[Many people have reached the level 45 area!]
Such a message appeared before Stark while he was walking through the Valley's Forest and killing monsters left and right in the hope of leveling up.
But honestly, he wasn't surprised, after all he had spent a good fifteen minutes fighting the guardians, and most of the classifiers were already inside the forest by now.
'Gotta go faster if I wanna fight the boss myself…' he mumbled, but knew deep down he couldn't afford to waste energy.
"-28172!" his aura had indeed gotten stronger, and he could now two-shot most enemies, and even one-shot those that have visible weaknesses like the 'Fake Trees'.
[You have slain "Forest Spirit lv39", gained 33736EXP!]
[You have slain "Rock Python lv40", gained 35128EXP!]
[You have slain one "Fake Tree lv38", gained 30736EXP!]
[Experience: 281627/415000]
Stark wondered if the 'Crimson Moon Squad' had already gone ahead and passed the forest, after all Vex and the members were much stronger than he was, so it wouldn't be surprising.
He didn't want (and didn't know how) to call them anyway.
And soon enough, he reached the end of the 'Valley's Forest'.
Little by little, the trees became less and less apparent, until eventually, he left the forest and found himself at the entrance of the next area.
Right in front of him, not even 5KM away, was the giant mountain with the staircase leading to the monument at the top: it was the final area of the rift.
But what stopped him (and many others) from passing was… a giant canyon, cutting the area into two.
'…' Stark approached the canyon and looked down, noticing that at the very end of it was not only spikes that would kill anybody that touched them, but also hundreds of monsters, their eyes looking up at the humans.
[You have entered Level 45 area: The Death Canyon]
Of course, being in such a large space with monsters roaming, and no real visible way to pass it, meant that Stark could see dozens of people fighting around him.
'Why aren't they using their powers to pass… I mean… aren't many able to fly?' he pondered, after all the canyon that seperated this side from the other only looked to be 100 meters in size.
It didn't take long for a panel to appear and explain everything.
[Abilities that allow you to fly or cheat your way to the other side aren't allowed]
[To pass the Death Canyon, you have to either find the item drop "TP Pearl" from a monster (extremely low chance to appear), or… wait twelve hours since it was first discovered]
The latter was obviously the safest solution there was, but when inside a Secret Rift, the true winner would be the one to accomplish the greatest feats and acquire the most material, so waiting around for all the others to arrive was a bad idea.
Basically… those who found that 'TP PEARL' would get a massive advantage.
'Huh…' Stark scratched his chin, he also wanted to be the first to defeat the boss, so this did put a strain on his quest…
Although… he had the [Chosen One] talent, one of its perks being the fact many events, both good and bad will appear, so maybe… with enough luck…
~FWISH~
But something came interrupting his thoughts as he suddenly felt a presence behind him, and moved to the site to avoid the attack.
~BOOM!~
A giant hammer hit the place he was previously in.
'Wowow~ almost forgot I wasn't alone," he grinned and looked up to see a giant minotaur, with a steel hammer in its brown muscular hands.
It wasn't surprising, after all, almost everyone around the canyon was currently fighting a monster.
Another one of the bad things about waiting in this area was that you would need to constantly fight for the next 12 hours, and it was bound to tire out most people, forcing them to take a rest and waste precious time again.
"MINO SMASH!" the minotaur yet again swung its hammer at Stark, forcing him to dodge again by crouching.
[Name: Canyon Minotaur (STRONG)]
[Level: 46]
[HP: 80000]
[Strength: 1121]
[Stamina: 426]
[Speed: 293]
[Defense: 1214]
[Skills: Mino Smash, Enraged Charge, Berserk State, Horn Frenzy, Ground Pound…]
"ENRAGED CHARGE," the beast didn't waste time and dashed at Stark with its… very low speed.
It was at least 7 meters tall, but it ran very slowly as it took it three massive steps (that shook the earth) to reach Stark and swing its hammer at him.
~FWISH~
Stark knew better than to ignore a charging minotaur and moved every time to avoid the attack.
Enraged charge seemed to allow the minotaur to strike at Stark several times.
But honestly… what was the point of aimlessly trying to hit an opponent faster than you?
"…" Stark jumped in the air after the minotaur got angry and used both its hand to smash the hammer to the ground, creating a giant crater.
"AURA SMASH!" he spinned in the air and sent a crimson fist of aura toward the minotaur.
In response, the minotaur tried to use its hammer to hit the fist that was flying toward it.
But of course… it didn't work.
~BOOM~
"-18271!" almost a fourth of its life was consumed, and it could honestly thank its high defense and HP pool, else it would be just a fodder monster.
'That guy is slow, and dumb, we got a combo,' Stark dropped to the ground and summoned [Crimson Spears] to make his three spears appear behind him.
The minotaur seemed stunned for a moment (not the status effect), not expecting such a sudden change in Stark's strategy. Its slow reflexes made it hard for it to react in time.
"GROUND POUND!" it jumped in the air, extremely high, and then used its strong legs to slam the ground, creating tremors and sending a shockwave in all directions.
Despite its slow speed, it was a powerful blow that could knock down even the fastest of opponents if they weren't careful.
After all… the point of this attack wasn't to cause damage, but if the shockwave even scratched your little pinky, then you would 100% receive the 'stun' status effect, essentially guaranteeing your death.
But in response, Stark just threw his three spears at the minotaur, who clenched its chest and crossed its arms, ready for impact.
~FWISH, FWISH, FWISH~
The three spears hit the minotaur respectively, in the leg, the torso and… the head.
"-7261! -3625! -13152!" the one in the head did massive damage.
At that very moment, Stark understood just how powerful it was to be fast, and that having the highest strength in the world wouldn't mean anything if you were too slow.
"Invincible Dodge!" not wanting to risk it, he rolled as soon as the shockwave was centimeters away from him, essentially avoiding it.
"ROOOOARRR~" the minotaur screamed, a shout that passed through the entire canyon, everyone inside of it able to hear it and turning their heads to see what was happening.
"BERSERK STATE!" it activated its most powerful skill, its eyes flashing with a crismson berserk aura, readying its hammer to strike down the human.
"Alright buddy," Stark's eyes also glew with that same crimson aura, "Come at me, big boy!"