Chapter 76: The Trap

Chapter 76: Chapter 76: The Trap

The gloom of the cavern faded away, replaced by a washed-out, black-and- white overlay with outlines of the whole structures.

[All Seeing Eyes Activated: 20s Left]

Through the HUD-like vision, solid rock lost its density, rendering the interior of the cave transparent.

Derrick could see the twists and turns hidden in the darkness.

He could even see the beasts waiting in hiding, eager to jump at him.

It was right around the bend, fifty feet deeper into the earth; three hunched human figures were moving around in a group.

Derrick recognised them from his memories.

Three Cave Stalkers.

Nasty creatures that looked like humans but had greyish skin. Their skin was wrinkly and ugly like a sphinx cat.

They had some resemblance to wolves, but these Caves Stalkers liked to walk on two feet.

They were huddled together in a natural alcove, their multi-jointed legs twitching rhythmically against the dirt as they fed on the carcass of some blind subterranean rodent.

Derrick’s lips curled into a cold, precise smile.

He deactivated the all-seeing eyes’ innate skill the moment he noticed the creatures.

[18 seconds left]

Derrick had already memorised the path in those 2 seconds and rushed forward without making much noise.

With his Deadly Sniper, he didn’t need to step into the killing zone.

After landing on an uplifted platform, Derrick listened to the creatures with his tightened senses and locked on their positions.

Derrick reached down to his hip pouch; he picked one of the flying knives.

Clack.

He drew back his arm, shifting his weight onto his back foot.

His muscles coiled like a tempered steel spring, channelling every ounce of his middle-level physical strengthening stage into a single explosive motion.

Whoosh!

The knife tore through the air, a silver blur swallowed instantly by the absolute dark.

Because of his skill, he didn’t need to watch the flight path.

He could feel where it was going.

Derrick did not even wait for his first attack to land and sent two more knives flying after it. Both at different points.

Thwack!

[System: Cave Stalker (Awakened Beast) killed. +2 Physical Enhancement Drugs awarded.]

Thswach! Thud!

Kree... Thwack!

The second knife blurred through the dark tunnel like a silver streak of lightning.

Thunk!

The blade punched straight through the second Cave Stalker’s carapace, pinning it instantly to the damp stone wall.

The third beast screeched in sudden, shrill terror, its multi-jointed legs scrambling frantically against the dirt as it tried to flee deeper into the darkness of the cave.

"Oh no, you don’t," Derrick muttered.

He didn’t waste another knife.

Instead, he reached into his inventory and pulled out his assembled makeshift short blade with a snap of his wrist.

Woosh!

"This is as far as you go." Closing the distance in an explosive burst of speed, Derrick vaulted over the carcass of a rotting rodent they had been eating a moment ago and landed right in front of the fleeing monster.

"Kree..." The Stalker whipped its head around, snapping its dripping jaws in a desperate, blind defence.

Derrick didn’t flinch.

His All Seeing Eyes mapped out the creature’s muscle contractions and weak points a millisecond before they happened.

Whoosh!

He ducked smoothly under a wild swipe of a sickle-claw, spun on his heel, and drove the hilt-locked short blade deep into the creature’s soft underbelly.

Squish.

Black, acidic blood sprayed across the floor, hissing against the stone.

The beast convulsed twice and went completely still.

[System: Cave Stalker (Awakened Beast) killed. +3 Physical Enhancement Drugs awarded.]

[System: Cave Stalker (Awakened Beast) killed. +1 Physical Enhancement Drug awarded.]

Derrick stood amidst the darkness, his chest heaving slightly as he caught his breath.

He wiped a stray splatter of dark fluid off his cheek with the back of his hand and pulled his blades free.

Just like that... he had six more perfect Physical Enhancement Drugs in a few minutes.

He checked his mental count, or rather, glanced at the stock of pills in his inventory and wondered just how many more monsters were lurking deeper in the dark.

Before moving deeper, Derrick retraced his steps to retrieve his thrown weapons.

Squelch!

He crouched by the stone wall and the blood-soaked corpses, prying his steel knives free with a wet, squelching sound.

He wiped the corrosive black fluid off a patch of moss before sliding them back into his pouch.

Instead of pushing forward right away, Derrick retreated to a safer, drier alcove near the tunnel’s entrance.

He had dealt with three beasts, but ninety-seven of them were still waiting for him.

The cave ahead was a labyrinth of unknown threats, and rushing in blindly without preparing was a fool’s errand.

Not only did he need to recover but Derrick needed to grow stronger.

Derrick pulled a heavy handful of Physical Enhancement Drugs out from his inventory, staring at the glossy, medicine-scented pills resting in his palm.

Without a moment of hesitation, he tossed twenty of them into his mouth at once and swallowed hard.

A burning, furnace-like heat erupted instantly in his stomach.

[System: 20 Physical Enhancement Drugs consumed. Refining physical constitution...]

Derrick closed his eyes as if the pain did nothing to him, sliding down against the cold stone wall as liquid fire surged through his veins.

Every muscle fibre in his body tore and knitted back together in a relentless cycle of agony and renewal.

Thirty minutes passed in absolute silence. Only Derrick’s ragged breathing could be heard there and the faint dripping of water in the distance.

When he finally opened his eyes, the air around him seemed sharper, and the dim shadows appeared clearer.

He stood up, cracking his knuckles with a series of sharp, resonant pops that echoed off the stone.

[Requirements For Next Breakthrough: 77/400 PEDs]

Even though he was nowhere near close to the requirement amount needed for his breakthrough, Derrick could feel the power brewing within his veins.

He picked up his makeshift short blade, gripped his pouch of throwing knives, and strode back down into the dark, yawning depths of the cave.

He activated his innate skill once more.

And it seemed like he was not the only one who had prepared.

Right around the corner where he had killed the previous batch of Cave Stalkers, he noticed another group of their kind.

They were waiting for him behind the walls.

They had set a trap!