Galaxy's First Ruler

Chapter 143: Perception

BOOOM!

Aldrich appeared near the free-falling surgical knife and put it back in the FIR. A massive spherical cloud had appeared in front of him, lighting up the ruins. The heat from the explosion was enough to blast away hundreds of Megaliths out of the surrounding ground.

[

Dreamer has used the Unnatural Lifeform to temper with the Attributes again

Adding 2% additional Penalty

]

Sigh!

Aldrich sighed, as once activated, the Skill 'Change' won't go into cooldown unless he redistributed all Stats to their original value. It was a boon and a bane simultaneously. As he could enhance whichever Attribute he wanted, but he couldn't use the maximum range of his Divine Sense.

Aldrich took out an MP and SP potion from the FIR and gulped it down. There was no shortage of such potions in House Venomous Rose, especially considering that Aldrich was just a Baron. Aldrich didn't consider himself weak. But he realized that without his current Items and potions he would have faced many difficulties taking on a Crawler who wasn't even an Elite.

Aldrich waited for the traces of the explosion to die down and see the aftereffects. From such a blast, compared to the exaggerated Defence of the Giant Crawler, he at least expected grievous wounds.

Achoo!!!

The sudden sneezing sound made Aldrich narrow his eyes. Aldrich didn't want to wait any longer, given the continuous consumption of his Stamina. So he raised his hand and pushed the fire away from the point of the explosion using Rumok. The Crawler was still standing tall at his original position, but he had wooden armor on his entire body. The armor looked ancient and had strange patterns and runic symbols over it, but the explosion had charred it black.

"Well, that was something new. What was that sudden boost in speed? Can you do that again?"

The Crawler pointed its stone hammer towards Aldrich and fired many questions. Aldrich could perceive from its tone and the HP over its head that Lord of the Woods hadn't suffered a single point of damage from the explosion. His mind went to the earlier words he had said about 10 raids, and few guesses surfaced in his mind. Aldrich had been a Boss Crawler himself not too long ago, but unfortunately, he never got to face any Dreamer to know the inner workings of the Dungeon.

"His Majesty, the Ruler of Valencia, has a saying about Dreamers. Would you like to hear it?"

Aldrich didn't like where it was going. The tactic to stall time was visible enough to not even call it a tactic anymore. But Aldrich knew the Crawler didn't need to use any tactics for him. And the use of the words 'Ruler of Valencia' fascinated him to hear what the Boss Crawlers had to say about Dreamers.

"Yeah, sure."

"Haha! Not only cute but curious too. If only there wasn't that thing on your face"

"Stop wasting time and just speak."

Aldrich falsely snapped at Crawler and presented an impulsive personality for the Crawler to see. But the weight of the Giant's next words was too much for him to remain calm.

"He said that you Dreamers are like Common and Rare Crawlers in your usage of 'RECORD', just mere beasts. Hungry for more and more Skills and Items, and not caring about what it has already given you. And you? You aren't much different from others."

Aldrich had an ominous feeling hearing the Crawler's words.

"What do you mean by that?"

As Aldrich asked, the Crawler crushed the charred armor on its body and scratched its head. Its voice was slow and rough, but full of mockery and contempt.

"Haha! You don't know how Perception works, do you?"

Just as the Crawler finished the sentence, Aldrich snapped his head up towards the sky, but it was already too late. Unknown to him, an eagle was hovering a few meters above his head. His Divine Sense was all around the eagle, but he couldn't sense it at all. The eagle didn't seem to be a living creature, as it was made of wood and metal, giving him an android type of appearance.

If it was only that, it wouldn't have made Aldrich's heart thump with a dangerous feeling.

The eagle opened its mouth, and as its curved beak parted, the turret of a machine came out aiming at Aldrich. The only thing Aldrich could do in that infinitesimal part of a second was use the wings as a shield.

BBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTTTT!

Thousands of Bullets, covered in a layer of Mana, hit Aldrich and sent him flying towards the earth.

Boom!

Cough! Crack!!!

The batlike Wings got blasted into globules of shadow before merging back into his mask. Aldrich coughed out a mouthful of blood and he could see the eagle coming down on him for another round. He couldn't help but enhance his Defence instead.

[

Defence: 159 (+92)

]

"Daddyyyy. under"

Sha's throat-piercing cry rang in Aldrich's mind. But thick wooden and metallic branches had already got wrapped around his hand and legs, rooting him to his sprawling position on the ground.

"Humph! Truly clueless about Perception."

Aldrich's eyes went wide within the mask as he heard a sweet voice in his ears. He tried to turn his head, and from the corner of his eyes saw a face protruding out of the ground. The face was as big as that of the previous Crawler but feminine.

"Ah, Honey! You got him."

The male Crawler's voice echoed in the ruins as the eagle landed on the head of the female Crawler. The 25 ft Giant female came out of the ground, and together with her partner, looked down on Aldrich. Seeing the previous clueless face of the Basajaun showing a disgusting and menacing smile, Aldrich didn't dare to enhance his Strength.

The male Crawler raised the stone hammer high and shouted so loud as if he wanted the voice to reach another part of the world

"For my Cid the Champion!"

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

*

The Crawler didn't stop until he had made a crater in the rocky ground. The shockwaves from the hammering had pulverized the surrounding Megaliths. He put down the hammer and let out a satisfied breath.

"Ahh! It feels so good."

"Honey! Me too, me too."

The female Crawler snatched the stone hammer and struggled to lift it. The hammer came down, less from her strength and more as if it was falling. A smile appeared on her face as the hammer was about to strike the same place.

But it didn't.

A hand came popping out from the debris, stopping the hammer at its place.

"I also have a saying for you from my home planet"

As the hand kept coming out of the ground, the fingers made cracks into the hammer and lifted it. And along with the hand came out Aldrich's bloody figure.Blood dripped from under his mask, and out of his sleeves. A dense black fog was rising from his black greatcoat, and there was a blurry image of a single leafed dark sapling behind him. His words were like the howls of wind, bringing with them the premonition of doom.

" If there is a thorn stuck in the lion's paw, that doesn't mean the dogs will get to rule the Jungle."