The Rise Of A Tribal Deadbeat - Chapter 68

‘This is quite a problem…’ Zok thought to himself as he saw numerous creatures running in the same direction he was headed to.

Fighting off the giant was one thing, but fighting every creature living inside the dungeon was a different problem altogether. Cero was able to carry him and Zus together, but apart from that, he was still recovering from the injury Adrion had so generously given him.

Thus, making Cero fight them was not a good idea in his opinion. It was the same case with Zus. He too was injured thus he would not have been able to help Zok in a fight. But it was quite evident that no matter what, he would have to get rid of the beasts standing in the way before they could get out of the dungeon once and for all.

“Looks like we will have to split up.” Zok said as he headed the key to Zus, “I will distract the beasts, in the meantime, you should unlock the door. Once it’s open, give me a signal and I will come rushing back.”

“Are you sure this plan would work? I mean there are way too many of those creatures there. Not to mention some of them would inevitably be aberrant as well.” Zus tried to dissuade Zok but accepted the key, “What about Cero and-”

“We have no other way. One of us has to distract them and since both of you are injured, it would be better for me to do it. Either way, I’m stronger and faster than the two of you so dodging their attacks while luring them away would not be an issue.”

Zok continued, “As for Cero, he will protect you just in case one of the stray beasts finds its way to you. You should just focus on unlocking the door, I will take care of the rest by myself.”

Zus nodded but otherwise remained silent. Zok could sense something was off with Zus but there was no time to discuss it now. They first had to get out of there. With the plan formed, Zok lept off of Cero’s back.

‘Cero, as soon as I started fighting with the beast, take Zus straight to the exit, ok?’ Zok instructed the beast using hivemind and petted his face before heading towards the beasts.

Cero snorted loudly and stayed in place while Zok vanished into the white fields of the cold lands.

***

“Who would have thought I would get to test the title given by Adrion so soon.” Zok smiled as the beasts felt him coming towards them, “Since I can’t tame them, there is no point trying to not hunt them down.”

With that Zok rushed straight into the horde of the creatures without a tinge of fear on his face. After facing off against Adrion, his stats had grown exponentially. His strength and defence both had been increased.

Then there was the stats bonus received while facing off against any creature related to the cold lands. At the moment, even Prinoras would have a hard time fighting against him. The only problem Zok had now was the sheer number of his opponents.

Fighting against the hordes was the one thing Zok was weak at as his Elude ability was not very effective against a horde. Until and unless he was strong enough to one-shot the creatures in the horde.

Sadly, that appeared to be the case this time. Even with the title effect and his improved strength, he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to take care of the prinoras in the horde and then there were other creatures that he hadn’t fought yet.

In a matter of seconds, the horde was upon him. Just like had expected. He was slashing and attacking anything and everything that came in his way. By doing so, he managed to keep the attention of the creatures on himself.

‘Ok… this should be enough.’ Zok thought to himself and suddenly began running in the opposite direction.

He had aggravated enough of the creatures and they began rushing towards him. The rest of the creatures who had not been aggravated till yet saw the others and began charging away as well. Leaving the exit unprotected.

‘Alright Cero, you’re up!’ Zok gave the beast a signal using Hivemind as soon as the beasts were away from the exit.

Cero didn’t waste any time either. Even he knew that the time was of the essence and he could not linger around for long. Soon Cero and Zus were standing in front of the pathway from where Zok and Cero had entered the cold lands.

As soon as Zus got close to the boulder blocking the pathway, both the bolder and key in Zus’ hand started glowing. The two things were reacting to each other’s presence. The next moment, the key flew out of his hands and started floating mid-air as if a ghost was holding it up in place.

“Woah… is this really magic?” Zus mouth was wide open in awe, however, it was at that exact moment a plan hatched inside his head. A plan that would have achieved two targets in a single shot.

***

In the meantime, Zok was busy handling the horde on his own. So far, he was doing a great job at it too. Initially, running away from the creatures was a luring tactic, but he soon realised its other use as well.

All of the creatures had different speeds. Some were fast, some were slow. Thus by running away, Zok was able to create a huge gap between beasts, making it easier for him to strike down those who got too close without worrying about the rest catching up to him.

“Eat shit!” Zok cursed before jumping over yet another creature and ripping its head off using his spear.

[You have slain a level 20 Chilopodina. Agility +2.]

“Nice. Another one.” Zok mumbled as he kept running further away from the creatures, “With these bonus points, I can make sure they only catch up when I want them to. But I can’t keep on doing this forever.. My only hope is that Zus manages to open the door fast.”