«30..29.5...»

"Are you kidding me?" I complained. "Stop counting!"

«Don't say I didn't warn you.» Sensei chuckled.

How could I have so little time left?

I initially planned to escape as soon as I could, but I ended up getting distracted.

I looked at the serpent that was decimated from my previous attack. Even though its body was now riddled with so many bruises and scrapes, it was still trying to get up and attack me.

Somehow, that pissed me off even more.

Would I have to destroy them completely to kill them?

My darkness blast had torn through much of its midsection, leaving behind a nasty gaping wound, along with the culmination of my previous attacks.

Any normal creature would have died long ago.

The cause likely had more to do with immortality than a unique monster's constitution. I recalled how the creatures on the alcove also needed to be diced to pieces in order for them to stop – I wasn't even sure they were dead up until now.

So for this to work, I had to be quick.

I could see the serpent slithering, ever so slowly, to join the second serpent that had escaped.

It should have looked pitiful, after losing so many body parts, but the mere sight of it drove me to anger. If it hadn't chased me down the chasm, would we both be in this mess?

I quickly formed several small darkness blades and fired them at the serpent at once, intent on torturing it until it met its end.

The darkness blades tore through its body like a ravenous beast, tearing multiple holes that sizzled and sparked as its body was reduced to minced meat.

As soon as my blades pelted its flesh, the creature's rustling hiss echoed throughout the chasm.

The shadow had disappeared, but I saw the second serpent rushing back to rescue it. Its wounds were even worse, but being the larger of the two, it would take far more hits to make it fall.

But I could easily deal with the near dead serpent before the other could reach it.

With an ease no different from breathing, I condensed several more darkness blades and sent them towards the serpent's body, eliciting several more screeches.

I wanted to draw the shadow creature out, but the longer my attacks went on, the more I realised I was also curious about these creature's long life.

I wanted to see how long it could endure before it died. Would it continue to live even when its body was shredded to bits?

I had to find out!

But in the midst of my search for an answer, I saw the shadow of a rock flicker for only a second, before something dark and ominous shot out from it. I saw a long cylindrical object fly towards me at insane speed.

It pulsed heavily with darkness, and I could see it spinning quickly through the air without much resistance. I immediately dove aside to evade it, but the object split off into several smaller rods the instant I moved away.

Dark rods drummed through the ground in several spots, their bodies pulsating with darkness as they threw off sparks like lightning. I was expecting the scythe to come out, so this took me completely by surprise.

One of the rods went through the serpent's eye, and soon, I felt a terrible pain in my lower body where two of the rods had stabbed into me.

I looked at my stats, as my HP had taken a nosedive, going from [340] to [298], and in the next moment from [298] to [240].

At the same time, my stamina was also draining at a rapid pace, and as it did, the two rods in my side seemed to grow in length.

What was this?

Strangely, the rods didn't dissipate as soon as they struck me, but remained solid like spears piercing the ground.

I was still perplexed and wondering what they were, when I saw the serpent's body droop limply with the rod still in its eye. I also noticed the rod had grown to double its length, taking whatever life the serpent had with it.

I was afraid it would die before I could kill it, so I set aside my plummeting HP to finish it off with a darkness blade.

The system dinged as the creature's body exploded to bits.

〚You have defeated LV36 Verum Amphiptere!〛

〚You have gained a level!〛

Hmph! Trying to steal my kill? You're far too green!

I yanked away the rods piercing me and threw them aside, just as the shadow creature emerged from the ground. Its face was a hideous mask, the two dark eyes seemed to glow like liquid pools of hatred, as yet another one of it's creatures died.

I couldn't resist stealing a triumphant look as the creature glared at me. Everything it threw at me had been defeated, surely it must be fuming by now.

«Don't forget, you aren't in a better situation either.» Sensei criticized my carelessness. «You only have eighteen seconds left. Use them wisely.»

What?

Before I could reply, three more rods shot out from the creature's shadow towards me. I instantly took off into the air, but these were much faster than the previous ones and I couldn't avoid them all.

One of the black rods stabbed into my body and a drowsy sensation permeated my senses while my stamina plummeted once again. But nothing could trump my annoyance as the clock continued ticking - couldn't the potion time be extended? It was far too short!

Should I purchase another?

However, there was no time, as the shadow creature fired several more rods at my retreating figure.

In the air, I was able to weave through most of them, but its attacks had become incessant. Before long, two more rods had found their target and my stamina was almost entirely drained.

The shadow creature was clearly upset with me and didn't give me any chance to take a breath, much less to purchase another potion.

Between the repeated assaults and the last winged serpent who had also taken to the air to come after me, I was too focused on saving my skin, that doing anything else was very difficult.

But then, alongside the drowsiness, I began to feel something even worse.

The tingling sensation when I first took the potion had returned - no, it had gotten even worse. The itchy feeling and heat coursed through my body, and my stats that were at an all time high, had begun to plummet.

Fortunately, it wasn't a rapid decline, but a slow ominous one.

"What's happening?" I shouted in panic.

«Oh? Are you finally experiencing the side effects?» Sensei casually laughed. «Took you long enough.»

Side effects?

I was stunned. He never mentioned anything about that.

It wasn't even that long and yet, my stomach already felt like it wanted to jump out of my throat.

"You!"

I felt completely cheated! What a horrible system.

«Twelve seconds.» Sensei interrupted my thoughts, and I frowned.

I was deeply upset at being scammed, but I swallowed my anger, now was not the time.

In addition to the mounting pressure of facing off against two furious creatures, I don't need more stress. I just need to focus on getting out as soon as possible.

I swiftly flew out of the tight rocky chasm, and I just needed to slip through the gap I'd fallen into to get here.

But as I sped towards the gap, I saw the shadow of a jagged rock ahead flicker for a split second.

I immediately halted my ascent to freefall towards the ground, just as several dark rods shot out to pelt the area like thorns.

Seeing as the shadow creature even blocked my way ahead, it really didn't want me to leave here.

Was it into me by any chance?

I could feel myself plummeting dangerously towards the ground, and before my stats fell further, I turned towards the winged serpent who was in pursuit and fired a darkness blade directly at its head.

The creature screeched and fell limp, as its wounds were already severe. Below it, I heard the shadow creature screech in rage, which made me chuckle with glee.

I wasn't sure if it cared about the creatures dying or not, but this seemed to indicate that it did.

And so, before the serpent fell to the ground, I sped down to catch it and gripped it tightly as I sped towards the gap in the rocks once again.

It wasn't dead yet, but it wasn't far off, and as I reached the top, there were no surprise attacks this time.

The shadow creature's reaction sure was interesting.

Before escaping, I made sure to let the serpent's body fall through the gap, so it would leave me alone.

However the creature wasn't satisfied, and it screeched at me from below as the shadows along the rocks started to shift again.

«Four seconds left.» Sensei announced.

Several more rods shot out from the shadows, and the shadowy body of the creature came into being beside them.

In my panic, I gathered all of my receding magic that I could, forming a deeply unstable dark blade that crackled with energy and threw it towards the creature.

The darkness blade shot down like a meteor at the shadows body, extremely fast and far deadlier than I imagined!

It tore open the shadow as it hit, exposing the horribly fleshy figure underneath and the creature let out an enraged shriek.

I was forced to get away from its last attack, by crashing through the surrounding rocks with force to avoid the rods speeding towards me. And because of this I couldn't see what happened to the creature.

But by the time the dust settled, it had vanished.