Endzone: Simulated Apocalypse

Soon, after both Cyanide and Ragnar had rested up a bit, they prepared to head back. The Precepts Cyanide obtained from leveling up the Shrine confused him at first, but after reading their descriptions in his inventory, he discovered that they were used to level up various Masteries—skills outside of combat that could potentially be useful. There were six Masteries in total: Mining, Cooking, Farming, Alchemy, Crafting, and Beastaming.

All of them were quite straight-forward, but to be perfectly honest, they didn't concern Cyanide all that much. Combat was all he truly cared about; the rest were just icing on the cake. And right now, what lay ahead of them was combat indeed.

"Alright. You know the plan, yeah?" Ragnar said, staring out at the darkness of the caverns in front of him. "I'm trusting in you. Good luck."

Cyanide gave a brief nod, then slowly stepped into the darkness. There was no need to rush right now—better conserve energy for when running was truly necessary.

Retracing his steps, Cyanide soon heard the sound of clicking, like antennas coming together. Without a doubt, they belonged to the insects who had chased after him and Ragnar earlier. They were attracted only to light, however, so since Cyanide had none on him right now, they didn't turn hostile.

Cyanide was sure they knew he was there. They just were pacifists until provoked with some source of light and heat, such as fire.

Too bad Cyanide wasn't the same.

Lifting his gun, he fired Shock Ray, a Weapon Art that was both bright and flashy—literally. A massive yellow laser of electricity zapped through the air, filling the caves with bright illumination momentarily.

"Gnarl—?!" The insects, startled, leaped up from the ground in shock as some of their friends were unfortunately struck by the ray and immobilized, then quickly turned on the source of this nasty act and snarled in unison.

Cyanide, blowing out on his gun, used [Inspect] on one of the insects, just to know what he was dealing with here:

[Name: Crystalpede]

[Level: 30]

[HP: 6000/6000]

[Category: Insect]

Then, he bolted.

Like a true master of speed and stealth, Cyanide vanished into the cave's shadows, holding his still glowing gun in his hand to make the insects follow. After casting [Shock Ray], the gun would remain glowing with energy for a long while, which is why Cyanide was taking advantage of this. It wasn't very bright, but as it was the only source of light around, it was enough.

The critters scurried after Cyanide en horde, just as expected. The plan was going flawlessly — Cyanide had done his part. Now, it was up to Ragnar to find his sword and flank the crystalpedes from behind for a perfect pincer attack.

Speaking of…

Several minutes after Cyanide took off, Ragnar heard the sound of rumbling coming from a ways off in the cave. That signaled Cyanide had done it — he'd distracted the insects and bolted, taking the crystalpedes with him. It was also the cue for Ragnar to move, before the plan fell apart and everything Cyanide did would be in vain.

Not wanting to miss this only opportunity he had to get his weapon back, Ragnar charged out of the cave, holding a gun in his hand.

Before leaving, Cyanide had left him with a pistol, saying it was a spare back-up he kept. He had used [Shock Ray], so the weapon was still glowing. It wasn't much, but would serve as a flashlight of sorts just fine.

Cyanide had told him the general directions on how to reach the entrance of the cave, and that plus all the noise coming from his general direction was more than enough to lead Ragnar on the right track.

Very soon, after not long of running, he came across the place he had flung his sword about half an hour ago. Sweat lined his forehead, and although he was of the Fire Affinity, that didn't mean he was resistant to heat.

"Come on, come on… where is it… aha!"

Chuckling as he finally spotted the greatsword he was searching for, laying on the cave floor a few meters away, Ragnar hurried over and picked it up.

"Alright, no sticky saliva, no shit stains… lookin' good."

With a wide grin of joy on his face, he leaned in and pecked the sword's blade on the tip to show his affection for the weapon, then slowly backed away. The stone didn't taste quite like stone, but… he figured it was fine. After all, this wasn't made of material from Earth. He couldn't apply Earthen logic here.

Heaving his greatsword onto his back, he began moving, rushing after the sound of the insects chasing after Cyanide.

*****

Soon, Cyanide arrived at the entrance to the cave where he'd come in here from, the insects still chasing after him. By now, Ragnar should be close to where they were, and readying for a counterattack.

Knowing this, Cyanide dashed out of the cave, then immediately spun around before using [Lightning Chain] to open up the fight.

Instantly, the few insects that were stupid enough to leap straight at him were zapped in the air, and fell to the ground, momentarily stunned. They had extremely high HP and DEF to begin with, however, so they didn't take much damage — for now, anyway. The damage would come later.

Pulling out his «Hydra's Fang», Cyanide immediately sliced the few insects that he managed to stun — five in total. It wasn't to deal damage — though it did do a fair bit since the Stun status ailment voided all DEF — but rather, to stack up the Asmodeus's Rage ability of the weapon.

The second after the moment he cut the five crystalpedes, two ticks of Hydra's Venom had been inflicted on all five targets. That totaled up to ten stacks of Asmodeus's Rage in total, and was enough to execute the ultimate ability of the sword: Nine-Headed Wrath.

Now, was where the damage came in.