Flashy Adventurer System : Show Off to Get Stronger!

Suffering considerable damage, the roach was utterly infuriated, screeching threateningly at Shye before madly crawling towards him, eager to rip him in half using its enormous and sharp mandibles.

This time, it acted smarter, crawling in a zigzag as it furiously crept toward Shye.

The roach's anger-driven yet calculated evasion tactics made it increasingly difficult for Shye to land a hit.

And with every missed spell, shards of crimson crystal plummeted into the abyss, devoured by the seemingly endless darkness below.

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This realization hindered Shye from simply casting spells without consideration. Why? Because if he destroyed every crystal growth, there would be none left for him to grasp and it would be exponentially difficult to continue his journey towards the other side.

'Tch…still three more minutes until my wings come off cooldown…'

Inevitably, the roach finally reached him, poised to tear him apart. Now, he had to not only defend himself but also cling tightly to the crystal growth he was holding onto.

'Three minutes! If I can hold on for three minutes, my situation will improve!' With gnashed teeth and unmatched determination, Shye stored the ruby-tier elemental staff back in the system's inventory, replacing it with his adamantite-tier greatsword, Adamance.

Meanwhile, the roach finally launched its first attack. Its left front leg thrust forward aggressively, attempting to seize Shye with its crystalline claw tips.

Naturally, Shye would never allow such a thing to happen.

Waiting for the right timing, Shye narrowed his eyes into slits, then, just before the crystal claws grabbed him, he leaned his right shoulder to the side, allowing him to narrowly dodge the claw.

As a bonus, he was now in a position to counterattack.

'Power Slash!'

Ferociously swinging Adamance downwards, green blood splattered across the air, devoured by the never-ending darkness along with the hideous creature's entire left frontmost claw.

Well…in reality, the claw merely dissipated back into mana long before it even had the chance to make contact with the abyss' ground.

Nonetheless, small as this triumph might be for Shye, it at least slightly impaired the Abyssal Roach's movements.

Furthermore, his fierce counterattack finally made the roach wary of him, causing it to recognize that he was not some easy prey it could simply catch and consume.

Screeching angrily, the Abyssal Roach once again crawled toward Shye, but this time, its attacks were a lot more compact, allowing it to keep its remaining claws despite failing to grab Shye.

Still, in the end, a monstrous creature was a monstrous creature and it would never have the same patience as a human due to its innate disdain for smaller creatures.

Even though the crystalline roach was now aware of the threat he posed, the fact that it would lose never crossed its mind. For it, the prospect of devouring human flesh was merely a question of when.

Especially one that was hanging helplessly from a small growth of crystal.

…The roach's attacks slowly got more forceful, enabling Shye to anticipate its moves with relative ease.

Consequently, despite the crystalline creature's efforts to strike with precision, Shye managed to land a few stabs, cuts, and slashes, all the while relying solely on swinging side to side to evade.

Finally, after suffering minor defeat after minor defeat, the Abyssal Roach lost all semblance of patience, launching an all-out attack by crawling even closer.

If sacrificing more limbs meant defeating the skilled human before it, then it shall gladly do so.

Moreover, at a very close range, it would be able to attack using its mandibles—the toughest part of its body.

Latching its claws deep into the ceiling at a closer range, the roach went ham, attacking continuously with all of its legs and its mandibles.

Unfortunately for it, disadvantaged as the hanging human was, none of its attacks inflicted considerable damage to Shye.

Everything it threw was either blocked, dodged, or parried.

Its overwhelming raw strength wasn't really doing its job either as the human easily fended off its attacks.

For the first time in its life, the overgrown crystalline roach found itself in a desperate position; in its own habitat at that.

Naturally, an apex predator would never allow itself to retreat from what it initially deemed a prey, hence, realizing that it was losing, the Abyssal Roach went crazy, discarding all forms of defense as it attacked with reckless abandon.

'Tch, why do monstrous creatures rage when they're losing?! Can't they just accept that they're weaker? Damned sore losers…' Shye inwardly cursed as he struggled to defend himself—his grip on the crystal growth slowly weakening due to the repeated clashes.

Realizing that nothing would happen should he stay on the defensive, Shye decided to receive some damage in exchange for dealing more.

Hopefully, he could kill the darned roach without encountering any issues.

As the Abyssal Roach's elongated mandibles closed in to grasp him, Shye activated his ability, [Stoic Lv.5], to mitigate the pain. Then, with ruthless determination, he thrust his blade forcefully into the creature's forehead.

Green blood spurted from the wound, almost killing the crystalline creature in one hit.

Such a lethal blow to the brain should be enough to kill any creature, however, for some reason, it was still alive—truly living up to its reputation as a cockroach.

Still, though alive, the Abyssal Roach's legs stiffened up, causing its ceiling grip to loosen.

The next moment, the roach found itself falling down the dark chasm.

Gazing at the crystalline ceiling that had once been its home, the Abyssal Roach realized that it was too late to try and reach for its home.

It never imagined that one day, the length of its long legs would not be enough.

Everything was because of that darned human!

…Its legs would surely not be enough to reach for anything, however…the antennae in its head would!

Even facing death today, it was determined to take down the human responsible for its demise with it!

With furious determination, the roach's antennae surged upwards, encircling Shye's waist.

And since Shye was already heaving a sigh of relief in the wake of his assumed triumph, he was caught off guard, failing to cut the crystalline yet flexible antennae as it approached.

Now, they tightly bound his waist.

As high as Shye's strength attributes were, there was no way he could support his weight and that of an overgrown crystalline roach with a single arm.

Hence, the ceiling... gradually receded from his view, growing further and further away.

'I'm…falling?'