"The corridors ahead were silent for the most part of the long walk as the metallic scent of blood hung thick in the air." Dante explained, as he continue to narrate the story forward.
Meanwhile Beatrice was well aware of challenges ahead. Her time here was almost over. Only the last remnants remained.
Her eyes adjusted, scanning the dark corridor ahead... "This is the place!?" She said. "They should be coming now." And as if to confirm her prediction, she began to hear alot of movement. Dozens of faint red outlines crawling within the black fog of the lower floors. "The fog isn't as bad as it is when your balls deep in it, so it shouldn't be lethal at this surface level."
Then Dante's voice came echoing once more. "The rate came charging with full force, from a mysterious Black fog, they seem rapid, crazy even, why is that one would wonder, still these man eating cretins won't stop, not when fresh meat is around... As such they charge towards Beatrice with great killing intent."
Beatrice smirked faintly. "I've killed them before." Her grip tightened around her newly equipped Mother's Fang Blade. The weapon's veins throbbed in sync with her pulse, as she await the large group to come closer. Unlike before she was full with confidence. She could sense the level in power, to her these things where nothing more than minor annoyance now.
The first wave came scurrying from the ventilation shafts. As dozen of them came from above too, their bodies swollen with tumors of blight, eyes glowing in red hues, gnashing saliva dripping fluid that burned holes into the steel floor. Beatrice raised her left hand. Thin, silver silk erupted from her fingertips, spreading like a fan.
The threads met the oncoming creatures before they even reached her one touch, and the silk ignited a strange green and grow in size as if water was stretching a hose, the acid within and without burst in a massive explosion making first contact, as it spilled in all direction. Soon screams echoed as bodies melted, limbs collapsing into bubbling sludge.
[EXP +3]
[EXP +4]
[EXP +4]
She exhaled slowly, then took a step forward "Three down...Eighteen left."
The next group emerged from behind a shattered medical gate, six humanoid Mondus. "These things are the same Mundus, the butcher has at its side, why did he send them here now....hmm can I take this as a good sign then." Beatrice wondered, looking at them, their skin flayed and hanging like wet parchment. One wielded a metal pipe fused to its arm, another dragged a corpse like a club.
They charged as one. But Beatrice had fight these things before, as such she knew how to deal with with them. As Beatrice swung the Mother's Fang in a wide arc, the cleaver slicing through air and bone alike. It met resistance, only for a heartbeat...then passed clean through three torsos, at once.
The blade pulsed black, veins glowing as it fed on their blight residue. The blade was damage from that one attach, but passive regeneration via symbiosis ensure that the cleave passively heal.
Maintaining default durability at all time without the worry of withering, for as long as she has MP, symbiosis held strong.
"I am at level now where group fight like these are way too easy now, if only that bastard was just as easy." Beatrice muttered. The remaining rat creatures shrieked, charging in blind rage. One leapt high. Beatrice sidestepped, grabbed its face midair, and slammed it into the ground. Acid burst from her palm, the new trait at work, melting the creature's skull in seconds.
"Power and skill born from the struggle of many attempts, Beatrice continued her assault with ease. As more enemies charge in, you can take them one by one but large groups exceeding more than three should not be easy." Said Dante, and as if the world listen to his decree, more than three came rushing towards Beatrice now.
Or that what was supposed to happen, but Beatrice had evolve far enough now to brush pass all enemies before he like nothing.
The corridor trembled again. More of them crawled from the cracks, twelve remaining, all ratlike, some fused together, three-mouthed beasts that scuttled over the corpses of their kin.
Beatrice smiled beneath her visor. "Come, then." She darted forward this time, faster than before. Her feet left faint traces of violet energy. Every swing of her blade was deliberate, cruel, and extremely efficient. The rats exploded under her blows, black ichor and blood spraying across the walls.
Acid dripped from her silk threads like rain, cutting through armor, fur, flesh, anything that moved.
Each kill fed her more power, as she began to passively absorb the Blight Residue of the fallen, filling her Mundus Pool more and more.
[EXP +8]
[EXP +6]
[EXP +9]
[Level Progress: 5 → 6]
Her breathing slowed again. The last of them twitched, dying with a faint hiss, their blackened bodies sinking into puddles of corrupted fluid, and like before Beatrice absorb all the Blight Residue filling her with even more power.
Till eventually the corridor had grown quiet once more.
Smoke rose from the floor.
Her armor hissed, faintly reacting to the acid steam. The Mother's Fang vibrated softly, like a living thing sated for now, chip and crack yet began to heal once more. "Wow, I have never been this strong before, still it's not enough, however with the Mother Fang, I atleast have a fighting chance now."
She exhaled softly, and walked forward. The long hall ahead stretched endlessly. Broken pipes lined the ceiling, dripping brown water that steamed when it hit the floor. The stench of rot intensified with every step.
Beatrice then paused before a massive metal door. The sign above it flickered faintly.
[Gate 5 - Central Maintenance Access Room / Cargo Lift to Surface]
Dante's voice lowered.
"Three deaths here, Beatrice. Three very painful ones... The finale boss of this area is behind this door. If you get to elevator you win you know."
"Her body trembled just being here, but she pushed past he town fear and step forward." The door hissed open. Steam rolled outward as a result of pressurized air being released. Inside was a vast, circular chamber, lit only by flickering red warning lights. Chains hung from the ceiling, swaying." Rusted tables lined the walls, covered in what looked like dissected remains of former test subjects, human and otherwise. Then, the sound began again... That wet dragging noise.
Thump!
Thump!
Thump!
And from the dark corner of the chamber, he emerged.
His arms were thick, discolored, covered in old surgical scars, each movement cracking joints that had long since rotted. But where a head should have been…there was nothing. Only a mass of writhing black tentacles spilling from his neck, each one tipped with jagged, tooth-like ends that constantly bit at the air like wild rabid animals.
In his right hand, he held a weapon, a massive meat tenderizing hammer, made from fused steel and bone, almost as tall as Beatrice herself. Its surface shimmered faintly with fresh blood, even though no recent kill had been made. Beatrice stopped several feet away.
"So we meet again." She said quietly with a stoic tone, she was not happy at all to see this thing.