CHAPTER 23: DUNGEON BATTLE(1): FIRST BATTLE, FEAR AND FIRST KILL

Matt opened his eyes, sword encased on his back, and saw he was in a large cave. He remembered that he was in the academy a moment ago.

"So is this the dungeon, which looks different from what I thought?" he muttered, walking in a direction.

It was now that Matt was walking; he immediately knew that it wasn’t a large cave, it was like an underground structure.

"Well, teacher Elizabeth said there are some minions, but I have been walking for the past few minutes, not meeting a single devil," he complained.

Of course, it’s because he has confidence. Every time he opens a minor vein, his physical strength increases. Now he doesn’t know how strong he is. He has trained his combat skills to perfection.

His five senses has increased to the point that a hundred miles away, if he focuses, he can still hear what people are saying.

He smiled, continuing his journey. Suddenly he felt movement in front of him. He treaded carefully, peeking as he saw a gruesome.

An ant-like devil was devouring something, and when he looked, he couldn’t stop himself from feeling nauseous.

The devil was feeding on a human corpse, and he noticed that it was one of the students.

His stomach churned. He started vomiting, creating a commotion.

The devil heard the commotion; it let out a strange shriek, heading for where Matt was.

Matt shivered; his body was still destabilized.

It was a huge, black ant with a frightening, twisted appearance. Its body was covered in a hard, dark shell that shines like metal, and red lines glow faintly across it. It had sharp mandibles strong enough to crush stone and six glowing eyes that made it look even more terrifying.

This was what was standing before him. Matt took a few steps back, trying to distance himself from the ant.

But it didn’t let him go, pouncing on him. One of its legs attacked Matt; his body moved, and he dodged the attack narrowly.

The devil felt angry by this, letting out an angry shriek increasing the speed of its legs.

At this moment, Matt was already in a threatening position; he couldn’t move any of his limbs due to the impact the corpse eating had done to his mind and body.

No wonder Teacher Elizabeth warned them. The legs of the ant were getting faster; Matt could avoid them. The legs of the ant devil tore his left arm’s cloth, burying deep in his skin, slashing as blood flowed out.

Matt grimaced in pain, his body fell to the ground, and he held where he was wounded; blood was rushing out. His face was contorted in pain, and his body began to sweat.

Matt had never felt such a pain before; his entire body was as if it had lost all its strength. Matt realized that he was overconfident again.

The next moment, Matt felt everywhere turn dark; he looked up and saw that the ant devil was on him.

Its legs were close to its chest area; Matt felt death calling to him. At this moment, the pain Matt felt had disappeared; adrenaline surged through his entire body.

His fear was suppressed; what mattered was to escape from death.

The ant devil didn’t waste time, stabbing at Matt, targeting his chest aura.

At this moment, Matt’s enhanced senses were put to their use; his heart was clear of all things, focused on the devil’s legs.

Matt’s body moved, dodging the attack; the leg of the ant devil hit the ground. This caused it to rage, attacking Matt profusely with its six legs.

But somehow, Matt was able to stay safe under the ferocious attacks; it wasn’t due to luck but his enhanced body.

Matt took advantage of this; he pumped all of his strength into his legs, kicking the ant on its hard shell.

The ant was sent flying, which surprised Matt. He stood up slowly; his body had calmed down, but the pain was back.

He stood up, staggering as he unsheathed the sword that was given to him. He looked at the direction where he kicked the ant devil; there was no movement.

Still he kept his stance, holding his sword, not wanting to fall prey to the ant devil. A few minutes passed, but there was still no movement.

He took the courage to check on the location but was vigilant towards any attack coming. When he got there, Matt was surprised to see the motionless body of the ant devil.

He was still cautious, picking up a stone from the debris and throwing it at the ant devil’s body; it still didn’t move.

When he saw this, he exhaled deeply, his body slumped to the ground. He was using his weapon to hold himself; the pain of the wound hit him badly.

He had to tend to it first. Matt tore part of the sleeve of his cloth, tying it to his wound to stop the blood from flowing.

Matt sat on the ground, tending to his wound, but surprisingly, he found out the blood had stopped flowing, the wound closing by itself. From the looks of it, within a day, Matt’s skin would be back to normal.

He was surprised by this; he never thought that his healing system had been enhanced too. It seems he had to evacuate more of the benefits brought by the vein opening.

He intended to take a first aid box to treat himself, but it seems he doesn’t need it again.

The watch given by the academy had a separate place where they kept their items. He brought some rations, food, clothes, whatever he’s going to need; he brought them along.

While he was focused on this, a clump of devilish energy came from the ant devil dead body, entering his body, but he didn’t notice all of this.

After gaining his energy back, Matt didn’t continue to walk but stopped, unsheathing his sword as he continued to train.

He didn’t just train but visualized the ant devil, the move it made, and kept fighting, trying to make sure his next encounter with the devil would be easy.