William's top priority right now was to reach the set of long stairs, climb them fast, and arrive at the safe zone at the top. He recalled how that despicable merchant spoke freely up there, only shushing him when they were walking in the city. That meant till reaching the stairs, every other place here was dangerous.
*Screech!* *Screech!* *Screech!*
Just before he'd use his technique fully for five times, William had to abruptly stop. In front of him, and next to the stairs that weren't far away from him, he saw weird shadows taking shape there.
"F*ck it! It's the Floating Bubble monsters!!!"
William instantly recognised the enemies that kept appearing in increasing numbers up front, blocking his path towards the stairs. These weren't spirits as everyone thought, they were just monsters.
However, they were a scary breed of monsters. In front of the set of stairs, a group of a hundred foggy bubbles appeared there. In the eyes of William, it looked as if some sort of steam or gas was gathering midair, just a few metres on top of the ground, taking the shape of a perfect circle, with a transparent body that showed everything behind in a blurry way.
William could tell this was the Floating Bubble monster from the blur he spotted through these monsters' translucent parts, in addition to something else.
Of course, these bubbles alone weren't enough to expose such monsters. What everyone would miss at this terrifying moment wasn't these weird shaped monsters, but the ground beneath them.
When William looked, he saw fine thread-like elevations on the ground below these floating balls, giving the impression that little snakes were crawling under the dirt. The monsters' real bodies weren't even these threads but were around tens of metres below the ground.
These monsters were like an onion in shape, moving under the ground like fish would move in water. They had a stalk-like part that ended up with something like tree crowns, forming the thread-like elevations on the surface. As for these floating balls, they were like the monsters' eyes and ears.
These balls were the sensory organs of the monsters. They were able to detect many things, starting from vibrations, temperature changes, sound, and even see. William now realised that trying to move silently before wasn't going to work, he knew how he got spotted earlier.
The most sensitive thing these monsters would respond to was sound, then vibrations. So, trying to run away from these monsters after issuing a noise was a futile endeavour.
William looked in a serious way towards these one hundred or so group of scary monsters. The scariest part in them wasn't in their attacks, but the inability to harm them.
These monsters would use their sensory organs to locate their targets, then move fast, hidden underground, before reaching their prey. Then they'd release a torrent of tentacles that would surround anyone and anything, grab them all the way down to the underground.
If the target was lucky enough and got himself an Earth element, then he'd be able to resist a little and not instantly die. But against such giant and ferocious beasts, and being isolated in a totally hostile environment, no one would ever survive down there longer than a few minutes. Even if dark gold masters, even the ones at the pinnacle of power, got entrapped and dragged, they'd end up dying!
Their bodies were situated underground. To harm them, masters needed to use earth-based attacks, lots of them actually. That was to make sure their attacks would reach to such depths and harm these monsters.
William didn't have such an element yet, but he got something even better. Another way to take down these monsters was by digging the ground, revealing their bodies, and letting normal attacks hit them. And that was what William intended to do right now.
"If you think you can kill me, then I beg to differ," William didn't stop after recognising the true nature of his enemy. He started to dash around, moving too fast to get caught by these monsters.
The Floating Bubble monsters were nimble in their movement as well, yet their speed wasn't even close to William. Dreaming about outrun them and hide wasn't going to work. They ruled the entire city and there wasn't a single place safe except for those covered with arrays.
William didn't know how such monsters survived in such a deadly environment. But he didn't get any time to think about such an issue. He also realised why these despicable merchants took their time, establishing many arrays in their region.
They didn't just cover the area around the block, but also let these arrays protect the ground as well. Doing so would ensure total safety for anyone inside the block.
As William didn't have any access to any secured spots, he decided to do a crazy thing; to fight and kill any monster coming at him!
If another spirit master was here, he'd definitely die without even realising what hit him. In the eyes of any ignorant spirit master, these monsters were just floating bubbles of air, looking more like spirits than real monsters.
"Time to start the party," William dashed twenty times, moving slightly away from the stairs. If he dreamt about killing all these monsters living in this grand city, then he'd be asking for his own death.
The number of these monsters was indeed quite scary. Even an army of tens of thousands of Earth based masters wouldn't be able to purge the entire city. So, his only hope lied in distracting these monsters, luring them away from the stairs, before using his technique to reach towards the safe zone of stairs and the plateau at the top faster than them.
As for these merchants, he promised he'd exert revenge on all of them once he found the right chance.
Without knowing it, fate decided to grant him his wish fast, faster than what he'd even hope for or dream about.
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