9 Fighting against the "Short Muscle Man."

Zeras could be seen running through a kind of labyrinth filled with endless darkness as the set of unfortunate words slowly unfurled before his eyes...

{Nightmare Weaver has evolved from a Fallen one to a Corrupted one...}

Although most of them didn't even know what a corrupted one is. But anyone with even a little brain to make use of, would be able to connect the dots.

Since the first stage is the awakened stage...then the second stage should be the previous stage which the Nightmare weaver was in...and the next stage after that, which should be the 3rd stage is the Corrupted stage.

Though what they weren't now sure about was if the same logic applied to them...

Zeras knew it sure hell didn't apply to them...but he couldn't be bothered about that...as he knew that within the "Endless Labyrinth of Darkness." He might be faced with countless life-endangering situations.

He prepared himself...as he steadied his breathing. Great determination served as his fuel, as his eyes closed and opened for a brief second...followed by a deep exhalation.

As he immediately moved forth...as he made way to pass through the only way out of the "Endless Labyrinth Of Darkness."

He couldn't help but shake his head. As even if Hero did manage to kill both of them and somehow managed to escape from the grasp of both monstrosities...he would have never have made it out of here...except perhaps he was a banished son of the gods.

Zeras let out a light chuckle...as he passed through various paths that lead to other smaller or wider paths...this continued for quite some time. As anytime he was about to stumble upon an Eldritch dream creature, he would immediately pass through another path... successfully avoiding the Eldritch dream creature...and through the knowledge of his simulation. He knew the paths to pass through to get out of the "Endless Labyrinth Of Darkness" at a more faster pace...

Yet he knew he couldn't avoid all the Eldritch Dream creatures...as one could perhaps say this was the Safe Heaven of this Eldritch dream creatures, as they were mostly gathered here in abound.

Perhaps it is due to the endless darkness that encompassed the entire labyribth. Zeras had no idea...as he had only given the labyrinth such a name due to its' endless dark nature..

He was suddenly confronted by a short Eldritch dream creature, and although it did have a short body and frame. Zeras didn't dare and wouldn't dare to underestimate it for during his first simulation...he realized the terror of this "short muscle man." Which was also the name he had given the Eldritch Dream creature.

As although this dream creature was perhaps just at a height of some couple of centimeters...just barely reaching Zeras waist. But this didn't mean it wasn't formidable...instead it was quite the opposite. It was dreadful, as every strike of it has this kind of apocalyptic power...and Zeras was as sure as hell that it was just pure fleshly strength.

Making him wonder how the "short muscle man" had such a strong body. Since all the Eldritch dream creatures he had encountered earlier on...relied on their sharp claws and sturdy body. Yet this wasn't the case for the "short muscle man."

Upon noticing the strange being in front of it, its' leg suddenly smashed against the ground as he suddenly appeared before Zeras, muscle brimming with power as it struck down with apocalyptic might...just based on fleshly strength alone.

Simulating was truly different from reality. As Zeras finally realized that the terror he had faced within the simulation couldn't compare with the realistic world...as a terrifying wave of sharp air quickly accompanied the punch, as it was about to slam head-fest into Zeras face.

Zeras immediately bent his back, as the punch whizzed just right above him....the short muscle man immediately changed its' move...as its' elbow smashed downwards with terrifying force.

One which Zeras knew if it happened to hit him...several of his bones would definitely be broken into pieces...

He immediately dropped onto the ground, as his butt collapsed onto the ground with a loud thud.

The short muscle man didn't waste any time, as it immediately followed up with a blinding fast kick...a small but deadly leg rapidly pierced through the air as it attempted to cleave off Zeras' head from his neck.

Zeras had his eyes opened wide in shock, as he didn't dare stay in the way of such a deadly strike...he immediately bent down his body, as his entire back laid against the ground.

And then he felt it...a terrifying wave of air suddenly passed by his face...as his hands suddenly moved, and then...he suddenly left his lying state.

He immediately grabbed onto the leg of the short muscle man, as he tried to make it trip onto the ground. His muscles bulged widely, as veins popped all over his forehead.

Yet the ironical fact still remained...natural affinity couldn't be dished. As the short muscle man simply glanced at Zeras with a look of disdain in its' wriggling worm like eyes.

It suddenly smashed down with terrifying force, as its' elbow smashed right against Zeras back. As a sickening sound of bone being crushed rang out...as Zeras spat out a mouthful of blood...as blood spluttered from his mouth.

He dropped onto the ground with a loud thud...as the short muscle man finally had a wide grin for the first time since the battle began.

Row of sharp teeth's were in full display, as it attempted to rip Zeras head apart.

Zeras eyes was now kinda' blurry...as he could only see dark wriggling worms wriggling around some sharp rows of teeth that was rapidly zooming into his face...

"Is this the end...Khain, am sorry. Hope we both become brothers again in my next life..."

'That's provided the gods even grant me one...'

Zeras as always...had his normal bleak outlook of life flaring to light...

And just when the rows of teeth was about to clamp down on him...a terrifying yet perhaps something he was happy about suddenly occured.

His body suddenly moved on its' own, as it rolled to the left hand side without him commanding it to do so...

He had a shocked expression on his face...as this seemed to be just enough stimuli to stir him awake...to stir the Will to fight...the will to survive within him.

'Seems that even the gods don't want me to die. After all...what would the world be without me.' Zeras had a wide grin on his face, as although he could feel the sickening pain that assaulted his back continously...his body seemed to have gained another sort of energy...

As several punches rapidly tore through the air. Trying to smash his face into pulp...but the terrifying yet funny thing was the fact that a rapid and quick action would suddenly be taken by his body...as he would seemingly have barely escaped the punch.

This continued for some seconds...as he suddenly had the idea of capitalizing on this state. Since in his previous two simulations.

Nothing of sort ever happened...so who even knew if it had some kind of countdown.

He moved his head to the left hand side... just in time as a punch suddenly whizzed past his head with terrifying force, as terrifying waves undulated outward continously.

Zeras had a wide grin on his face, as his legs suddenly moved...smashing right into the stomach of the short muscle man.

As a sickening sound of bones being crushed rang out... immediately followed by a barrage of attack. As Zeras gave the Eldritch dream creature no time to respond or even catch a breathe...his punches rapidly tore through the air.

As he could feel his muscle being strained continously...his entire arm was aching him continously. But the sound of bones being crushed ringing out continously, and the ugly pupils of the short muscle man bulging continously gave him the adrenaline surge he needed.

As his punch smashed against the stomach of the Eldritch dream creature continously, the short muscle man suddenly threw out a terrifying force with every little ounce of strength contained within him.

Zeras had his brows narrowed...as his body suddenly did its' work. Though he could feel that it was somehow coming to an end of sort...it was enough for now.

As he managed to dodge just in time, as the short muscle man lost its' footing. Collapsing head-fest against the ground with a loud thud.

He had a bright smile on his face as he immediately jumped onto the back of the Eldritch dream creature. As his knees were placed behind the back of the creature, while his hands dragged both arms of the creature backward with every ounce of strength contained within him.

"Aaargggh." He let out a slight roar, as the sickening sound of something being shattered rang out.

KATCHAAA!!!!

The neck and entire upper body of the short muscle man got bent into two...as Zeras released his hands as he dropped onto the ground with a loud thud.

"Finally...I have finally defeated the guardian of the "Endless Labyrinth Of Darkness."

He muttered, as his feeble hands dropped onto the body of the Eldritch dream creature just right beside him.

He immediately struggled to raise his body...as he couldn't afford to be killed...not especially after coming this far.

He summoned a dagger from the "SAFE OF ANTHERIA."

The pair of dagger given to him by hero suddenly appeared within his hands, as he tore apart the body of the Eldritch dream creature.

RIIIP!!!

SLASSSH!!!!

TEAAAAR!!!!

He finally found what he was looking for...7 cores and four shards. The Short muscle man was without a doubt a bonafide Tier 7 Awakened creature...perhaps even one of the stronger ones due to the number of shards contained within it.

"Chaos Devouring." He muttered, as a white stream of energy immediately got absorbed by him.

[You have gained 30 evolving shards]

The set of words appeared before him...as he realized he was just 457 Evolving shards away from evolving...

As a further set of runic ancient words slowly unfurled before his eyes.

{You have acquired a conditioned ability; a conditioned ability is a birthed response or behaviour after birth...once acquired, they can be performed without thinking about them...

"Why does this sound so much like conditioned reflex." Zeras mused as he read the remaining set of information...

You have acquired a conditioned ability:

Ultra reflex action...

-Birthed from your body's fear of death...as your body will do everything and anything to avoid death!

Flaw: 1) A time limit of one minute

2) Your body will do anything to avoid death...}

"Interesting...for the runes to regard the second one as a flaw...they should be something more...something extremely weird about it." Zeras mused before he glanced into the distance...

"Time to leave here..." He further added with a bright smile...as his body slowly vanished.

Rapidly dissapearing into the distance, arriving at a place...a place even more deadly...

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