Chapter 15: Corrupted One

"I must...kill you...to avenge my brethren!"

Its body started exuding a red powerful aura. The exoskeleton grew thorns as its claws like hands became a sickle. Its wings fluttered like a dragonfly as it dashed towards Xerel in blinding speed.

'Shit! It's fucking fast!'

Before Xerel could even react to its speed, Chimera Ant appeared in front of him as it swerve its sickles to his chest.

Shwiiing!

The speed was too fast for Xerel's mind to process it fortunately his instincts kicked in first as he blocked the attack with the Crisis forming an X shape on his chest.

Tang!

Sparks were generated from the collision and Xerel was blown away by the speed as he crashed on the wall of the dome.

Bang!

[-8,970 HP]

"Phuaak!"

Serial coughed up blood from the crash as his health fell to 80%. Not even giving him time to breathe, the Chimera ant dashed at him again dicing him with its sickles.

Shhiiiiing! Shhiiiiing! Shhiiiiing!...

[-1,890 HP]

[-2,808 HP]

.

..

.

His health was rapidly decreasing as The Chimera ant continued to slice Xerel apart. Being in a dire situation, Xerel looked at his damage meter filling up, as soon as his health fell below 30%, Xerel unleashed an attack.

"[Terra-forma Spiked Shell]!"

Tawang!!

A sharp long thorn spread out around Xerel and in front of him was a thorn that impaled the Chimera ant on the shoulder as it screamed in pain.

Kiheeeieeekk!!

[-23,890,680]

[+4,778,136 HP]

The damage was no joke as its health immediately fell to 70%. It backed away as it tried to cut the thorn that impaled it giving time for Xerel to stand up from the rubble he was in. His health had fully healed in an instant from the effect of the skill.

'Its speed is a lot faster than Thorfinn that I could only see its afterimage when you move. But still, its fighting style derives from its rage and animal instincts and the only impressive thing I can see from it is the speed. Then let's make this even shall we?'

"Open player status."

Ting~

[Player: Xerel

Level: 537 (+95%) (+50 (+4%))

Class: None

+Title: One in a million (4 more titles)

Race: Human

State: Thrilled

HP: 37,750/37,750

MP: 8908/11160 /+1000\

STR: 2017

AGI: 1597

INT: 1116

DEF: 1255

Status Points: 0 (+500)]

"Distribute 500 status points on Agility"

Ting~

[Player: Xerel

Level: 587 (+99%)

Class: None

+Title: One in a million (4 more titles)

Race: Human

State: Thrilled, Ready

HP: 37,750/37,750

MP: 8908/11160 /+1000\

STR: 2017

AGI: 1597 (+500)

INT: 1116

DEF: 1255

Status Points: 500 (-500)]

Ting~

[YOU ARE THE FIRST HUMAN TO REACH 2000 POINTS ON AGILITY!]

[YOU HAVE BEEN REWARDED]

Ting~

[Timelapse-(A)(SPD): Agility sharply increases by 10x for 15 seconds.

Mana Cost: 3000

Cooldown- 12 hours]

"[Timelapse]."

Xerel's eyes glowed in a bright blue, everything was in slow motion. The rocks on the dome fell very slowly, as he moved his limbs, he could see after images following his every movement.

'This is sick!'

He couldn't help but be amazed by the skill effect and wondered if he could reach this speed even without using the skill. He could see Chimera Ant's movements looked almost like a normal run, it held its sickle-like claws like a retracting gear as it flung itself to drill into Xerel's chest.

A single backstep was all it needed to make the Chimera ant miss and by using the ancient elven technique, Xerel slashed his dagger in a very feminine and uncanny style.

Shiiing! Shiiing! Shiiiing!

Three slashes were enough to unarm the Chimera ant as its weak point was hit and its tendons that moved its retractable claws broke into pieces.

[-6,000,000!]

[-1,567,899!]

[2,347,899!]

It crashed to the nearside of the wall as it stood up wondering why it couldn't feel its hands as it flail around like sticks.

Khieeeek!

Despite that it lost its only arsenal, it still fought like a rabid animal as now it used its piercer-like mouth to bite through Xerel.

He didn't give him a chance to even nibble his clothes as in a single dash, he slashed the weak point and went on the parts where the chimera ant had very weak defense like its limbs and antennae

Thunnk!

A sound of shell crushing echoed around the dome as the part where the weak point showed had now a hole that didn't heal.

Its health had rapidly dropped to 40% but it didn't even bother checking its wounds as it continued to rush at him.

"You still have milk on your lips."

(Note: It's a Filipino idiom that means you're still immature or too young. It can also be spoken as "You still have a lot of milk to drink" but I went for the literal translation of it.)

"[Overdrive][Phantom Pursuit]."

The two Crisis brimmed with red aura as time went to a halt. Everything paused including the Chimera Ant as Xerel's hands started moving automatically.

Like a line of dice, square red marks appeared on the entirety of the Chimera ant. The time immediately resumed as both slid on each other's side.

Xerel wiped the blood in the daggers and at the same time, hundreds of lacerations struck the Chimera ant as it wriggled in pain screaming.

Khieeeek!!

[-6,000,000!]

[-1,789,090!]

[-7,789,890!]

.

.

.

.

.

.

Countless damage indicators popped up on the chimera ant's head as its health fell to 10%. From where it laid on the ground, it started to wriggle.

Kheeukkheuk...

'Is it going berserk? Wait what the fuck?!'

Ting~

[CRISIS'S DURABILITY HAS SHARPLY FALLEN BY 189!]

[CRISIS'S DURABILITY HAS SHARPLY FALLEN BY 378!]

.

.

.

The durability of crisis began to decrease rapidly and wondered why as he looked at the spot where there where still the blood of the Chimera ant that began rotting and rusting.

"Ah!"

[-367 HP]

The rotting effect spread to the handle of the dagger and Xerel's hand as he felt a stinging on his palm causing him to drop the two daggers down on the ground as it immediately vaporized like acid.

[CRISIS'S DURABILITY HAS FALLEN TO ZERO!]

[CRISIS HAS BEEN BROKEN]

Xerel was saddened by the window panel as he watched the only weapon he had to turn into acidic liquid. The rotting effect slowly disperse in his hand due to the added poison resistance from the poison element.

He watched as the cold body of the Chimera Ant began wriggling like it was possessed as powerful heat of aura spread around it. A window panel appeared in his view.

[WARNING! MUTATIVE BERSERK HAS FAILED! IT IS ADVISED TO RUN AWAY AS FAR AS YOU CAN TO AVOID THE DESTRUCTIVE EXPLOSION FROM THE FAILED MUTATION!]

'Shit!'

The body of the Chimera started to expand like a balloon and in no more than 30 seconds, it would explode. The exit of the ant cave was too complex that leaving in 30 seconds was out of the question. Xerel knew he couldn't escape so he immediately made a decision.

"Oh hell no you will explode! [Giga Drain]!"

Sssiiuuuuuuuuuu!!

Like a loud blarehorn, the overwhelming aura of heat that surrounds the Chimera ant was sucked into Xerel's hand as his entire arm began to burn in the heat that veins had become molten magma.

"Grrrrggh!!!"

Xerel gritted his teeth as he endure the pain in his arm. The breath he exhaled was steam and the entire fluid in his body boiled like water, the sweat in his skin quickly dried up but he held on to his consciousness not to faint from the overwhelming heat.

He watched as the health of the Chimera ant fell to zero as the once expanding body turned into a dried husk.

Its entire life force had been sucked into Xerel's body as his health which was slowly decreasing from the heat and rotting effect regenerate and his entire body returned to normal.

"Haaah..."

Xerel laid on the mountain of an ant corpse as window panels appeared in his view.

Ting~

[+600,000,000 EXP]

[LEVEL UP!]

[LEVEL UP!]

.

.

.

[DUE TO YOUR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT, YOU HAVE EARNED A TITLE!]

[Overbearing- Earned from defeating a Primordial while being two ranks below its level.

+10% Damage against Primordial

+100% Experience Gain from monsters ranked Primordial and above.

+200 To all Status]

Ting~

[+10 CORRUPTION ELEMENT]

Ting~

[YOU ARE THE FIRST HUMAN TO HAVE KILLED A CORRUPTED ONE!]

[YOU HAVE BEEN REWARDED]

[Touch of Death-(P)(DMG):Dealing fatal damage to a target, object or surroundings stacks them with a death mark. Each death mark will slowly seep out their health by 0.1% every second until the target dies. If the death mark stacks up to 10, 20% of Target's health will be removed. The target stacked with 10 death marks will be refreshed and unable to be stacked with another death mark for 30 seconds. If it is damaged again, a random debuff will be inflicted on the target.]

"Now this is too OP MC-worthy skill! And what the fuck is a corrupt one?"

Ting~

[ SUDDEN QUEST

Exterminate corrupted ones that are lurking in all the worlds and stop Armageddon.

Difficulty- ??????

Rewards- ????

Duration- None]

"What the fuck? Isn't it too early for this shit?"

Xerel wondered at the sudden quest given to him by the system and seeing that there was no duration, he removed the quest log on his view and checked in the other rewards.

Ting~

[Deathly Hollow

Rank- Mythic (^)

Type- Scythe/Sickles/Whip

Durability- 50,000/50,000 (Regenerative)

Weapon Modes:

Scythe mode-

Proficiency- 0%

AD- 5000

Effects:

+100% CRITICAL DAMAGE

+10% Cooldown Reduction

Blood Reaper-(A)-(DMG/AOE): Pull all targets in a wide fan-shaped area dealing 10000 Physical damage (+300% Strength). Targets pulled by the Scythe are slowed by 80% and 1% of their health will be absorbed by the scythe every second(+100% Corruption Element)(+100% Blood Element).

The absorbed health can be converted to splash damage on the next 10 attacks dealing 1000 magic damage (+150% Intelligence).

Mana cost: 1000

Cooldown: 3 minutes

Sickles mode-

Proficiency- 0%

AD- 2500

Effects:

+60% Attack Speed

+50% Critical Chance

Corrosive Turbine-(A)(DMG/AOE)- A razorblade spinning cyclone generates around your two arms that can move in a perpendicular area dealing 150 damage every 0.2 seconds (+80% Strength). Damage increases by 10%(Capped at 200%) and paralyzes the enemies by 0.1 seconds every hit (+100% CORRUPTION ELEMENT).

Mana Cost: 1000

Cooldown: 5 minutes

Whip mode-

Proficiency- 0%

AP- 4000

Effects:

+200% Attack Range

+50% Magic Penetration

Decay-(P)(DB/BURN): Dealing damage decreases Target's magical Resistance by 50 and slows them by 5% (Capped at 1000/100%). If a fatal strike is inflicted, burns the target by 300 Magic Damage per 0.1 second (+100% Corruption Element) that lasts for 10 seconds.

Requirements: Level 500, 10 Corruption element]

"Holy shit! A mythical weapon with three types of modes! This is probably the edgiest weapon I've seen and added to the fact that this came as a reward for killing an edgy ant. The effects are amazing on its own, it even has regenerative durability so I can be reckless with this weapon, and also it's the same as the Drilling club with the growth type effect so by raising its proficiency by 100% this weapon could advance on the next rank, I don't know what's next from mythic, maybe deity or something like that."

Xerel continued to admire the weapon as he started trying out the different modes. First was the scythe which was 3 meters tall, it had a very gritty dark texture and red crystals are embedded on its handle and the sharp edge was sharp and matte black.

In its sickles form, it had the same distinguishable gritty dark texture and red crystal but it was only a meter big compared to the scythe. When Xerel practiced with it, he had to adapt into a praying mantis fighting style to master it so he was still trying to hang on to its unique pattern.

Last was the whip. What Xerel was expecting for the whip to look like was some sort of black rope that had a sharp edge but it looked more of a lasso than a whip. It had a sickle end, a black chain instead of a rope, and the other end was a thorny round object the size of a tennis ball.

"Despite its cool and edgy look, it's a very impractical weapon not suited for fighting monsters but for farming crops. Still, the skills and effects are something not to scoff at, maybe if I can find a tome of knowledge for this weapon, I could probably use it most of my fight."

Ting~

[YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED THE DUNGEON!]

[Rewards:

+2 Levels

+1 Runestone

+ExoHelm (Headpiece)

+3 Elemental scroll]

Ting~

[BASAHRA'S PIT WILL NOW CLOSE IN 00:59:59. PLEASE LEAVE IMMEDIATELY]

As soon as the window panel appeared, the entire dungeon shook and trembled. Xerel was about to leave when he remembered one thing.

"Ah shit, I haven't collected its Runestone!"

Xerel immediately went over the dried corpse of the Chimera ant and opened the exoskeleton using his bare hands. He was surprised as the entire body was hollow inside but he couldn't find a Runestone, what he found after opening its entire exoskeleton inside out, was a circular orb.

Ting~

[Chimera Ant Core

Rank- Gold Primordial

Type- Monster Core

Morph- Transform into a Chimera Ant and obtain all of its attributes and physical properties]

[DO YOU WISH TO MORPH WITH THE MONSTER CORE? Y/N]

"Huh? Does a monster core have this kind of effect? No, that's unheard of...Just what the fuck is with this world?"