The Gamer's System

Chapter 159: Rift Cave

"Even if I get turned into a monster on my next life, this place is definitely off on the list of places I'd decide to live on." Curio said, as soon as they got a good view of the land below the rift.

The whole scenery looked gruesome enough when they were above. Even by just looking at the [Minimap], they knew it wouldn't be a nice-looking place. But things exceeded their expectations because, it was thrice as worse than what they imagined.

The land was so dry and crushed that, their shoes sink just a little from every step they made. Corpses of dead monsters lay around the area and, the gigantic corpses were also there, with smaller ones inside it. Apart from this, the area had such a thick amount of [Chaos Poison Cloud] that, it was difficult to see beyond the area where they were. 

"Get your crystals lit up. And watch your steps carefully." Quinn commanded, with every member of the party bringing out a device that looked a lot like a flashlight. It was developed by Zeke of course, an item made of the same crystals they use during the meetings. The crystal lights up and, is amplified through other materials infused on it.

"Okay, this is definitely the worse than being stuck in a room with Jake for a whole day." Curio immediately noted, getting a better view of his surroundings.

"I couldn't agree more." Was Quinn's short response as he checked their [Minimap] for the directions.

They couldn't hide the fact that, the place had a strange creepiness to it. There was a faint otherworldly sound, like the screams of souls that were tormented for centuries without end. The elites tried calming themselves down. They didn't know why their bodies were responding in fear but, whatever it was that was causing it, they were sure that it came from the cave.

"This is probably due to the miasma covering the land. I'm guessing that it's also connected to this area." Quinn said, finding it illogical to fear anything at the current moment. It was their instincts kicking in; telling them that things were actually much more dangerous than they initially thought them to be.

"Mordred on the front. 'll be on the furthest back. Eerie would be right in front of me while the one behind Mordred would be Curio. Julia would be in the middle of us all. As soon as my commands are finished, we'll be switching to [Voice Chat] through our thoughts in order to avoid making too much noise. Any complaints?"

"Nah, that sounds like a pretty decent plan." Mordred said, taking her place in front. 

"Right, well then, let's begin, shall we?" Quinn commanded, with everyone stepping towards the cave.

Being with Zeke made the elites get used to getting inside a cave. In fact, it felt a lot like batman's lair in there seeing how many cool gadgets and facilities Zeke had. But even with this, they still got creeped by the [Rift's Cave] as, it was nothing like Zeke's place. A cold wind then blew on them, making Julia's hair rise.

"How on earth are we still cold with all of this equipment on?" Mordred asked, with their whole body being covered. 

Even their hair was hidden because it could also get infected by the [Chaos Poison Cloud]. When they were still up on the [Rift], the armor felt hot and sweaty. But as they descended, they felt that three more layers of their equipment would be needed just to keep them warm.

"Let's asks those questions later. For now, we need to secure this area." Quinn said, motioning for everyone to keep their crystals lit no matter what.

The group threaded slowly and carefully. The whole place was so quiet that it was already unsettling. They heard all their movements echo through the cave which made their heart race even faster. Among the members, it was only Quinn who was a bit calmer than the rest. 

"This looked easy enough when it was being bombarded. Now everything just feels outright creepy." Eerie said, being on alert with her twin guns. 

There was only a single path in front of them. There were no other routes and, as they progressed, they also noticed the cave getting wider and wider until, they finally heard growls and footsteps.

"Into formation." Quinn commanded; with the whole group hiding behind a large boulder. 

What came out was a large creature which looked a lot like a lion. However, instead of fur covering its body, it had scales - sturdy looking ones that covering it all over. Its eyes gleamed a bright violet color and, judging by its appearance, Quinn estimated that it was 8 ft tall.

"An eight feet tank-built lion huh. What are the odds." Curio mentioned, feeling that his job class won't be of much help against the enemy.

Aside from it, there were various minions which seemed to be minotaurs. They guarded the lion while there were also smaller goblins who seemed to be at the bottom of the hierarchy. Quinn and his allies didn't move for a while, thinking of the best possible course of action to take at the moment.

"Those things look easy enough." Quinn referred to the [Chaos Goblins].

"Kill them first then, take the minotaurs next. while I'll with their boss."

"Roger that."

"Be careful with the moves that you use, remember that this is a cave and making large attacks would only put us at a bad situation." Quinn continued, taking the structure of the terrain into account. 

"Got it." Mordred said, already pumped up to get some decent action.

"Julia, just stay hidden there. With all of us battling them, none of the enemies would be able to get to you. Just focus on providing healing and support from your end." Quinn ordered, with the healer nodding in reply. 

"Let's go!"

Mordred began the fight; charging in while also shouting in order to get the monsters' attention. As expected, the weaker monsters went for her first and, Mordred used her gauntlet shields to punch her way through the ranks of the enemies. At the same time, Mordred casted a barrier which covered the whole area. Since the [Shield Gauntlets] made us of mana charges installed on the weapon instead of her actual mana; Mordred was able to focus her own supply of mana on creating and maintaining the barrier.

"Good Job." Quinn said immediately, dashing through the ranks of the enemies and going for the [Scaled Lion].

Surprisingly, the monster was able to catch his movements and tried clawing Quinn down. The human was quick however; landing a blow on the paw that tried hitting him. This enabled Quinn to get a longer air time. He then followed up with arrows, hitting some of the scales perfectly. Yet, as he got to the ground, he found that both of his attacks proved to be ineffective.

"This may be more challenging than I thought." Quinn said, remembering how he couldn't make use of any explosive skills. On their end, every other member of the group was doing just fine so there was no need for him to worry. 

"Inner Ring."

"Darkness Veil."

"Attribute Boost." 

Quinn made a second attempt and, this time, the lion not only failed at catching his movement but also, got one of his paw sliced off. Quinn shifted his weapon to a great sword at the last second, infusing it with [Pierce] and [Heavenly Slash].

The monster screamed and roared, attacking with its tail that was actually a sharp melee weapon. Quinn dueled with this and, while he did, the monster was able to regain its paw. Soon enough it got covered with scales once again as the mist went and enveloped it.

"Of course it could regenerate." Quinn told himself, closing in for another attack. But he stepped back feeling a rush of killing intent and, it was a good thing that he did because, in front of him, the barrier just got shattered.

"Hey what the hell Quinn! It's difficult to set one up you know." Mordred complained, fighting with a hundred goblins at the same time, while Curio went and dealt with the minotaurs.

"Yeah sorry for that." He said in reply, deciding not to stretch out the fight anymore. 

With the short exchange of blows, Quinn was sure that the monster had intellect and yet, it wasn't intelligent enough to pose as a threat. As Sylph described it, truly intelligent monsters would be troublesome opponents, but all that Quinn had in front of him was a monster with only raw strength backing it up.

"I'll turn you into experience points." Quinn said, activating one more skill which topped off all of those that were already used.

He took one of the gigantic axes that lay on the battlefield and, infused it with mana. Soon enough, the other elites felt a greater chill than what the cave offered them and, this came from none other than Quinn. Even the [Scaled Lion] was already planning on escaping but, everything was too late as Quinn unleashed his skill.

"Primal Slash." Instantly, Quinn teleported to the back of the enemy it's whole body effectively cut in half. 

There was a lot of blood and squirming that came after but, the monster was already dead. It's body just moved based on what life it still had left which, after a few more seconds, finally ended.

"I still need to work on the concentration of mana." Quinn said, looking at the weapon used which got shattered to pieces.

It was a skill that he got from all the fights that he won against generals. In time, [Avarice] developed a skill deviating from the dangerous [Primal State] which ended a general's life upon usage. [Primal Slash] infuses any bladed weapon with [Primal State], multiplying the amount of damage based on the initial amount and stacking it up to ten times.

The attack didn't come without a price however. Quinn's arm went; a bit numb after firing it but, was perfectly fine. However, any weapon that made use of this got shattered to pieces, making it an attack which he would rather not use if no other weapon was around.

"Hey what was that skill just now?" It looked sick." Curio mentioned after he, Mordred and Eerie finished cleaning up.

"Just a little trick I learned from our previous fights." Quinn said in reply. 

He found it odd that he never shared the full details of his skills to his teammates. He knew that it wasn't right of course but, something about it was just distasteful for him. 

"Anyway, is everyone alright?" To which everyone responded positively.

"Right then. Let's proceed, we still have a long day ahead of us." Quinn said, as they went further within the cave.