The air in the chamber grew thick with tension as Reign and his team sensed the presence outside. The sand that had once been artifacts and scrolls now covered the floor, adding an eerie silence to the room. They knew they had to stay alert and be ready for whatever was approaching.
"Prepare yourselves," Reign said, his voice low but steady. "Something's out there, and it's close."
The team formed a defensive circle around the altar, their weapons drawn and their senses heightened. The faint glow from the amulet in Laura's hand provided a small source of light, casting long shadows on the walls.
Mia conjured frost magic, ready to unleash it at a moment's notice, while Wolf's greatsword glowed with a faint heat. Shadow blended into the darkness, his daggers at the ready. Jin and Greenie took their positions, their eyes scanning the room for any sign of movement.
The silence was broken by a low, rumbling growl that echoed through the chamber. The ground beneath them trembled slightly, and the sand on the floor began to shift. Reign tightened his grip on his sword, his heart pounding in his chest.
Suddenly, the chamber door burst open, and a massive creature charged in. It was unlike anything they had seen before—a hulking beast with a body covered in sharp, crystalline scales that reflected the faint light from the amulet. Its eyes glowed with an otherworldly blue light, and its claws scraped against the stone floor as it advanced.
"Here it comes!" Beast shouted, raising his shield to block the creature's initial attack.
The beast lunged at them, its powerful claws slashing through the air. Tank managed to deflect the blow with his shield, but the force of the impact forced him to take two steps back. The team responded immediately, launching a coordinated counterattack.
Reign and Wolf struck at the creature's sides, their blades clanging against its crystalline scales. Mia unleashed a barrage of frost magic, attempting to slow the beast down, while Laura hurled demonic fireballs that exploded on impact, creating bursts of flame and smoke.
Shadow darted around the creature, looking for any weak points in its armor. He stared at the entire body of the monster, trying to see where they could attack to dish out the most damage, and he managed to find 3 places.
"Right behind the neck, in the middle of its back, and on the right side, there are three spots the scales don't fully cover, try attacking those!"
Jin and Greenie moved in tandem, their combined strength allowing them to deliver powerful blows to the creature's legs. The beast roared in pain and fury, its movements becoming more erratic as it tried to fend off the relentless assault.
Tank stood in front of it, taunting it and blocking the powerful blows with his shield, each hit causing the ground to tremble, a loud echo to ring through the chamber, and for the ground beneath Tank to cave in by a bit.
"Focus on the weak points Shadow identified!" Reign shouted, redirecting their efforts to the vulnerable spots on the beast. He moved swiftly to the right side, where the scales didn't fully cover, and struck with precision. His blade penetrated the exposed flesh, eliciting a roar of pain from the creature.
Wolf, seizing the opportunity, leaped onto the creature's back and aimed for the middle spot, driving his greatsword deep into the gap between the scales. The beast thrashed violently, trying to dislodge him, but Wolf held on, using his fire manipulation to heat the blade and cause even more damage.
Mia and Laura focused their magical attacks on the creature's legs, trying to immobilize it. Mia's frost magic began to encase the beast's lower limbs in ice, while Laura's demonic fireballs targeted the joints, weakening them further.
"Agreed," Wolf said, his grip tightening on his greatsword. "Let's move quickly and stay together, we'll have to fight our way through."
"What about the quest, we still haven't found the treasure."
"Right now, I care more for getting out of here alive than I do for the treasure, we can't defeat all of these bastards at once," Reign told Shadow who sighed and nodded his head as they started moving.
They didn't cover a lot of distance, however, as they were forced to stop soon.
Monsters appeared from the sand, the same ones that were all over the ruins.
More and more appeared, rising from below, completely surrounding them.
"This ... is bad." Reign stated as he stared at the 30 monsters around them, more coming from around them as well.
"Tell me about it." Shadow responded as he clenched his daggers and stared at the monsters.
"I don't think they have the same weakness as the one before, look, the places their scales don't cover are different on every single one of them." He commented as he stared at the monsters while Reign and the others nodded.
The monsters were not charging at them yet, they were slowly moving closer and staring at them, their sight never leaving them.
"Get ready to go all out, we'll use the marks and fight these things, our only goal being to break through their encirclement and get out of this place." Reign said as they all nodded and waited, ready to explode with their full power once the monsters got a bit closer.
"Wait a second." Beast suddenly widened his eyes as he stared at the monsters in front of him before staring at those around them.
"What is it?"
"These things, they're all staring at the same place, or to be more exact, the same thing," Beast told Reign and the others as he glanced at the amulet that Laura was still holding in her hands as the system informed them it was an item that could not be stored in the inventory.
"So they're after the amulet, maybe if we are in a desperate situation, we can throw it and have them go at it, leaving us alone," Tank said with a nod of his head before Beast shook his head.
"It's an amulet, a necklace, what if we wear it, I think something might change if one of us does so."