Rise of the Eromancer

Chapter 97 Monster Storm

Monster Storm.

Rhys has actually witnessed several of those when he was still in the Underworld Corps, but he hasn't actually heard them calling it by that name.

Because for them, it wasn't exactly a storm — they were simply targets that needed to be destroyed before they reached the Surface.

And Rhys… Rhys was the most effective of them all; jumping along with the monsters and killing them mid-air while diving.

But of course, this time was actually quite different. As instead of diving with the monsters, he was diving against their flow.

Rhys's hair waved erratically as he looked toward the Surface as he fell. And surprisingly, the drone wasn't there but actually expertly falling a few meters beside him. He stared at the lens directly for a few seconds, before just falling head first again and increasing his speed.

"..." And after a few seconds of doing so, he felt uncomfortable with the camera just following him and turned to look at it again. Not saying anything felt… weird for some reason,

"How are—"

Before Rhys could say what he wanted, however, loud howls and barks started to echo from his path. And as soon as it reached his ears, he immediately blasted himself with wind; burying his fingers and attaching himself to the wall like some sort of spider. He then once again looked at the camera, before just letting go of the wall.

He was, however, still connected to the wall by the threads coming out of his fingers.

"...Watch this," Rhys then whispered as he leaped to the opposite side of the wall, once again digging his fingers through it. He did this several times, until the threads, albeit almost invisible in the quaint darkness of the hole, made a literal web. It looked clumsy, but for the purpose Rhys had in mind for it, it was more than enough.

And so, with his web done, Rhys once again let himself fall — a small smile, slightly creeping on his face as the growls and howls grew louder and louder.

And soon, eyes that glowed through the darkness started glimmering in front of Rhys; four-legged creatures whose bones were exposed to serve as a sort of armor. Their heads that were just skulls, indiscernible whether or not it was some type of wolf or just a very aggressive cow due to its size.

Kokasaurus. Now that Rhys was thinking of the name, it was actually probably some type of reptile. According to the bus manager, the region below was a Scorching Desert, with the temperature of Helios affecting it more than the other regions due to all the heatwaves — their flesh being hidden by their bones was probably a way to cope with that.

Rhys did not really have a lot of time to admire the monster's physiology, however, as they were now only meters away from making contact with Rhys, all 20 of them. 10 were ahead, while another 10 followed behind them.

"..." Rhys subtly glanced at the camera again, before opening his trusty utility belt, where several silver scalpels started falling beside him. Rhys grabbed one of them, before just throwing it straight onto one of the kokosaurus' heads — causing it to come out of the other end.

The scalpel did not continue to fall down, however, as it was attached to a thread which Rhys quickly whipped; causing the monster's body to violently sway in the air and hit its brethren, completely breaking their formation and scattering them to the side, allowing Rhys through the middle.

The monsters were extremely baffled judging from the fact that their roars and howls were replaced by high-pitched cries. Their cries did not last long, however, because as soon as they were at the same height as Rhys, 5 of them joined their brethren as Rhys expertly threw knives onto their skull heads. And just like that, 6 of the 20 kokasaurus were dead.

6, as that was the same number of scalpels that Rhys had.

It did not matter to Rhys, however, as killing them was not exactly his intention. With 6 of them attached to Rhys's thread, he found himself being pulled back up to the Surface from the distribution of weight.

The physics, gravity, and logic behind the Hole were weird. If Rhys were to let go right now, he would once again slowly start falling into the Underworld; the center of his gravity remains to be down there, while the monsters were still pointed toward the Surface even after they clashed.

Rhys then forcefully pulled himself up, letting go of the threads and shooting straight toward one of the kokasaurus that were still alive and kicking it straight down — letting it hit another monster which caused their formation to further scramble to the point they were just shaking helpless in the air.

Rhys was basically using them as a literal stepping stone at this point as he kicked one kokasaurus to the next; attaching threads to each one of them which he proceeded to bite down as he leaped onto the walls again.

This time, however, like a panther climbing on a tree, Rhys proceeded to pounce up; crawling and leaping up onto the walls at a speed faster than the monsters fell, practically violently dragging 14 of the monsters up and leaving behind the 6 monsters that he initially killed.

He went faster and faster, until finally, the threads he left earlier started to glimmer. And soon, he passed through the gaps of the web; before finally letting go of the threads in his mouth and catching them… before proceeding to tug on it as hard as he could.

And with that tug, the monster soon made contact with the web of threads Rhys created. And with the speed in which they were now falling… their armor of bones proved to be completely useless as all of them were completely sliced up into pieces before the web detached from the walls.

"...Nice," Rhys whispered as the blood and bones of the kokasaurus moved past him when he once again started to fall down toward the Underworld. Rhys did not seem to mind, however, as he just looked down — and there, the 6 kokasaurus he first killed were falling toward him; still tied together by the threads attached to their heads.

Rhys swiftly grabbed threads…

…and just like that, he was on his way back to the Surface.

***

"The monsters are getting near. Everyone, be ready!"

Back in the Surface, after they moved on from their initial shock of seeing Rhys just dive into the Hole, they all quickly set up their defenses again and focused on clearing the Monster Storm that was about to hit them in a few seconds.

"...What do you think happened to the Lowborn?"

"Dead, what do you think? Probably overestimated himself, most new Explorers do."

The elemental controller who built the wall really only scoffed and shook his head; ready to adjust the spikes he created depending on where the monsters will land.

"Stop thinking about the Lowborn and focus, I feel them coming up now."

And with those words, all the Explorers readied themselves and focused on the Hole. And soon…

"They're here!"

Another Elemental Controller immediately summoned a ball of fire to shoot toward the monster that was landing close to his position — he was not able to do so, however, and just allowed the monster to land… because it was not a monster at all, but just a lump of flesh and bones that plopped as it made contact with the ground.

He really had no time to process that, as soon, blood started showering out from the Hole like a fountain; along with more monster parts which just rained down on all of them as their gravity began to shift.

"What… what the fuck…?"

The Explorers began backing away as more and more parts shot out from the Hole; some bones, even piercing diagonally through the ground.

"Is… Is this some sort of attack!? Is the blood acid!?" One of the Explorers raised his voice as he retreated from the Hole, "I haven't heard of a kokasaurus that's able to do something like this!"

"We should return to the bus and—"

And before any of them could start deliberating on what exactly was happening, a bunch of intact kokasaurus emerged from the Hole; causing most of them to once again focus on the Hole and put up their guards… that is, until, they saw Rhys come out of the Hole while being pulled by the kokasaurus as if they were some sort of sled.

"Hm…" Rhys expertly landed on the ground as he let go of the threads and began looking around him; seemingly satisfied with what he had done. He did not even glance at the other Explorers, and instead just looked up toward his drone before stretching his palm at it. And almost instantly, it started flying toward him and landing in his hand.

"...I guess that's all for today. Until next…" Rhys stopped talking as he subtly looked to the side. And after a few breaths, he just shrugged his shoulders and once again threw the drone up in the air, allowing it to continue filming.

He then started looking around, before walking toward the bus where the manager was hiding. The person guarding the bus did not really know whether to block Rhys's path or not; but as he saw all the blood dripping from Rhys's body, he just allowed him to board the bus.

"Bus Manager, Sir."

"Y…yes?" The bus manager could really only stutter with his words as he very slowly looked up at the blood-drenched Rhys.

"Can…

…I still participate with the Exploration?"