Warning! In addition to [Kill Streak] and [Fast Stab], do you wish to also fuse [Assassinate]?

Adrian was going to select yes but backpedaled once he remembered the time he obtained [Court of the Broken King]. ‘The message, if I remember correctly, was something like [Skill Fusion] being a difficult process. What happens if I fail? Do I lose my [Skills]? I certainly don’t want to lose [Assassinate].’

In the end, Adrian refused the second fusion as he wasn’t sure if the process would go well. Even then, if the process succeeded, he would have lost the incredibly useful ability that was [Assassinate]. In the end, Adrian declined the last fusion but permitted the first one between [Kill Streak] and [Fast Stab].

[Skill Fusion] has finished.

Congratulations! For succeeding in the rare and difficult process that is [Skill Fusion] you have successfully fuse two [Rare] skills into a [Unique] one.

[Rampage]: He who gets deadlier and faster as the battle rages, drowning in the blood of enemies. After killing an enemy, you will receive a 5% damage increase and a 5% speed boost that lasts twenty seconds for every enemy you kill. Only the first kill counts towards stamina use. Consumes severe stamina. Later kills restore low stamina, mental power, and mana.

There were a lot of things that Adrian enjoyed while reading the [Skill], but one highlighted above all. ‘Mana? Like in videogames? Can I gain magic if I kill enough of those things?’ Adrian's last question wasn’t that strange. Even though he had a skill called [Time Magic] he couldn’t exactly consider it magic as it only provoked headaches.

Adrian decided to tell the group of this skill after the quest was done. Why? First, the skill didn’t give him a great boost if he only killed one or two mantises. Second, it was funnier this way. Adrian was imagining if he managed to kill ten mantises and suddenly became a go-kart.

“So, where are we dropping?” Dale’s question woke Adrian from his train of thought.

Kayle sighed, loathing his brother’s comment. “Obviously that way.” Kayle gazed at the rocky doorway.

Adrian was sure he had lost some jokes in translation. Well, not exactly on translation, but in context. These small jokes that were happening every now and then confirmed to Adrian that everybody came from different places. It was somewhat painful to know that there was a joke there but couldn’t be able to understand it.

As accorded, Adrian entered alone to the lair. His first impression was the stench. O, the humanity! The pestilence was not horrible, but borderline terrifying. Adrian could feel as his psyche was degrading as he marched, his sanity dying away every second. His next thought was: ‘A debuff?’ Adrian wasn’t the type of person that got affected by strong smells, but right now, he felt as his mind was being defiled.

According to the guild officer, [Archimantis Homicida] didn’t possess night vision. But they did have a special vision that let them accumulate light in their eyes to see in dark places or at night. Adrian didn’t know if mantis on Earth also worked that way, but that didn’t matter in the end. The cave (or mine) was filled with moss. It was a light green, near yellow, that emitted light. It was faint, but light, nonetheless. Even then, the moss wasn’t the responsible to illuminate the whole cave, that paper was delegated to a mineral. A strange iridescent crystal, similar to quartz in structure, but closer to aquamarine in color, reflected the light coming out of the moss.

It was a beautiful and interesting sight. Little and tenuous beams of light filled the way as if someone was looking at the insides of a cheese grater. Those bluish crystals also looked like they converged the light. The moss did spray brightness across the place, but those crystals condensed the light, making the intensity and brightness higher.

Adrian stalked slower than ever. He knew that if he triggered some alarm, the place would be flooded with mantises. He found no monsters before the mine started bifurcating. It wasn't the typical Y intersection that you could see on novels or movies, but a T one. A new path opened at the right, perpendicular to Adrian.

He moved with great care, expecting a mantis trying to ambush him in the corner. Maybe he was paranoid, but he preferred to be cautious than dead. He didn’t even know if Dale’s revive range would cover over here, they didn’t expect the lair to be this big.

Adrian took a fast look at the corridor and moved his head back. No mantises on sight. He decided to continue that path. If this was a videogame, this would be the secondary path. Washing away those thoughts, Adrian advanced through the passage. He quickly saw the end of the path and two mantises along with it. There was no extra chamber or chest, but two mantises copulating harder than those who were outside.

Without thinking twice, Adrian directed one dagger to each mantis. Both times aiming to the head. Probably because they were making a lot of noise and were facing the wall, they didn’t detect Adrian even after death. Adrian activated his new [Rampage], he felt as his stamina depleted and the went up again. The buff of killing those beasts felt great, his body got stronger.

“Oh-oh!” Adrian cried alarmed as he almost slipped.

Even though Adrian was nearly three times faster than he was on Earth, the sudden 10% speed boost felt weird. [Celeratio] was gradual and felt natural, but [Rampage] speed was as if someone gave him a push on the back.

Adrian was worried that his cry could have alerted any enemies, so taking advantage of his temporary speed, he cut the left arms of the [Archimantis Homicida] and swiftly got out of the lair.

“How did it go?” Axel, who was sitting on the ground, asked Adrian.

“I couldn’t explore the whole lair.” He explained. “I killed a pair of mantises that were fucking in an alley. Here are the arms.” Adrian threw the pair of arms into a pile that was made from the arms of the mantises that were at the exterior of the lair.

“Are you going back in?” Aby asked him as she opened one of her eyes. She sat with the legs crossed and the arms relaxed, she was clearly using [The Hermit’s Meditation].

“Yeah,” Adrian responded then took a look at the time. 2 p.m. showed his [Title]. “Let me take a five-minute break and I’m going in again.”