Not a single crystal. She saw neither in the crypt nor outside; it was as if every crystal in the world had stopped existing. She had almost given up at this time, but her sword sang every time there was a need to.

What she was most concerned about was that she was falling behind in terms of technique usage in the team. The more one uses their technique, the better they get at it and the more they stretch their cores, ready for the next rank.

Stallus was only using her core for cloaking now, nothing like skills, but still, she didn’t think she was holding the team back in any way.

"Let’s go!" Alex called and made way for the portal.

They entered the portal. Azaroth opened his eyes as his leg touched solid ground again. The air was heavy, damp, and wet. They were underground and around them, deep into the walls that surrounded them, were crystals.

The crystals were shimmery reds and pinks, chunks of them covering the wall as if they were simply growing on it.

Stallus sucked in a breath, her blue eyes widening to take it all in. After a month, she finally had it in her hands. Crystals! She turned, spun to look around, to get a better look.

The crystals called to her, they chimed in a way that only she could hear, and she wanted to take them into her hands and use her essence on them.

But that had to wait because they were being attacked by water. Actually, it was a puddle of water, not very large or particularly strong, and with one slash from Azaroth, it was dead.

"That looks like a slime," Alex said and shuddered, gesturing with his sword. "That one doesn’t seem strong though, must still be growing."

They continued to walk in the underground tunnel, seeing more of the weak slimes and cutting them down all the same. They saw no other monsters and Azaroth thought maybe this was a slime-only crypt.

The deeper they went, though, the more dangerous the slimes became. They got bigger, and the problem lay in the fact that they had natural resistance against techniques. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Their mode of attack usually consisted of shooting out long ropes of slime and then dragging their enemies into them for digestion. It was an effective and simple method.

But it didn’t work against the team. If the slimes had natural resistance against essence, then they would just smash their way through with nothing but raw strength. And that was what they did.

Before long, they reached the center of the crypt, which was a big chamber with a lot of slimes there. These ones were the biggest by far, taller than Catena himself. They moved slowly, which just meant that their digestive system would be fast and brutal.

There were seven of the big slimes and several of the smaller ones that got in the way.

Alex frowned as one of the big ones came his way. He stood his ground with his heavy sword drawn back. "Be careful. They are stronger the bigger they become, and watch out for..." Alex didn’t get to finish as the slime shot out some of its digestive acids.

Alex dodged just in time, and it collided with the ground instead. It smoked and boiled.

Azaroth brought up his sword as he made his way over to a big slime. He didn’t know if it could hear him or not since he couldn’t pinpoint its ears from all the slimy stuff that made up the slime.

He had tried a fire attack earlier, but it had no effect on the monster. Only physical attacks worked. Immediately, he got close, and the monster was on him.

It didn’t turn since it did not have a face, but Azaroth felt its attention on him either way. Acid shot out of the monster with a blast of smoking green.

Azaroth was waiting for this, and with his legs covered in essence, he was already in the air and towards the monster. Slimes are bulky creatures, and this one didn’t move fast enough to avoid his sword slash.

It fell immediately, and essence rose to cover Azaroth. A single slash and the monster was already dead. So weak, Azaroth thought, and then, with the others, they went to work on the rest. And before long, all the monsters were cleared, even the smallest ones that they crushed with their feet.

"This crypt doesn’t feel as if it has been cleared," Stallus said. She turned to the crystals on the wall, and her eyes gleamed. She was thinking of all the things she would get to do with them.

For her rank, though, there was only one skill for her. Crystals were the hardest to work with in every elemental technique, even harder than light and shadow.

But Stallus didn’t mind. The more she advanced, the more skill and power she could unlock. The best thing was to focus on the present and advancing.

With a touch of will, she brought her mind to the present happenings. They had killed all the slimes, but the crypt wasn’t cleared still.

Alex sighed in irritation. "Don’t tell me that this is an annoying crypt like that first day that will hide its boss?"

It seemed it was. Because at the center of the chamber lay a huge pile of crystals, red and glowing softly. Azaroth thought it was his imagination, but did that pile of crystals just move?

Yes, it just moved. The crystals began to form up and soon, standing in the middle of the chamber, taller than the slimes, was a golem made of glowing red crystals.

"Now it shows itself," Stallus said.

They got their weapons ready. One thing about bosses was that they are very fast. No matter that they are big or small, their speed was always incredible, and they packed a mean punching power behind their every blow.

But the team had a plan, a strategy for that.