Doomsday Pillars

"Aria!!"

Alex shouted in dismay when he found Aria in a very perilous situation. He rushed over to her immediately, worried about her. When he caught her body, Alex quickly examined her body. He couldn't help but to take a deep breath when he saw her condition. 

There were multiple claw and bite wounds all over her body. He could also see black spots all over her skin caused by the flames emitted from the hellhounds. 

Aria was bombarded so much by their attacks that her tier 2 protective shield had run out of energy without a shred of energy remaining.

Not only that, to make matters even worse, the two of them were currently surrounded by more that 100 hellhounds who were in their frenzy mode. Even if he was in his prime condition, Alex might not be able to fight back and kill them all. Even more so now, when he was already exhausted from fighting in the cave all day long.

Now, Alex must escape from this place and at the same has to take care of Aria who is injured. To make matters worse, he couldn't use his two life-saving items anymore because he already used it today. It seemed that their current conditions were very precarious.

Aria was delighted when she saw Alex come to her rescue when suddenly thoughts of their situation flashed through her mind, making her regret having caused trouble for him.

"I-I am sorry, Alex. Just leave me here." said Aria with difficulty, pained expression apparent on her face.

When she understood their current condition, Aria could only say this so Alex could escape.

Alex ignored her words and without thinking, quickly embraced Aria in his arms. Aria who saw his action was immediately shocked and embarrassed by her current position.

Alex looked at her and said

"Hold on tight and close your eyes."

Hearing this, Aria who wanted to ask Alex to put her down couldn't speak her mind and just closed her eyes.

Alex didn't say anything when he saw that. He then casted the [Blind] spell with both of his hands and two bright piercing lights blind the hellhound's eyes instantly, creating disturbance between them.

He immediately tried to rush his way through the crowd of hellhounds while his [Haste] spell still in effect, making use of the chaos to escape.

Even though they were blinded, Alex had to be careful not to bump into one of them causing their speed to slow down. They were just getting out of their encirclement when the blindness effect disappeared. The hellhounds were confused when they saw their prey was gone and instantly moved in search.

Alex, who saw the situation, immediately used all his strength to run. However, these hundreds of hellhounds in the [Fury] effect had much higher physical strength compared to when they didn't have the buff. And when compared to Alex who had to carry Aria, they couldn't break away.

Within a few minutes, the [haste] effect would wear off and at that point, one hellhounds after another would catch up to them.

While running, Alex didn't stop thinking and looked for various kinds of ideas that could make them escape. He opened his storage ring, took out several grenades and then threw them all at the chasing hellhounds.

KABBOOM!! KABBOOM!!

A loud explosion followed by angry growls of the hellhound could be heard as the grenades hit the ground and exploded in their faces.

Unfortunately, the explosions weren't effective enough to destroy the hellhound's stone-like body and could only knock out a portion of them.

Alex realized that in less than a minute the [Haste] effect will disappear. He then looked around the corner of the antechamber, looking for any chance of survival but couldn't find any. He could only see more and more hellhounds were coming from different angles.

Alex was starting to lose his mind. He thought back to his defensive formation, but immediately threw down the idea as it took time for the formation to activate.

Aria, who saw the situation, became frustrated as she thought about the reason all of this happening.

"Alex, just leave me here. You can go ahead and escape by yourself."

Alex raised his brows when he heard her words "What are you talking about? Don't say nonsense."

"It wasn't supposed to be like this. I'm the one who is supposed to help you, not the other way around. Leave me!" She painstakingly said, slowly turning into a scream of despair at the end of her words with tears could be seen forming in her eyes.

Alex sneered when he heard that, "You are really stubborn and selfish, aren't you? I told you not to follow me before. Now that you've disobeyed, you even started giving me order?" 

"I-i…" Alex's words made her mute again. Even though his word is harsh, but Alex said it without any anger.

The [Haste] spell was finally gone. Alex couldn't run anymore and was forced to fight with what he has in order to have a sliver of chance to escape.

Alex quickly approached the cave wall and leaned closer to a wall filled with many stalactites. The aim was of course to reduce the amount of space for the enemy's attack and with his back to the wall, he only had to worry about the front and the sides.

Alex then moved Aria onto his back and brought out both swords into his hands, preparing to face the incoming dogs.

Several hellhounds jumped up and attacked him.

[Hexagram Technique - stage 4]

Alex quickly swings his swords towards the hellhounds.

'Shiingg!'

'Splatt!'

'Thud'

The sound of the hellhound's bodies splitting in half rang through the air, followed by a thump caused by their bodies falling to the ground.

"Who's next?! " he shouted.

But these hellhounds were just beasts that turned into monsters, they couldn't possibly understand Alex's provocation. However, with hundreds of them still around, they were becoming more and more savage. The whole horde was getting excited seeing their two prey cornered.

Alex takes out an object that can help him, the [Mutated Redback Spider Chelicerae]. He then ignites it with a lighter and throws it on three rows of the hellhounds in front of him. Even though the poison's effectiveness wasn't as effective against hellhounds as it was to the orcs, it was still enough to weaken these beasts.

With the poisonous smoke slowly spreading across the entire battlefield, it was increasingly difficult for the hellhounds to fight, with the same thing naturally happening to Alex.

[You are poisoned by Redback Spider Poison]

[Speed decreased]

[Weakness status applied]

Alex took two objects from inside of his ring, the object was in the form of serum. He then quickly injected them into himself and Aria. A very potent wound healing serum that he brought from Bali, the [Panacea].

With this, Alex and Aria will recover from the poison. He also hopes that the serum can also cure Aria's current condition. Unfortunately, the serum's effect is not instantaneous. So he can only wait and see.

Alex continued to fight, weaving through the left and right side using his fourth stage hexagram technique while slashing with his two swords but the monsters never ran out. Alex continues to persist in the hope that the serum's effect on Aria will become more active and they can continue to run.

'Crack'

'Smash'

The sound of Alex's protective vest breaking could be heard. Alex was attacked by so many enemies that eventually it couldn't last any longer. Alex no longer has any trump cards left. Indeed, the abyss pit should not be visited by just one or two people, let alone those in the Sky realm stage.

In this cornered state, Aria finally got back on her feet. It seemed that after some time, the effect of the serum that Alex had applied was enough to heal the wounds on her leg, allowing her to stand up.

"Watch out!" Aria suddenly pulled him and released a very surprising technique.

[Spirit Explosion]

[Unique Battle Art skill]

[Drain all the user spirit energy to powerfully enhanced a spell]

[Ice Blast] [Enhanced]

Tier 2 Ice Element spell

This time, the Ice Blast spell that Aria usually uses has several times stronger attack power. Even Alex who was behind her was bounced against the cave wall due to the momentum of the spell.

All the hellhounds within the 10 meter radius around her turned into ice sculptures while dozens of others were blown away and seriously injured.

As far as the eye could see the previously hot cave suddenly turned into an ice room.

This was followed by Aria who fell on the ice floor. Alex walked over to carry her on his back and then immediately ran away.

Alex was seriously injured, all over his body bleeding and in pain. However, Aria was currently completely unconscious. Her face was pale and her heartbeat was weak.

The attack that Aria had carried out before seemed to be a secret battle art that was obtained from the first place reward in the previous two pillar challenge.

Battle art technique is a very powerful technique but it also has strong drawback. Alex must immediately find a place to cure her

But when he hadn't even run far yet, Alex saw many shadows and a group of hellhounds appearing in front of him while the chasing hellhounds weren't far behind.

When Alex turned his gaze around, he saw that there was a hole nearby. A small hole with a steep tunnel could be seen in it, leading to an unknown place.

Alex wasn't sure if the tunnel would take him to a better place, but looking at his current state, he didn't seem like he had much choice.

Alex then hugged Aria tightly and jumped into the hole.