Snow rained down from the sky, the sun blocked by veils of little clouds, only fragments of it's light beaming down. The snowflakes wasn't falling violently as I had expected, it was a gentle and graceful fall to the ground. Which I knew would be violently increased during the crimson moon. Luckily, I won the coin toss.
The blood river stretched across the snowy plains, just like before, carving out a path right through the middle. The difference was, unlike the desert that was empty and boring, the snowy plains had a few trees lined up alongside the blood river, that was also covered in snow mostly.
The Weeping Blight's massive roots that extended from the ground, reaching above the clouds, also seemed much closer than before. And as I got closer, I began to realize just how large this damn tree was. How the hell was I supposed to climb that?
The worst part? It was chilly. I was already feeling the coldness seeping into my bones.
"Dammit….im starting to regret the [One with Fire] skill wasn't a [One with Ice] now…."
I would of loved an immunity to the cold. This made me think back to the herb that bastard Nico took for himself. Could it have something to do with dealing with the cold?
I'm really starting to detest these environmental conditions now. Back then, in level 3, the desert. I didn't feel much of the heat due to the [One with Fire] skill that granted me all immunity to fire, which included the heat produced by them. However, now, I couldn't rely on such things.
That was fine. I am now pretty much used to things being difficult, anyway.
The real problem lied in the distance.
Distance to next level; 18km.
"18 kilometers? Are you kidding me?"
Sure, I could run that distance with ease due to my enhanced physical attributes, especially with the amazing amount of Stamina I had. However, the part which worried me wasn't the effect it would have on my body, but rather the time it would take to cover that distance. Even for me, running 18 kilometers within 30 minutes would be difficult. Hell, it would be nearly impossible.
This would mean that I would have to deal with a single crimson moon rise before I reach the next level.
"And with Nico's flying skill of that damn headpiece…..he should be able to reach the next level much faster than me."
I gritted my teeth, I hadn't realized this. To admit, I have been lucky recently. But now, I couldn't rely much on it. Nico would always find a way to be ahead of me due to that annoying flying ability of his, which means i will have to destroy that headpiece the moment I see him again.
Otherwise, I will lose this race. No doubt about it.
"Frozen Hounds, huh…."
I mused, trying to imagine what the monsters here could be like. The name has already given me a faint idea. Hounds could mean dogs, wolf's? A pack of them? Well, level three had worms that was the size of a small building. What could level two have to offer?
I walked forward, taking in the surroundings. Luckily, with the Respite Zone's effects, my body was pretty much back in Shape. So, I didn't hesitate in activating both [The Zone] and [Probability Pryer].
And when I did—I saw something.
"A bite to my left side, 100%…."
I quickly side-stepped out of the way, looking around for who could of attacked me. But i didn't find anyone. However, even so, [Probability Pryer] was showing me probabilities.
"A bite to my right side, 100%…."
"A bite to my right leg, 100%…."
"A bite to my stomach, 100%…"
All of these was coming out of nowhere. But with my foresight, I managed to sidestep out of the way just in time, avoiding feral bites that would of without a doubt been fatal.
But as the more I dodged, the more probabilities started appearing and more of these attacks started coming from out of nowhere.
"What….the hell?"
Frustrated, I summoned [The Cleave] and just slashed into the empty air. When I did, I felt the sharp blade hit something. Then, the snow turned crimson, blood splattered over it beautifully.
I immediately realized what enemies I was facing.
"invisible wolves."
They don't seem to be too massive. Rather, they seem to be a normal size of an average wolf. The only key difference was that, well, they were invisible! But for some reason, the more I kill, the more keeps on appearing.
There is an entire invisible groups of these things.
Still, after realizing all this, they weren't much of a trouble for me due to [Probability Pryer]. All I did was swing my blade around and I kept killing a bunch of them as I did so, the white snow turning a deep crimson with each one I killed.
At the same time, with each one I killed, the group of them kept growing. They seem to be quite the coordinated pact, as they were clearly learning and adapting to each move I made, forcing me to extert even more force. Some even managed to bite me, but I quickly moved out of the way before they could do anything serious to my body.
Eventually, it was becoming overwhelming.
Too many probabilities entered my mind, too many of them attacked from the side. It was becoming too much for me handle. It was as if these wolves just keep growing in numbers whenever I kill one!
"Dammit…"
I grunted, as I kept on killing more and more of them. Yet, as I did, the numbers kept on rising. Something was clearly wrong here. What was I missing?
"Could it be…?"
A sudden hint of enlightment entered my head, as my body was being attacked from all sides, even as I dodged desperately. This was the second level. The monsters must have strange abilities for them, it can't be that on their boss has it anymore. There must be something that differentiates them from the Sun-Cursed Worms.
That seemed to be the logic which the Key Rush followed.
So, could what the Frozen Hounds differentiate from the Sun-Cursed Worms be their ability to multiply? Can they multiply infinitely after dying? No, that can't be possible. It's too overpowered. How can you defeat a group of animals that could multiply infinitely with each death? That's impossible unless I have an ability of mass destruction that vaporizes them all at once!
With this thought, I tried focusing on a weakness, all the while dodging and killing them. I knew killing just increased the size of their group, but that was what i wanted to happen. There has to be a flaw in their ability to multiply. The only way I could figure what this flaw was by attacking them relentlessly w giving them a break.
And by doing this, I realized something.
The invisible wolves did indeed grow in size as a group with each kill, but as a result, each wolf that comes after me seems to have grown weaker than it's counterpart.
'Could this be the weakness?'
I knew there was something! Nothing could be too overpowered. That's just a basic rule of the universe.
It seems that by multiplying, they are also weakening themselves as a cost. This was logical and made sense with what I have seen and experienced for myself. There was many ways I could exploit this new discovery, but not now. Right now, I would rather choose to run. The crimson moon rising is inevitable, so I couldn't stay here, getting brutally beaten and ran dry of innate spirit.
So, after by turning off [The Zone] and only keeping [Probability Pryer] active, I turned tail and ran.
Seems like this is the one thing I have been doing these past few hours.
And I have gotten fairly good at it.
This time, instead of the blood river, i went straight for the trees. Something was telling me that even running to the blood river won't stop these Hounds. So, I latched onto a tree, swung like a monkey and landed in a flawless crounch.
"Maybe I could…."
Even though I couldn't see the invisible wolves that could multiply—now that I think about it, they have two abilities! Two! That doesn't make sense. But then again, I didn't know much about the Key Rush at all. Im not Nico who could pull knowledge right out of his ass somehow.
Even though I couldn't see the invisible wolves, with the help of [Probability Pryer] showing an immense amount of probabilities, I have gotten the general idea of where they were grouped up. They seem to possess some form of intelligence, as instead of trying to climb the tree—which would be impossible for them—they were attacking the tree trunk, trying to claw it out and making the tree i was standing on fall instead.
Was it really intelligence or just battle instincts?
I couldn't tell, because this plan of theirs was decent for their type but also had glaring flaws. What were they gonna do when I start jumping from tree to tree? They wouldn't be able to keep up with me, then. Their only hope will be the rise of the crimson moon.
"I can just take them all out."
I grinned at that thought. This was a good opportunity of gathering a much of Abyssal Fragments in one fell swoop. Perhaps I was getting a bit greedy recently, but with how close I was to capping at a thousand, I didn't want to waste this opportunity.
So, I clenched my fist and augmented it with my fury, pouring all of the amount that I had managed to store up during my fight with Velsharath. And, just before the tree was about to collapse, I punched downwards.
I didn't hit any of the invisible wolves from that distance, obviously. However, I didn't need to physically hit them.
Whoosh!!
A powerful shockwave hit the wind, sending it flying downwards like a blast, sending snow flying everywhere. At the same time, i felt an infux of Abyssal Fragments entering my soul.
Abyssal Fragments: [779/1000]
'Holy shit….80 Fragments from that one haul?'
I was shocked by the amount. This meant that killing one Frozen Hound, I would recieve 4 Abyssal Fragments. Since I killed 20, that meant I got 80 from that haul….
Maybe I should stay here killing them. That way, I could easily cap at a thousand, then see what the evolution of my blessing has in store for me. Hmm, who knows? Maybe by the time the crimson moon rises, I will be the predator of this snowy plain.
I immediately shook my head of these thoughts.
"No, I can't let greed blind me."
The longer I linger, the more time I'm wasting to the rise of ehe crimson moon. So, I couldn't stay here. Besides, I can already see—through [Probability Pryer] that the Frozen Hounds have multiplied and started attacking the tree again. It's like they aren't afraid of death just because they could multiply. Which wasn't a good thing for me. Fighting enemies without any self-preservation is the worst.
So, I jumped from the tree, to another one. Then, from that one, to another. I started making my way towards the next level, the group of Frozen Hounds following closely behind me. I could see with the use [Probability Pryer], but since I wanted to save innate spirit, I took the risk and shut it off.
This practically left me blind, but the innate spirit was important for when the crimson moon rises. I can't focus on the now in the Key Rush, it should always be the future.
Hmm. I wonder how Nico was doing. I hope that he was being torn limb from limb, or perhaps tortured the worst way possible. Nonetheless, I was sure we would meet once the crimson moon rose. I will be going to his level once it does.
The last time, I couldn't do it. But now I have made the decision. It's the safest and most logical option. What the Key Rush was made for.
My body blurred as I jumped from tree to tree…
Time until Nightfall: 28:21 minutes.