Chapter 268: Scorpion
The undead rushed at them. Riven lunged forward, leaped into the air, and slashed down, his sword cutting through the head of one, killing it instantly.
The second leaped at him, but Noel came with a lightning slash that ripped through the arm of the undead. He spun and then stabbed through the head of the undead, channeling as much lightning as he could through the head and destroying it.
"We have to move fast, we don’t have the time to take them all down," Riven said.
"Alright, then leave this to me," Jack said. His eyes suddenly glowed as he stood, arms slightly spread out. "Get out of the way!" he yelled. Riven and Noel moved quickly.
Jack drew in a massive amount of air and then let out a thunderous howl that shook the entire cave and sent all the undead flying, smashing into the walls. They weren’t dead, but heavily damaged, so they could run past quickly.
"Let’s go," Jack said and ran, the others following behind immediately.
"What was that?" Noel asked after they got past the undead.
"It’s a secret technique of my tribe. It’s called the World Howl. We channel our bloodline and key out a powerful howl, but it’s an attack that can’t be done a lot," Jack said.
"Why not?" Riven asked.
"My lungs stand the risk of collapsing if I do it too much, and it’s also not that effective. It didn’t kill the undead, just blasted them away, so it’s not something I do a lot."
After running for a bit, they could see the hole that was broken into the ground. It would take them straight to the third floor.
But nothing could ever be that easy. Standing in front of the hole were three undead, but they weren’t just any undead. They were undead knights, covered in armor from head to toe and carrying longswords ready for battle.
"Should we just try to get through them?" Jack asked.
Noel took the initiative and attacked with a powerful thrust of lightning. The lightning ripped through the air, tearing the wall as it headed for one of the undead knights.
The knight moved, slashing in a very simple manner. His sword slammed into the lightning. It was pushed back, but the knight managed to block the attack, which heavily shocked them.
"Seems they aren’t pushovers. Each one to one person," Riven said. They all nodded and lunged at one.
The knight at the center was for Riven. It took a step forward and entered a stance when it saw that Riven was headed for it.
Riven attacked with an explosive slash, but the undead blocked it. Sparks flew immediately, and both of them were pushed back.
Riven gritted his teeth and pushed forward, entering into a flurry of attacks. The undead managed to block them all, but the force from every swing kept pushing him back.
Riven kept cutting while waiting for an opportunity, and then he got it. He immediately took it, and at that close range, he used Flame Blast. The fire tore through the air and slammed into the chest of the undead knight, followed by the explosion that sent it flying and slamming into the wall.
There was a massive hole in the chest of the knight, but it wasn’t dead, so Riven lunged forward to finish it. He stabbed through the helmet and killed it.
He pulled out the crystal and turned to look at the others. They had also taken down the knights, so without wasting any time, they leaped into the hole and entered the third floor.
What they didn’t expect was that the hole went straight down for more than ten floors. Those things that carried Sofia had gone straight down.
They dwelled through the hole without stopping, and finally, they made it to the tenth floor, slamming into the ground hard.
The smell of decay filled their nostrils. The tenth floor was warm, spacious, and covered in a mysterious fog. Some green rocks lay all over the floor and gave off light.
The three boys got on their feet, shaking off the impact of the fall.
Riven looked around. "We are definitely not close to the first floor anymore," he said.
"Yeah, this doesn’t feel safe at all," Noel said. There was a heavy creepy vibe inside this floor, and it made his skin crawl.
They all looked around. The space was massive, and they couldn’t see the end because of the fog.
Then the ground began rumbling. They looked around in a panic—something was coming.
Boom! The ground broke open, and a massive undead scorpion crawled out of the ground. The scorpion stood at a staggering four meters tall and more than fifteen long.
The tail curved, moving like it had a mind of its own. It snapped its pincers at them.
"This isn’t good," Noel said.
"Let’s spread out," Riven said. They all nodded and slowly spread out, giving them three attack angles at the scorpion.
"Hit it with your strongest right off the bat," Noel added.
They all nodded and immediately launched forward. The scorpion immediately regarded them as threats and swung its tail in a sweeping motion.
Riven and Noel leaped over it, while Jack slid under. They all kept their eyes on the target. Jack was the first to attack. He leaped into the air from below, his gauntlets ready to go.
He slashed, and wind claws shot out and slammed into the hard shell of the scorpion. The attacks dug into the exoskeleton, going in a few inches, but that was all.
The tail of the scorpion shot at Jack, but he was nimble. He managed to grab hold, use it for a flip, and went higher into the air.
"That exoskeleton is extremely strong. Heavier attacks or attacks into the gaps," Jack said before shooting down, his mana wrapped around the claws. He attacked again, but the scorpion swung its pincer and blocked it, throwing him back.
But that left it open for Riven and Noel.
[.....]
In another part of the kingdom, the church had finally come for Lance in the academy.