Chapter 38: Setting High Goals
Kahn stood before the Bromnir Dungeon again. It was the same dungeon where he killed the first batch of people from his contract, hunted Kobolds, created new Subordinates and evolved Omega into a Lycan.
Unlike yesterday, Kahn did his research properly this time. He gathered information available in the Adventurer a.s.sociation about all the dungeons in near 50 kilometers of Flavot city such as the total floor levels, dungeon bosses and what kind of monsters laid in those dungeons.
The Bromnir dungeon had a total of 15 floors as per the records he found in the archives. The records on dungeon boss were no longer available as the last team which made it to the final floor was nearly 28 years ago and no other team managed to go past the 14th floor despite having hundreds of people in their teams.
If it was anyone else, they"d find it an impossible task to accomplish because n.o.body would be able to fight for that long and would eventually get exhausted. Plus the monsters were more dangerous with each increasing floor.
But unlike anyone that came before Kahn, none had the Divine Ability called the Synthesis which would not only help him merge different skills, but create new subordinates and even evolve them further with time.
Kahn knew that he couldn"t do it alone even if he was as strong as Arkham or Solomon so he was going to use his Divine Abilities to his advantage.
As Kahn entered the dungeon again under the disguise of an a.s.sa.s.sin, he headed straight for the 10th floor. After he killed the 9th-floor boss, the silver kobold; it"d take 15 days for it to resp.a.w.n so there was no point in hunting on this floor. And Kahn"s strength was already higher than when he came here yesterday.
As soon as Kahn reached the 10th floor, he used concealment and started looking for a good hiding place. Even though there were lot lesser people here compared to other floors, it was still better to be cautious than being sorry.
The 10th floor was completely different from the previous floor. The whole setting for this place was like a maze and walls made of stone slabs. If he walked in one direction, he would never know if he"d find a way out.
"Ronin! Jugram! Oliver!" shouted Kahn and the rogue, berserker & ranger subordinates jumped out from his shadow.
"You two go left and we"ll take the right. If you find two more ways, then split up." Kahn commanded as he and Oliver took the right path while Ronin & Jugram took the left one.
Since Kahn had the Mind Link ability he got from Synthesis which allowed him to share the vision with his subordinates, he was going to use it to save time and search for the right path.
He and Oliver treaded from various turns and junctions in the maze but still failed to find a way out. Just then, he saw a path from Ronin"s sight which lead them out of the maze. Kahn decided to go to Ronin"s location with his other subordinates.
For the next half an hour, he kept searching and running through this enormous maze & even came across many traps. Since Oliver was a ranger who possessed skills specifically made from setting & defusing traps, he was spared of the unnecessary ha.s.sle of falling victim to these traps & wasting time to get past them.
Just an hour later, Kahn had escaped from the maze because of his shared vision through mind link and then saw a giant cave-like entrance in front of him.
MHAAARR!
Kahn could hear plenty of shrills coming from inside the entrance.
He quickly activated Shadow Walk and mixed inside the dark shadows of this entrance and started traveling inside.
He knew what to expect from this floor.. So he wasn"t surprised when he saw its inhabitants..
The Nymphs.
These were the cold-blooded insect-like creatures that were completely white and crawled on 3 legs that had sharp and strong pointy hooves, no different than metal pikes and spear tips; a sharp set of teeth that dropped gooey yellow liquid from the mouth. From what he read, these creatures fed on blood and flesh to live, they would even do cannibalism if it ensured their survival. Their insect-like appearance and the way crawled would instantly scare the c.r.a.p out of any girl that was afraid of insects and larvas.
The creatures had no eyes, their senses detecting everything based on heat signature.
If not for Shadow Walk which completely hid his presence in shadows, Kahn knew he"d have been found and swarmed by these monsters.
As Kahn kept walking towards many groups while completely hiding his presence, he finally reached the end of the floor and found a large s.p.a.ce infested with these monsters. More than 200 nymphs were crawling on top of each other and bringing small pieces of meat and whatever that seemed edible.
In the middle of the swarm of crawling monsters, stood a giant Nymph which had 8 legs, its tummy no smaller than a size of a full-grown elephant and had long spikes for teeth.
The 15-meter tall giant Nymph was the floor boss.
[If not for the Shadow Walk, I would not even reach this deep without fighting hundreds of these nymphs.] Kahn spoke to himself with a complicated expression on his face as he looked at the surrounding.
The numbers of total nymphs were close to 400. More than enough to wipe out a party of 50 to 80 veteran fighters. Just entering the inner parts of this cave alone was a difficult part and half the people would die in the process.
[How do I kill it?] Kahn questioned as he started thinking of a strategy to take out this giant monster.
[They follow the heat signatures, right?] Kahn remembered and planned his next move.
Kahn quickly returned towards the midway of the cave and found a vacant s.p.a.ce to hide. After he came out of the shadows, he waited till the nearby nymphs detected his presence.
And just as he expected, the nearby group of the crawlers shrieked and charged at him in hordes in a matter of seconds.
"Firestorm!" Kahn shouted and shot the AoE destructive spell from his palm in the middle of this horde.
BOOM!
The cave shook after this loud explosion that occupied 10 meters s.p.a.ce and burnt the nymphs alive. And because of this, all the other nymphs started gathering to his location.
As the group got even bigger in just 20 seconds, Kahn shot another Firestorm spell, activated Shadow Walk again and disappeared.
Kahn quickly traveled to the Boss"s location.
"All of you, come out!" Kahn commanded and all of his subordinates except Rudra came out of his shadow since this was an enclosed s.p.a.ce.
The Nymph boss had senses far keener than the others so it quickly sensed the approaching group of enemies and let out a loud cry, ordering its minions to come back.
Omega attacked with his Shredder Claws and the Six Generals a.s.sisted Omega with their respective skills.
The small nymph army that Kahn had distracted would be there in just a minute so they had a very small window.
Ceril, the Enchanter possessed mage skills as well so he throw fire spells at the Nymph boss that agitated it and caused a lot of damage. Blackwall being the tank with his skills like Taunt and Defense Wall while Omega being the main damage dealer who kept jumping around and attacked from time to time which injured & distracted the floor boss again and again.
In other words.. The subordinates were simply bullying the floor boss with their numbers.
However Kahn, the main perpetrator of this attack was nowhere to be seen.
As the floor boss kept fighting with its pole like long and sharp hooves and fended off against multiple attacks from various directions.. A small shadow crawled under its feet.
KHACHAK!
Just then, a long white blade impaled the giant nymph from under its belly.. A humanoid figure holding a long sword and using all his force to split apart the floor boss with all his might.
"Not enough!" shouted Kahn as his blade was stuck inside the belly of this giant nymph.
"Hold them off!" commanded Kahn to his subordinates to block the incoming horde of monsters.
Kahn let go of the sword and jumped on the back of the nymph. He put both his hands on what appeared to be its head. A jet of greenish liquid appeared from his hands and sprayed on the head of the nymph and started melting its skin as it seeped inside the body.
Venom Acid
Kahn finally used the venom acid ability he gained by absorbing the body of legendary Somir. This acid was so lethal and acidic in nature that it could even melt solid boulders.. Let alone skin of a monster.
SHRIEK!!
The monster shrieked in agony. The venom acid had destroyed its nervous system and the nymph had lost the ability to control its body. Kahn quickly took out the daggers he had in his s.p.a.ce ring and plunged them in the giant nymph"s head.
THUD!
The nymph let out another loud shriek, and dropped on the ground; the floor boss finally died.
Kahn grabbed his sword again and prepared to fight off against the incoming nymph horde. But just then.. The minion nymphs started falling on the ground one by one as if their souls were sucked out of their bodies.
Kahn who had Mind Link ability quickly understood what was happening. All these minions were mentally dependent & connected to the floor boss. And died as soon as the link was severed after the boss was killed by Kahn.
"Phew!" Kahn was prepared for a long and arduous battle but luckily, that didn"t happen. He let out a small sigh and spoke with a devilish smile.
"Not a bad start, eh? Let"s create my own army."