Chapter 125 - Haunted (3)

Getting from the narrow part of the room to the part where Thompson and Norman could move freely took them three seconds. In that three seconds, they had covered 180 meters, thanks to their Movement Technique.

As they had perfectly observed the path was safe beforehand, they didn't need to pass it carefully anymore. Therefore, they could fully utilize their Qi to use their Movement Technique. In result, they were combat ready in no time.

Upon arriving to the part of the room where they could fight properly, they quickly turned their body toward the Monster chasing them. The monster was coming at them with a speed comparable to their to their earlier speed.

What made it amazing was the lack usage of Miasma—the type of energy that Monster used. Meanings, the Monster had chased them by utilizing its physical prowess only.

"Darn, this guy won't be alone!" Thompson cursed under his breath.

The Monster had stopped moving, and was now glaring at them with its menacing three eyes. Its mouth was opened, showing two rows of countless chainsaw like teeth.

"Let's do it quickly." Thompson took out his sword.

Drawing his Qi once again, he coursed it through his body. An ethereal film of green light soon covered his entire existence.

The Monster was alarmed, and it also prepared its attack. It closed its fingers up, making all those sharp and pointy nails on them even more prominent. It was fully intending to gut Thompson out. Growling once, it dashed at Thompson.

Thompson stayed in his place. Despite the Monster dashing at him with an insane speed, he could see its move slowly. Thompson's sword quickly glowed brightly in green, and his Aura Ability was activated.

[Matter Augmentation]!

When the Monster was already two steps away from his extended sword, it suddenly elongated and shot forward. In result, the unexpecting Monster had its chest pierced.

Stab!

With an incredible might, it stopped its advance to prevent itself from getting skewered any further. However, Thompson didn't mean to stay idle.

His sword was already half submerged in its chest. Thus, piercing its heart. Unfortunately though, It was not fatal enough for it.

However, Thompson could do another thing to end its life. He quickly swung his sword upward, cutting open its chest, and split its head in two.

Spurt!

Blood sprayed, and Thompson made a quick decision to fall back. Despite so, Thompson didn't have any intention to watch it die slowly. He knew the Monster had another trick up its sleeves—despite not wearing anything.

Screech!

Its roar became a high pitch scream due to its torn vocal cords. Despite so, it didn't show any sign of dying. Two of its undamaged eyes on its split head looked at the charging Thompson in alarm and rage.

Pointing its hands at Thompson, it was planning to torn Thompson apart with its sharp and pointy nails.

Then, a surprising thing happened. Its nails elongated and shot forward, at the charging Thompson.

Sadly, they didn't pose any danger toward Thompson. With a quick swing of his glowing sword, the elongated nails charging at him were cut like a wood.

Ding!

The sound it produced was the same as what one would expect when one hit metal against metal.

Bewildered, the Monster could do nothing but accepting its fate. Surely, it didn't plan to die alone. It would bring Thompson to die with it.

Its stomach was quickly bloating. Its innards shone in red, making them slightly visible from the outside. It was intending to explode its stomach and kill Thompson with the poisonous gas its innards produced.

Surely, Thompson had known it firsthand. Therefore, he didn't have any intention to let the Monster do what it was intending.

His Spatial Ring shone briefly, before a short staff appeared in his hand. Pointing it to the Monster, he activated his Aura Ability once again.

[Matter Augmentation]!

The staff elongated, and it hit the Monster right in its stomach. The staff kept elongating and pushing the Monster further away from Thompson.

Boom!

By the time its stomach exploded, it was already thrown away far from Thompson. Therefore, the explosion didn't affect him in the least. Still, he couldn't stop the pungent smell from wafting through the room.

"Gah! This smell! I hope my staff is alright."

Thompson hadn't returned his staff back to normal yet; he was still supporting his elongated staff with one of his hand.

He shortened his staff once again, and sighed in relief when the Qi barrier he had messily created was working. Meanings, his staff was free from any of the Monster's blood, and bits of innards.

Flash!

With a swift movement, his staff was stored inside his Spatial Ring. He turned his head to the back, and saw Norman was already crouching in front of the corpse of the same Monster he had faced. Norman was carefully nudging its stomach with his rapier.

"I knew there were two of them," Thompson muttered softly.

He approached Norman, and touched Norman's shoulder by the time he was right beside Norman. "Don't poke it too much. If you're not careful, you will cut it open. If it's opened, a nasty smell that will haunt you in your sleep will come out."

Norman raised his head up, and looked at Thompson with unamused eyes. "Says the man who literally made this thing explode its stomach."

"Kuhum! It's a natural cause." Luckily, Thompson still had the decency to blush. "Anyway, where did it come from?" He asked curiously.

"It had been on the ceiling, before coming down."

"These guys have an amazing stealth. I didn't notice this one."

Norman nodded in agreement. If Thompson hadn't attacked the Monster he had killed, Norman wouldn't be able to spot the second one, who had been trying to save its friend. The room was too dark, and its sneakiness was worthy enough of praise.

Thompson looked at the stab wounds littering the chest of the Monster Norman had killed, and sighed in amazement. "You are an awesome Knight too, Norman. If you had no scowl on your face, you would be popular with the girls!"

"Tsk! I don't need them to live my life." He said it softly, because he didn't actually mean it.

"Hahaha! You are never honest, aren't you?"

Norman merely clicked his tongue at Thompson's teasing. Then, he proceed to look at the Monster once again.

It was a Gutter. They were named after their habit of killing their prey by gutting their prey out. They had sharp and pointy nails on their long fingers for this reason.

Aside from their insane speed, Gutter were also known for their explosive stomach. In times of danger, their innards could secrete a certain gas that was equally poisonous as all of their organs. This was their last resort to kill their enemies.

As they were born suicidal, whenever they sensed an imminent danger, they would explode their stomach, thus taking their opponent to die with them.

Norman was lucky since he was a speed-type Knight. Therefore, he could deal with any Gutter quickly.

"Let's get out of this room. We don't know when these guys will pop up again." Thompson turned his head to the back, before returning his head back to Norman. "The smell is getting unbearable too. I'm afraid another Gutter have smelled it already."

Norman nodded his head at Thompson's instruction, and stood from the ground. The exit was 100 meters away, and they could cover it in an instance—as they had no need to inspect their path carefully anymore. However, Thompson had a different thought.

"Wait a minute!" Thompson held him back. "How could I know you are really Norman, not an Imposter?"

Turning his head at Thompson, Norman gazed at Thompson with bored eyes. "At five years old, you were still sucking—"

"Okay! You're Norman!" Hitting Norman's back many times, he continued, "Nothing can beat you in snarky remarks, after all. Ha-ha. Ha-ha." Clearing his throat once, he asked once again. "Why are you here though?"

"I have finished my search. The room was empty." When he saw Thompson was ready to speak again, he quickly cut Thompson. "Why are you so loud when you are with me?"

Thompson merely laughed, and encircled his hand around Norman's shoulder. "You are my childhood friend. With you, I am Thompson the carefree Knight, not Thompson the leader of Hauler!"

Norman grunted, but a small smile formed on his face.

With that, the two Knights got out of the room, then entered another room.

...

In the other room, Sylvia was tightly hugging Basil's arm. The room was so dark, her enhanced vision couldn't even see anything. Surely, it was also attributed to her lacking Body Forging mastery.

"Hey, Basil. Can't you do the finger thing you did before we jumped into the pit?"

"Let go of my hand, and I will do it."

"I won't fall for your trick again! You have said that a few minutes ago, and left me behind!"

Basil softly sighed. "You can't blame me for your dumbness. It wasn't my fault you tripped over your own feet, and accidentally let go of my hand."

"Kuhum! It's a natural cause." Although no one saw it, Sylvia blushed after that. "Still, I can't believe you can still see just normally even in this situation. I believe not even Thompson can do that."

"Indeed."

"Aren't you full of yourself?"

"Don't you think your mouth opens too often?"

"I'm scared! I have no choice! It's my way to cope with the fear."

"You haven't wet yourself, have you?"

"S-shut up!" Sylvia lightly shook Basil's arm she was hugging. "There was no toilet back then in Lone Mountain. I can't help it!"

Basil didn't show any reaction to her word. However, Sylvia could strangely feel Basil was unamused. Therefore, she felt the need to retort. However, even before she opened her mouth, Basil stopped in his track.

"Hey! What are you—"

Scratch. Scratch.

At the sound, Sylvia got tense. Hugging Basil's hand even tighter, she was hoping Basil would save her, if an unexpected thing occured.

"Draw your Qi."

She followed Basil's instruction wordlessly. Although no one in her party talked about it, all of them had realized Basil was also a Knight. They had witnessed the meticulous Qi utilization Basil had showcased, after all.

Therefore, Sylvia didn't say anything at Basil's instruction. In the perspective of Knight, he was her senior, after all.

"Let go of my arm." At that though, Sylvia didn't want to obey it. Sighing softly in exasperation, Basil said, "Let go or I'll feed you directly to the thing."

Slowly, Sylvia let go of Basil's arm. When she had completely let go of it, she quickly hid behind Basil's back, and grabbed his waist.

Basil ignored it, and merely raised his right hand. Pointing his pointer finger to the ceiling, light slowly gathered on top of it, before a marble size of light sphere was created.

"[Eyes of Truth]!"

The light sphere was shot to the ceiling, while expanding three times of its initial size. It latched on to the ceiling, and a slit appeared on its surface. Then, the slit opened, revealing a brightly shining eye.

The light became more intense, and the whole room was completely illuminated.

The light [Eyes of Truth] produced supposed to be blinding. However, due to the [Shadow Entrapment] Rune, the light produced was only enough to illuminate the room.

Sylvia looked around in wonderment, before peeking from Basil's back. Then, she immediately regret her decision.

She saw it.

It was a creature with eight long legs, and countless of eyes. She couldn't describe much about its terrifying look. However, it looked exactly like a gigantic spider. Except, there was a human body sticking out of its head.

What made it creepy though, the body was living and moving.