NOVEL WEB Chapter 8: Rank Up?
Once again, Liam was bitten multiple times in various places.
His blood continued to leak, forming a small puddle beneath him, and his HP bar began to drop rapidly once more.
When he saw this, he took on a ferocious expression and started to scream, "Die!"
"Diiie!"
[ +4XP ]
[ +4XP ]
He continued to swing his fist like a madman, killing a spider with every blow.
After a few seconds of fighting, he had killed 9 spiders.
Then, a green screen suddenly appeared before him.
[ Congratulations ]
[ The requirements for your rank-up have been completed ]
[ Please distribute the remaining Distribution Points ]
Amid his deadly crisis, he felt a bit of happiness when he saw the System window.
Without any hesitation, he said: "Distribute all the points to Vitality."
[ Distributing... ]
As usual, a beautiful warmth spread throughout his body, starting from his heart,
but the beautiful warmth quickly turned into a burning heat that made his body flush red. Noticeably, his wounds began to heal.
His body also expelled large amounts of foul-smelling green venom from his wounds.
Moreover, the Mana in the tunnel began to move strangely and gather around his body, forming a faint, celestial mist.
All of his pores opened and began to greedily absorb the Mana, wanting to take as much of it as possible.
At that moment, his muscles began to swell, and his body temperature rose.
The sudden change in the nature of the Mana terrified the spiders.
Because of this, they stopped attacking him and retreated slightly with hesitation.
Nevertheless, they did not run away, and continued to stare at him with a strange look.
After a very short time, the Mana mist began to dissipate, and the burning sensation he had felt disappeared, replaced by a severe pain throughout his entire body that made him scream.
"Aaaaaah!"
But despite everything that was happening to him, Liam was extremely excited.
He clenched his solid fist and looked at the spiders nearby with a cold gaze.
[ Distribution successful ]
[ rank up ]
[ Rank-Up Reward Obtained ]
As soon as the point distribution process ended and the remnants of the mana mist disappeared, his body returned to normal.
The spiders around him also regained their composure, which quickly turned into intense anger.
Their eyes turned red, and their ferocity increased. Without prior warning, they attacked him.
But this time, Liam didn't feel panic, nor did he resist frantically. Instead, he acted with complete calm.
He raised his fist, which exuded a fierce power, and punched a group of spiders near his leg.
With just one blow, he managed to kill two spiders, and the bodies of three other spiders cracked, sending them flying.
"Come forward to your deaths, you annoying parasites."
Without holding anything back, he continued his assault. One punch, two punches, three punches.
[ +4XP ]
[ +5XP ]
Bite!
"Ah!"
"Damn it!"
But despite his increased Strength, he was still trapped in a corner and was bitten multiple times.
Even though his body had become tougher and the venom no longer affected him as it did before, he still felt the danger.
He frowned in displeasure and sighed: "I can't win this battle; their numbers are just too great."
Although he hesitated for a moment, he finally decided to flee.
First, however, he killed a few more spiders to gain some more XP, and then he kicked the pile of spiders in front of him with all his might.
The spiders flew away and slammed into the walls, clearing a small path for him to escape through.
He ran at top speed while the spiders chased him.
But due to his increased rank, he was much faster than before, so the group of spiders couldn't keep up with him.
As he fled, he passed through several familiar tunnels and even ran in circles.
After running for about three minutes, he returned to the starting point where the spiders had first attacked him.
"Phew."
He stopped running and caught his breath. After that, he walked a little until he found the rocky barrier he had built.
As he expected, the barrier was destroyed, and all that remained were scattered stone fragments.
"These damn spiders. They're very weak, but when they gather, they become truly strong."
In this world, there was a fixed law that could not be broken:
Ascended ones cannot defeat other Ascended ones who are a rank above them by relying on their own power alone.
This also applies to Ascended ones within the same rank; a novice cannot defeat an expert.
Following this same pattern, the spiders that Liam had faced are very weak, even at F-rank.
But because of their large numbers, they are capable of threatening the life of a D-rank Ascendant if they were to surround them.
Clicking!
Tremors!
Clicking!
After standing in place for a short while, Liam heard the familiar sound of the spiders.
He then turned around and looked back with annoyance.
"How did they catch up to me? Or rather, how did they manage to track me?"
He looked at his body, which was full of bite marks and venom residue, and his brows furrowed.
"Do they smell the blood? Or is it related to the venom they injected me with?"
Although he had a vague idea of the reason, he didn't continue thinking about it due to a lack of time.
He quickly started running and fled far away.
After wandering through the tunnels for a few more minutes, he heard a familiar sound coming from a nearby place.
"Is that the sound of running water?" he wondered, involuntarily licking his lips, for he was thirsty.
Without any hesitation, he followed the source of the sound.
After a short period of searching, he found that the sound was coming from inside a small tunnel in the wall.
He looked around with suspicion and muttered,
"This is very narrow. If I enter through this tunnel, I won't be able to defend myself well."
He cautiously checked his surroundings again, and when he was sure the area was empty, he inspected the tunnel carefully.
After thinking it over, he entered the narrow tunnel and quickly crawled through it.
Fortunately, he didn't encounter any obstacles and reached the other side safely.
The other side was a very spacious cave. Its ceiling was filled with extremely bright, luminous stones that lit up the place.
The walls of the cave were filled with hundreds of holes, from some of which clear, clean water flowed.
It all collected in the middle of the cave, forming a small lake.
Beside the lake was a massive pit, similar to an abyss, that led downwards.
"This place? It's really strange."
After a brief moment of hesitation, Liam walked towards the small lake.
He contemplated its clear water, and cautiously cupped a hand with water and drank it.
Luckily, the water was fresh and didn't seem to contain anything harmful.
As soon as he was sure everything was safe, he fell to the water like a thirsty camel and began to drink greedily.
After he had quenched his thirst, he cleaned himself.
Then, he cautiously approached the pit and looked at what was at the bottom of it.
Strangely, a stone staircase was located at the edges of the pit, leading to a large area below.
[ Congratulations ]
[ You have found the entrance to the second level ]
He didn't think twice about it and proceeded to descend the stairs toward the second level.