New Species

As he rushed towards them, his eyes locked at the robed figures. Stealthily closing the distance by hiding in the shadows and minimizing his presence, he gripped an Assassin Decree.

The two figures were also monitoring their surroundings, making stready progress despite their lack of sight. Like a predator, stalking its unsuspecting prey or an assassin waiting for the perfect moment to strike, he murmured to himself.

"Now, let's see what I can do."

Curious of his current abilities, he decided to begin his assault. However, before he could start his move, he saw Lefiya was also sneaking her way, and following them. As an elf, Lefiya was nimble enough to follow in the forest without much difficulty.

'It seems like I'm overly excited to test my skills.'

He sighed and recognized his error, seeing her, he decided to postpone attacking them before they could discover their motives. Unlike Lefiya, he admitted that he didn't know the importance and the severity of the situation and acted rashly.

Learning from this error, he slowed down his movements. Unlike him who was carefree, Lefiya who was a member of the prestigious Loki Familia, had the obligations to do something about them.

Waiting for Lefiya to be at his side, the two exchanged an eye contact to each other and stuck to them like a glue, keeping just enough distance to ensure they wouldn't be spotted but not so much to lose them among the dark trees.

It continued like this for a short while, until they finally arrived at a certain deep corner in the forest. They were close to the Dungeon Wall.

The forest had grown considerably sparser. Everything merged into one main path, trees and shrubberries all gone. Even the branches and leaves overhead had thinned, leaving no room for assailants like them to hide themselves.

"I guess, you should take the lead, Lefiya~san."

He spoke softly to Lefiya as she was an adventurer with a higher level than him. It would only be natural if she would take the lead and order him around as a second class adventurer who was more experienced than him.

"There's no going back now." Lefiya nodded and muttered to herself in encouragement. She knew they must be near her target's goal. Despite the butterflies dancing in her stomach, she eyed him meaningfully to signal their continue of pursuit.

Sending a response, the two leaped free of their cover. They dashed straight to the targets. They skirted from one crystal to the next, noiselessly darting in and out between the pillars.

The whole time, Lefiya kept her eyes fixated squarely on the two figures in front. It was almost as if they were being led, weaving as they were, back and forth, when suddenly —

Crack!

The ground open out on its own accord in front of them. It happened the moment the moment their feet touched down in a round clearing devoid of pillars. The mighty crack around Lefiya as the earth plunged downward, creating a giant hole. Almost as if its had been waiting for their arrival.

"Huh?"

Lefiya exclaimed in surprise not expecting this to happen at all. All of a sudden, the two of them was floating. The floor beneath disappeared in an instant, before they could even react.

"A trap, huh?"

He muttered, not expecting that they had already been noticed and was led to a trap. It took a split second for the gravity to take hold.

"—Uuuaaaaaahhhhhhhh!"

Then, they plummeted, Lefiya's scream of terror layering one atop of another. Grass, dirt and leaves plunged with them. Lefiya's gaze rose skyward as she fell just in time to see the lid of the hole close up behind them with another rumble.

Closing her eyes in fear, somehow Lefiya felt someone had grabbed her. Opening her eyes, he saw him hugging her tight, and managed to land on his feet, the impact sending a giant splash of something around them.

"Lefiya~san. Are you okay?"

Lefiya dazedly looked at him and meekly replied.

"Yes....Thank you."

While he could use the Flying Raijin to escape the trap and teleport somewhere, he decided not to, and threw a dagger in Lefiya's trajectory instead to take her with him, saving her from being smash on the ground.

However the moment he teleported and grabbed her, he somehow managed to land on the ground before he could teleport again. It's just that he had no time to cast the skill as their fall happened so quickly.

Putting her down, Lefiya then hastily turned around feeling a little bit of something in her chest. She then saw the entire bottom hole was steeped in a light purplish liquid.

"Ack!"

It was hot. Like boiling oil. Their battle clothes sizzled against their skin. No, not sizzled but melted.

[ The durability of the Stalker's Boots (Normal) has decreased by 2. ]

[ The durability of the Stalker's Pants (Normal) has decreased by 2. ]

[ The durability of... ]

[ ... ]

Their faces paled as they looked in horror at the bubbling, smoking liquid around them.

"This is..." His voice trembled but their was a little bit of curiosity in it.

"...Acid?" Lefiya finished his thought with a scream that echoed off the walls of the hole. While the acid wasn't strong enough to disintegrate flesh and bone instantly, there was a tangible feeling of the substance eating away at her skin was enough to envoke a very real sense of panic to the elven mage.

[ You have been inflicted by a corrosive acid. Corrosive damage will be dealt per second. ]

[ You have resisted. ]

Perfect Status Immunity allows him to resist, even though his equipments didn't benefit from it. Aside from it, it also helps him nullify the disappearance of his achievements' rewards. It may not be able to fully stop the Black King from taking his achievements and identity, it helped him that his rewards remains.

Unlike his achievements that wasn't totally part of his body, the rewards was given to him like skills and many more was stopped from disappearing because of this Perfect Status Resistance of his.

Skills are inherent abilities that can be discovered by those that have received a falna. Unlike development abilities, skills can appear regardless of level. They can correct and strengthen specific basic abilities, magic, and actions. The chance of discovering a skill is said to be rare, and skills with effects that no one else has are considered to be rare skills.

Skills were also an ability that, on rare occasions, can be acquired in recognition of some form of personal growth. Its acquisition happens by having it inscribed onto the Soul or by other skills.

They are like formulas that, once etched onto the individual, can be instinctively used without any practice, though their efficiency and effective use require varying amounts of practice and hard work, depending on talent and compatibility with the user.

The passive skill, Player's Avatar was also part of the reason why his abilities remained, together with his Perfect Status Immunity. As his achievements wasn't part of his body, it wasn't protected by the skill.

They frantically scanned their surroundings. They were at the bottom of a long, deep hole. As for the walls, they were reddish in hue and had a repulsive fleshlike structure with no sign of anything they could use as handholds and footholds.

In fact, it almost as if they were inside of a living being. Like a stomach of some treacherous beast. The walls of the flesh gave off a faint light, coloring everything in a dim red phosphorescence, and the air felt humid, hot and carried a strange odor, quickly drawing sweat from their spores.

"Ugh, b-bones?" Lefiya questioned in disgust. A decomposed carcass lay sunkin in the acid, leaving behind nothing but bones. Next to it was a collection of armor, no doubt worn by an adventurer worn when he was alive.

Looking away, from their skeletal companions, they saw weapons of all kinds. Either sticking up out of the ground or half-submerged in the boiling acid.

Flinching, Lefiya saw bones everywhere. Gleaming white bones, more than they could count. Belonging to who knew how many souls. It was clear that all of them had once been an adventurer.

"A scene like this in a safety point?"

He narrowed his eyes as he scanned around. Suddenly, he felt something and unconsciously looked up.

"Lefiya~san...Look up."

As Lefiya was being overtaken by confusion, his voice broke her from her trance. She gaze upward.

Something was slowly peeling itself away from the fleshy walls of the hole, lifting its upper body and enveloping them in its massive shadow.

Suddenly, its origin was revealed. As he and Lefiya looked at it with serious expressions, the monster hanging upside down from the top of the hole, peered at them.

It was the only exception to the solid red to the hole, its skin is a sickly shade of yellowish green. It's chest and abdomen too, were colored in vibrant, venomous hue.

Instead of arms, it boasted two long fat tentacles— feelers of sorts that dangled downward like quivering snakes. Its long lower half writhed and squirmed, attached to the wall like some kind of a parasitic worm.

Its head consisted of nothing but a colossal eye and a strange crown-like organ floating around it. The eye itself was connected directly to its neck with the crown encircling it like a mane of a lion.

It was disgusting to look at, its coloring far different from that of the countless other monsters he had fought.

"Another new species!" Lefiya exclaimed then her words quivered.

New species? He wasn't really sure of what she meant by that. For him, who was a new adventurer, slowly exploring the depths of the dungeon, the monsters he encountered in a new floor he reached, was all new for him.

'Does she perhaps mean a new kind of target practice?'