CHAPTER 167: THE GRABLURS

Under the lead of Executive Hiddon of the Twilight Chaos Guild, the members of the patrol task force ventured deeper into the dark tunnels surrounding their base, mapping out the various routes as they advanced.

Felix and his team, along with two other teams including one Rank 3 Executive, had branched off from the main group.

At present, they were engaged in combat with a group of monsters that had fallen from the ceiling.

"Cover Eric, Felix. Steve and I will strike them from the front," Roven instructed as he, Steve, and the others from the two teams charged ahead.

"Fireball!"

"Earth Spikes!"

"Aqua Shot!"

Eric, Felix, and another mage launched their ranged attacks from behind the frontlines, supporting the melee fighters.

The monsters falling from the ceiling were known as Grablurs, a creature Felix had once read about in a book from the Underworld’s forbidden library.

The Grablurs had black armoured skin covering the upper part of their two-meter-long, larva-like bodies, while the lower half was coated in a grey, sticky, mucus-like substance that allowed them to cling to ceilings.

From what appeared to be three appendage-like mouths, the Grablurs spewed toxic, poisonous, and clingy waste to attack their prey.

Normal sword attacks didn’t do any harm to the ones that could perfectly swing in the air and land on their lower part, thus using their armoured skin to protect them.

Whereas the unlucky ones that fell with their armoured skin crashing on the ground could only struggle to get back to their feet before a sword could stab them in their delicate parts.

"You’re fire’s working on them, Eric! Try shooting the Grablurs who can stand upright.", Felix suggested as there was no need to burn the ones who had headbutted the ground.

Eric understood his reason and redirected his fireballs to burn the Grablurs that were standing, as they posed the greater threat to the nearby melee fighters.

He couldn’t attack the Grablurs before they fell from the ceilings as they immediately started falling the second they encountered any trouble.

It could be considered a smart move for a monster that looked like an oversized snail, but their high failure of proper landing and unintentional show of weakness made them look funny instead.

"Take them down one at a time, guys. We got their entire horde here. Work together, and oh, please don’t get hit by their shots, we don’t have a medic here."

The only Rank 3 member of the group, Keliot, a swordsman from the Mystic Society guild, naturally became the one to give everyone orders.

"That’s one nice horde there.", Felix muttered with a shine in his eyes as he gazed at the long tunnel filled with Grablurs as far as his sight could reach.

Most of the ones near them were of Rank 1 with a few Rank 2 here and there, but Felix could feel the presence of some Rank 3 Grablurs a bit further deep into the tunnel.

And unlike his careful teammates and members of the group who wanted to battle safely without any troubles, Felix was itching for more pressure from the stronger monsters.

Eric who was standing behind him paused for a second to check if he had heard correctly, but decided to forget about it as he became busy, that was until he heard something reckless again.

"Look out for yourself, Eric. I’m heading deeper."

’Earth Swimming.’

Before Eric could react, his teammate sank into the ground and disappeared from the spot.

"Shit! Don’t leave me by myself!", he cursed and slowly started moving towards the other nearby mage.

Meanwhile, Felix was already swimming his way past Roven, Steve, and the others, sometimes creating a few Earth Spikes to help them out on his way.

He would peek out his head here and there, while constantly checking the Map skill he had opened to know the positions of the surrounding monsters.

Despite encountering a few Rank 2 Grablurs nearby, Felix didn’t engage in combat with them and instead chose to head deeper towards the back of the horde.

His target was the Rank 3 Grablurs, who would give him a thousand skill points for each kill, which was 10 times more than what Rank 2 of them could give, thus saving his time and energy.

Another reason why he was rushing to kill the monsters by leaving behind others and heading deeper by himself, despite getting orders to stay together, was not to show off his newly risen strength to them.

Only a few days back he was able to kill a Rank 1 being, then he rapidly grew stronger to the point he could even kill a group of Rank 2 monsters alone.

Earlier during the rescue mission, he had even killed some Rank 3’s in front of everyone, but due to the intense moment of danger and the rush in the situation, most of the people present then except for a few like Miss Elsa, Evan, and Victor, don’t recall that.

But that’s only what Felix thinks, because what he doesn’t know is that the two guild leaders along with a few executives including those three already had a meeting concerning Felix’s newfound and strange powers.

The only reason they didn’t dig deeper or interrogate him directly was due to the busy schedule and seriousness of the Guild War that was currently taking place.

’Battlefield Awareness!’

After reaching a deeper section of the tunnel where he guessed the Rank 3 Grablurs would be present, Felix used his skill which enhanced his senses and gave him a clear understanding of his surroundings within 30 meters.

’Not here.....’

Unfortunately, Felix couldn’t find any of the Rank 3 Grablurs within the reach of his senses, so he moved a few meters forward until he came across an intersection in the tunnel’s path with two routes each to the left and right.

Looking at the map, he found four dots at the end of the right tunnel without any other dots nearby them, confirming his guess of the Rank 3 Grablurs’ presence.

’There you are.....’

Without wasting more time, Felix swam his way towards the four dots and peeked his head to glance at his prey.

Unlike the Rank 1 and the few Rank 2 Grablurs that he had previously seen, the four he was staring at now were at least three times larger in size.

Not only size, but their bodies were also different as instead mucus-like sticky lower part like that of a snail, these four Grablurs had six spider-like thick legs.

’They’re gonna be fast with those legs, but well.... I’m faster.’, Felix grinned.

In addition to the Superhuman Physique and the Agility Burst skills, his speed was way beyond an average Rank 3 being, giving him a huge advantage, reminding him that spending those skill points was truly worth it.

’And I’ll end this as fast as I can.’

He couldn’t remain dissapeared from the group as they’ll get suspicious and worried, so Felix decided to make it quick.

’Quicksand!’ Quicksand! Quicksand! Quicksand!’

Turning a section of the path, the walls, and the ceiling between him and the Grablurs into a sinking sand zone in a few seconds, he emerged from the ground and launched his attack.

"Earth Spikes!"

His sword in his hand, Felix disturbed the silent Grablurs who were napping upside down with their legs stuck into the ceiling.

Several eyes opened up in alertness as the Grablurs hurriedly jumped down from the ceilings where a few spikes abruptly stabbed downwards.

Safely avoiding the attacks, the four Grablurs turned their angry-looking heads to the only being of a different species from them.

"Yo."

Felix gave them a charming smile and gestured at them to come running towards him with his finger.

And the Grablurs didn’t disappoint him as they screeched sharply with their weirdly shaped mouths and rushed towards him from all four dimensions of the tunnel.

’They’re like a mix of those Deadly Spiders and the weaker Grablurs. Anyways, can’t let their disgusting saliva get on me...’

Staring at the approaching four Rank 4 Grablurs, Felix used another skill.

’Sinkhole!’

The Grablur running on the ground found itself suspended in the air as the land below it vanished all of a sudden.

The Grablur on the ceiling which was lagging behind the others stopped in its tracks when it saw its partner fall into a hole.

The remaining two Grablurs advanced onwards from the left and right walls each.

They advanced until they reached the quicksand area where their legs started sinking into the sandy walls.

To overcome their situation, the two Grablurs jumped to the ground, only to find that the ground was also similar to the walls, and worst still, the force of the jump made them sink even deeper.

Despite the trouble, the two of them struggled to make their way towards Felix, who was getting the itch to battle.

’Here I come... Agility Burst!’

Sprinting forward, his speed increased to a tremendous level as he vanished from the spot and glitched around.

’Earth Spikes! Corrosion Domain!’

Creating a few spikes over the quicksand on the left side of the tunnel, he concentrated his baleful energy on the Grablur on the left and leapt towards it using the spikes as footholds.

Both the Grablurs spewed their acidic shots at Felix, but he easily evaded them using his quick speed and the enhanced senses from the Battlefield Awareness skill.

’Mirage Clones! Earth Spikes!’

He used another skill to create seven of his clones and erected a few more spikes around the place to aid their movements.

The Grablurs used the moment when the clones jumped over the spikes to spew their shots, hitting the clones one by one who dissipated into smoke until none of them remained.

The silver-haired boy who was fighting them and had even increased in number was now nowhere to be seen, confusing the Grablurs who looked at each other.

But the Grablur on the right suddenly let out a screech when it saw the shift in the ceiling above the left Grablur.

As unintelligent and non-communicative monsters, the two Grablurs couldn’t share their thoughts, and hence couldn’t provide the other cautious warning.

So under the confused state of its partner’s screech, the left Grablur which was already under the adverse effects of the Corrosion Domain, remained unaware of the threat that was now diving downwards on it.

’This is one nice blind spot.’, Felix thought as he gripped his sword tightly and used a combination of skill and technique.

’Ratio Technique! Black Horizon Sword Arts: First Technique... Singular Slash!’

A sharp gleam of light flashed through the left Grablur’s head, releasing a gush of green colored liquid from the separation of the head from the rest of the body.

[You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]

[You have gained 1000 skill points.]

Ignoring the message, Felix landed in the quicksand area and turned around.

’Dust Blast! Sinkhole!’

The right Grablur which was already attacking him with two legs found a mini tornado hit it on its face and got pushed back as the land below it vanished.

Seeing the other Grablur fall, Felix turned his head and took a glance at the approaching two Grablurs that had been left behind in the battle, finding the fallen Grablur unharmed and back from the previous sinkhole.

’Earth Swimming.’

He quickly sank into the quicksand instead of struggling in it like the Grablurs and swam till he ejected himself out into the recent sinkhole where the fallen ’right’ Grablur was trapped.

’Earth Spikes! Dust Blast!’

Distracting the already dispirited and annoyed fallen Grablur who just saw its partner die, Felix didn’t hesitate.

’Corrosion Domain!’

A series of physical and mental damage assaulted the Grablur in ways it had never imagined.

And to make the Grablur’s troubles worse, Felix landed on the ground and flashed towards it.

’Agility Burst!’

’Black Horizon Sword Arts: Third Technique.... Striking Blades!’

He dashed between the spikes and the dust, swinging his sword and targeting the Grablur’s six legs before cutting them off one by one.

It screeched in pain at the loss of every leg, but could only slash around randomly as Felix rapidly moved about till the Grablur’s main body had been separated from all of its six legs.

"Krriiiighhkk!!!"

The Grablur let out a last screech when Felix put it out of its misery.

’Earth Spikes!’

A sharp spike pierced the Grablur’s head from under its jaw, emerging out from the top of its head like a horn and extinguishing the light in its eyes.

[You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]

[You have gained 1000 skill points.]

Smiling at the skill points received, Felix used a skill to restore his stamina and looked up.

’Terra Drain.’

As he felt the earthly energy filling up his body and nourishing him, he saw the other two remaining Grablurs gazing down at him.

"Wait there, I’m coming up!"

He shouted and waved at them, slightly hoping they would jump into the sinkhole themselves to make the battle more chaotic.

But alas, that didn’t happen.

His mood worsened when he saw the Grablurs turning their heads back and sensed them moving away from him.

"Huh? Wait.... No! Don’t go!"

Felix hurried after them as he ran to the walls of the sinkhole and swam his way to reach the tunnel above.

He turned speechless and a bit awkward when he saw the two Rank 3 Grablurs running away from him as fast as they could, moving onwards to the left tunnel path from the intersection.

What he didn’t know was that they had never encountered someone who could take out their strongest kind in a few minutes, making them terrified of this small human.

’Come on, why did this turn into a chasing fight.....’

Sighing to himself at the thought of chasing those weird monsters but also not wanting to waste two thousand easy skill points, Felix started chasing after them.

"Come back here you ugly leeches or spiders! Let me kill you!!"

His shout, which wasn’t understandable to them, still made the two Grablurs terrified beyond anything as they increased their speed.

This was the first time in their lives that they had used all six of their legs to such a limit, to make as much distance as possible from the silver-haired little predator.

’Agility Burst!’

Felix was running short on time so he flashed ahead using his skill to quickly take care of them, but the sudden sight of the stopped Grablurs made him stop too.

"Huh? Is this your last stand or...?", Felix muttered and then turned silent when he saw a few figures appearing on the other side of the tunnel beyond the two Grablurs.

From the intersection, the straight path led to the one from which Felix came, the right path was where the four Grablurs were present previously, while the left path that they were currently on was the only other way left.

This meant that, whoever appeared from the left path wasn’t Felix’s nor the Grablur’s allies.

A new party had now joined them, which made Felix both excited and a bit nervous.

’They’re either more skill points or troublemakers. Either way, I must get as much as skill points as possible.’