Black Online-Chapter 71: Water Monster, Dark Hole, and Smoke

With the sword in hand, Machary spun like a tornado and slashed through the small army of skeletons.

The skeletons crumbled to the ground.

"...Skeletons this time around. The 6th floor is strange in a way that the boss and its minions change constantly."

Machary said, picked up the dropped items of the skeletons, and then ventured deeper into the dark hallway.

After walking for a while, he arrived at a crossroads, marked each pathway with a number, and then took the "1"-marked path.

Ten minutes later, he arrived at a dead end, and thus, he turned around, walked ten minutes back to the crossroad, and took the second path.

Then, once again, he encountered a dead end, walked back yet again, and took the final "3" marked path.

This time around, he arrived at some kind of well-lit chamber with a river running through the stone ground.

The ground was uneven—very hill-like, except it was all stone—and if there were trees, it would be very forest-like.

SPLASH!

At that moment.

Whips of water burst out from the river, and they moved like tentacles of a massive octopus.

"What the hell is this now?"

Machary shifted his sword into a reverse grip, and at that moment, the whips of water lashed at him.

He jumped, twirled, and slashed through the whips of water with a reverse slash that sent droplets flying in all directions.

Splash!

The whips of water turned back to their liquid form and fell back into the river. It turned calm, but there was something churning under.

"...I don’t want to wait and see what kind of monstrosity comes out next!"

Machary jumped over the river, took off into a run, and escaped the chamber before it was too late.

"Chat window."

He whispered, pulled out the chat window, and messaged everyone about what he had just encountered.

Before him, there was also a message from Fang Raon.

[Fang Raon: I just encountered some kind of dancing skeletons]

[Machary: I also encountered some skeletons, but now I met some strange water monster. Avoid water, if you can]

He then made the chat window disappear and continued forward through the dark dungeon.

...

’...They’re encountering monsters, but I haven’t found anything yet.’

Abigail thought to herself and made the chat window disappear, and she then arrived at the end of the hallway.

She stopped at the end of the hallway, and her expression turned strange.

In front of her, there was a drop that went deep into the darkness. It was a massive hole in front of her, and she couldn’t see the end to it. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Across the hole, there was another hallway, but there was no way to go over the hole.

’There is no other path for me to go to, so is this just a dead end?’

Abigail looked conflicted, and she then pulled out the chat window and sent a message to the party chat.

[Abigail: I’ve encountered a problem. There is a massive gap in front of me, and there is a hallway on the other side, but to go there I would need to somehow fly over twenty meters]

[Fang Raon: Machary, can your Super Jump cross that gap?]

[Machary: You crazy? I can jump ten meters, maybe more if I run for speed, but twenty meters is impossible]

[Fang Raon. Abigail, join Machary in the second path. There are multiple paths to the boss room, so even if yours is one, there is still a chance]

She looked at the message, replied with "Ok," and then closed the chat window before heading back to where she came from.

...

"Slowness"

Poppy cursed the running skeletons with the slow debuff that made them move even slower than usual.

"ARGH!"

Ragnar screamed and smashed through the skeletons with his shield and sent them crashing into the walls.

"...Good job."

He said to the shy girl, who wasn’t accustomed to receiving praise, and she blushed and smiled gratefully.

In that moment, Ragnar smelled something weird and looked forward, and he saw some strange smoke coming.

"Smoke? Is something burning there?"

He curiously said with a smile, and he slowly approached it.

"S-Should we ask Raon what we should do?"

Poppy asked.

"...Give me a moment."

Ragnar said, and with some hesitation, he reached his hand towards the smoke and barely touched it.

In an instant, his right hand was engulfed in flames, and his skin started to melt right off his bones.

"RAGNAR!"

Poppy screamed.

"..."

Ragnar frowned, pulled out his axe, and cut off his right hand. He then threw the flaming hand away from him.

The flaming hand burned off till there was nothing left.

’If I had waited any longer, that flame would’ve engulfed the rest of my body and would’ve killed me.’

Ragnar thought and walked away from the smoke, and Poppy was immediately healing the bloody stump of his separated hand.

"Heal... Heal... Heal..."

She had to use Heal three times, and only at the third time did the hand grow back, and it was as good as new.

"...Thanks."

Ragnar said, and then he took out a Mana Recovery Potion from his inventory and handed it over to her.

"...Ah, thank you."

Poppy accepted it with both hands, gulped it down like a chipmunk eating a nut, and immediately felt much better.

Ragnar pulled out the chat window and typed.

[Ragnar: The fourth path is a no-go. We encountered some smoke that kills you instantly if you get close]

[Fang Raon: Come over to the first path then. I am getting quite far, so you need to run if you want to catch me]

"Let’s go."

Ragnar waved off the chat window, and Poppy nodded, and the two of them started making their way back.

...

Fang Raon typed on the chat window, but meanwhile, he was holding a skull of a skeleton in his left hand.

Around him, there were about ten dead skeletons littered on the ground, all around him.

"...Smoke that kills. Very intriguing."

Fang Raon said, and then he crushed the skull in his hand and hopped off the pile of dead skeletons.

With narrowed gaze, he reached the end of the hallway and arrived in front of a heavy-looking door that had intricate carvings of snakes and dragons.

"...This screams of a boss room."