The air in the colossal cavern thrummed with ancient power, vibrating through Elias's very bones.
Before him stood the Stone Hulk, an immovable, five-meter monolith of living rock and ancient moss. Its emerald eyes, glowing with cold, inert power, fixed on him.
This was the guardian, the insurmountable obstacle Elias had been preparing for. He gripped his pickaxe, its steel tip glinting, an absurdly small weapon against such a titanic foe.
The Stone Hulk moved. It wasn't fast, but its every step resonated with bone-shaking power, causing tremors that rippled through the cavern floor. It raised one colossal fist, a boulder-sized hammer of solid rock, and slammed it down where Elias stood a moment before.
The impact was deafening, sending a shockwave that threw Elias sideways, rattling his teeth. The floor beneath shattered, fissures spreading like spiderwebs.
Elias scrambled back, his Enhanced Agility barely allowing him to evade the crushing blow. This was raw, unbridled force. His Armored Hide, Scaly Skin, and Feathered Hide combined might offer a few percentage points of damage reduction, but a direct hit from those fists would pulverize him. He needed to find a weakness.
The Stone Hulk was relentless, lumbering forward, its glowing green eyes tracking his every move. It raised both fists, preparing for another ground-shattering attack.
Elias, using his Enhanced Hearing to pinpoint the slight grinding sound in its stony joints and his Perception to anticipate its trajectory, darted towards its left leg. He aimed his pickaxe at the thick, moss-covered ankle, hoping to chip away at its foundation.
The pickaxe struck with a metallic clang that reverberated painfully up his arm. Chips of stone flew, but the impact felt like striking solid mountain.
The Stone Hulk barely flinched. Instead, it swung a backhand, a slow but incredibly wide arc of solid rock. Elias threw himself to the ground, rolling desperately as the massive hand swept over him, generating a powerful gust of wind.
He needed a different approach. The glowing emerald crystals embedded in its chest and eyes. They pulsed with the same energy that animated the behemoth. They had to be its core. But reaching them on a five-meter-tall titan was another matter.
The Stone Hulk continued its methodical assault, creating craters in the cavern floor. It stomped, and sharp, jagged Earth Spikes, roughly a meter tall, erupted from the ground around Elias, forcing him to leap and weave, using his Enhanced Agility to navigate the treacherous terrain. One spike grazed his leg, tearing his trousers and leaving a deep scrape, but his inherent Anomalous Resilience and defensive hides absorbed the worst of it.
He recognized the move. It was slow, telegraphed. He realized its weakness wasn't speed, but precision. He had to use its own power against it.
As the Stone Hulk prepared another earth-shattering stomp, Elias didn't dodge. Instead, he sprinted directly towards its enormous foot, timing his approach with desperate precision.
Just as the foot descended, Elias slid, impossibly low, under the sole of its foot, squeezing through the narrow gap as the colossal weight came down. The ground shook violently, the force of the stomp rattling his teeth, but he was through.
He was now beneath the Stone Hulk, completely unseen by its glowing eyes.
He scrambled onto its foot, then began to climb, digging his pickaxe into crevices, leveraging his Constricting Grip and Chitinous Spikes to gain purchase on the rough, mossy surface.
The Stone Hulk rumbled, sensing him but unable to pinpoint his exact location. It began to thrash, shaking its body violently, trying to dislodge him.
Elias clung on desperately, his muscles screaming, his knuckles white. He ascended its leg, then its torso, aiming for the glowing crystal embedded in its chest.
The shaking was immense, threatening to tear him loose at any moment. He could hear the grinding of stone on stone, the deep, guttural thrumming from within the construct.
He reached the chest, his hands raw and bleeding. The green crystal pulsed with an irresistible light. With a primal roar, Elias plunged his pickaxe into the glowing emerald, driving it in with every ounce of his remaining strength. The crystal resisted, sparking violently, then began to crack.
The Stone Hulk shrieked, a sound of agony that was more like grinding mountains than a living creature. Its body began to glow intensely, light radiating from its cracks. It thrashed one last, devastating time, slamming itself against the cavern wall.
Elias was thrown clear, landing hard on the uneven ground, his body screaming in protest.
He looked up. The Stone Hulk stood motionless for a moment, then, with a deafening crack that reverberated through the entire cavern, the glowing crystal in its chest shattered. The green light flared one last time, then dimmed. The massive construct shuddered, deep cracks spiderwebbing across its entire body, before slowly, majestically, it began to crumble.
Boulders the size of houses detached and crashed to the ground, sending up plumes of dust. In minutes, the towering guardian was reduced to a colossal pile of broken, inert rock.
Elias lay panting, bruised and battered, but alive. He had struggled. He had won.
His notification tab shimmered, bathing the dusty cavern in a soft glow.
[Notification]
You have defeated the Level 2 Guardian: Stone Hulk (Ancient Golem)!
Experience Gained: 1000 EXP
Level Up!
[Notification]
Name: Elias
Race: Human (Anomalous Origin)
Level: 5
Health: 100/100
Stamina: 70/100 (Recovering from extreme exertion)
Mana: 500/500 (Locked - Still Dormant)
A new, potent hunger seized him. This was the largest, most powerful creature he had faced.
The essence it contained would be immense. He dragged himself towards the largest remaining chunk of the Stone Hulk, where the emerald crystal had once glowed. It was cold, hard rock, yet Elias felt an almost instinctual connection to it.
He tore at it with his bare hands, his Crushing Bite working against the hardened surface. It was like chewing on granite, but strangely, the rock yielded under his enhanced jaw. The taste was pure earth, minerals, and a faint, cold echo of primordial magic. It was utterly devoid of flesh, yet the act of consumption felt more profound than ever. He swallowed the grit and stone, the unnatural meal grating in his throat, but a powerful, surging energy began to radiate from his stomach.
[Notification]
Ultra-Rare Magic: Monster Assimilation - Active!
Description: You have consumed the essence of a Stone Hulk. Your unique ability is absorbing its essence.
[Notification]
New Ability Acquired: Stone Skin (Passive)!
Description: Your skin and underlying tissues have gained significant petrification, providing substantial resistance to blunt, piercing, and slashing attacks (+10% damage reduction). Permanent effect.
[Notification]
New Ability Acquired: Earthen Affinity (Passive)!
Description: You gain enhanced sensory perception of geological disturbances and can move with greater stealth and speed across natural stone and earth environments. Permanent effect.
Elias stood, feeling almost like a living statue. His skin felt denser, incredibly tough, almost like a second layer of rock. He slammed his fist into a solid rock wall; it barely stung. He could feel the vibrations of the cavern floor with startling clarity, the subtle shifts and hums of the earth beneath his feet. He was no longer just a man with monster parts; he was becoming one with the dungeon itself.
Beyond the colossal pile of rubble that was once the Stone Hulk, a new passage had been revealed. It was a perfectly smooth, dark archway, radiating a subtle, cold energy unlike anything he had felt on Level 2. No carvings, no rough rock, just a gateway into deeper darkness.
This was it. The path to Level 3. Elias adjusted his grip on his pickaxe, a grim, determined glint in his eyes. He had conquered Level 2.
The abyss called, and he answered, walking directly into the unknown.