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Prelude 4 - Well That Fucking Sucks

  Bolting into the fray, Tyrian soon was able to see what it was he was fighting. Several humanoid spider monsters had surrounded the dome that had shielded him while he resurrected. They were fairly short, hunched beings with eight vertical slits on their heads that Tyrian assumed were their eyes, terrifyingly complimented by a large maw with three rows of teeth. Wrinkly pale skin coated in what looked liked mucus wrapped their bodies. They seemed to only have two arms and legs, which confused him as to where the other six appendages were since they seemed to be arachnid themed in their stature. He made a note to look out for those. Focusing back into the fight, he ran along the path of magical wind created by the Swift Wind Arrow, noticing the target he originally blind-fired at was missing a chunk of flesh from its left shoulder and had several deep slashes along its left side and some of its arm. Whispering the command word to his longsword, it shot forward, spinning as it moved to slash at the creatures weak and damaged flesh, it caught on fast at what the adventurer was trying to do, spinning into a dodge and shooting a beam of white energy out of its palm; the blade being knocked away from the recoil. Tyrian while still barreling towards it, met his intended target, making it in time before the creature can right itself and defend. He quickly cast Lesser Elemental Imbue on his glove, the knuckles of it starting to spark with electricity as he struck it, a loud crackling sound emanating from the monster's face as the magical lighting surged through its body.

  Tyrian struck Lesser Vermin Born Lvl. 24 Unarmed Attack: Reinforced Leather Glove (Imbued: Lightning)! 2 Bludgeoning damage dealt!

  Additional 6 Lightning damage dealt!

  "...Fuck me, level 24?!"

  He thought as he used the momentum from his attack to drop into a roll then a dart into a sprint, moving past it as he jumped and turned around mid air. He spotted a total of five of the "Lesser Vermin Born" as they were seemed to be called, including the one he just engaged, squinting his left eye at the one he had just attacked for only a mere second, the eyepatch's vent opening slightly before closing it again, the shutter locking once more while his eye gathered knowledge about his opponents.

  Lesser Vermin Born

  Level: 24

  HP: ??/79

  MP: ??/25

  RP: 0/0

  Stats:

  Physical: Str: ? Dex: ?? Con: ?

  Mental: Int: 5 Wis: 10 Cha: ?

  Spiritual: Will: ?? Rui: N/A Ma: ??

  Resistances: Bludgeoning, Poison

  Weakness: Piercing, Slashing, Fire, Lightning, Force

  *A lesser spawn of the Spider Lady that bares no intelligence other than to the follow orders of its higher brethren. When left alone they travel in groups of seven or more and may be weak alone but are a genuine threat when they are allowed to group together and work as one.*

  "Ok, maybe I can take them if I split them up and take them on one at a time." The Huntsman thought, his mind processing the information as fast as it could. "The question marks indicate the digits it's stats are in, one question mark means its at least below nine, anything above that can be up to ninety nine, It's level twenty four so at maximum its stats has to cap out at around thirty, which still isn't good but without the intelligence to out maneuver and hunt me down, I can possibly take out at least two, best not chance it and just fuck off as fast as possible...But those levels could really help me in the long run...Maybe I do play it a little dangerous, just a tad bit." As he landed, he drew two explosive arrows from his inventory and aimed at the hurt monster whom had began to run at him, it being fairly sluggish with its body losing blood from the many wounds inflicted made it an easy target for the Huntsman. Letting lose one of two arrows, it sailed through the air, finding its mark on the creatures leg, the arrow burred itself deep into the flesh of the Vermin Born, a delayed explosion destroying the limb and sending bloody chunks in all directions. The creature fell to the stony ground, burns all over its lower half; the damage nearly killed it instantly, however the blood loss and flames engulfing the monstrosity soon finished the job either way.

  Tyrian shot Lesser Vermin Born Lvl. 24 with Explosive Arrow! 14 Piercing damage dealt! 29 Fire damage dealt! Additional 20 Piercing (Weakness) and 19 Fire (Weakness) damage delt!

  Lesser Vermin Born Lvl. 24 has taken Mortal Damage!

  Tyrian defeated Lesser Vermin Born Lvl. 24!

  189 XP Gained

  For defeating an adversary 20 or more levels above His own, He received 18% bonus XP!

  Tyrian Leveled up!

  Lvl. 6 → Lvl. 7

  Tyrian Leveled up!

  Lvl. 7 → Lvl. 8

  Staring at the two level ups, Tyrian decided to call this a win and get out, the timing impeccable as the other four descended on him. Taking a backstep while casting Burst Speed, he dashed away from the attack, all of them striking the vital points of his after image. He felt the imaginary pain of watching the several stab wounds in his mirrored self, not wasting the sliver of time he bought as he took a hard step to turn around, repeatedly using Burst Speed to put more distance between himself and the four creatures. He looked around, seeing nothing but rubble from statues and huge chucks of stone around the area caused by the explosion. Weaving his way around while trying to avoid his pursuers, he darted left and right, up and down and dodged as best he could from acid spit, web projectiles, beams of white energy, even claws and hidden extra limbs whenever the creatures got close to him. He did not go about unscathed however, the Vermin Born claws easily rending through his leather armor and hacking chunks off the iron and steel that could be found across his attire. Under normal circumstances, the total accumulative damage would have killed him at least twice over, Feral Endurance proving to be a reliable safety net for whenever he isn't able to dodge an attack in time, the skill providing a percentile reduction to non-magical damaging attacks with the drawback of magic hurting a lot more than usual if it were to hit.

  Feral Endurance was only ever really used whenever he didn't have his Fracture Aura up as it still needed time to regenerate before he could put it back up again after death, doing so too soon would damage his soul an experience that left him bedridden for almost a month. That was what a Fracture Aura was after all, a projection of the soul; more specifically, ambient Ruin Energy collected and refined within the soul that created a semi-physical barrier that projected outwards in the shape and hue of one's soul, protecting its user from harmful effects, damage of both magical and non-magical types, and some status effects. Anyone could use one given that they have unlocked it however only those that had the proper training could give it other uses like expanding ones sensory range to magic, physical and non-physical matter, use in place of limbs or as a weapon or something of the like; It all came down to how well they were trained and how much control naturally came to them. Tyrian in particular found use in his aura to bolster his physical strength, somewhere he felt he naturally lacked in.

  "About thirty five seconds...Thirty five seconds till I can put my aura back up." Tyrian thought to himself as he hid behind a large stone lodged into the wall. He lost his pursuers for a few moments before they caught his scent and the chase was back on. He had spent every moment he could looking for a way out or a way to kill all of the Vermin Born at once. He was able to damage one of them heavily, incapacitating it with two well placed explosive arrow shots but was unable to find a moment to make a decisive strike to finish it off, the others keeping close on him. He tried twice to have his dancing longsword swing at the downed creature but several slashes on his back let him know that he wasn't yet skilled enough to concentrate on both dodging three other foes and controlling a sword from nearly ten meters away from him. "I could either dive and risk it to get the kill and maybe more levels or forget about it and bail, I cant find an exit so looks like blowing my way out of here is what'll have to happen.. Fuck but what if there is an even deeper fall beneath me? Fuck it, I can worry about that later, right now, kill off the Vermin Born then make an exit, I'm going to need the levels anyways if I want to get out of here, Rymoris did say that this is a more dangerous variant of the Spider Lord halls."

  Making a plan of action and throwing most caution to the wind, He made his move. Tyrian made a beeline for the downed creature, it hadn't move far from where he left it as its legs and most of its limbs were blown off or too damaged to carry it. Opening his hand and calling for his blade, it returned to him just in time as another Vermin Born swung a spiked limb at his head, the ranger ducking underneath and using his momentum to cleave right through the softer under side of it, the blade sliding right through like a knife through butter as the foul arachnid let out a howl of pain and anger, the lost limb falling uselessly to the ground. Moving with the flow he built up, Tyrian slashed into his original target, the longsword finding its mark as it cut through the creatures one good arm and half its midsection, a spray of purple and blue liquid spraying on him. Not being deterred he took a strained step forward, then another, and another before he was able to fully cleave the beast in half, killing it as he received his level up and a new set of slashes on his body to go with it, though not as severe as the first set was.

  Tyrian Slashed Lesser Vermin Born Lvl. 25 with Dancing Longsword! 13 Slashing Damage dealt! Additional 19 Slashing (Weakness) Damage dealt!

  Tyrian defeated Lesser Vermin Born Lvl. 24!

  196 XP Gained

  For defeating an adversary 20 or more levels above His own, He received 16% bonus XP!

  Tyrian Leveled up!

  Lvl. 8 → Lvl. 9

  Tyrian has new Class Options available!

  Tyrian discovered Adventurer Skill ?Fleet Foot?!

  ?Fleet Foot?

  Cost: None > 10 Stamina /p Second > 15 Stamina /p Second > 20 Stamina /p Second

  Cooldown: 20s

  Effect:

  Passive:

  Gain movement speed over time up to a maximum of 10% of your normal movement speed.

  Active:

  Boost the maximum movement speed up to 35% at a cost of 10 Stamina per second at 15-19%, 15 Stamina per second at 20-25%, and finally 20 Stamina per second at 26-35%. This effect can only be activated when the User is in motion for at least 6 seconds. This effect can stack with other movement speed based skills, abilities and items.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  Duration: 5 minutes

  You have danced to the song of death and lived to tell the tale of your tango with the Reaper; You had a fun time with her and would wish to dance yet again, with this skill you can keep up with the tempo!

  A groan of annoyance left him as he recounted several of the times this skill could have helped him out but he wasn't about to start complaining. Right as he activated the skill, he felt a tinge of sharp pain in his chest.

  WARNING! User must rest for at least 5 hours before using a new skill or ability acquired through leveling up! During this time the User's body will acclimate to the magic of the newly found skill or ability.

  "Well that fucking sucks..." He grumbled, not letting up on evasion as he leaped forward with the help of Burst Speed, catching a bit of airtime to steady his aim and fire at a wall that had chiseled edges that reminded him of a door frame. It was filled to the top with rubble and he was far away enough so that should it be filled with more obstacles, he could bound away and try to look for another method out. As his luck would have it, the rubble was blasted apart fairly easily to his surprise before his eyes widened as he realized they were not flying outwards in the direction he shot the arrow but rather inwards towards him. Several uses of burst Speed got him out of the way of the volley of stone, only taking minor damage from the smaller flying debris as opposed to the less intelligent creatures that gave chase to him. A massive two headed spider with what looked like wings made of carapace folded on its back forced its way through the small opening, its large and bulbous spiked opisthosoma destroying what was left of the doorway, trailing along a long and thick 'tail' like a Morningstar on a chain. The rest of it's body was covered in what looked like basically greyish blue stone armor with many spikes on its back, its twin maws open and primed to attack; the left one dripping poison and gas while the other acid. Atop it looked to be a slim individual wearing purple chitin light armor atop black or navy blue clothing, he couldn't tell the color from the distance but didn't care to get closer, both survival instincts telling him to get the fuck out and ?Identify? confirming the notion.

  Grey-Nest High Born

  Level: ??

  Class: Scout

  HP: ???/???

  MP: ???/???

  RP: ???/???

  Stats:

  Physical: Str: ?? Dex: ?? Con: ??

  Mental: Int: ??? Wis: ??? Cha: ???

  Spiritual: Will: ?? Rui: ?? Ma: ???

  Resistances: N/A

  Weakness: N/A

  Grey-Nest Juggernaut

  Level: ???

  HP: ???/???

  MP: ???/???

  RP: ??/??

  Stats:

  Physical: Str: ??? Dex: ?? Con: ??

  Mental: Int: ?? Wis: ?? Cha: ??

  Spiritual: Will: ?? Rui: ?? Ma: ???

  Resistances: N/A

  Weakness: N/A

  "Why does everything hate me today?!" He thought as he cursed and hid, his heart beating wildly with fear. His attempts to calm himself was only partially successful, his body stopped shaking for the most part and he had his breathing under control, however his heart kept pounding. Higher level creatures and people immitted an aura that is sensed by those vastly weaker than them. Depending on the disparity between the two, the pressure of the aura was bearable and could even be ignored, however when it was less of a gap or a canyon and more of an abyss between the two, there was no mitigating the terror that the aura would inflict. Almost as if on cue to help protect him, Tyrian's Facture Aura finished regenerating but he didn't activate it just yet for fear of the creature sensing him. Tyrian's mind raced with possible ways he could attempt to escape, the odds incredibly stacked against him. Remembering his deal with Rymoris, he rapidly pinged her in his head for the teleport, but no answer came. He could feel a smile creep onto her face without seeing her. "Request one, teleport me to Sophie and Elleyh when I'm done checking this place out. That's what we agreed on correct? And you haven't even left this room, thus you haven't checked the place out yet darling~" He did his best to squash the rage building within him. He needed a clear head if he even wanted a chance to get out of this without another death. Instead of yelling at her, he crushed her presence from his mind and continued to think of a way out of this. Seconds pass with the Rider of the beast talked in a language Tyrian didn't understand; the Juggernaut responding in a series of deep and guttural chitters. "They can communicate. Noted." The ranger thought. As time slowly ticked by, Tyrian narrowed down some possible courses of action that didn't involve dying over and over again when he heard several sets of footsteps quickly approaching from the exit that was blown up.

  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Ding!

  You are now Aiya'krix

  Earlier today, I thought that it was going to be another boring day. Get up. Do a bunch of paperwork. Take a break and eat. Play with La'krothax. Do more paperwork. Go home. Do some MORE paperwork. and eat dinner, sleep. I believed today would be like any other day, however I got more than I bargained for just by waking up this morning. First I get five more stacks of papers and tomes thrown on my desk because I have to manage yet ANOTHER branch of the Grey-Nest because people don't know how to do their jobs, then all of the oracle readings I needed to conduct today got canceled for some reason which made me happy that I had less to do but my happiness was immediately drained by needing to go to an emergency meeting for dealing with a bunch of workers who slacked off at a critical moment which led to a mechanical failure in some of our harvesting machines. By the end of the meeting I just assumed today was cursed and I wanted my break early, but right as I unpacked my meal, a massive surge of mana just decided it wanted to pop into existence. No doubt everyone in the west and central side of the Grey-Nest felt it. All I could do was clench my fist and grind my teeth together.

  Ding!

  You are no longer Aiya'krix

  You are now Marik'vaar

  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Rushing up the stairs with as much speed and strength my legs could spend to go speak to her highness, I bolted past several of my peers, Workers, Fighters, Casters, and all many kinds of Arachnikin. Many of them were in awe at the magical surge of energy that suddenly erupted to the west. Hurrying past, accidentally shoving many people out of their daze, I slammed the door to her office open as I turned the corner to get into her office as I then saw her repeatedly slamming her face and fists into her desk with anger. The rhythmic THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! suddenly stopped as she yelled loudly, frustration visible on her face. "Ah, your highness?" I spoke softly, staring with a bit of fear at her fury.

  "GATHER A SCOUT FORCE AND FUCKING TELL ME WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!" She screeched at me, the middle of her jaw split slightly, her inner mandibles peeked out, a sign of rudeness and aggression amongst our people. I stood there slightly stunned, slowly tapping the side of my mouth to let her know. Aiya'krix stared and growled to herself, amber fluid slowly looking from her split jaw before she got her composure back, using a handkerchief to wipe it down from her face and desk before clearing her throat, her jaw becoming whole once more. "Ahem. Apologies Marik'vaar, it has been a LONG day for me." I slightly shook my head, I can see the bags under her eyes practically forming before me. "No offence taken milady, I can only assume that the recent abnormal activity to the west will cause your day to get longer if it already hasn't given you a headache magnitudes more irritating than the one you already had."

  Aiya'krix took a few more moments to compose herself, getting up from her chair and moving towards her personal drink cabinet; I was about to advise her not to day drink however with the day she has been having to my knowledge, I suppose if she gets tipsy, I suppose it would brighten her mood a bit and I could take off some of the workload. "Marik'vaar, I'm going out there personally, I need to see what is going on and I don't care to wait around to find out in some report or hear that some unknown threat has made its way so close to our home. I'll be down there in less then seven minutes so if you please, could you have La'krothax ready for action soon?" She said as she poured herself a cup of some neon yellow liquid, drained it in one gulp, then repeated the process once before putting the drink and cup down. I nodded, understanding the seriousness in her tone and appreciating her not continuing to scream at me even though I know her fury wasn't meant for me in particular. She always had a hard time keeping her temper under control behind closed doors. A sign that she trusts me at least. Well then, time to get to work. "Yes milady, I shall your mount ready for combat at once, I wish you the best of luck." And without further words, I was off.

  Ding!

  You are no longer Marik'vaar

  You are now Tyrian Grant!

  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  I felt the cold grasp of fear on my back, the threat of an imitate death loomed over me as I heard more and more creatures enter the chamber. Looking up, the thought of trying to find a way out by going back up circled in my mind as there were no other possible ways out from here on that didn't involve me getting put in a body bag, again. I cant die again, I'd lose more of my Willpower. I needed a way out of this ASAP, but first I needed to keep calm, not freak out, and try to think of a way out or a way to keep them from killing me, no way was I winning a fight between myself and them with not only being outnumbered but at the same time heavily out leveled. Sitting there and racking my brain, nothing came up besides on idea. I decided to bite the bullet and use my left eye to scan the room, to see if any information I can glean from the structure at all could help me get out of this, what ever damage the potential tidal wave of knowledge being forced into my head would have to be addressed later, right now I needed an out. Squinting my eye to open the shutter on my eyepatch, the skewed and disorienting view almost immediately making my stomach turn as I tried to adjust. Looking at a wall with many different inscriptions and images carved into the wall along with some runes, my eye quivered in my skull, an odd and discomfortable feeling as a flood of information entered my mind, many of it I wasn't able to hold on to. After a few seconds of having near endless knowledge of the wall, its significance, who built it and why, most of the info I was unable to retain but besides the throbbing headache, everything in my head was intact.

  I was able to piece together that the grounds I stood upon were sacred, meant to be the birthing chamber for the child of the Spider Lord and Lady, some kind of chosen one that was destined to arrive as a savior and free their people from the dungeon, a powerful seal is what kept them here in the first place, ignoring that the corpses of the ancient Spider Lord and Lady were basically turned into abominations whose very existence kept the seal active. The child was not a biological one but more of a spiritual or metaphorical one, that can be created after certain prerequisites were met, in which the people that apparently live down here didn't meet, thus no chosen one being made, leading to no seal being broken and their old leaders still keeping their people trapped. From what I gathered, some kind of civil war happened between the people of the Lord and Lady which caused a divide and in one of the ensuing conflicts, this chamber was destroyed and the instructions and prerequisites lost with them. This room was rebuilt by some of the newer generations but they grew up believing in some chosen one falling from the sky instead of them having to create the chosen one. Maybe if I share this info, it could create some kind of bargain, I'd need to lie my ass off to get away with this. However of they turned out to be a bunch of assholes, I might end up causing some problems down the road for every other person up on the surface. That's for later, I need to focus and get my game face on, time to act.

  With steeled determination, I stowed my bow and sword in my inventory before walking out with my hands raised, Burst Speed was till active and it wouldn't take much for me activate the rest of my skills. If this doesn't work, then I'd best wing it and try to get the fuck out of dodge.

  Ding!

  You are no longer Tyrian Grant!

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