Chapter 131: Facing the Monsters of Tartarus

"Holy crap… That's…. That's Tartarus!?" I couldn't help but be amazed.

About four hours ago, I contacted Herald on instructions on how to get to Tartarus. He replied immediately so it means that he's fine or he's still battling the enemies. Tartarus was an extremely far journey but we managed to just run to here in just four hours.

I left Yefa and Greta back at Izgoy so that someone would keep the civilians there in line.

But to think Tartarus has this appearance… It looks like it came from a lovecraftian story.

Its exterior looked like the insides of a monster. Like the flesh of them. It has also bones of different species, humans, lizardmen, orcs and those heads at the entrance… dragons? The very bottom of the Tartarus on the surface has these flesh-like things with bones stretch like roots that stuck to the ground.

And at the very top of the Tartarus rests an eye.

In the distance, I could hear faint sounds of explosions. I really want to enter Tartarus right now but I still don't know if I'm qualified for it. But that's not the objective for now. Its about killing the monsters that came out of Tartarus.

We ran to the direction where we heard the explosions and saw Herold there fighting against five enemies. I know that the construction of Izgoy took a lot of time but he still hasn't killed a single one despite his level over the thousands. Well, level doesn't really matter since we only care about the rewards the system gives us when we level up.

But those monsters he's fighting… Basilisk, Nine Headed Hydra, an incredibly giant Hellhound, Phoenix and an undead Lich!? These are the monsters inside the Tartarus? Right now I'm extremely excited about seeing all these mythological creatures before me but I couldn't help but get worried since I know everything about them.

The basilisk is a giant serpent creature. Basilisks can excrete poison that can kill anything. It's extremely venomous and can kill anything in one strike. It has also an evil eye in which it was said that it can cause instant death the moment you look at it. It's fast, big and extremely powerful.

The Nine Headed Hydra is a giant monster which has obviously, nine heads. Their heads are incredibly poisonous too. And the problem is their breath in which they can purposely spread and can kill something in seconds. The other heads have unknown properties. But the thing that I absolutely fear is their great regeneration. If you cut off at least one of their heads, they'll regrow it back with ease and not just one, but two.

Hellhounds, they're supposedly the size of a normal dog but this one seems to be abnormal. As I recall, hellhounds are extremely fast and powerful. They have super strength or something but the best part about them is that they can turn into ghastly apparitions and disappear and they can reappear whenever they want. They're like assassins but worse.

The Phoenix… they're surrounded by hot flames that can combust anytime they want. And if they die…they can resurrect themselves with ease. They're not that powerful but their resurrection ability will make them tough to kill.

Finally, the lich, they're just mages. But considering they're in this world, their powers will depend on what the system gives them.

"Herold!" I called out to him.

"Zieg- URK!" Herold was then blown away by the attack of the Hellhound.

I still need to discuss with him what's happening. "Mass Teleport!" I teleported all of us far enough so that those boss monsters won't go near us.

"UGAH!" Herold spat out blood. "Haa… damn. I'm tired of fighting those things…"

"How long have you been fighting those things?"

"A month or something."

"What?"

"They're incredibly easy to kill. I could've done it in a couple of hours. But that damned Lich! It looks like he has infinite mana or something."

"What's wrong?"

"That Lich gives mana to the other boss monsters and heals them. And if I try to get near the Lich, the Phoenix will rise up to the sky and dive at me. Nearly tore my arm in the process. That Phoenix is too fast and every one of those monsters are protecting the Lich."

"Your Anti-Magic sword doesn't do much?"

"It does a lot. That Hydra, I tore of its head five times now and since it doesn't have enough mana, it couldn't regenerate anymore. But as I said, that Lich keeps giving everything mana. The Hellhounds can phase through everything I throw at them. The Phoenix can revive infinitely. That Basilisk can release poison with no cost. That poison was strong enough to evaporate the lake. The Hydra can infinitely regenerate. This is so frustrating."

"Are they strong?"

"Not really. The healing of them is just too much and the mana the Lich is giving them. If we can get rid of the Lich, this'll be an easy fight."

"Hmm… that's enough information I think… Zeta, do you have anything to say?"

"Huh, me?" Zeta looked at me dumbfounded.

"I have no idea on how to approach this situation. Do you have a suggestion?"

"Well…" Zeta was hesitant at first but began to speak up. "I suggest we take care of the Phoenix and the Hellhound first. The Phoenix according to Herold, is fast and will immediately take action if they see you going to the Lich. The Hellhound is the fastest among all of them so the Hellhound will be the first to go to the Lich if something happens. If we kill the Phoenix first, there'll be a small ritual and it'll take some time on the resurrection. Phoenix will revive around 10-15 seconds as far as I remember."

"Have you seen a Phoenix before Zeta?"

"No, its something I read. But Herold, does the time span I just said kind of accurate on the resurrection time of the Phoenix?"

Herold nodded in response.

"So that's that. Let's go."

Every one of us stood up and began heading to the direction to where the boss monsters are. "Afal, use that large skill you used yesterday on the army."

"Yes. Dispel." Afal dispelled the shapeshift spell on his arm and it showed that demonic hand again. "Hand of Fury, rain down on my enemies, CATACLYSM!"

The sky above us suddenly turned orange because the hundreds of fire balls in the sky that was summoned because of Afal's skill. Then it all came falling down on the enemies. Each of them exploding and a loud sound was heard over and over again.

After a few moments, it stopped. We then went ahead and ran at that direction to find out what happened.

Every monster that was there was severely damaged. But the Lich was not. There's a giant barrier only around him. The Lich raised his staff and green particles were surrounding the other monsters. It healed them of their wounds to full health like nothing happened. But the Hellhound was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's the hellhound?" I asked.

"It's dead." Herold replied.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I can't feel the Hellhound. Its not invisible. I can only detect these four enemy. The Hellhound's mana is completely gone."

"It got obliterated by Afal's skill… Okay. Let's charge in!"

Everyone of us changed into our gazer forms.

Then something unexpected happened. A sword was thrown at the middle between us and the monster. It interrupted our charge and the monsters were also confused.

The sword's color was white and there was a red gemstone on the guard of the sword. A bright white beacon that shot up to the sky was then formed. And after the beacon of light disappeared, someone appeared at it.

He has a white armor, yellow hair and a shield on his left arm. Everything about him radiates the color white. Pure and noble. He then began to speak. "I, Zeraph Nindine shall eradicate the evil before me!" He pulled out the sword that was planted to the ground, held it upright and grabbed it with both of his hands. "Grant me strength Holy Sword, Ascalon! Holy Piercer!" He then let go his other hand on the sword and pointed it at the Basilisk. A beam of light then shot at the end of his sword.

But that effort was futile seeing how the Lich immediately restored the health of the Basilisk.

The mysterious man clicked his tongue. "Tsk. Evil will never prevail against justice!"

"Who are you?" I asked him.

He looked at my way and had a menacing look at his face. "I am Zeraph Nindine a Hero. There has been report of villages getting raided because of monsters lurking around. I am here to eradicate them."

"Then can you he-"

"Shut up demon. And that monster next to you. After I deal with these monsters, I'll deal with you demons. I will never, ever forgive you evil beings!"