Galaxy's First Ruler

[…

Record of Rare Snallygaster

Status: Healthy

Level: 13

HP: 640/640

SP: 770/770

MP: 614/614

Rank: Rare

Attributes -->

Strength: 35

Defense: 45

Agility: 45

Vitality: 25

Perception: 45

Correspondence: 23

Active Skills -->

1. Confusion Inducement

2. Enhanced Penetration

3. Target Lock

4. Toxic Binding

Passive Skills -->

1. Sound Cancellation

2. Draconic Hide

…]

Aldrich looked at the attractive red feathers which gained a blue tinge depending on the light that got reflected off them.

It was the first time for Aldrich to have the feeling of anticipation for a material. The Rare Snallygasters were the strongest Crawler that Dreamers had to face in this Dungeon so far. And on the records, these Crawlers dropped at least one Item related to their hide as mentioned. It was the first time that three Snallygasters had appeared out of nowhere simultaneously.

"Do you think it's because of that enlarged Squonk?" asked Boomie, twirling the wooden Pole in his hand.

Aldrich nodded.

The three Crawlers came swooping down from different directions towards the pair of friends. The heavy flutter of their wings didn't make a single noise in the gurgling surroundings of volcanoes. One of them came straight for Aldrich with its 1-meter long beak pointed at him. Aldrich felt like being targeted by an unknown force and knew what Skill the creature had used.

TARGET LOCK!

Boomie had already separated himself from Aldrich to thin out the attacks. The huge winged Crawler came towards Aldrich like a bullet. Its serpentine tail swished like a whip behind it constantly. The Snallygaster showcased its steel-like claws to grab its prey in one swoop. But with even greater agility, Aldrich ducked down from its flying path.

The result, though, wasn't as expected by Aldrich.

Just as the Crawler flew by him, a purple and porous tentacle wrapped itself around Aldrich's left arm. Aldrich traced it back to its source and found dozens of similar tentacles were coming out of the Snallygaster's mouth. Aldrich felt his left arm going numb and at the tip of the tentacle a needle-like mouth had protruded out.

TOXIC BINDING!

The Snallygaster had used the extremely fast tentacles, which seemed to move on their own, to stop itself in midair. The needle-like mouth repetitively struck itself onto Aldrich's arm but couldn't penetrate it. Aldrich had raised his defense the moment it latched onto his arm. Another dozen tentacles came lashing towards him at the same time. And they wrapped themselves around different parts of Aldrich's body.

Aldrich didn't resist and let the creature do as it pleased. The Snallygaster landed on the ground and approached the numbed-down prey. The sight of it using its wings and claws to move its humongous body, with tentacles in its mouth, looked even more ghastly. But Aldrich's eyes shined with a strange emerald color amid this sense of crisis.

FLAW DETECTION!

The reason for his bankruptcy wasn't the Guild's building or the Boss Mana cores. But the vast amount of Common Items that he had purchased to feed the Shadow Homunculus. The Item with its intelligence had already become even more lifelike in the last two weeks.

The Snallygaster was about to devour Aldrich with its wide-open mouth lined with razor-sharp teeth when a gigantic shadow enveloped the entire winged creature. The Crawler turned its head up to look at what could have dared to target it, but it was already too late. A shadowy but real heavy sword with an ominous aura came crashing down over its head.

BANG!!!

[Critical Hit]

[...

You have killed 1 Rare Snallygaster

ExPs obtained: 12000

You have leveled up...

You have leveled up...

....

...]

Aldrich saw the crumbling Crawler and the materializing rewards. But he was even more elated, seeing the two back-to-back level-ups. The Critical Hit had turned out to be as lethal as he had expected. To take down a Rare Crawler in one attack was nothing but a stupendous feat. But even more fatal was the Stone Splitter and its Megaton Crusher.

Aldrich looked at the remaining two Snallygasters and an incredible scene presented itself to him. The two Crawlers had surrounded Boomie with the many tentacles tightly binding his body. Unlike Aldrich, Boomie didn't have the means to enhance his Defence crazily. And yet, Boomie didn't seem to need this enhancement. The needle-like mouths had penetrated his body, seeming to suck Boomie's blood.

But Aldrich could easily sense the opposite was happening. Boomie was absorbing the Snallygaster's blood and Stamina like a leech. With every passing moment, the Crawlers became paler. The frail creatures couldn't stand anymore and came crashing onto the ground helplessly. The tentacles had shriveled and loosened like old dying skin.

Boomie stood up and gave a sudden jerk with his body. The Snallygasters, looking like sun-dried tomatoes, couldn't even handle the simple jolt and crumbled into dust. The Blood Berserker thrived on the blood of others. It was nothing but foolish to try to suck his blood instead. The two Crawlers had already signed their death warrants the moment their tentacles had penetrated Boomie's skin.

Aldrich eyed the three hovering rewards near him. Two of which were quite familiar to him. The blue Mana core and the Return Stone with its green glow. Aldrich picked up the third reward, which seemed like a piece of clothing. The long blanket-type clothing was the Draconic hide of the Rare Snallygaster. The brilliant red and blue hues of the hide had become little useful to the beasts. But Aldrich could put it to even better use. His mind raced with ideas as he touched the last reward and found a familiar Skill within it.

It was Target Lock, but of the Rare Rank.

Boomie approached Aldrich with two more Mana cores and hides. But he didn't seem to get any Skill out of them. Aldrich gestured to Boomie to check out the Skill and Boomie's eyes became wide in shock, seeing the boost it could give in Agility.

"You don't want it?" asked Boomie, looking at Aldrich with disbelieving eyes.

It was perfectly justifiable to equip this kind of Skill even if one hadn't killed the Crawler oneself. It was even weirder for the Dreamer who did the deed to not equip it.

"I already have this Skill," shrugged Aldrich, without explaining the difference of Ranks of Skills.

Boomie happily agreed to equip the Skill in that case. Aldrich had just put away the hides when the ground beneath them quaked. They snapped their heads towards the volcanoes and found the fumes seemed redder than the last time. The second Quest was about to present itself.

"What level are you at?" Boomie asked, putting his Pole back into Inventory.

"19, and you?"

"I am close to 21."

Aldrich knew very well what that meant. With one more kill, Boomie would become the next Baron. He had already maxed out his Class-specific Skill. A smile crept upon their faces and both dashed towards the volcanoes, leaving behind a blur.

*

BOOM!!!

The mouth of the volcanoes erupted like a giant fountain of lava at the same time. Tons of volcanic gas got spewed out in the atmosphere. Boulders the size of multistoried buildings rained down on the blurry silhouettes of the two Dreamers. A flood of broiling hot ash clouds made its way towards them, sloping down from the volcanoes.

And from afar, two pairs of eyes with a red glow watched them in sheer madness.