Chapter 290: Reaching The Depths
The great maws of the beast snapped shut, its teeth glinting in the dark like ivory blades.
But the beast’s eyes flickered with confusion, where was the sweet tasting flow of warm blood?
The bone-crunching effect and the satisfying tear of flesh that was supposed to follow.
Its maws felt lighter, and by the time its inferior brain could come to understand the possibility that its prey had escaped.
The wind whistled as an object tore through the wind, then its vision went dark followed by a sharp explosion of pain.
Before the beast could even let out a breathless wail, its consciousness dissolved into nothing as its head was smashed to pulp and its body sent into a free fall down the dark depths of the pit.
Gliding up the walls, Seth approached the bunch more carefully, as a surge of green cloaked his frame healing him up.
Though his recovery factor had taken a noticeable hit since the overlapping situation of the island made his world saint title inactive.
Fortunately he happened to get a healing-type skill, his eyes glowed in the dark, as he threw all other thoughts out of mind.
A surge of warmth traveled down his abdomen, as the last damaged organ had recovered, his entire biological system now working as one.
His adrenal matrix was heating up, as adrenaline flooded his system, his stats gaining a heavy boost, as tidal force surged through his frame.
These beasts had almost completed their encirclement, meaning Seth had no time to tarry.
Unlike him, his troops wouldn’t have the level of combat ability in this place.
Meaning if he didn’t act soon, a lot of evolvers from his division would die, Seth couldn’t imagine approaching this mission with a lesser number of troops.
Locked in, his eyes glowed in the dark as all his mental processing was dedicated to the fight, his efficiency in slaughtering the shadow flame lizards rising at each attempt.
These lizards were smart, they learned from their mistakes, they changed attack patterns mid-battle, definitely they had intelligence beyond ordinary beasts.
But they weren’t as sinister as the dragons yet. Which was why pretty soon slaughtering through the attacks grew less tasking, as the moves and essence required to slay a single foe reduced.
From four weaves and twelve moves, to two weaves and eight moves, and by the time Seth faced his twentieth victim, he didn’t need to dodge anymore.
And he could end his foe in one fatal strike; he had a read on their system, their weak points, and their vulnerabilities all through the course of this battle.
His battling efficiency against these monsters soared; not being able to sense their presence easily became the only reason why they stayed alive for so long.
But eventually tracking all from the shadows, Seth slaughtered through the group summoning his darkness avatar for assistance.
An hour later, he was back, his belt strap still attached to his steel rope.
Focusing on recovering both essence, and vital essence, he continued his journey at a faster but more cautious pace.
Right now he couldn’t wait to reach the bottom of this pit, the shadow flame lizard corpses were what he was after.
Such unique beasts, their corpses would definitely have a special value, especially that scale hide of theirs, if he could skin it and tailor it to an armour he should be able to benefit from its stealth capabilities.
He soon caught up to his division, the group not even noticing the absence of their leader, or even knowing exactly what type of danger he just saved them from facing.
Their guards were still raised since Seth’s earlier warning, but they had yet to come across any obstacles.
By this point the temperature grew excruciatingly high, at this point even shackled realm evolvers would be cooked alive, if they dared brave this deep.
The oxygen in the air already practically had no existence, the entire division including Seth relying on their battle suits’ supply of oxygen.
Plus with the high calibre temperature control installed in each battle suit, including Seth’s genetic suit, they didn’t really suffer any heat.
As the inner cooling system of their armour was actively keeping them cool and relaxed.
Seth was expecting them to encounter another form of danger soon, but that didn’t happen.
It seemed those shadow flame lizards were the only unique mutants to live in such lightless scalding depths.
So the group continued their descent surprisingly without a single hitch.
Seth was the first to make contact with a floor, gravity somewhat heavier but still manageable, his feet experiencing the relief of finally making contact with solid footing.
Seth didn’t waste time summoning a piece of equipment from his inventory, he charged the device with essence and threw it into the distance.
And with a small rumble it dissolved, then violently bursting into myriad self-illuminating sparks, filling the entire space.
Finally the group recovered a very important sense, vision, flinching at the sudden illumination before adapting; Seth fully balanced himself before detaching himself from the safety straps.
The evolvers of division one landed on the solid earth after him, wave by wave; taking advantage of the staggered arrival, Seth settled down for a short break.
Closing his eyes, he silently reviewed his plan over and over again, the key role they had to play.
His eyes glowed as he nodded, revising the path he planned to take, and reassessing variables.
Letting out a heavy flow of air, he rose to his full height, eyes locking into the distance path.
The only pathway that existed at the smoldering depths of this lightless pit.
A cave sitting in silent darkness, offering a way to his target... well, at least if the essence tracking radar was right, that is.
Scanning through his soldiers, he confirmed their status to be sure if they were ready to continue their march.
He first of all directed them to pack up the corpses littering the dark depths, the corpses of the shadow flame lizards of course.
Due to the brutal fall some corpses were too damaged and had to be abandoned, but regardless Seth was satisfied with the gain.
"Lara!" He called, prompting the female captain of team alpha to step forward swiftly in response.
"You and your people should secure the rear, I’ll lead the front."
Lara nodded solemnly, her energy weapon charging, as all six of her teammates gathered to secure the rear, while Seth gave the remaining soldiers a respectful nod before leading the march forward.
The ominous cave wafting with toxic flows of gas and sharp incinerating bursts of heat.
All of Seth’s natural instincts flooded his brain with aversion and rightfully so.
This was no terrain fit for the human body, and everything in this environment would be working against their very existence.
But all that didn’t matter, the benefits of having a division made entirely from bronze human evolvers were that they were pretty good at adapting.