There was one left.
It approached with formidable steps.
Max squirmed around, pushing against the ground, away from the monster.
He threw some rocks at it, but that didn't stop it.
Just as he was about to attack, suddenly...
Crash!
It crumbled into the ground.
Just like that. Destroyed.
He slowly got up in complete shock.
'What just happened?'
He walked up to the pile of rubble. The system's notifications still hadn't popped up.
'Ohh! I wonder why this?'
He picked up a piece of the guardian and archived it.
[Mission Complete]
[Skill Unlocked]
[Current Skill Grade: Grade 1–Tamper Touch]
[Additional Reward: Would you like to open a Evolution Interface with 50xp? Y/N]
'Yes.'
[Evolution Interface Unlocked]
Current Level - Level 2
Exp - 120.
Upgrade ~ Optimize | Boost | Rank up | Fusion | Colonize | Revive...
Direct import from Inventory∆ 3
Skill set∆ 2
Beast Contracting∆ nil
Gene Manipulation ∆nil...
He scanned through the functionalities of the interface for a while before trying out his new skill.
'Tamper touch.'
His palms glowed with red fiery light.
He touched the rock pile before him and it gradually withered away. He tried it again on an ordinary rock, but nothing happened.
It appeared that the skill only worked on magical objects.
"Hello, is anyone there?", a familiar voice bellowed from a distance as she emerged from the latent passageway at the other end of the room.
"Mel?"
"Max!", she exclaimed as she ran towards him.
"Mel, what are you doing–"
"Come on, they are right behind us."
She grabbed him by the arm and kept running. Though Max couldn't see any monster chasing them, he followed suit.
She halted at the edge of a cliff after she felt she must have outran them.
The room they were in now was very spacious and had a number of floating tiles over all altitudes just beyond the cliff. It was also dotted with numerous cubes ordered in a polygonal matrix.
Get on, she gestured towards a tile approaching them. They both got on and rode away.
There was a heavy silence beside the vehement pants Mel gave off.
"Care to spill?", Max asked.
"No, I don't. Just go mind the business over there," she barked out of exhaustion.
He was a bit hurt by her retort.
'What's her deal?'
I guess, sorry for him for being curious.
He walked over to the edge of the flying tile, admiring the cubes with a quizzical stare.
He could hear her breath growing deeper and so was his.
He stretched out his arm and grabbed a cube.
The cube was about the size of a basketball. It was a bit heavier than he thought it would be, but maybe he was just exhausted too.
[Oblivion Cube: Security siphon forged by the Great God Hades to imprison immortal beings]
"Upgrade, colonize."
It underwent some minor color changes from blue to dirty green with a core crack of red. And them an X mark painted over its temporal face.
[–30 Exp]
So for every upgrade he required 30xp.
He tweaked a bit of its functions while unconsciously stilling his heavy breath.
What was this?
He was slowly feeling anemic and weary.
Like something was being stolen from him.
"We've got to get out of here!"
Mel was looked even paler and ...was some of her hair falling off?
He didn't dare to say.
"It's the cube. Come on let's go."
He grabbed her arm and jumped over board.
Maybe because he was a phantom, such undetectable changes were easily perceivable.
He called his Oblivion cube and it caught them, safely drifting them away to a side cave by the massive wall.
Max was getting tired of the constant adrenaline in his system.
He store up the cube and spent a few minutes at rest in the serene spot.
This was the first time he had respite since he entered the dungeon.
He leaned against the gritty wall unconsciously staring at the stream below.
There were monsters below bit they hadn't noticed his presence above.
His neck turned towards Mel.
She seemed to be recovering and getting better. She looked as energetic as before and her stats was gradually restoring.
"Mel, what are you doing here?", he asked with a stern voice. The austerity of the words left her with no choice but to answer.
"Geez! You are acting like lending an aid is an offence. I just wanted to make sure you were alright. That's all," her justifying voice slightly trembling with a drop of tears hanging over the edge of her eyes.
The firm voice couldn't give her eyes the strength to look him in the eye.
He leaned in closer. "You came all the way here to find out if I'm alright, seriously?"
"Well...ya."
"That's sweet but completely unnecessary. As you could see I have everything under control and right now it is you that obviously needs help here, so–"
She pouted and folded her arms as if already refusing the request he had not yet made.
He heaved. "–but since you are already here, I guess you could stay till the end."
His face palpably denying the utterance of his mouth.
She wasn't convinced by his words.
She was peeved and scooted away, causing some rocks to fall.
The rocks hit the head of the monsters below and they immediately begun to climb up.
"See what you've done!"
He immediately got up. There was no where else to go but into the cave.
They ran in and at the end of the cave he could see a towering door.
The monsters behind had already made their ascent and were fast approaching them.
"Quick help me push!"
They both pushed and just slightly widened an opening.
The oblivion cube stood behind singly firing at monsters while the duo ran to safety.
Again they pushed again against the door sealing it shut with a wooden plank between the handles.
In their haste, they had just finished sealing the door before they noticed that an army of dungeon guardians was compact in the room and they couldn't get out.