Solo Dungeon Runner-Chapter 39: [ Stone Enemy ]

Fae stood further ahead, in a sea of broken stones. Dust was everywhere, the air barely breathable from the cloud lingering in the path they stood on.

It was almost fully dark, only a few torches remaining until the archmonster would be awakened.

"Fae."

She turned around, meeting his eyes. She walked to him, stopping right in front of him.

"Good job," he said, smiling while grabbing her shoulder.

His eyes went up to the last enemy they would need to face in this section of the dungeon.

"Stay here," he said, slowly walking forward.

Two more torches went out, only the final two remained.

Its head looked like a raven's, narrow eyes and a long beak. Unlike the smaller monsters that now paved the way, feathers were carved and covered its skull.

Its body however was a thin human body, robed in feathers. It had spider-like legs, stretching from its back along the wall it was hanging on.

The torches beside it finally snuffed out.

One by one, the legs detached from the wall it clung to, dust falling from the places it was held in.

Its legs touched the ground, slowly lowering the body to the floor, its feet gracefully touching the floor.

Rubies in its eyes glowed through the dark hallway, his [ Darkness ] effect allowing him to see every detail .

It looked exactly like the previous one, two red gemstones watching him.

Alexander stood in the middle, bracing himself for a thrashing.

Yet the monster approached with grace and elegance.

The tip of its legs lifted its body, the spider-like monster floating in the middle of the hallway.

Its legs barely dented the walls, floor and ceiling as it advanced forward, its body almost perfectly balanced.

Alexander raised his hand forward, his focus on the enemy before him.

It eventually came to a stop, both standing meters away from one another.

Now is the moment it starts thrashing forward? He thought.

He waited a moment, finally deciding on striking first.

The moment his thoughts concentrated on [ Reach Beyond ], the archmonster leaned forward, still suspended by its spider legs.

Its beak opened, Alexander frowning and concentrating on his spell once more.

A rift opened underneath the monster, but not fast enough.

Through its opened beak, a strident shriek resounded. Its volume amplified through the echo on the wall, it felt as if the shriek hit his brain directly.

Alexander staggered backward, instantly reaching for his head as he struggled to keep his balance.

He couldn't fully summon the entity's tendril through the rift, the rift promptly closing before anything even got out.

He was stunned, it felt as if his head would explode, the shriek finally coming to a stop.

It felt like the floor was falling beneath him, and he couldn't hold onto it.

He stumbled around, holding himself against the wall on his left.

He struggled to look up, everything was fuzzy, it felt as if he was in an earthquake.

He saw it advance, its legs making no noise as it swiftly advanced toward him.

Alexander raised his hand once more, rifts opening before him.

Through them, out of the abyss, rose the entity's tendrils.

They snapped forward, stopping the monster's advance by randomly lashing forward.

Fae was now next to him, intensely looking into his eyes.

"Don't... worry," he said.

He could barely hear his own voice.

He rubbed his face, he could feel the warm liquid dripping from his nose and ears.

He could feel the vibrations of his words, which barely peeked through the constant high-pitched ringing sound that filled his head.

[ Will Breaker ]

Eyes appeared through his clothes, frantically looking around like hounds at the scent of blood.

His vision stabilized, able to witness every detail surrounding him through their eyes.

The additional sight acted as a sort of anchor, everything clearer despite how his head still spun .

The monster stepped back, out of reach of his tendrils.

The tendrils finally synched, lashing forward in unison.

Seizing the moment, the archmonster took the opportunity right away.

Its legs latched on the walls and ceiling, holding itself upside down against the ceiling as it skittered toward Alexander.

The previous tendrils faded into darkness. New ones appeared closer and hit at the ceiling with upright strikes that dug into the stone.

The archmonster dodged them, easily moving the main body around, the tendrils hitting in-between its legs.

Alexander scoffed, a grin on his face as he pushed himself away from the wall.

He raised both hands, four new tendrils coming from the ground following the monster's movement as it approached, while reeling in the furthest ones.

It was getting closer, he doubled the amount of tendrils that went from the ground to the ceiling.

The archmonster was now a meter away from him.

Its beak opened in its stride, but before any sound made it out, he smiled.

A rift tore open above it. A tendril slammed into the monster's back.

It contorted, glancing at what hit it, but couldn't catch itself.

Its legs that latched on the ceiling and walls gave up, its body heavily hitting the ground before Alexander.

Once on the ground its legs quickly raised, trying to latch onto anything, desperately clawing at anything it could reach.

Alexander shook his head as the desperate creature tried to get out of his grasp.

It was already over.

Tendrils relentlessly appeared around it, grabbing its legs to pull it back to the ground anytime it tried going up, while other ones slammed into its face and body.

The assault lasted minutes, Alexander standing still before the monster.

It tried its best to escape, its beak had even reached inches away from Alexander's face, before a tendril caught its leg and dragged it back violently hitting it against the ground.

Until one of its legs broke, then another.

Soon, it barely had any limbs to move on, until it simply couldn't anymore.

It opened its beak, a tendril swiftly breaking it in a single strike.

All that could be heard in the hallway was the violent hits it sustained while the stone cracked and broke.

Until it couldn't move anymore.

[ Level up! ]

[ Your stats have increased! ]

[ Your companions grow stronger! ]