Zeke immediately went to the source of the earthquake. When he arrived near the epicenter, he couldn"t help but be astounded by what he was currently seeing. There was a slightly small crater just in the middle of the forest surrounded by trees that were either chopped, destroyed, or forcefully rooted, like a giant who forcefully made a clearing in a forest. In the crater, a small dust cloud could be seen, covering the entirety of the crater. Zeke looked closely while the smoke cloud was gradually dissipating. He gripped his sword tightly while already casting protection spells.Just by looking at the crater, Zeke could only imagine how strong and big could the beast be to create cave the earth that big. He didn"t dare to have confidence in killing it as he could tell that to make a crater that big, the beast must either be Earth-attributed or just insanely strong. Right now, for the current Zeke, even though he could contend with beasts like the Kingly Serpent or Malevolent Treant, it was only because of trickery and schemes. In terms of directly fighting, Zeke knew he couldn"t stand a chance against them much less the beast that"s in front of him right now.
When the dust cloud dissipated slowly, Zeke could make out a figure of a standing gray gorilla measuring 4m tall with crimson red eyes. In its hand lay a severed large limb of presumably another humanoid beast while its other hand was still pounding down towards the bottom of the crater. Zeke a.s.sumed that its enemy must still be laying there while the gorilla was pounding it.
After a while, the gorilla stopped pounding, dropped the limb in its hand, held both his arms up while it roared loudly. The roar reached the whole part of the forest as even Zeke had to cover his ears due to its intensity. After the roar, Zeke immediately grew serious as he fled with full speed back to his previous cooking spot.
Not long after Zeke left, the giant gorilla slammed the ground hard and countless small spikes emerged from the soil near the gorilla as countless more started appearing to the ground while it traveled to where Zeke was previously hiding. If Zeke were to see this, he would consider himself very lucky seeing as his guess was correct. When Zeke heard the roar, he immediately understood the gorilla"s action: it was to scare away any potential intruder waiting in the shadows. Zeke a.s.sumed that he was the one the gorilla was pertaining to so he immediately fled, and the gorilla"s recent action actually proved Zeke"s quick guess.
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Right now, Zeke"s heart was beating faster while his whole body was in an adrenaline rush. He knew about the gorilla"s senses the moment he noticed the gorilla"s eyes twitched for a bit when he appeared. From then on, Zeke knew that it was because of him that the gorilla roared that loud. The moment he noticed a surge of invisible mana being emitted by the gorilla"s palms, he instantly knew that the gorilla was about to attack. He didn"t hesitate and try to see the gorilla"s attack as his instinct told him that if he remained there, he would lose his life. It was thanks to Zeke"s hunch that he was still alive and still holeless in his body now.
"Nope, that"s a Warbeast. f.u.c.k that."
When he saw the exact figure of the beast, Zeke immediately knew it was a Warbeast. With gray fur and red eyes along with the ability to manipulate mana, Zeke could only think of one Warbeast: The Baleful Earth Primate, one of the few Demonic Warbeasts that Zeke had read from a book regarding monsters. They are characterized as a gorilla that is at least 2 meters in height, along with crimson red eyes with small protruding black spikes in its back. According to the book, the lowest Warbeast is Cla.s.s , while the Baleful Earth Primate is at least a cla.s.s A. Zeke knew that fighting a cla.s.s A monster alone isn"t possible with his current strength, much less a stronger Baleful Earth Primate.
It was common knowledge that beasts are cla.s.sified from E to S. Ranks E to C are weak beasts that could be slain solo by an adventurer, while C+ to B are beasts that could wreak havoc in a village. These beasts could fight tens or even hundreds of adventurers of the same rank. The Kingly Serpent that Zeke previously defeated could be considered at rank B-, one of the lowest B rank beasts. Kingly Serpents are the apex species of snakes, and it would normally take 10 to 20 adventurers cooperating with each other to swiftly kill it. Zeke killing it solo could be considered a great feat even if it"s at the lowest of Rank B. On the other hand, The Baleful Earth Primate is a Warbeast that, like the word itself, a beast fit for war and slaughter. Warbeasts, in general, have strong physiques and combat patterns that aren"t as linear as common beasts. Some of them have intelligence and can scheme towards their enemies, while some might not have intelligence, but are insanely strong, physique-wise and/or ability-wise. Even the weakest Baleful Earth Primate was at Cla.s.s A, something Zeke isn"t capable of dealing with as of now.
While Zeke was pondering, he felt the ground quake once more, but this time it wasn"t as strong. However, the sound was continuous which made Zeke"s expression change. He instantly knew that the sound was produced by the footsteps of the Baleful Earth Primate as he immediately ran off to the opposite direction as quickly as possible. He already cast [Wind Step] and [Feline Control] as his feet had wind circling around it.
However, Zeke realized it was not enough as he heard the quaking ground get closer and closer to him. Without hesitating, faint sparks appeared around his feet as both sparks and wind harmonized around each other. Zeke"s speed instantly skyrocketed but Zeke didn"t rejoice. He knew this was only for a temporary time so he had to make it worth.
After half a minute, Zeke felt the [Breath of Lightning]"s effects slowly diminishing as he struggled to find a way out. Then, just as he thought about it, he spotted a fairly large hill just a few meters on his right with a small opening near the base. Zeke immediately rushed to it as he didn"t have any other choice besides it.
When he approached the hill, he found out that the hole actually lead deeper underground and it wasn"t as exposed as Zeke thought it was because of the debris partially covering it. Zeke didn"t hesitate as he went in and covered the entrance with an [Earth Wall]. Zeke"s vision suddenly went dark as he immediately cast multiple [Fireball]s using [Thought Processing] to divide his mind into 10. Then, 8 small fireb.a.l.l.s appeared around Zeke as he willed each and every one of it to spread out.
With a fireball in front of him, Zeke realized that he was currently going down through a narrow hallway down the stairs that were laid out. Confused, Zeke tried to look around but he couldn"t see anything other than the wall and stairs made of dirt. The stairs led further down, and since his vision is limited, Zeke hesitated to go. However, behind him, he could still hear the loud roars of the gorilla that is clearly not far from him. He gritted his teeth and decided to go all the way down. He only hoped to find another way out of there as he feared the gorilla might be waiting there.
After a few minutes of walking cautiously, Zeke found himself in front of a very big and s.p.a.cious room. Zeke noticed that it was the end of the stairs as he willed a [Fireball] to go inside the room. Seeing as there"s no reaction, Zeke walked in and spread half of his [Fireball]s around. When Zeke"s fireb.a.l.l.s reached both the left and right corners of the room, Zeke could finally see the entirety of the very big room. There were a lot of torches spread throughout the room as Zeke lit all of them up. He was then dumbfounded by what he was seeing.
The big and s.p.a.cious room turned out to be an even bigger room than Zeke expected. On his left and right, he could see statues a bit taller than him. The statues all had different postures as each held different kinds of weapons and tools. One looked like a man plowing, the other a.s.suming a sword stance, another holding a spear that is pointing to the sky, and many others. Zeke felt awe just by looking at it, and even he couldn"t help but feel a bit of reverence while looking. Shaking his thoughts, Zeke surveyed each part of the room while moving forward towards the other end. Other than the statues, there were also small vases and pots scattered around along with some cracked bones and skulls. These skeletons were long dead based on their form and current state as Zeke became even more confused.
After a few more looks and guesses, Zeke came up with the only conclusion: This was some ancient place that was buried underneath the hill due to its old age and the pa.s.sage of time, gradually turning it into an underground place of some sort. Zeke also concluded that this should also be a very important site in the past considering the integrity and st.u.r.diness of the whole place that could even endure the pa.s.sage of time. Zeke"s eyes lit up as the thought of finding treasures instantly crossed his mind.
Even though he was still excited about the previous escape from the gorilla, the thought of finding treasures excite Zeke even more. He then spread out the fireb.a.l.l.s further out as he searched every nook and cranny of the place while taking in all the intact pots and antique vases that were placed near the statues. After collecting all that could be collected, Zeke headed further ahead as he then noticed stairs by the end of the room. He inspected it for some traps but found nothing so he steadily walked towards it.
However, before he could go out of the room to the stairs, the doorway suddenly closed by a sliding block as Zeke was now trapped inside the room. Furrowing his brows, he immediately turned around and brandished his sword as he heard noises coming from the other end of the room from where Zeke entered. He couldn"t exactly see who or what was moving since the range of vision that his fireb.a.l.l.s gave was only a few meters away from Zeke. Any more and Zeke will lose vision in his own perimeter. He then waited and a.s.sumed a sword stance as he braced himself for a possible battle.
Just a few seconds after that, Zeke could faintly see multiple standing figures approaching him slowly. Zeke was surprised because the figures that were going to him are actually skeletons! He then realized that perhaps the skeletons that he first saw in the room were the same skeleton that apparently had life and is now going towards him. What was weirder was that Zeke could see that every skeleton had a weapon in one or both of their hands. Some skeletons had swords, others had spears, while some others are holding some kind of tall wooden stick, presumably a magician"s staff. Seeing all this, Zeke immediately willed the fireb.a.l.l.s nearer so he could get complete vision around his perimeter. He hurriedly held his sword in a defensive position as two of the fireb.a.l.l.s suddenly changed shape into a javelin that hovered above Zeke"s shoulders.