NOVEL WEB Chapter 26 - Entering Stage 3
With the deep slash on his face and the constant stream of blood from the wound, Adam was constantly losing small amounts of HP, and even though it wouldn't kill him, it would lower his HP for the final stage.
Taking off his shirt, Adam wrapped it tightly around his lower face and neck to reduce the blood that he lost.
Once again three tunnels revealed themselves, but instead of rushing in, Adam knew that he would be weakened if he overworked himself recklessly and sat down in a cross-legged position calmly as he allowed his faster natural recovery to reduce the wound on his face and recover is stamina that was beginning to tire out after two intense battles.
He felt the same weird comfortable feeling while he sat down cross-legged calmly as he felt as though he would enter an ethereal and meditative state.
After a while, Adam finally awoke from the meditative state he was in and could feel that both his MP and HP had risen slightly after the rest that he had.
"How long has it been, system," asked Adam who would never know how much time would pass every time he went into the ethereal state that would block off his senses from the surroundings and make time become a mere blur.
{4 hours have passed within the dungeon and 2 hours in reality} the system answered.
He was shocked that 4 hours had past when he only felt that it was a few minutes, and was wondering how much his natural recovery recovered his HP and MP.
"Status"
Mortal LVL: 5
EXP: 233 / 400
HP: 132 / 140
MP: 15 / 17
Strength: 14
Speed: 15
Intelligence: 19
Charisma: 5
Luck: 5
He was satisfied with his current state and how much he had recovered and felt as though he was ready for the final stage.
Adam had a horrific deep scar of three claws that went from his sliced lip and down to his neck and still felt pain from his face, but was unfazed and knew that it wouldn't be permanent on his body.
Equipping his two daggers in preparation for the final stage, Adam headed towards the three tunnels.
Before he chose a tunnel he checked the inventory to check what the coyote beasts gave him, but it was merely some fur that wouldn't be useful to him in battle.
"What tunnel should I chose this time" he mumbled to himself.
In the same way as the first two stages, Adam didn't overthink it and took the left tunnel because he previously took the right and middle tunnel and was hoping that he had lucked out.
As soon as he stepped into the tunnel and it closed off behind him he felt that his heart was pounding as he was both nervous and excited for the final stage in the Canidae sub-dungeon.
It was exactly the same tunnel as for the first two stages, but this time it was double the size of the second stage and had a rough length of 40 metres.
Stepping into the open area and out of the stage his retreat was instantly blocked off and he stood on the edge of the open cave, but nothing appeared before him.
"Did I luck out and I don't have to battle" he assumed and just as he was about to celebrate he heard a notification resound within his mind.
{Sub-Dungeon Boss Initiated - Grey Wolf King} the system announced.
As he heard this the miraculously lit cave flashed with light and suddenly a large grey wolf appeared out of nowhere.
Above the large grey wolf were his status and his name hovering in dark red.
Grey Wolf King
LVL 7
HP: 200
Strength: 19
Speed: 16
Intelligence: 15
Seeing his status, Adam couldn't help but be intimidated and its size was comparable to that of a bear, but it still had the speed and intelligence of a Candiae beast with the large strong body.
Its blades shined and each tooth was large enough to form a blade as its red eyes glared at Adam furiously.
{Canidae Boss - this is the final stage of this sub-dimension and the Grey Wolf King is in a berserk state and has extreme hatred towards the host} the system announced.
{You have lucked out} the system stated seriously.
"How is this lucky, is the other possibilities stronger beasts," asked Adam baffled by how he was lucky.
The beast seemed to be held back in the same way the other beasts were before Adam attacked so he knew that he could still converse with the system as it growled and barked at him rabidly.
{No, you are lucky to have the hardest final stage} stated the system.
Adam could tell from the tone of the robotic voice of the system, that it was being completely serious and wasn't joking with him.
"How the hell am I lucky to have to face off against that monster" he exclaimed.
{The host has been lucky in every stage and had the hardest possible outcome for each stage, which will allow for the host to have a greater final reward} the system explained.
Adam surprised himself by his own happiness at having harder battles that allowed him to push himself further and the joy wasn't mostly because of the rewards but was because he weirdly liked battling.
Wiping the thought that had risen again of him weirdly enjoying battle, Adam took a deep breath and sat cross-legged wanting to calm his mind before the battle began.
Suddenly he was interrupted by another notification in his mind.
{The Boss Battle has begun} the system announced just as he sat down.
Instantly the beast was released and charged towards Adam who was 20 metres away from him.
"Shit, fuck you system" he screamed as he jumped up and charged towards the last beast.
Adam having lost the advantage of the first strike knew that against such a powerful beast nothing should be held back.
"Leporidae Summon"
"Canidae Summon"
"Goblin Summon"
A small white hare with razor-sharp claws, a medium-sized beast that had a mix of fox and coyote features and a small stocky goblin with a club in its hands appeared out of thin air next to Adam.
"Attack" he roared.