour later
A dystopian structure appeared in everyone's view as they approached it. The building looked ancient with various intricate carvings and runic texts on the wall. Although it was quite damaged, its unique design was highlighted on its surface.
Loki appeared awed as he gazed through the walls.
He followed behind Fiona while wandering around the structure. They traveled through a tunnel inside the building and arrived at a teleportation portal. The eden around this place was quite dense and concentrated.
Fiona cleared her throat and grabbed the attention of the group.
"This will teleport you inside the ruin." She pointed at the portal and announced.
"Remember your main motive." She glared at everyone and quietly moved aside.
"You may enter."
One by one, they disappeared after entering the portal.
Loki took a deep breath and entered the portal while clenching his sword.
Swish
A dystopian civilization appeared before Loki's vision. He stood right in the middle of a city. Most of the buildings surrounding the city looked half-destroyed and covered in moss.
Loki cautiously passed through the buildings while inspecting his surroundings. The city looked quite developed before it was destroyed by some disaster.
Woosh
Suddenly, A creature appeared behind Loki and tried to attack him.
Slash
Loki did a vertical slash with his blade and severed the creature in half. He approached the creature after determining that it was dead.
The creature was a snake around 5 meters long. Its scale had an obsidian-like hue and venom was leaking from its fangs.
The venom dripped into a stone slate and dissolved it instantly.
This creature was a shadow snake. They were rare-tier creatures with high speed and dangerous venom but almost negligible defense. They tend to sneak attack their prey and kill it using their venom.
"This is quite troublesome," Loki muttered as moved through the darkness.
He had night vision thanks to his amazing physique but he couldn't properly sense the shadow snakes as they were experts at hiding in the darkness.
He could use [Sensory Field] but he didn't wanna waste Eden for these creatures.
He continued his journey while alerting his senses. A huge palace appeared before his vision as he slashed through the shadow snake that tried to sneak attack him.
Slash slash slash
He dashed his way towards the palace while killing every snake that tried attacking him.
"Wow!"
An amazed look appeared on his face as he inspected the palace. It looked majestic even in its half-destroyed state.
He noticed a lump of stone in the corner of the gate. He furrowed his brows upon witnessing the lump.
Sigh
A sigh escaped his lips as he remembered that creature. It was a stone golem. It seemed to be guarding the palace doors.
"Hmm…" A thoughtful look appeared on his face as he processed the information about Stone Golems.
Stone golems were creatures with exceptionally high defense and attack power. Although their speed and intelligence are quite lacking, they can still be very dangerous.
Loki approached the door while on high alert.
Just as he crossed the 10-meter mark, The lump of stone transformed into a stone golem.
"Easy there big guy!" Loki joked as he dodged the incoming fist.
[Grimheart Reinforcement Sutra: Body Strengthening]
Loki swiftly dashed behind the golem and did a horizontal slash.
Slash
The blade barely did any damage to the golem as Loki dodged the stone thrown towards him.
He continued slashing the golem while dodging its attacks.
light scratches appeared on the body of the golem and it instantly healed.
"This is boring."
Loki took a step back and prepared a brand new skill.
His sword shined with a dark hue and he took a battle stance.
[Darkness Wrath]
bang
He dashed at the golem and swiftly severed both of its hands.
[Life Severing Art: Life Extinguish]
He followed up with another attack that struck right at its chest.
Crack
The core of the golem popped out of its chest. Loki grabbed it and stored it in his subspace.
Without its core, The golem broke down and fell apart.
Loki stood in front of the giant door and pushed it open.
Creak
A blinding light flashed and the interior of the palace became visible. The inside was completely different from the outside with proper lighting and intact structures.
A huge hallway appeared in front of him. At the end of the hallway stood a Golden throne.
A skeleton stood on the throne wearing a crown and what looked like royal attire.
Loki cautiously examined the glowing pillars while spreading his senses.
Creak creak
A green glow flashed on the skeleton's empty sockets as it slowly stood up from the throne.
Intruder! You shall be sentenced to death for interrupting thy slumber.
A hoarse voice echoed throughout the hallway as I took my battle stance.
[Name: Chris von Stance]
[Title: Dark King]
[Tier- Rare(suppressed)]
[Rank: mid-Gold(suppressed)]
[Affinities: Darkness, Death]
[Abilities]
[ Host's strength is too low…]
[Cannot access the abilities…]
[Copy condition: Release his soul from the curse.]
---
"DAMN!"
A horrifying look appeared on Loki's face as he inspected the skeleton. The skeleton was a living person and he was strong. Even after getting suppressed, He was emanating a very powerful aura. He must have been at least a high-platinum rank during his prime.
Swish
A staff appeared in the skeleton's hand as he muttered some incomprehensible words.
A foreboding feeling arose from inside as I quickly activated a skill.
[Shadow swap]
I appeared behind a pillar and gazed at my previous location. There was a huge hole in the ground.
My scalp started tingling from the destruction of that skill.
"This might be my second death."