Chapter 9：Rot And Cavern Moles

Fear? Nothing of the sort existed when Rezar was awake, the moment he was roused from the dream, the concept of fear totally disappeared. Which was why he was able to react accordingly as the mole jumped towards him, he rolled to the left coming up to the wall and leaving his body sideways prone. He jumped up, but not in time as a swipe from the mole had shredded flesh from bone, leaving a cut so deep that the whites of his bone was exposed before blood gushed out.

"Arghhhh!"

He might not be able to feel fear, but pain was a whole other ball game, after all he was still a human necromancer and not an undead lich, he could still feel pain, and right now he was feeling lots of it. But the curve was that the concept of pain was always associated and accompanied by fear, but in the absence of fear, it was all too easy for Rezar to ignore the pain he was feeling and whip his right leg forward, smashing it into the soft belly of the mole and throwing it across the small cave.

It smashed against the opposite wall with a rather loud thud, there was no such thing as an hp bar in Elysium, a significant enough damage can kill or incapacitate any opponent. Weapons also have no such stats as weapon damage; they had special effect and durability, but no damage gauge. Stab a copper dagger into the eye of a level 65 dragon and you would blind it, stab that same dagger into the eyeball of level 100 divine pope and you would kill him.

He has a smaller skull than a dragon, and no matter how strong your defense is, unless there's a special skills, eyes were still one of the most vulnerable parts of the body. The only things that can actually have hp bars are town spires, city walls, special buildings or certain materials. So quite simply when the mole landed on the ground it seemed to wobble about a bit, now normally his first instinct should have been to find a weapon and end this monstrosity. However his instincts were different, he was the son of death after all.

{ROT}

(One Magic Point Used)

He had aimed for the head of the mole and even though this wasn't the first time he had used a magic skill, there was no awkwardness and the activation and usage of the skill was done with such ease that Rezar was somewhat shocked. But given as instincts from your past life were always maintained when you reincarnated, sure some would be lost in the process, but some things would stay with you no matter what.

The mole suddenly stiffened and fell to the ground; it's larger than normal body for a mole convulsing terribly as a patch of white and yellow pus began to spread on its head. The skill itself was akin to using acid as its fur and skin was burnt through in seconds and then is skull, part of its face and then its brain. The moment the rot reached its brain, it stopped moving, completely dead.

(You Have Slain Basic Cavern Mole lvl5/ You Have Gained 80 Battle Exp)

The easiest way to level up and the most common and easily accessible way, not to mention the best way is by completing quests. It gave more rewards and wasn't as stressful as going out into the wild to hunt monsters. Now slaves were handicapped when it came to quests, just like reality a slave can escape, heck if they're lucky enough to go to a town that doesn't discriminate against them, they can have the slave class deleted for a hefty sum of money, last he heard (or remembered) it cost a 100 thousand gold elys aka a single platinum elys to delete the slave class.

Without quests, the only way to earn money, it's quite obvious how screwed slaves really are, and even the quests they do get to complete only earn them 1% of the exp and reward. But the Elysium system likes to be seen as a balanced system. Slaves who gain exp from bonus gets a 100% increase in exp, after slaves were supposed to be weak, and winning a fight, any one at all is quite the achievement and so they're rewarded accordingly. But how would a slave that more often than not would be stuck within a particular area for the whole of their lives be able to get into a fight.

Except for killing rats, pests or a few fights with coworkers, how could they get the battle exp necessary to become true powerhouses or to at least even escape from their masters and then work hard enough to raise the money to be completely free of the slave class.

Strictly speaking, it has never happened before, so while it might seem that Elysium had a balanced system it was all just complete and total bullshit. If you're a slave, then you would always be placed in a position where being a slave was all you could do, so the 100% bonus was just a complete waste.

Rezar took a deep breath, but he really wasn't out of the woods yet. He moved towards the dead mole, only to hear three distinct squeaks from behind him, he turned to look at the entrance of his cave and saw that there were three other moles there, and these ones were quite bigger than the one laying dead at his feet. A meter long from snout to their hind quarters with tails that were just as long as their massive bodies, they had ten inch curved fangs hanging out of their mouth along with s even inch claws that were wider than normal but still sporting a deadly curve.

Both sides stared at each other for a few seconds before Rezar made the first moved by throwing a {ROT} skill at the one in the middle. There was just a flash of grey light as a small spell circle appeared on top of Rezar's right palm. The cast was instant and it didn't have an obvious animation except for the spell circle, the rot just started spreading from the mole's chest as Rezar turned and grabbed the harpoon that had been given to him.

*screeeeeeeeech!!!*

Whether that was from the pain the middle mole felt as it rolled on the ground or the anger and indignation its companions felt, Rezar didn't care. He acted immediately thrusting the harpoon as the mole that though it was wise to leap at him. Ignoring the pain from his mauled arm, he let the harpoon remain in the air as the massive mole impaled itself on the fishing instrument that had seen better days. The harpoon stabbed through the mole bursting out of the opposite end, but the bulk of the mole had pushed Rezar backwards as he tripped over his mining pick, slamming the back of his head against the wall behind him, and just in time for the final mole to sink its seven inch long fangs into his legs.

"arghhhh ahhhahhhahh God!" the stabbing would have been manageable, but it was the wrenching and tearing motion that almost drove him insane with pain. As usual there was no pain, just anger, pure blazing anger and wrath.

Rezar reached forwards and grabbed the mole in the throat, choosing instead to squeeze with all his might as his fingers dug into its throat, severing arteries as he let it choked on its own blood while its fangs were still firmly stuck within Rezar's calf. The mole squeaked and screeched as if to plead, trying everything in its power to get away from this seemingly insane man.

But Rezar kept on flexing his hands and fingers, digging deeper and deeper and letting out loud manic roars of rage and bloodlust until finally he wrenched his hand back, taking with it the throat of the mole.

A quick look around the small cave showed that all the moles, even the first of the final three who had been shot with a rot spell to the chest, was dead in a pool of its own decayed blood and flesh with a hole in its heart. And with the confirmation that they were all dead, Rezar sat back completely overwhelmed by the rapid stream of events, up from the moment that the first mole had attacked to the final moment of him wrenching out the throat of the final mole Rezar hadn't even hesitated.

He was shaken, not afraid but shaken. The way he had just visited death in the most brutal manner imaginable to a group of monsters shocked him, but more than that it was the very real fact that while he used spells against them, stabbed them, and choked and ripped their own throat out whilst covered in his blood and theirs.....Rezar was very much having the time of his life, and he had to admit that feeling, that euphoria he felt....it scared him.