Reverse Apocalypse: The Devil's Revenge

The area around the Spawn of the Ancient Vermin Draklings was filled with herbs. There was only one type of herb but the quantity was quite a lot. The leaves of the herb were dark green in color and it had unique 'veins' spreading through them.

The veins were purple in color and they glowed lightly.

Liam recalled what kind of herb the Spawn of the Ancient Vermin Draklings had created and he was quite surprised by what he saw.

'I wonder what is more valuable, the Kikal Stalks, or the Spawn.'

The Kikal Stalks had been created by the Spawn of the Ancient Vermin Draklings. At least, that was what Liam presumed because the Kikal Stalks surrounded the Spawn.

Either way, the Kikal Stalks were an extraordinary and extremely rare type of plant that increased one's strength permanently. While that was exceptional, one would have to overcome an extremely painful poisoned state that was likely to kill the person who ate it. Dying due to the effects of the poison was not a laughing matter even for those who were fine with being thrown into deadly situations.

The survival rate of the beings that ate the Kikal Stalks was less than 1%!

However, overcoming the poisoned state would result in a great increase in one's strength, an expansion of the Arcane Power that can be stored in the body, and so on. Nonetheless, strength was not everything since it was only useful as long as one was alive. That was also why the Kikal Stalk was usually used as an ingredient for rare antidotes.

Though Liam didn't need it for the antidote of the Phasma Decur Poison, he was actually willing to eat the Kikal Stalks. It was about time that he increased his strength, even if at the risk of facing death. It was a fair gamble that would reward him either with death or with tremendous strength.

"The Kikal Stalks over there increase your strength permanently if you survive eating them," Liam told the others while taking a few steps forward.

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He was about to retrieve the Livral Orb when he halted in his tracks.

"What do you mean, 'if you survive'?" Derek asked stupidly enough. His mind seemed to short-circuit from the pressure and fear the Spawn of the Ancient Vermin Drakling exerted upon them.

"Well, with lots of pain comes great power, or so I was told," Liam answered nonchalantly as he scanned the herbs. They totaled more than a hundred, which was more than enough for him to create several tonics. Their potency would increase drastically as he would use water infused with compressed Arcane Power and other ingredients to create the tonic. That way, his stats should increase by leaps and bounds.

As for the chance of his survival, his Vitality stat was S-Rank, so there shouldn't be much of a problem with that...not more of a problem than it would be initially, at least.

Because Liam was distracted by the pleasant find he made with the information of the Memory Crystal, he didn't even notice that they had yet to encounter any kind of mutated animal, forget about monsters.

The others had already taken note of this, but they had been in the belief that Liam had knowingly led them through the maze of tunnels and pipes to avoid all monsters until now.

That was not the case, and they were all slightly astonished about their stroke of luck when they suddenly heard a low growl, followed by the sound of claws scraping against concrete.

While the others readied their weapons, Liam was still staring at the Spawn of the Ancient Vermin Draklings.

"Liam?!"

They all screamed in unison, pulling the Halfling out of the daze he was in. It was just a moment later, that a mutated rat-like creature emerged from the shadows of the sewer's intersection.

The creature's fur was matted and its eyes glowed in an unnaturally bright red color. Its claws were long and razor-sharp, and its blood seemed to glow through the matted fur in a sickly green light. Everyone quickly realized that this creature was different from any they had encountered before.

However, Liam was not too worried.

He charged forward, his claws at the ready, his Devil's Eyes Soultrait activated and the Arcane Kunai also prepared.

The rat didn't charge at him immediately. It looked at the Spawn of the Ancient Vermin Drakling for a second before its head turned back to him. A moment later, it spat a glob of acid at him.

Liam narrowly evaded the corrosive acid that sizzled loudly as it hit the ground. He intentionally didn't evade the attack with a big movement because he wanted to check something but it looked like the monster mutated from the Spawn of the Ancient Vermin Drakling didn't want to give him the opportunity.

The others behind Liam quickly spread out, attempting to surround the rat and avoid its acidic attacks at the same time.

But they quickly noticed that the rat was not only able to release acid through its mouth but that its entire body was acidic. The rat was extremely fast as well, posing a big threat to everyone daring enough to get too close.

The rat was even faster than Liam, who continued to evade its attacks. It shot past him and swished its tail at him, releasing acid through its pores at the same time.

Liam's pupils dilated and he released the Arcane Kunai, cutting through the tail without feeling any resistance. The rat squeaked in pain, but nobody paid any attention to it.

The others stared at Liam, and their eyes widened in horror. Even the blood of the rat was highly corrosive, burning Liam's skin as it splattered on his face.

For a moment, they were too overwhelmed to understand what they should do. They panicked, imagining the worst possible scenario, and blanked out.

Meanwhile, Liam ignored the pain completely. His skin was being scorched and burned, but that was nothing noteworthy. He had already endured worse.

Because he didn't care too much about the pain, he had no qualms about piercing his claws deep into their flesh, even if that meant his claws would be exposed to their corrosive blood.

[Vermin Rat has been slayed.]

[+0.9 Arcanium]