A blue light flickered in Kanos's eyes. He activated his Structural Analysis skill. The absolute darkness at the bottom of this abyss suddenly turned into a sea of neon blue lines. The grid pattern formed the structures of the stone walls, the cave floor, and the steel cage where he was taking shelter. This was the only way to see in a place that didn't even have the tiniest reflection of light.
Kanos pushed the steel bars he made himself. The cage had already lost its white glow. Kanos squeezed out through a gap in the bars that he intentionally made a bit wider on one side.
The air outside the cage felt much colder. Kanos walked slowly across the rocky floor. His blue vision caught a large mound in the middle of the cave. It was the corpse of the Death Stalker, the level 75 monster that died impaled on his steel pike last night. But the corpse wasn't alone.
Around the giant body, there were five small clusters of blue structures moving rapidly. The sound of flesh being torn and greedy chewing could be heard loud and clear. Kanos narrowed his eyes. The system screen popped up small in the corner of his vision.
[ CAVE HYENA (LEVEL 30) ]
Five of them. Their size was probably about as big as a large breed dog, but their jaw structure was incredibly thick for crushing bones. They were having a dinner party using Kanos's leftovers.
Level thirty, Kanos thought calmly. Yesterday afternoon, just seeing a level in the teens was enough to make his knees weak. Now it felt different. Kanos didn't panic. His brain immediately got to work, calculating the distance, the attack angle, and the amount of mana he needed.
Kanos raised his left index finger. He pulled a bright white line in the air, exactly five meters above the pack of hyenas. The white line instantly pulled energy from the surrounding air. Kanos pictured a solid block of iron. Just a pure steel box the size of a refrigerator weighing almost a ton.
A loud humming sound made the five hyenas stop chewing. They looked up all at once. The giant steel block dropped like a meteor. BAM! The cave floor shook violently. The sound of metal smashing into rock echoed incredibly loud.
Kanos gave a faint smile. But that smile only lasted for one second. From behind the plume of stone dust, three shadows dashed out with insane speed. Only two hyenas were successfully flattened by the steel block. The remaining three managed to jump away at the very last second thanks to their mid level monster instincts.
The three hyenas now landed in a low crouch, their jaws gnashing in anger. Their glowing yellow eyes locked straight at Kanos. Dammit. That's a lot, Kanos thought.
The monsters didn't waste any time. They spread out, running zigzag at full speed charging at Kanos's position. Kanos took a short breath. He didn't back down. The tip of his left index finger instantly pulled a straight line from bottom to top right in front of him. A short steel pike jutted out at an angle from the stone floor.
The first hyena running in the front leaped to tackle Kanos's face. The monster was startled seeing steel suddenly appear in its path. It forced its body to twist in mid air, escaping a fatal stab to the chest, but the tip of Kanos's pike successfully tore deep into the side of its belly. The hyena tumbled to the ground, whimpering in pain as its blood spilled onto the floor.
But there were still two more. The second hyena lunged from the lower left side, while the third jumped from the right. Kanos was cornered. His brain was forced to work double time. He drew two curved lines on his left side with a super fast motion. A stone wall ten centimeters thick was instantly formed.
CRASH! The second hyena smashed hard into the stone wall. The wall cracked badly, but it successfully stopped the monster's bite. Unfortunately, the hard impact made Kanos lose his balance. He stumbled to the right, exactly toward the third hyena whose jaws were already wide open.
Kanos didn't have time to draw another shield. Those meat cleaver sharp teeth bit right into Kanos's right calf. An incredible amount of pain instantly exploded. Kanos let out a stifled scream. The hyena's jaw was insanely strong, nearly crushing his shinbone. The monster tried to pull Kanos's leg until he fell flat on his back onto the rocky dirt.
The hyena crawled up, getting ready to chew on Kanos's neck. Its breath, reeking of corpse blood, hit Kanos's face.
Get the fuck out of my face.
Kanos raised his free left hand. He pressed the tip of his index finger right in front of the monster's yellow eye. He pulled one short line forward. Very short, but very sharp. The air instantly solidified with a ringing sound. A thumb thick steel nail formed directly from the air, piercing dead center through the hyena's eyeball and continuing straight into the back of its brain.
The monster let out a muffled shriek. Its jaws biting Kanos's leg instantly went slack. Its heavy body collapsed onto Kanos's chest. Kanos hurriedly shoved the hyena's corpse to the side while panting heavily. Fresh blood flowed from his right calf. He looked to his left. The second hyena that hit the stone wall earlier had just recovered from its dizziness and was getting ready to lunge again.
Kanos didn't give it the chance. While still sitting on the ground, he pulled a line in the air. A steel throwing axe shot forward fast and immediately split the second hyena's neck until it died. Silence fell back down over the bottom of the abyss. Golden notification panels blinked in Kanos's eyes.
[ ENEMY DEFEATED: CAVE HYENA (x5) ]
[ EXP GAINED ]
Kanos leaned back against the rocky floor, his breathing extremely heavy. His head throbbed terribly, exactly like the effect when he made the knife for the first time in that old man's shop. He quickly checked his mana panel. The number had free fallen from 500 leaving only 180. Making a massive solid object like that steel block earlier, then being forced to make a pike, a wall, and an axe in rapid succession drained his energy like crazy. If that fight dragged on for another minute, he would have run out of mana and started sucking out his actual blood.
I can't just carelessly throw away mana for area attacks. The monster instincts in this hole are too sharp, Kanos evaluated himself. He tore the bottom of his shirt, then tied the wound on his right calf tightly to stop the bleeding.
The pain made him even more aware. The new class and Mana indeed gave him a chance to win, but he was still a human with a weak physique. He had to be more efficient. He needed a deadlier weapon without having to waste too much size.
Kanos forced his body to stand. He looked up at the giant cliff. The top was completely swallowed by darkness. But the blue lines from his Structural Analysis revealed the truth. This wasn't a flat vertical drop. It was a massive, collapsed ancient structure filled with slanted terraces, crumbling giant steps, and spiraling rocky inclines. Climbing barehanded was still suicide, but at least he wouldn't be hanging at a 90-degree angle the whole way.
He stood at the base of the ruins. He needed tools. Light, carbon steel alloy. White lines danced from his left finger, forming short handles with eagle-beak curves. Two ice climbing axes dropped perfectly into his grip. He also drew jagged metal cleats, tying them under his shoes with ripped cloth.
Then he looked at his right hand. The fingers were completely paralyzed from the knife wound. He couldn't grip shit.
Kanos ripped the remaining sleeve of his shirt. He placed the second ice axe against his right forearm and wrapped the cloth tightly around his wrist and the metal handle. It dug painfully into his skin, but now his forearm would take the pulling weight, bypassing his broken fingers entirely.
Kanos took a deep breath of sulfur air. He slammed the left axe into the stone wall. It bit deep. Then he swung his bound right arm, driving the second axe into a crack higher up. Metal clanked. Kanos kicked his cleats into the stone and pulled himself onto the first slanted terrace.
One meter. Five meters. His shoulders burned, but strangely, he didn't feel completely dead like yesterday. Level 12 really made a huge difference for his stamina.
Wait for me, Belida, Kanos thought, swinging his arms again.
Cold sweat dripped from his forehead. He didn't know if Belida was alive or eaten. But he promised himself one thing. If Belida died, Kanos would slaughter everything on floor six. Thwack. Thwack. The sound of his axes echoed up the abyss as Kanos crawled out of hell.