Chapter 217: Saving The Rookies

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Riven shook his head and walked toward the captured hunters, quickly noticing there were two more groups of people in the same room. At least eight more hunters lay on the cold stone floor, all of them poisoned and barely capable of moving due to the paralysis that had locked their muscles. "Okay, hang in there. I will synthesize the poison and make a cure," said Riven, beginning to carefully absorb the toxin from their bodies until he suddenly stopped. Outside the small cavern room, Vladimir had gone completely high on alert.

But then...

"ROOAARRR!"

"KRESHIEKEEEEE!"

"KUGAAAAHH!"

Fresh roars echoed from the corridor outside as Vladimir blurred into motion and clashed against the new wave of enemies. "I’ll take care of them. You just heal those stupid brats!"

Riven smiled and nodded with a hint of amusement. "Hah, how reliable you are, Vladimir! Truly a heroic man!"

"Tsk! Shut up!!!" Vladimir hissed through gritted teeth, continuing to fight with tooth and nail against the incoming swarm.

As Vladimir fought with everything he had outside, Riven quickly began absorbing the poison from the hunters’ bodies as carefully as he could without killing them, then started synthesizing an antidote. He was shocked to discover that the poison the Kobolds used was a special mixture of several different toxins, counting as a whopping twenty distinct poisons combined into one. The complex blend helped his Poisonous Cultivation Method advance nicely in a short amount of time.

It seemed his evolved Titan Mana Heart now allowed him to absorb poison even through his Mana Aura. Because of that, even while he was currently possessing his Shadow Self, he could still synthesize antidotes for almost any poison he encountered. This new ability existed because his Titan Mana Heart had evolved to Level 3 while remaining bonded to his Ten Thousand Poison Heart Sutra Cultivation Method, completely connecting the two systems together in perfect harmony.

"Okay, now...!"

CLAAASH!

Suddenly Riven narrowly avoided a sharp arrow that fired straight toward him. The projectile smashed into the stone wall on the left side of the room with a loud crack. He looked toward the entrance and found a wounded Kobold Warrior standing there. The creature was twice the size of the smaller ones, heavily muscular, and carried a sturdy bow and a quiver of arrows.

"Tsk, would you give me a few minutes at least?!"

Riven roared in irritation and unleashed his Psychic Powers without hesitation. He completely caught the Kobold in an invisible grip and crushed it with immense psychic pressure before throwing the remains away like garbage.

"Alright."

He immediately placed a solid psychic barrier across the entrance. Several more Kobolds attacked the barrier constantly with spears and claws, but it was tough enough that even their combined assault was not enough to wear it down quickly.

This bought Riven some precious seconds, allowing him to finish synthesizing the antidote barely in time...

Crack, crack...!

CRASH!

His barrier finally shattered under the pressure as four larger warriors stepped forward into the room. Vladimir was nowhere to be seen in the corridor beyond.

"Where are you, dog bastard?!" Riven roared while rapidly administering the antidote to the young hunters one by one.

"Right... HERE!"

Suddenly a massive werewolf form emerged from the shadows behind the Kobold warriors. Vladimir bit into their necks with savage force, tore their heads clean off, and then ripped through their shoulders without mercy. "YOU’RE FIGHTING ME, BASTARDS!!! RAAAAAHHHH!!!"

As he howled wildly, Vladimir tore the remaining warriors apart into bloody shreds. At the same time the hunters were successfully healed. Some of them began regaining their consciousness while gasping for air and coughing weakly.

"Riven, it’s you?!" gasped Natalie, her eyes sparkling with a mixture of relief and something warmer. "You’ve saved us a second time...! Looks like fate has truly bound us together...!"

"I am married," Riven said flatly. "And you all get inside the Shadow Realm already."

"Shadow Realm? What does that even meaaaaaaaaaggghhhh!"

Everyone screamed in horror as a deep, living darkness suddenly swallowed the entire group. Riven stored them safely inside his Shadow Self’s Void Storage. The space contained oxygen drawn from the outside world, so they would be left floating in the empty nothingness for a while and simply have to endure it.

"Vladimir!"

Riven roared and ran outside the room, only to find Vladimir being completely overwhelmed. The red-haired man had been thrown to the floor and impaled by dozens of spears. He was vomiting thick blood onto the stone.

"Shit! Hang in there!!!"

Riven blurred forward and spread out a pair of large shadow wings. Dozens of extra hands grew from the darkness around him, each one gripping a ghostly, poisonous blade made of pure mana and darkness.

Quadruple Abyssal Assault Arts – Guillotine Cascade.

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

Dozens of precise slashing attacks engulfed every Kobold still standing in the corridor. The blades tore their bodies apart, diced them into shreds, and splattered their remains across the walls and floor while Vladimir barely managed to keep himself alive.

"Cough, cough...! Damn son of a bitch, took you long enough!" Vladimir growled, showing his sharp teeth while still vomiting blood.

"I’ll heal you," Riven said quickly. He tore the spears out of Vladimir’s body and poured several potent potions over the wounds. "Can you move?"

"Heh, I’ll have to. The big boss is fucking here..." Vladimir licked the blood from his muzzle as something truly massive began to approach.

Loud, heavy footsteps echoed rapidly through the tunnel. A massive figure emerged from the far end of the corridor. The creature stood five times the size of a normal Kobold, with enormous muscular arms, broad shoulders, and thick legs. It carried two gigantic axes in its hands and possessed a dragon-like head crowned with sharp, blazing horns.

[Kobold King (Dragon Blood) – D+++ Rank: Level 50]

The one and only boss of the Whispering Caves had stepped forward to face the invaders that had been massacring his clan and stealing his food.

"ROOOAAARRR!"

Its deadly roar came accompanied by a roaring sea of flames. The faint trace of Dragon Blood within the monster unleashed its true power right there in the narrow corridor.

BOOOM!

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