The Train to The Dungeon

Chapter 14: Dragon's Breath

Cadever Centipede went into the ground so that I could not move freely. It has been circling around the ground since.

I grimaced with the pain. The bottom of my body was already swallowed by it. His teeth were rolling around my pelvis and stomach, like they were slowly slicing through meat. If I didn't wear armor, my body would've been severed earlier.

The mouth of the Cadever Centipede that was in the shape of a rose sucked my body firmly. Reflexes, both of my hands pressed the outer side of his mouth so that my body would not be sucked into his throat.

The poison effect not only caused my lower body to be paralyzed, but my HP bar also started to drastically reduce.

[Warning! Fatigue Level increased by 12%!]

Shit, I have to get back to the surface! I can't die here!

The pain made it hard to think. I need to take this pain away first.

“Activate Pain Absorber skill,” my command. My passive ability began to work and the pain gradually disappeared. Now I can concentrate on fighting without having to think about the pain.

I tried to recall the list of new abilities I had, there must be something I could use to get out of the grip of this monster.

[Purification: Removing abnormal status on the body. Consume 10 whichever is used].

May this skill also work on poison, I said inwardly.

“Purification!”

A green beam enveloped my body for a few seconds, then a system notification message sounded.

[Annormal status of paralysis and poison has been removed]

Along with that, the numbness on the bottom of my body was gone, both my legs were able to move as they were. My HP bar also stopped decreasing because the poison effect of the Cadever Centipede had already been removed.

“Successful!” sentakku, girong. “Now stay out of here.”

I used the Heal skill to recover the wound and the HP bar, while my right hand was already preparing to attack with Grasscutter.

Punctures from the tip of the crescent blade wound around the mouth and face of Cadever Centipede. My body was exposed to splashes of blood that was thick red and smelled foul. I don't want to stop, my right hand is swinging Grasscutter blindly.

Suddenly there was a cold and damp sensation running down my left leg. The tongue of this monster gripped my calf and tried to pull my body into its mouth.

“Damn it! Release my legs!”

I pulled out his tongue and cut it off with Grasscutter. At once also Cadever Centipede roared violently. His head moved upwards and dug to the surface. His body came out from the ground, towering until it almost touched the ceiling.

My attack just now seemed to make Cadever Centipede in a lot of pain. The grip of her jagged mouth became looser, I took the opportunity to break free.

After pulling my body out of his mouth, I immediately jumped down and fell rolling on the surface.

Cadever Centipede was still roaring, he was now moving brutally and aggressively. However, just as he lost his sense of sight, he charged in any direction, his head smashing against the wall and stalactites until it shattered.

When I saw his HP bar remaining 15%, I felt it was the right time to finish him off. I had already put up a plan to activate the Shadow Move skill, but suddenly a notification message from the system appeared.

The tring!

[You get a chance to upgrade Skill Shadow Move

Accept it or Not?]

Having the opportunity to become stronger, of course I accepted it.

“Receive!” my break.

[You obtained an Active Elimination Skill].

[Elimination: Fast and deadly attack right at the enemy's weak point. Can only be used when the enemy's HP is 30% or below. Each use consumes 50 mana].

This skill is at a level above Shadow Move, I became curious as to what it is capable of.

“Elimination!” seruku, activate the skill.

A dark aura comes out from under the feet and envelops the entire body. At the same time, my gaze became focused to a single point, then a red thread appeared before my eyes. The thread initially decomposes irregularly, but soon becomes perpendicular and straight. The end of the thread ends at the head of the Cadever Centipede.

There was a strong urge to advance, my instinct told me to follow the direction of the thread. My feet were tracing the surface firmly, my body instantly shot forward at high speed.

My surroundings also felt slower moving. I saw the hands of Cadever Centipede trying to reach my body that was creeping up on his head, but the hand was moving so slowly that it was easily cut off.

It was like running on one straight plane and nothing was in the way. I got to the end of the red thread and immediately launched an attack with Grasscutter.

A long wound stretched across the human baby-shaped head, I heard Cadever Centipede scream, his voice transitioning into a tight, ear-painful baby cry.

I landed and went straight down while closing both ears. Around the room it shook and felt like it was about to collapse. However, the voice shrank until it was finally heard no more. When I raised my head, the body of Cadever Centipede staggered and fell causing a loud thumping sound.

My eyes glanced towards that monster HP bar, making sure its HP bar was drained out. The boss of the dungeon is dead. I managed to defeat him.

[You have leveled up!]

[You have leveled up!]

[You have leveled up!]

[You have leveled up!]

My head is filled with the notification sounds from the system. Half-transparent blue screens appeared before me.

The tring!

[Quest: Defeat Cadever Centipede (1/1)

Reward: Hunter Kit Chest, Centipreda’s Gauntlet, Status Point +5

Pinalty: Death]

The tring!

[You acquired Cadever Centipede’s Heart x1]

[You get Cadever’s Centipede Saliva x1]

[You obtained a Cadever Centipede’s Skin x10]

[You get Baby Centipede’s Limbs x34]

There are many foreign items filling out one by one my Inventory column. Some of them were rewards from quests to defeat dungeon bosses, then there were materials that came from the bodies of the monsters I killed and collected automatically by the system.

My ears caught the moaning. When I turned around I saw Denis dying, he was trying to move his badly injured body. The centipede monsters that were swarming her died after her mother—Cadever Centipede I killed.

I rushed to Denis. His white clothes and robe were drenched in blood, appearing to be several pieces torn and revealing gouged flesh. The young man's mouth trembled like he was trying to say something. He seemed to suffer.

“Wait a minute,” I said as I put my hands closer to his body. I wish my abilities could work for others too.

“Purification!” myrag.

Green light came out of my hand and moved around Denis' body. When the beam disappears, Denis can move his limbs, he also gets his speech ability back.

“Arka? How can?” It's ambush. However, a second later he complained because of the injuries on his body.

I held my hand close to her while muttering softly, “Heal.”

As Denis's body was engulfed by the green light, it spun from his feet to his head, then disappeared after all the wounds on Denis' body healed.

Denis glared in surprise. “What kind of ability is this? All my wounds are gone?” He checked every part of his body that was injured. Then his eyes turned to look at me. “You have healing powers?”

“You could say so,” I replied while raising my shoulders.

No wonder he was surprised. As far as I can remember, it felt like no Hunter had any healing powers yet. However, if Denis who is from the Upper Rank has never seen it, I wonder if there has been no Hunter that has any healing power at all. I should check it out later after coming out of the dungeon.

Suddenly, Denis shouted louder. He pointed towards the corpse of the Cadever Centipede with a trembling voice.

Instantly Denis grabbed both of my shoulders and shook them softly. “Are you really Hunter Without Rank?”

For this one question, I can answer it directly. “I'm indeed a Hunter Without Rank. You saw it for yourself in ID-kan. It can't be fake.”

Denis gulped, admitting that my answer was correct. However, it did not answer his question how I—that a Hunter Without Rank could defeat a Class B Dungeon Boss.

My attention turned to the corpse of Cadever Centipede. His body turned black and started the decomposition process quickly. It was not usual for monsters to disappear this fast. I immediately told Denis.

“Denis, look at that!” point me.

Denis is following the direction I'm referring to. He was also surprised. “What happened?”

The body of the Cadever Centipede partially decomposes, leaving some flesh and bone tissue. From the remaining parts it grows shoots as high as 30 cm, the leaves are widened and cut open flowers with a motif of black bottles. A bad smell emanated from the flower.

“That's right..,” Denis's smile. He pulled out a large book from his bag and ran up to the plant. I followed him in the back.

“This genus Vavalidae!” yells. I who do not understand can only frown. He caught my ignorance and explained. “Vavalidae is a genus of Dragon’s Breath!”

“I understand, so we've found the flowers?”

“Not yet,” Denis shakes. “Now is the hardest part, which is identifying Dragon’s Breath.”

“Isn't the flower already in sight? Just got pulled out, right?” I stuck out my hand, intending to pluck one of the stalks closest to me, but Denis let out a scream.

“Don't unplug those flowers!”

I was shocked and stopped my activities. “Why?”

“Dragon’s Breath always grows together with its identical plant, Phoenix’s Tears, they have almost the same morphological features.” Denis explained, “Dragon’s Breath has never grown more than ten stalks, and they are among the Phoenix’s Tears. If the one that is removed is Phoenix’s Tears, the plant will release toxins and kill all surrounding flower species, including the precious Dragon’s Breath!”

“Truly troublesome,” I complained.

“Iya! Hence can not get wrong unplug.”

“Do not say you will identify it one-on-one?” my many.

“True, it is,” says Denis, spirit. “I've brought a special tool for Dragon’s Breath.” identification

Denis grabbed the big bag in the shape of a sack I was carrying. Inside there are tools in the form of support legs and large binoculars. He assembled the device quickly, its final shape resembling the monocular binoculars commonly used for stargazing.

“How long will it take to identify?”

“30 minutes,” Denis replied while operating the tool.

I've heaved a sigh of relief, but Denis is still continuing his sentence.

“30 minutes per flower, so if there are 100 flowers it means..”.

“We don't have that much time,” cut me, pessimist. “Since the dungeon boss is dead, this portal will definitely be closed soon by Hunter.” Association

Denis lifted his face and looked at me. He scratched his temple while saying, “Then, hopefully in the remaining time we can find it soon yes.”

He really is the type of person who likes to move.

I salute her enough. If I could help identify the plants. Wait, don't I have the Clairvoyance skill. I'm just using it to find Dragon’s Breath.

My eyes scanned the flower. Instantly appeared over a hundred system screens. All of the screens contained plant species names, but due to the distance and position they were close together, the screens overlapped, making it difficult to read the data.

If it looks like this how to read the information. Apparently can't.

While I was confused I heard a notification message from the system. I looked up and saw the half-transparent blue screen.

[You get a chance to Upgrade Clairvoyane Skill.

Accept it or not?]

I accepted the offer. Clairvoyance skill is updated automatically by the system. Then another message appeared.

[You obtained the Nature Passive Skill’s Insight].

[Nature’s Insight: The ability to identify nature. Can be used in general or specific ways].

The information is very short. However, I feel like this is the skill I need right now. I looked up, wondering if the person who gave me this system was watching me far up there. Did he give me the skills I needed? Why does it feel like this moment is so coincident.

“Enable Nature’s Insight,” gumamku slowly.

I felt my eyes ache for a moment. When I opened my eyes, both of my irises had already changed to emerald green. It seems permanent.

“If it can be used specifically what does that mean by simply mentioning the name?” I asked myself, and then I put it into practice.

“Dragon’s Breath,” mumbled.

Immediately a vertical blue light appears between the flowers, along with a half-transparent screen bearing the name “Dragon’s Breath”.

My hands reflexively smother his mouth in shock. This easy?

I approached the flower. After a thorough look, there were eight vertical lights that appeared, meaning there were eight Dragon’s Breath flowers.

My hand reached out to grab the black stalk with the red petals of the bottle. I pulled it along with the roots. I looked towards the bunch of flowers earlier, no poison spreading. I got the right flowers.

“Denis,” call me as I approach her. The young man was still focused on his binoculars.

“I've got Dragon’s Breath.”

Hearing my words Denis flinched and immediately turned his head. He glanced at the flower I was thrusting at him. His shocked expression far exceeded that of seeing the corpse of Cadever Centipede. Denis immediately fell stranded and repeatedly asked, “How could it? How can?”

I chuckled, there's no way I'd tell her about the Nature’s Insight's ability, so I lied to her.

“I just identified from your guidebook,” I replied while showing the book. I took it out of the bag just in case.

Denis became a little calmer after I spoke like that. “Your eyes are sharp as well yes,” he said. He fixed the frame of his glasses, then observed the Dragon’s Breath that was in my hand.

His head nodded, “True, this is the flower. Thank you, Arka! You shorten the search time!”

Now I can breathe a sigh of relief. Finally, it's done too.

Denis put the Dragon’s Breath into a large glass jar. He kept it carefully in his backpack.

“OK, it's done, come on, let's go back to DRT,” Denis said.

“We only take one?” my many.

Denis turned towards me, “Of course.”

“But there are still seven Dragon’s Breath.”

“What—hah?” Denis gawked as he watched me walk up to the flowers again. Nature’s Insight's ability led me to the location of Dragons’ Breath. My hand quickly pulled the flowers to the root.

I went back in front of Denis carrying seven stalks of Dragons’ Breath. “We need to split two or how?”

Denis seemed to be at a loss for words. Looks like seeing me pluck out Dragon’s Breath easily made the logic circuit in his brain collapse. Denis was just a little beard when he saw me thrusting the flowers. I feel a little sorry for him.

“Because you found it, it can all be yours,” he said..

I'm laughing bitterly, “You sure?”

“Iya, my task is to bring one. Since you found the rest, it became yours.”

I tried to hide the joy that was burning in my chest, but I decided it was okay to express it a little bit in front of Denis.

“Thank you,” I said with a big smile.

Denis nodded small. We also prepared to return to the dungeon station. Just as we were about to leave, from the direction of the tunnel, Anto, Malih, and the seven Red-White Knight members appeared. They looked happy when they saw we were alive.