Primordial Expanse: I have the Strongest Talent!

97  Desperate Gambit

The door creaked open with a deafening groan. Alex was no longer concerned with the thought that a giant humanoid species had most likely been the ones that had built these ruins.

For all he knew, they could have gone extinct before humanity had even risen out of their caves hundreds of thousands of years ago.

As the door swung wide, a rush of stale air filled Alex's nostrils, carrying with it the scent of dust and decay.

'This confirms it, these doors haven't been opened for a very, very long time.' n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Stepping into the heart of the ruins, he was greeted by a vast chamber shrouded in darkness. Pillars rose like sentinels from the cracked floor, supporting the heavy weight of the ceiling up above. The only light flickering from the cracks above, with a small opening in the ceiling casting a spotlight down on the centre of the open space.

'That's probably where the other awakened made their way inside to cast a look on the sword.'

The small pedestal sitting right at the centre stood bathed in the soft glow of sunlight filtering through the gaping hole in the ceiling.

Approaching cautiously, Alex felt a sense of unease as the hairs on the back of his neck prickled up. The sword was right in front of him, bathing in the sunlight on top of the pedestal, but each step he took closer to it, his senses warned him of imminent danger.

He was met with the eerie silence broken only by the sound of his own footsteps echoing off the tall stone walls.

'Something else is in here with me, I can feel it.'

But he knew from the tales the Mayor had fed to him that this place had a guardian, and it wasn't anything weak like that E+ rank panther he had killed earlier on.

"I know you're here." He spoke aloud, breaking the silence in the room.

And then, without warning, it struck — instead of the usual growl he had heard so many times by beasts, a low guttural clicking sound emanated from the shadows at the edge of the chamber. Alex whirled around, his hands instinctively at the ready as a massive form of energy encroached from the darkness.

'A D- rank beast!'

It was the first D tier beast he had seen since the destruction of Valentis, but this one seemed different from the ones he saw on the battlefield.

Alex couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something was different about this one.

It was covered in a mixture of black and white carapace, resembling scales, yet they weren't. It's hulking form bristling with jotted hair, no doubt as hard and sharp as knives. It was in all sense of the word, a huge fucking spider! Its eyes gleamed with something different than the usual feral hunger he saw in beasts. Instead it looked at him with anger, as well as pity.

With a high pitched screech that shook both Alex and the very foundation of the ruins, the spider charged forward, its chitin-covered appendages slashing and clicking as they tore through the air at Alex, moving at speeds he was barely able to keep up with.

'This thing's a motherfucking mutant!'

It was at this moment that Alex realised why the spider felt so different than the other D- rank beasts he had encountered before.

Reeling from his shock, Alex tried to keep up his dodging but he was just no match for the spider's speed.

Shing!

One of its long, skinny legs slashed right past Alex's head, barely missing his skull by millimetres. But he hadn't come out of it unscathed.

In exchange for saving his head, he had lost an ear.

The entirety of his hearing disappeared from the left side of his head, and he felt off balance as even his vestibular system was badly damaged.

'Huff… Huff… It's time to test your abilities Alex! COME ON!'

He delivered a slap to his cheek, bringing himself back to his senses.

The whole time the spider hadn't delivered another attack on him. It was toying with him, it knew the gap between the two's strength was so wide that any Ordinary class E- rank like Alex stood zero chance of survival against it.

But the thing about Alex was that he was unique.

The Primordial Expanse said it itself. There was no other talent like Alex's anywhere in the universe.

From the depths of Alex's soul, he knew this would be the hardest fought battle he would face so far.

His whole body started glowing red and orange — he had started revolving his phoenix fury technique, combined with his control over the fire element.

Just like in his battle with the Shadow Wolf, Alex had activated his maximum potential. He was going all out in this fight.

Without missing a beat, Alex lunged forwards, hammering his hands down on the huge Spider's carapace. Each hit let out a dull thud that resounded throughout the huge central hall. Not even the sharp hairs could stop or injure Alex in his brutal rampage, as they sizzled away before they could even come into contact with his fiery red skin.

The battle raged on, each blow landing with bone crushing force as Alex fought tooth and nail to gain the upper hand. Even with his upsurge of power from his breakthrough technique, he still had a hard time.

Adrenaline surged through his veins, fuelling his every movement as he danced on the edge of the battlefield, dodging each strike he could, and doing his best to block all the others he couldn't dodge.

'It seems I overestimated myself, even with all of these upgrades I'm still no match for a Mutant class D- rank beast like I thought I was… I wanted to finish this entirely with my own power, but it seems I have no choice.'

Alex felt a little disappointed in himself, which might seem crazy to other people.

He looked towards the spotlight in the centre of the hall, and went full speed towards it!

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