Chapter 8 : Chapter 8
Chapter 8: Slaughter
Chenxi’s cloth boots pressed against the slick moss, producing faint squelching sounds.
The air on the fifth floor was colder than on the upper levels.
A thin layer of frost had formed in the gaps of Hongxu’s plate armor, and every breath she exhaled came out as visible white mist.
“Left.”
Chenxi suddenly spoke, the dagger spinning between his fingers with a cold gleam.
Three Petrified Lizards emerged from behind a cluster of stalactites, their scaled tails sweeping across the ground and scattering bits of stone.
A low growl rose from Hongxu’s throat. Before the lizards could even form up, she charged.
The howl of her giant axe splitting the air drowned out the lizards’ hissing.
The head of the one in front exploded like an overripe pumpkin, gray-white brain matter splattering across the stone pillars.
Chenxi moved the instant the axe wind rose.
He ducked low and swept past Hongxu’s left side, his dagger stabbing precisely into the eye socket of the second lizard.
A soft crunch of cartilage sounded as he twisted his wrist. The lizard’s claws tore a slit in his cloak, but its body had already collapsed limply to the ground.
An effortless kill.
“You are in the way!”
Hongxu’s axe blade had become lodged in the neck bone of the third lizard.
The dying creature’s tail lashed out and struck her greaves, and the clang of metal exploded through the cavern.
With an irritated snarl, she stomped down on the lizard’s back, gripped the axe handle with both hands, and forced it downward.
The sharp crack of a snapping neck mixed with the tearing of flesh and sinew as the axe split straight through its chest.
The stench of blood spread through the air.
Hongxu yanked the axe free, panting heavily as dark red liquid ran down the blade.
She wiped the blood splashed onto her face.
Today, she really was having the time of her life killing things.
“It is not over yet.”
Chenxi did not look at her. His eyes lifted toward the ceiling.
More than a dozen faint blue lights swayed overhead, and the beating of wings stirred tiny currents in the air.
Hongxu frowned at the darkness above.
“Tch. Annoying.”
“You deal with the lizard corpses.”
Chenxi pulled out three throwing knives from the pouch at his waist.
“Do not let the smell of blood spread.”
At present, the team’s anti-air capability was still somewhat lacking. Compared to Hongxu, he was better suited to dealing with these monsters.
The bat swarm dived with shrill cries.
Chenxi stood still. Only when the lead bat’s claws were about to touch his hood did his wrist flick sharply.
The sound of the knives cutting through the air was drowned out by the bats’ screeches.
Three bats dropped onto the stone floor one after another, twitching. Each had a knife lodged in its throat.
He had plenty of ordinary copper daggers.
The remaining bats fell into brief confusion.
Using that opening, Chenxi flashed into a recess in the rock wall. By the time the second wave of knives flew out, the bats were lunging at the place where he had just vanished.
Two more spun through the air and crashed down.
Hongxu had just used the flat of her axe to shovel the dismembered lizard remains into a corner when she turned and saw the bat corpses. Her nostrils twitched.
“Can they be roasted and eaten?”
“Their organs are poisonous, and the meat is terrible.”
Chenxi used the tip of his dagger to pry open a bat’s mouth, revealing an icy-blue venom gland.
Hongxu clicked her tongue in disappointment and crushed the half-dead bat beside her under her boot.
She had just finished putting away the Petrified Lizard corpses when she suddenly looked up.
“Something is coming!”
The sound of loose stones rolling echoed from deep within the passage.
Chenxi tucked the last two throwing knives between his fingers and pressed himself sideways against the cold, damp wall.
Hongxu shook the scraps of flesh from her axe and stepped forward, shielding his side. Steam rose from the gaps in her plate armor.
There was a crazed smile on her face.
“There is movement ahead. Large ones. More than one.”
“Large?”
Hongxu’s eyes lit up behind the slit of her helmet, and she immediately hefted her giant axe.
“Leave them to me!”
Before the last word had even fallen, she had already charged out, her heavy footsteps slamming against the slick ground and sending sticky blood and bits of viscera flying everywhere.
Chenxi followed soundlessly, his figure melting into the shadows.
At the end of the tunnel was a broader cavern.
More than a dozen gigantic Slimes, their bodies a dark green so deep it was nearly black, occupied the entire space.
They writhed slowly, with undigested ore and monster bones suspended inside their bodies. With every movement, they secreted large amounts of sticky acid.
They were moving toward the place where Chenxi and Hongxu had just fought.
At the center of the cavern were three especially massive individuals, their bodies dark purple in color.
A faint fluctuation of Mana surrounded them. They were clearly elites or bosses.
“Face me, trash!”
Hongxu’s roar echoed through the cave. She had no tactics whatsoever and charged straight at the nearest dark purple Slime.
“Watch me kill you!”
Behind her, Chenxi’s mouth twitched slightly.
It was because she yelled and screamed all day long that her stamina drained so quickly.
From the first floor to the fifth, they had cut straight through everything in their path.
There were many monsters in the dungeon, but not so many that they should have been packed this densely.
Hongxu’s charge immediately drew the attention of every Slime.
The two giant dark green Slimes closest to her suddenly contracted, then compressed like squeezed jelly and spat out two solid jets of acidic fluid straight at her face.
Chenxi moved.
He raced along the edge of the wet cavern wall. Under the effect of 【Silence】, even the slime beneath his feet did not ripple.
Target: the elite guard beside the outermost dark purple Slime.
The guard seemed to sense the threat. Its body rippled violently as it prepared to turn.
But…
Too slow.
The dagger slid soundlessly out of the shadows, and the faint glow of 【Sharpen】 flashed and vanished.
Thrust!
The cold blade pierced directly into the core of the dark green elite Slime.
It was a faintly glowing gel-like nucleus.
That fragile weak point was exposed for only an instant, but Chenxi’s timing was flawless.
The Slime shuddered violently and let out a hissing noise. Its massive gelatinous body instantly lost support and collapsed into a pool of rapidly rotting slime.
On the other side, Hongxu did not dodge the jets of acid. She simply raised her armored arm in front of her helmet.
Sizzle!
A harsh corrosive hiss rang out. White smoke rose from the armor’s surface, leaving only a few shallow pitted marks.
She did not even slow down.
“That is all? Die!”
Amid her mocking shout, the giant axe came crashing down with a scream that tore through the air.
The blade buried itself deep inside the tough gelatinous body of the dark purple Slime, nearly splitting it in half.
“Gluuurk!”
The dark purple Slime emitted a heavy wave of pain. The wound gushed thick purple-black slime, trying both to heal itself and corrode the axe blade.
At the same time, its massive body surged forward, trying to crush Hongxu beneath it.
Hongxu roared, the muscles in her arms bulging as she braced against the immense pressure and twisted her body violently.
Rip!
Under the sheer force of her monstrous strength, the giant axe tore the Slime completely in half.
The sound of its core shattering was perfectly clear.
Purple-black slime exploded in every direction.
“Ptui! Ptui!”
Hongxu stepped back half a step and shook the slime clinging to her axe. Several drops splashed onto her helmet and breastplate, hissing as they burned.
“That is disgusting!”
The remaining Slimes were provoked by the instant death of their companion. The last dark purple Slime released an even stronger wave of Mana.
At its command, the dozen deep green Slimes around it contracted and expanded in unison, preparing a blanket spray of acid.
Chenxi’s brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.
Goblins, Slimes… all of them were monsters he hated.
Of course, Cyclopes were no exception.
【Silence】
Chenxi vanished again.
The last elite Slime sensed the danger as well, and all the surrounding Slimes gathered around it, shielding it in the center.
“Create an opening for me.”
Chenxi’s voice sounded by Hongxu’s ear.
“Create an opening, my ass! Watch me split them all apart!”
Hongxu strode forward, charging straight at the Slime swarm with terrifying momentum, dragging the nearly two-hundred-kilogram giant axe behind her.
With a savage flick of her arm, she shook off the clinging slime.
The next moment—
“Die!”
She swung with one arm, and the double-bladed axe traced a perfect arc.
BOOM!
Dust exploded into the air as the front row of Slimes were smashed straight into Slime paste, and the body of the last elite monster was split halfway open as well.
There would never be a better chance than this.
【Sharpen】
Before the elite Slime had any time to recover, a flash of cold light swept past.
Chenxi withdrew the blade and sheathed it.
The core split open.
The elite Slime did not even have time to react.
The fifth floor had been completely cleared.