Doomsday Pillars

Shiiingg!!

Splaatt!

Sound of sword slashing through flesh resounded in the air inside the main chamber of the abyss, accompanied by a thud of falling body. A loud rustle could be heard as one gargoyle flapping its wings, trying to flee from its assailant.

"Alex, one got away!!" Aria exclaimed

Alex who heard Aria's shout quickly turned his head and saw a gargoyle already in mid-air, flying away from their current location. There is no way he can chase it with his current condition. Alex quickly uses one of the daily skill from his artifacts.

[Haste]

He swiftly give chase to the fleeing gargoyle before it could alert its brethren, endangering them in the process. He tried his best as he pursue the gargoyle using his maximum speed , but unfortunately the monster already flew out of his reach. Knowing the possible danger of letting this gargoyle escape, Alex quickly stomped his feet on the ground using all energy he could muster as he leaped into the air. He then use his recently learned [Smite - Rank 3 Light spell] spell, aiming it at the flying gargoyle.. And suddenly, the gargoyle jerked toward the ground, as if a giant hammer had fallen from the sky and hit the gargoyle, sending it crashing down to the ground.

Slash! Slash!

When he catch up to the fallen gargoyle, he instantly swing his swords with murderous intent, determined to slay it. The gargoyle's body was split into 3 parts by his swords' slash, effectively killing it. Alex could feel Aria run over to his position as he flicked his swords, removing the bloods on them.

"That was close." He said with a faint smile as he turned around towards her.

"I'm sorry I miss that one, Alex." Aria softly said with a tinge of guilt in her voice.

Alex who heard her blaming herself again quickly said, "Don't worry. We can't possibly do everything flawlessly." Hearing his words, Aria fell into deep thought. Seeing her strange expression, Alex immediately decided to comfort her. "It's fine, Aria. Let's be more careful from now on, okay?" he said with a smile while patting her head.

He then use his [Telekinesis] spell to collect the gargoyles' bodies. They obtained a total of 4 yellow spirit stones from the bodies of the gargoyles they had just defeated.

"We've been walking all day but it looks like we are going in the wrong direction." Alex said.

"How did you know?" asked Aria, puzzled by his sudden revelation.

"The temperature is getting even colder as we go deeper towards our current direction. It's not supposed to be like this, we are suppose to go back towards the antechamber, not the other way around."

"I see… But then, what will we find as we go deeper into the abyss?"

"It's the abyss boss. We definitely can't fight him, not with just the two of us."

"So, should we head back?"

"Yeah, we should. Let's go."

They took another whole day walking back to where they came from as they need to constantly dodge any encounter with pack of gargoyles which consuming most of their time. Alex only dared to fight a group of less than five gargoyles. He doesn't want to take any chances of they falling into danger. Therefore, he mostly chose to wait for the packs to pass or take a different route.

[Scan Area]

'Luckily I have this skill, so we can avoid any unnecessary risk.' he thought.

After spending two days back and forth in the main chamber, they finally return to their previous cave.

As they blocked the cave entrance again, Alex said, "We have to rest for a day and then consume the spirit stones that we got in the last two days."

"Okay." replied Aria.

After spending 2 days of full combat, the two of them managed to collect 42 yellow spirit stones, which a frightening amount when compared to hunting monsters outside the abyss. Alex immediately divided the spirit stones for them and then began to consume it one by one.

[Your sky realm level increased by 1]

[Sky realm level 12 - middle stage]

He calculated the number of spirit stones he had consumed, a total of 30 spirit stones were needed for him to level up. At this, Alex could only sigh deeply, lamenting his poor talent. Aria who saw him sighing, pat his shoulder. "That's alright, Alex. Just eight more level to go to reach the high stage." she said, trying to comfort him.

"Actually… after reaching the sky realm stage, we need to reach the level 40 to break through the high stage and level 100 to reach the peak stage." he wryly explained.

"Wow… That's a lot of level… and a lot of spirit stones." she softly exclaimed, surprised by the new fact.

"Yeah… and with the rate of my current consumption, I estimate that it will take 2000 - 3000 yellow spirit stones for me to reach the level 40."

"I see… How long would that take?"

"With 2:1 rate of gargoyle dropping out yellow stone, that's 10.000 gargoyles need to be killed for both of us. Divided by the number of days until our next gathering in Bali, we roughly need to kill 60 - 70 gargoyles per day. Easy right?" he explained while smiling wryly.

Hearing the explanation, Aria was silent for a moment, "I don't mind the killing really. But eating 30 or more stones a day bothers me." she said with a shy smile.

Alex who heard her silly words couldn't help but to laugh,"Hahaha… Just think of it as a candy… or maybe you want me to try mixing it with my cooking?" he said, chuckling mischievously.

"You are so proud with your instant noodles, aren't you?" she snickered.

"Well, you can tell me if you don't like my cooking. It's not like I'm forcing you to eat it." He said while raising his arms and shrugging his shoulders.

"I don't!!" she loudly retorted.

Suddenly, the scene of her confession flashed through Aria's mind and making her fall silent. Alex who noticed her sudden silence was confused. He then quickly wave his hands in front of her face.

"Aria. You okay?" he said.

"Uh? Uh?! Y-Yeah, I'm okay." she said, flustered by his call.

"Okay then. How about grilled fish the next time we eat?"

"Grilled fish? You have fish in your storage ring?"

"Nope."

"Nope? What do you mean with nope?" asked Aria, bewildered.

"I have my way." Alex said, smiling mysteriously.

At night, without Aria's knowledge, Alex sneak out of the cave quietly. In a few hours, Aria was woken up by the smell of something grilled.

"Good morning, sleepyhead." teased Alex with a smile, "Here, give it a try." he said, giving her a meat skewer. Aria quickly take the skewer and bit into the white meat on it. She was surprised by the skewer.

"This really is a fish meat! And it's fresh?" said Aria, puzzled.

"Of course it's fresh." said Alex smugly, puffing his chest in the process.

"How did you do it? Tell me." she curiously asked.

"Do you want to know? I'm afraid you will regret it." he replied with a mischievous smile on his face.

"Yes! Why should I regret it?" Aria confusedly asked as she continue to eat the skewer.

"Okay then, let's hope you won't regret it."

Alex then took out a beast with a length of 2 meters from his storage. "I just caught this from inside the frozen lake just now."

[Mutated White Turtle]

[Level 80 Mutated Beast]

[Tier 3 - high stage]

Seeing the beast's body, Aria threw her gaze at Alex. "Why would l regret it?" Asked Aria with a blank face.

"Well ... Isn't killing turtles commonly considered animal cruelty to women?" Alex awkwardly said while scratching his head.

"Well, I once had a pet turtle..."

"See?! That's my point!" he excitedly said.

"Me and my grandpa love it. Turtle stew is the best dish." she said with a smile, reminiscing about her memories.

"..." Alex could only awkwardly smile. He should have known Aria wasn't that kind of girl.

Naturally, he knew about this turtle in his previous life, this tortoise monster was not strong and ferocious but its skin and shell were so hard that it was not easy to kill it. Tonight, Alex wants to give Aria a surprise and he also wants to try the sharpness of his sword.

[Master, using me for cooking is really a waste of my ability] Strokes said helplessly.

Alex who heard this could only sheepishly smile. "I'm sorry, Strokes. But, I will need all the spirit stones that I get to increase my realm, that is the current priority. And we have enough magical weapons at the moment, so we don't really need another one. I would really need you later though when we return to our base"

[Actually, if I could suggest you, Master. How about trying to make a magic scroll?]

Hearing that, Alex immediately gasped. "Magic scroll?" He incredulously said.