Chapter 121: Apex Predator

Cyanide journeyed his way upwards the mountains, as the sun was beginning to set. There was only a little more than an hour's worth of time, so he had to hurry. He had went to the [Achievements] tab of the game system earlier, and discovered that there were different Achievement Badges, each with a set of achievements underneath them. Completing all the achievements underneath a specific Badge would yield great rewards, and right now, he was planning on going for [The Legendary Hunter] badge.

In this badge's set, there were only a few achievements to complete, most of which simply involved killing mutants of the Beast type. Others included surviving for a certain period of time inside a Beast-filled region like this rainforest, and also getting multikills with certain types of weapons—all of which were easily obtainable, since there were several options, and a gun was one of them.

The only two hard ones to achieve, however, were [Apex Predator] and [Eye of the Storm]. The first required the killing of the top dog in this particular rainforest, who apparently—after reading the achievement description—drew on the power of lightning to be stronger at night—and the second achievement required the first one to be complete first. After all, the blueprint for the weapon «Eye of the Storm» was obtained from the first, and the second just involved actually crafting and obtaining the weapon.

In any case, there was no time to waste. Cyanide made his way up the mountain, where the achievement description said the beast would be. Well, more accurately, the description was more of a poem riddle, but Cyanide figured it out with ease:

Sealed by eight pillars is the king of the jungle,

When he awakes, the earth shakes and the lands rumble,

At night doth lightning strike and cause the pillars break,

And the apex predator emerges at the top to reduce the world to crumbles.

It was pretty simple—the final line gave the hint that the beast would be found in a high place. And even if he wasn't where Cyanide was heading to, well—at least it would provide a good view as to where the beast truly was. And the fact that it awoke at night, well… that was verified by the roar he heard in his sleep last night. It was pretty faint since they were deep down within a cavern, and none of the others heard it, but he had. It didn't seem to do any damage to the rainforest, though… was it not hostile unless provoked?

In any case, naturally, the hill wasn't an easy climb. Thankfully, though, there was a spiral ramp winding up the side of the mountain, so he didn't have to actually climb it without any proper equipment. On the way, he took down several mutants, but none of them were anything noteworthy—just a bunch of insects, small animals, the like. If anything, they only gave him some extra XP and even helped him complete that multikill achievement with ease.

Soon, however, he arrived at the peak of the mountain. There, a few meters away, were eight pillars rising from the ground laid around like the vertices of an octagonal shape. They sparked with purple energy, like lightning, and formed a sort of translucent light purple barrier between them to cage the beast inside.

And indeed, inside the cage… was a monstrous beast.

It was enormous, at last several meters tall even while lying down, and it had rock spikes all over its back. They pulsed purple as if storing up energy, and sparks of electricity zapped here and there as it was nearing its time to break free. If Cyanide had to describe it to an animal, it would be a lizard. A massive lizard made of rock charged with electricity, with probably enough power to destroy this entire rainforest and beyond.

Cyanide approached it and circled around the pillars, looking for any weaknesses while he still had time. He couldn't damage the creature while it was sealed, since this barrier formed by the pillars didn't just serve as a cage but also a defensive mechanism. Any damage done was reflected, so it was pointless trying to attack it now.

The beast's body, for the most part, seemed to have no weaknesses. It was covered in layers upon layers of rock, and didn't have any openings for attack. That meant there were two possible weakspots, right off the bat: the eyes, and the inside of its mouth.

Suddenly, however, a crack appeared in the purple barrier, and Cyanide immediately backed away cautiously. The sun had fully set now, and it was supposed to be time to reconvene with the others, but Cyanide had his own plans in mind.

The crack grew bigger and bigger, until all of the barrier shattered at the same time. The pillars similarly broke, vanishing into thin air, as the moonlight dawned upon them, and dull grey clouds converged high above in the sky. Purple lightning sparked amidst them, charging up, until one powerful strike suddenly flew down and struck the creature's back.

ZAP!

Immediately, a purple electric force field appeared around the creature as if absorbing the strength of the lightning strike, and slowly, the creature's purple eyes fluttered open. It looked around momentarily, getting to its feet, until at last, its gaze landed on the lone man standing before it.

[Blood Baron: Awakened.]

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[Zul'Krak, Thor Spawn]

"…"

"…"

As a massive health bar appeared at the bottom of Cyanide's vision, the two entities stared at one another for a good few seconds, until at last, the larger of the two (by quite the margin) unleashed a terrifying bellow.

"ROOARRRR!"

"Tch…" Cyanide had to block his face to protect himself from the shockwave and wind created just from the beast's roar, so there was no time to even attack. Naturally, however, the beast was not finished, and leaped up in the air an impressive amount for its size, before crashing down on the ground where Cyanide was.

Or rather, had been.

Cyanide was long gone from that spot, and was now on the creature's back. The first thing he tried was breaking the electro-charged rock spikes with his «Anaconda's Fang», but all he was getting were null damage numbers, signaling the creature was immune.

The massive lizard was furious, however, having been dealt emotional damage, and raised its electrified tail, sparking with purple electricity, before swiping at Cyanide on its own back.

"… Hmph."

With a snort, Cyanide evaded once again, but this wasn't good. He couldn't keep dodging forever—and he needed to take this beast down before sunrise the next day.

"Well," he murmured as he thought back to that abandoned factory in Lumina, with the Scowling Sawblade in it. "At least it isn't as big as the other one."

*****

- STATS -

[Name: Zul'Krak, Thor Spawn]

[Level: 40]

[HP: 15000/15000]

[Category: Blood Baron]

[Rewards: Legendary Armor, Mythic Weapon Component, Blood Shard]

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