Primordial Expanse: I have the Strongest Talent!

98  Adrenaline rush

The moment Alex made a run for the centre, the spider knew exactly what he was doing. By now it had already realised that Alex posed a serious threat to its life, especially with the boost in power he got from that flaming transformation of his.

And now, if Alex was successful in what he was planning, the odds would no longer be in its favour.

The Mutant D- rank spider lunged at Alex with lightning speed, its multiple eyes gleaming with malevolence as it descended upon him. Alex dodged and weaved, desperately making attempts at making his way towards the sword at the centre.

'It's so close! I'm only 20 metres away!'

With each passing moment, Alex felt the weight of exhaustion bearing down upon him. The constant upkeep of energy his flaming transformation required was taking a toll on his body.

His muscles ached, his breath became ragged gasps, and his movements grew sluggish as he struggled to keep ahead of the relentless assault from the spider.

As the beast closed in for the kill, desperation surged through Alex's veins. His body was now running purely off of the little amount of energy he had left and pure willpower.

With a surge of adrenaline, he made a split second decision. Ignoring the creature's attacks, he dashed towards the centre of the hall, taking multiple injuries to his chest, legs and arms in the process.

But right as he was about to fall, his hand clasped onto the hilt of the sword. In that moment he felt energy pour into his body, replenishing his dried up reserves. In one fluid motion, he pulled the sword free from its resting place, the blade shimmering in an otherworldly light as it responded to his touch.

Instantly, it resonated with his fire element and burst into flames.

'I was wondering why such a strong beast was guarding this sword! The previous explorers who ventured here were all wrong, this isn't an E+ rank sword at all, nor is it a D- rank sword… It's actually a Mutant Class D- rank sword!'

For the first time in months, Alex took up another blade, but the difference between him then and now was like that of heaven and earth.

With a newfound power surging through his veins, Alex turned to face the now anxious Spider beast, his eyes metaphorically and literally blazing with determination as he raised the sword high above his head.

The beast hesitated, sensing the change in the air. The temperature in the hall had drastically risen the instant Alex made contact with the sword, and now with the sword above his head, it seemed as if it would never stop rising.

Alex struck forwards, slashing even though there was a 20 metre distance between himself and the beast. His blade flashed in a dim light as the flaming aura left the sword and travelled through the air as a flurry of blows upon the beast. With each strike, the spider staggered, its hard carapace defences crumbling under the relentless assault.

With the sword in hand, Alex felt invincible. But he knew the moment wouldn't last forever. There was no such thing as infinite energy, and he could feel the sword running out quickly.

With a final, decisive blow, Alex delivered a strike. The now dimly flaming sword piercing through the cracks in its armour, deep into the heart of the beast. With a strangled and unrelenting cry, the spider collapsed to the ground, lifeless and still.

Breathless and battered, Alex stood motionless in the silent hall amidst the destruction and carnage he had caused, the sword still clutched in his hand. And then, he collapsed. His body couldn't take it anymore and he had used up all the energy available to him, as well as the sword's own energy.

***

'Ugh… Not this shit again.'

Alex felt a sense of Deja vu when he woke up. He had been in this exact situation before.

He didn't know how much time had passed since the battle had concluded, but his injuries still hadn't healed, and he could barely keep his eyes open even though he had just awoken.

Eventually, he had healed enough to pick himself back up onto his feet, and he looked at the hall surrounding him.

The ceiling had completely caved in, letting the moonlight completely bathe his surroundings in a gentle glow.

A sudden desperation came over him as he frantically looked around himself, but it died down quickly when he found the sword laying right next to him.

It would be quite upsetting if he lost the very thing he had come in search of right after obtaining it. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Next, he looked over at where the centre of the hall used to be, and noticed a small hill of stones.

He limped over and started removing the stones one by one, until 10 minutes later the carcass of the spider was revealed to the world once again.

'Please god give me a beast core.'

Even though he didn't believe in an almighty divine entity like god, Alex still prayed.

It took him a while, but with the help of his newly gained sword, he tore off the hard shell surrounding the spider's eyes and dug his fist into the head like always.

With the size of the beast, it took him a while to sift through the whole thing but he managed it anyway.

'Shit, rotten luck again!'

Unfortunately, he wasn't able to recover any beast core from the beast, which was a shame considering it was a Mutant!

'Please god show me a Mutant soul orb when I open my inventory!'

Repeating the same process, Alex carefully and nervously accessed his inventory, hoping to see the familiar purple glow of a soul orb like he always did.

But there was no such thing.

'Ah shi-'

Before he could spray more curses towards the world, god and himself, he paused.

A soft glow lit up a small corner of his inventory he had almost missed, except this glow wasn't purple.

It was red!