Chapter 555 Resonance State

Keng flew forward, shattering the barrier around him as he slashed at the first Feral he saw. His body moved faster than he could have, before. A large wound grew on the first Feral as he continued his barrage of attacks. Teal energy flew out of the Feral as it floated upwards.

[Feral has been slain! 12 souls have been added! 48/10,000.]

The Ferals tentacles flew at him, leaving him no room for dodging. They wrapped around his burning body, instantly screeching as they pulled away from him. Keng smiled and moved to the next Feral, delivering a flurry of blows. Teal energy flew out of it as it started to float upwards. Keng spun on his heel and dashed straight for the next Feral.

"GRA!" The Feral shrieked. A strange purple fog flew out of it, blocking Keng's sight. Keng naturally stopped as shrieks followed. More purple fog flew out, blanketing the area. Keng turned, listening to the Ferals as they swam around him. He jumped forward, slashing and cutting a tentacle off as another scream erupted in front of him. The Feral quickly moved out of his view.

'Unluckily for you guys, I can play off of hearing you.' Keng thought. His head began to turn less and less as he listened. Keng's head turned right as a bell went off. 'Shield.' A starry shield appeared as pressurized ink slammed into the shield. More bells went off around him with ink quickly coming at him.

'Barrier.' The shield quickly wrapped around creating a barrier. Keng watched as the pressurized ink blasts began to crack his barrier. 'If they can crack the barrier then they're at least C-rank.'

Keng had begun to document the types of monsters and creatures he'd come across. Whenever he fought one, he had built a rough outline of a monster's rank. For instance, Goblins were F/D-tiered monsters. They were tricky in numbers, but they were fairly easy to handle. A Goblin would only become a threat if it had an energy-affinity attached to it. It could bump the Goblin up to a high D/low C-rank. Just like how the Blood Puppet was a B-rank monster, the Ferals sat around a C-rank.

Keng could only protect himself against C-rank attacks for about thirty seconds, tops. That gave him only enough time to prepare his first test.

Keng's form shifted, splitting as he rushed outwards. Water-Cosmic forks of Hydrosphere glowed as Keng swung outwards horizontally. Blasts of energy flew outwards striking the Ferals and pushing them backwards. The smoky cloud flew away, revealing the Ferals all bleeding out. They screeched in pain as Keng noticed large indents in the walls.

'This is what Resonance is capable of.' Keng thought. Three Ferals lurched forward, floating upwards as the life in their milky eyes faded.

[3 Ferals has been slain! 84/10,000 souls.]

'Time for test number 2. A light spell that'll blend with one of the existing God Arts.' Keng rushed forward. Hydrosphere glowed brightly as the Silver light danced with the cosmic energy. 'Resonance Art: Luminous Fury Wave!' Keng pounced on the first Feral as Hydrosphere grew into a pure blade of Light. The first strike flew through the Feral, burning through it like butter as it slashed through the next one. Keng continued towards the next Feral, dodging as tentacles flew out.

"Graa!" The Feral screeched in pain as its tentacles barely touched Keng's aura. It reeled in pain as a blade of light flew straight through its head, killing it instantly. Ferals began to fire out pressurized ink at Keng. Keng hopped out of the first wave, throwing a shield up. The shield immediately cracked on hit, forcing Keng forward as he spun and kicked a Feral in the side.

"To me!" Keng shouted. Hydrosphere appeared back in Keng's hand as he slashed with his other dagger. The Feral erupted in pain as ink shots blew Keng backwards.

[3 Ferals has been slain. 120/10,000.]

Keng hit the floor hard, bouncing a couple of times. Hydrosphere's light began to dim as he threw himself up. The Ferals were taking this opportunity to close the distance. Five swam straight at him, filling the entire cave space.

'Theory three.' Keng lifted his hand up. A beam of light exploded out of Keng's hand, engulfing everything in light. Feral echoed throughout the cavern as the light beam continued to fly straight down the path. Keng's energy depleted in an instant, hand dropping as heavy breaths escaped his lips.

The light faded and the AI's pop up brought him the news he wanted to hear.

[12 Ferals have been slain. 144 souls have been added to your Soul Bead! 264/10,000.]

? All of the Ferals that were dead and floating were turned to dust. The entire marine life that was living off the walls, ceiling and floors were gone.

[Energy Siphon has managed to siphon 10% energy back. Energy levels are low. Proceed with caution.]

Keng lifted himself up, letting out another heavy breath as he slipped one of the Hydrosphere daggers into its holster. He held the other one in his left hand, letting the light emanate off of it as he made his way down the cavern hall. The screams had all died down and the only noise was Keng trudging his way through the cave with the siren singing somewhere in the distance.

He walked for quite a while, subtly descending downwards as the singing grew louder. The light began to change colors. The cavern hall opened up into a large room. The ceilings lifted high into the sky as seaweed-like lights dangled all over the ceiling. The ceiling grew to an all time high, combining with the strange noise of water trickling.

"Waaaa waaa waaa~" The siren sang as Keng came to a stop. Something shimmered in the pile of trash as Keng bent over and started to dig through it. It took him a while, but he eventually found what was singing at him. A strange scabbard made for a short sword or dagger.

"Strange." Keng whispered. "There's loads of energy in this thing." The scabbard seemed to be encased in some sort of metal depiction of a Merfolk warrior. The short weapon they held in the air was pink and glowing as the scabbard was strapped to their side. "Is there another part of you? Where is it?"

The cavern rumbled, pulling Keng's attention away from the scabbard. Keng slipped the scabbard into his Void Storage, watching the ceiling shake.

"Earthquake?" Keng whispered. It begun to shake harder, wiggling Keng off of his feet as things began to rattle, floating in the moving current. Keng kept himself afloat with gravity, watching as the rocks on the walls and ceiling began to spill.

"Oh! A bad one!" Keng shouted. Large chunks began to fall down, kicking up sand as they fell with a loud thud. "Gotta find a place to hide!" Keng looked around through whatever he could see. He saw the way he came from and four or five entrances quickly being closed off.

Keng flew straight for the way he came from. He made it about ninety percent of the way before the ceiling began to cave. A large boulder flew down straight for him. Keng continued forward, barely passing the threshold as the boulder slammed down, pushing Keng further into the cavern path. The path was littered with rocks and newly opened paths.

'What's happening?' Keng wondered. 'The Leader never said anything about earthquakes being a frequent thing.' He swam forward moving to the right side of the wall to squeeze through the rubble. More debris spilled from above him, blocking his vision as he pushed through.

A low guttural noise caught Keng's attention. He looked right and noticed a strange creature peeking out from the newly opened pathway. It was thin. Its limbs were long. Its gills appeared on its neck with a strange glow to it. Its hypnotizing eyes pulled Keng in as it let out a low guttural purr.

'W-what's that?' Keng managed to think before it seemingly lifted one of its limbs up and beckoned Keng forward. 'W-why do you want… me to…'

[Charm is being attempted on the user.]

[Charm has not worked.]

[Confusion is being afflicted onto the user.]

The creature leaped forward, straight for Keng. The creature slammed Keng through the rubble, watching him bounce as a creepy smile appeared on its face.

"Gruuuuuuuuuuu." The creature growled. The cavern shook harder as its body seemed to take a step, changing how it was positioned. One moment it was standing, the next it was crawling towards Keng. Keng pulled his dagger as he tried to stand. The creature appeared right above him. It growled at Keng as Hydrosphere dug itself into the side of its body.

"GRAA!" The creature screeched as it slammed into the wall. Keng could barely keep up with his vision and had actually hit it right on. He pulled himself up, watching the creature as slam its long limbs against the rubble and stone.

'I need… I need to get out…'