Over the next two days Ajax had started getting closer and closer to the dungeon and found that there were a lot of things not lining up with what his experience with dungeons was. The closest he had experienced before was the first dungeon in Deepwood he had delved where the level of the monsters slowly rose as he had gotten closer to the entrance. Even more eyecatching was the presence of a monster that had no connection to the environment. The metallic golem was clearly a survivor from a previous dungeon break that was now living here. Ajax wondered if he were to kill it would it disappear as most monsters escaped from the dungeon do or had it lived here long enough to adapt.
In the end that curiosity ended up winning out over his stealthy approach and he made a detour to hunt down the level ninety seven metal golem. There wasn’t a battle to speak of, with the use of his Shadow Mana Ajax had perfectly snuck up on the golem. A single overloaded hammer swing with Vibration Mana was all that it took to kill the golem whose body promptly dispersed into Mana.
“So they either don’t acclimate after leaving the dungeon or this one just hasn’t spent long enough outside the dungeon.” Ajax came to the conclusion. Despite the fight being very much unfulfilling Ajax couldn’t call it a complete waste as his [Assassinate] Skill had gone up a level.
With the golem dead Ajax started making his way towards the dungeon once again. Over the last few days of his travel Ajax had started trying to slip into Shadows more and more, instead of trying to force his way in with Void or neutral Mana he was instead trying to slip in like Fluffy was.
He wasn’t even close to being successful with his attempts however, the best he had managed to do was to sink all the way to the ankle on his foot before his control of Shadow Mana slipped up for an instant and he was pushed back out. The practice wasn’t slowing him down nor was it Mana intensive but it did take a lot of his concentration, so much so that he didn’t notice he was being stalked until [Danger Sense] pointed it out to him.
Ajax had barely enough time to dodge out of the way of the massive jaws that bit the air right at the place he had been. Whatever this creature was it was clearly an ambush predator, [Danger Sense] should have given him a warning much earlier but Ajax theorized it had been weakened by whatever ambush or assassin Skill the creature had.
Taking a better look at his attacker, Ajax realized that he was dealing with an oversized snake at least a hundred feet long with a head the size of a car. According to [Inspector’s Eye] the snake was level one hundred and twenty three, much stronger than anything else Ajax had run into so far but still not yet to the level of the strongest monsters Ajax had faced in the dungeon.
Without prep time and a clear weakness however Ajax supposed this fight was also more fair than the ones he fought in the dungeon while being boosted. He still thought he had a clear edge over the snake but it wasn’t as large as to be able to overwhelm the creature through his Aura alone, for one thing the snake had an Aura of its own that Ajax could feel pushing out now that its stealth Skills weren’t suppressing it.
“I’ve got to make quick work of you.” Ajax said to himself as he looked at the snake. He wasn’t worried about the fight with the snake but he knew that he couldn’t afford to take too long either. There might not be many creatures left around the area as the low ambient Mana couldn’t sustain them but the few that remained were most likely survivors who established their hunting grounds around the dungeon. Any long battle was sure to draw attention and Ajax wasn’t sure how many such creatures he could take down before he was overwhelmed.
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Not wanting to waste any time Ajax went on the offensive quickly as he leapt towards the snake's head as it was rising and readying to strike. Not looking to hold back Ajax took advantage of the close proximity and element of surprise to strike with [Telekinesis] the power of the Skill quickly smashed the snake’s head into the ground leaving it open for a blow to the head, or at least that’s what Ajax assumed.
The snake had reacted quickly, realizing Ajax was about to crush its brain with the hammer the snake dove into the shadows. Ajax had to admit the snake’s entrance into the shadows was even smoother than Fluffy’s, though that was to be expected considering the level difference between the two of them.
With his hammer no longer in range to land a blow Ajax swapped weapons to his spear and tossed it straight at the shadow the snake had slid into all while infusing it with a large amount of Ice Mana.
As the spear made contact with the shadow Ajax felt something new with his [Sense Mana]. Somehow the snake was trying to reinforce the shadow, not to make it stronger but rather to make it intangible. The resistance only lasted for a moment before the tip of the spear pierced through forcing the snake out while also impaling into its scales releasing a wave of cold throughout its body.
That turned out to be one of Ajax’s best decisions. Despite its size the snake wasn’t a constrictor, it didn’t rely on the power of its body but rather its venom and speed, with the cold spreading through its muscles Ajax could see its movements slowing down in real time as the snake tried to push Mana through its body to warm itself back up.
Not wanting to give it a chance to recover Ajax used Wind Mana to launch himself off a wind platform not even waiting to land after his initial jump, this time [Danger Sense] didn’t react it was only [Sense Mana] and [Mana Syphon] that gave Ajax enough of warning to try and change direction before the snake spit venom towards him.
Ajax hadn’t managed to get fully out of the way, his right arm and leg getting splashed, he could already feel the corrosive venom starting to burn its way through his skin. Ajax pushed [Mana Syphon] as hard as he could trying to drain the venom of Mana while also continuing his attack. He didn’t know how potent the snake’s venom was but he was sure of his own resistance to know it wouldn’t be able to affect him immediately.
Seeing the snake move back and trying to create some distance Ajax pulled out his two handed spear in order to get enough reach, the extra distance he could cover was enough for him to make contact and release another wave of Ice Mana into the snake, this time close enough to the head that Ajax could see it affecting the snake’s venom glands.
Another stab with the spear was easy to land now that the snake was moving even slower and with enough Ice Mana flowing through its body Ajax had no issue following it all up with a Void infused hammer blow to head, bypassing the scales and killing the snake. Unsurprisingly the snake also dispersed into Mana, showing it had come from the dungeon.
As soon as the battle was over Ajax didn’t even waste time to wash the poison off himself as he covered himself in a heavily infused amount of Shadow Mana before dashing away from the battlefield. He didn’t want to be there when other predators came to investigate, he very much suspected the snake had locked on to him after he killed the metal golem.
An hour of running later Ajax was sitting atop a large tree where he was still covered in sphere of Shadow Mana to conceal his presence but he had also removed his armor to wash it and remove all traces of the poison from himself while also taking a moment to heal up.
Luckily enough for Ajax the snake’s venom was hemorrhagic and while it did manage to corrode enough of his skin to cause him to bleed the venom didn’t have the potency to stand up to Life Mana, especially after being drained of its Mana by [Mana Syphon].
The sun was already setting but Ajax wasn’t worried he could already see the arch from the top of the tree where he stood, he wouldn’t be bothering to dig a space for himself underground and instead he will be entering the dungeon clearing out an area for himself on the first floor and for the first time in the last week Ajax was looking forward to getting a good night’s sleep before he delved the dungeon.