"Finally, it’s done," Adrian mumbled, standing atop a Troll’s corpse.
The following challenges were easy to deal with. There were no sudden surprises, and all Adrian did was use [Blood Poison] to deal with the Ogres and the Trolls. But there was sothing weird.
Unlike the last ti he fought and defeated the Trolls, this ti, despite having a more potent poison, it took him longer to beat them. It almost felt as if they had sohow gained poison resistance.
"I should probably watch out for the anomalies," Adrian wondered while storing the rewards inside his inventory and absorbing the essences.
He benefitted from the trials as his defence increased by five points after absorbing the Ogre’s essence. Similarly, he levelled up his [Resurgance] skill while defeating the trolls.
The only downside was that he didn’t gain any experience from defeating these foes. It wasn’t surprising as those creatures were more like the system’s recreation within his mind. Still, it would’ve been nice to gain a bit more.
Still, his mind returned to the anomalies he had experienced during the trials. First, the sli monster turned from a single sli to a massive monster.
Then ca the ogres; while Adrian didn’t kill the creatures whose organs Dr. Victor had transplanted into him, he knew Ogres were supposed to be slow creatures and not as agile as monkeys.
Lastly, there were the trolls with their poison resistance. Adrian hoped he was imagining things, but the creatures inside him seed to be trying to eliminate their weakness and evolve strangely.
"Now that I think about it, even the Ratling felt stronger than before," Adrian mumbled as the Troll corpses disappeared, replaced by the gate for the next trial. "...I should be careful now."
The following mont, he stood at the fifth gate, awaiting the subsequent trial. But he wasn’t expecting to be thrown into the depths of the ocean.
"What the..." Adrian panicked.
Adrian’s heart pounded as the ground beneath his feet vanished into thin air. One mont, he stood on solid ground, and the next, he was plumting into the ocean’s depths. Shocked and confused, he struggled to make sense of his surroundings.
Before long, he found himself deep in the ocean. It was so dark that even the Kitsune’s eyes could only make out blurry shapes. The cold embrace of the water enveloped him as he sank deeper and deeper into the abyss, the pressure around him rising with each second.
’I need to get up,’ Adrian panicked. ’I might not need to breathe underwater, but this pressure would crush if I don’t do anything.’
Adrian tried to swim to the surface that was no longer visible, but every ti he tried to go against the plunging ocean, he was dragged back even more fiercely.
With no way out of the ss, Adrian decided to heighten his senses and hope he’d find a way out of the ss. Soon, he beca aware of the slightest change around him. Movent or sound, nothing went unnoticed by him.
Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of sothing swimming past him. He turned to get a better look, but to his disappointnt, nothing was there anymore.
He hoped his mind was playing tricks on him, but it was clear that wasn’t the case when he noticed the sa creature repeatedly. It almost felt like a predator was eyeing its prey before making a move, and it happened.
Taking advantage of the dark, the creature shot towards Adrian like a harpoon. Adrian noticed it and tried to move sideways. But fighting underwater wasn’t his forte, and that, coupled with the water pressure, made his reactions extrely slow.
The creature bit into his shoulder, drawing blood. Enraged by the incident, Adrian rushed to grab the creature, but the damned thing realised it and let go of him, disappearing in the dark yet again.
’Fuck!’ Adrian cursed, feeling the sting of his wound intensify in the salty ocean water.
The wound quickly healed, but Adrian was surprised to see the creature remain unaffected by his poisonous blood.
’No, the poison took effect, but it didn’t do much,’ Adrian thought, noticing the creature moving slowly compared to before.
While the creature took its ti attacking him, Adrian took advantage of the silence to figure out the creature’s identity.
Plenty of monsters lived deep in the ocean beneath Nexaria that had poison resistance. But when he thought about all the monster organs in him, only one creature ca to mind.
’rn!’
As on cue, the rman shot towards him again. But thanks to its slow movents, Adrian could barely dodge it. Not only that, he also got a look at the creature’s face.
Unlike how the earthlings portrayed these creatures, they weren’t handso or beautiful out of the world. They were grotesque creatures who looked more fish-like than anything else despite having a human-like upper body.
’Fuck, it got away!’
Even though the creature moved slowly, it was still quicker in the water than Adrian. The Chimaera’s only shot at victory was when the beast would attack him. He would have to defeat the damned thing when it got close enough without losing any opportunity.
’Catching fish underwater with your hands,’ Adrian mused, scanning the darkness with [Analysis] to prepare for the rman’s next attack. ’This trial wasn’t supposed to be this difficult...’
Within a mont, the creature struck again, but this ti, it ca from the top and tore a chunk of flesh from Adrian’s back before disappearing below.
’Gosh darn it,’ Adrian winced in pain as the creature outsmarted him. ’Weren’t these things supposed to be foolish? How does it cover its track so well? It’s the goddamned anomaly, isn’t it?’
The creature struck again, this ti even slower than before. The poison seed to be taking effect, and Adrian knew he would win in ti. But he wasn’t a masochist, and the sensation of his skin and flesh being torn while salt was rubbed into his wounds felt terrible.
’Let’s take this fight sowhere else, shall we?’ Adrian grinned as an idea hit him.
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