Chapter 221 - Day DCXLII

I felt like shit when it got brighter. I was tired, and knowing what's awaiting me just made me feel even worse. To the point, I just couldn't move a single muscle. I needed to really force myself to get up and eat.

With a full stomach, everything became a little bit better. Ki'rei didn't return through the whole night, which was kinda worrying. She was supposed to assist me, and her absence indicated that she is pissed enough to ignore her master's orders.

She was definitely childish in her behavior.

I waited a bit more, thinking that maybe she will return thinking I'm already out, but she didn't. I couldn't allow myself to waste any more time, so I began clearing the perimeter, then I swung by the camp, to pick up a cart, and head closer to the den, to get rid of the guards.

With them out of the picture, I descended underground and did my usual 'dance with fire'. I decided to not pick up the stones yet and instead headed even deeper. Those bigger bears with protruding bones were definitely tougher, but my new powers... Those were really something.

Dodgin became so much easier, even when I was surrounded. The power strike was enough to cut in half a whole animal, despite its ridiculous defenses. Although I immediately noticed that this skill is not to be abused, since it was getting me noticeably tired. I even got so caught up in this testing process, that I allowed one of the bears to scratch my forearm with all my skills activated, except the Ki reinforcement. There was barely any scratch.

It made me very hopeful about my revenge against the orc boss. If I was to evolve another class, that would allow me to definitely have a chance against him. Plus Rishi's creation was so damn durable, that I could even parry those absurdly powerful attacks of his.

It finally felt like in arms reach, which gave me a tremendous shot of energy. I felt invigorated. I felt positive and hopeful.

With those thoughts, I cleared the chamber fully and then proceeded to look around for the way even deeper. It took some time, as the space around was enormous. There was a passage, hidden behind a cluster of stalagmites. I passed by them, and carefully started to descend into this dark, seemingly natural tunnel.

After at least a dozen minutes I finally found myself in another grotto. I tried to discreetly peek inside, but the dim light provided by the flame in my hand was too little. There was quiet inside. I tried to listen, but couldn't hear anything, and then suddenly a pair of yellow eyes poke out of the shadows. They were big.

I make the flame stronger, to identify the owner of those eyes, but as I did, the creature leaped, and I almost got pinned to the ground by a gigantic paw. If not shadow walks, I would probably get badly injured, considering the surreal strength of the beasts.

From the deeper parts of the tunnel, I threw several bolts of fire, to enlighten the chamber, and then I saw what I was dealing with. Brown bears of the size of a truck.

I shadow walked past the one blocking my passage. Just to be forced to use the skill again to save me, as another one leaped with incredible speed, missed and plowed the rock with his long claws.

This was gonna be a tough one considering the size of my enemies, the display of force I just witnessed, and the lack of light. Still, a great test for my new abilities. I reinforced myself with Ki, while repositioning, then threw few bolts of fire around, to use shadow walk, and move on the back of one of the bears. I jammed my weapon in its spine with all the power I had. It was enough to kill, but I still had to escape, as another one came flying at me.

I used a bit more of flame, betting on maybe setting one of them ablaze, but the fur was somehow heat resistant enough.

I needed to keep up my tempo and move out of the way, as they kept coming, showing off the brutal force at tier disposal. Roaring and growling, as they landed destroying the floor.

Few more firebolts gave me enough light to get rid of the second enemy, in the same manner. I slowly developed a tactic, that seemed to work. Maybe there was a better way, but I didn't want to risk and kept with what I knew.

It took me maybe around an hour to clear the chamber, but I did it, and then looked for the passage even deeper. I found it and moved through the next winding tunnel. This one ended with a black, heavy double door made out of metal. There was a symbol of a tree engraved in it.

That was the boss room. I could only guess what a beast was behind. I put my hand on them thinking about when I will be ready to finally find out. Sooner or later, that was for sure.

With that I slowly made my way to the surface, slowly picking up crystals on the way. There was still plenty left, but my shadows would pick them for me later. I actually left them working, and I returned to the camp, to eat. Ki'rei was still gone.

I tried to look for her in the tree crowns around, but there was nothing there, then I returned to find my minions working diligently according to the order I gave them. I started helping them, to fasten the process.

I managed to collect 735 crystals. Promising number. Then I finally returned to the camp to get some sleep. For a moment I wondered if maybe I could again share some class points with Blue, but not only he would probably agree, but also there was no way for me to fully explore the bear den, and make it back and forth to the werewolf. This made me focus only on getting more crystals.

The day came to an end with 4 268 790 points remaining on my account, forty-two class points, and 735 bear crystals on the cart.