Doomsday Pillars

[Cerberus - Guardian Dogs of Hell]

[Abyss Creature - level 4]

3 big figures of the Cerberus were staring down at Alex and Aria with malignant gaze. It seemed like they were ready to attack and tear apart these intruders for soiling their holy land and disturbing their slumber. Lines of saliva slowly dripped to the ground as the Cerberuss opened their mouths and bared their sharp teeth, eyeing these two small figures below them.

Seeing the malicious gazes on them, Alex and Aria couldn\'t help but break a cold sweat. Sweat trickled down their faces to their backs, making their clothes stick to their skin. Realizing their current predicament, Alex and Aria quickly took the initiative before it was too late for them to do so.

[Energize]

[Wind Walk]

[Stone Skin]

They swiftly took out these three scrolls and immediately tore it apart, applying the buffs to their body. Feeling of power washed through their body as the scroll\'s skill took effect, giving them an all around enhancement to their energy, speed, and defence capability..

When the three Cerberus were getting ready to dash forward and attack Alex and Aria. A sudden burst of energy startled them, causing their heads to turn towards the source. There, they could see Aria covered in a veil of energy. The veil of energy kept raising to the air, flaring like a fierce forest fire, ready to destroy anything and everything. 

It turned out that Aria directly used her strongest technique, namely the unique battle art as the first move in this battle. Her decision was highly questionable considering the battle had just started. Still, the arrow had been fired and the battle must go on.

[Spirit Explosion]

[Unique Battle Art skill]

[Drain all the user spirit energy to powerfully enhanced a spell]

After using her unique battle art skill, Aria didn\'t waste any more time and immediately cast her enhanced spell, intending to dish out the most impressive opening spell to intimidate the three big dogs in front of her. 

[Hail - Enhanced Tier 3 Ice Spell]

The fierce hailstorm became even more ferocious as the formerly small ice shards that rained down from the storm turned into large chunks of ice rods the size of an arm. Instantly, a hail that was bigger and heavier than usual attacked and overran the 3 three-headed dogs. The impact of the skill could be seen from the ground beneath the Cerberus\'s legs slowly being covered by layers of ice and the temperature rapidly dropping past the zero point.

It could be seen that with the [Spirit Explosion] unique battle art, the tier 3 spell [Hail] has almost if not the same power as a tier 4 spell, making it a spectacular opening move.

The violent ice storm continued to rain down on the three Cerberus, injuring and holding them back. One Cerberus who was in the epicenter of the hail could only ducked its head under the attack, trying to keep the amount of injury to the minimum. Meanwhile, the other two quickly tried to get out of the area as fast as possible.

The two Cerberus managed to get out of the storm while sustaining injury in their legs and bodies. Judging from the skin of their body being cut, with droplets of blood coming out of the wound, the two of them were only slightly injured. While, the one poor Cerberus that could only brace the full brunt of the storm was badly injured. One could see its flesh from the cuts on its body and several ice poles stuck onto the poor Cerberus\' flesh, injuring it and obstructing its movement.

The 3 wounded three-headed dogs roared angrily together, furious at the humans below them. They immediately look for their attackers, ready to pounce on them. But they could only see Aria in front of them who were running away alone.

Furious at this impudent woman who attacked them, the three of them ignored Alex\'s disappearance and immediately sped off, running after Aria. The ground was quaking as the three dogs simultaneously stomped their legs and darted toward her with their claws out in the open, ready to tear Aria\'s body.

Even though Aria\'s body was currently buffed by both the [Wind Walk] and [Energize] scroll which resulted in her speed greatly increased, after using [Spirit Explosion] skill, her strength and body state becomes unstable. Therefore, Aria\'s current speed is slower than the three Cerberus.

When Aria had just run about 100 meters, she was almost caught up by the two Cerberus who were lightly injured while the one who was badly injured was not far behind them. Hearing the loud rumbling behind her, Aria quickly turned her head to see the situation. Her face quickly turned pale as she saw the 6 dog faces that were ready to devour her getting closer.

At the last moment, just before the claws and fangs of the two Cerberus hit her, Aria used the [Ice Prison - Tier 2 Ice Spell]. Instantly, ice formed around her as her entire body was covered with blocks of ice, protecting her from the incoming attacks.

Clank!

Crisp sounds resounded inside the hall as the fangs and claws of the Cerberus hit the [Ice Block]. The Cerberus\' attacks were only able to create small scratches and cracks on the ice while Aria who was inside heaved a sigh of relief. Although this [Ice Block] spell only a tier 2 spell but due to its defensive orientation, it was able to withstand most types of attacks from tier 4 beings. 

The only downside of this spell is that the user becomes immobile when they cast the spell and is unable to do anything. So, sooner or later the block of ice will be destroyed and rendered the user helpless. That was why this spell could only be used as a last resort in hopes that others would come to help the user.

Seeing their attacks barely scratching and cutting the ice, the two Cerberus continued to blindly attack the block of ice. The two of them increasingly swept their claws against the ice as anger clouded their minds even more. However, a loud roar coming from behind brought them to a sudden halt.

When they turned their heads around, Alex had finished slashing one of the three heavily injured Cerberus heads and thrusting Strokes at the other one. The Cerberus who now only had one head quickly fell down, dying on the ground. The now one-headed Cerberus was seen whimpering on the ground with blood pouring out from the wounds on its other two heads.

GROWL!!!

Angry growl could be heard as the two Cerberus decided to leave the ice-covered Aria and rushed towards Alex, wanting to take revenge. Alex, who saw the incoming rabid dogs, quickly slashes the last head and kills the Cerberus before he casts a series of spells.

[Smite] [Smite] [Smite] [Smite]

Like on steroids, Alex continuously used his strongest skill [Smite], aiming it at the running Cerberus. The hammer-like attack from the [Smite] spells not only hurt the two Cerberus but was also able to stop their tracks, stunning them. When he fired the fourth [Smite], Alex immediately felt a feeling of powerlessness spread through his body. He then swiftly took out the scroll that he had.

[Iron Chain scroll - Tier 1 Metal Spell]

[Entangled scroll - Tier 1 Plant Spell]

Alex simultaneously used 3 scrolls each to further restrict the stunned Cerberus. Tens of iron chains appeared from the ground, locking every joint on the two Cerberus\' bodies while sharp roots sprouted from the ground, piercing and creeping up their feet. These scrolls managed to lock onto the two Cerberus as they roared with anger and reluctance in their voices.

Alex then took out another scroll, [Fire Infusion scroll - Tier 1 Fire Spell] and used it on Strokes. Raging flames appeared on the Strokes\' surface the moment the scroll was applied, increasing the attack power of Strokes.

"Your wooden body won\'t burn easily, right Strokes?"

[Of course, Master. This fire is too weak for me]

Before lunging at the two Cerberus, Alex used [Dark Smoke scroll] to block the dogs\' vision and then dashed towards one of the Cerberus with all his strength. When he reached in front of the Cerberus, Alex swiftly swung his swords and slashed at it again and again. After all, this tier 4 monster couldn\'t die with just one hit. The previous Cerberus was already badly injured, which is why he managed to end its life by decapitating its heads.

Slash! Slash! Slash!

GROWL!!!

Sounds of swords cutting through flesh could be heard within the dark smoke, followed by roars of pain. When the dark smoke dissipated, Aria, who had come out of the [Ice Block], stared at Alex, whose body was covered with Cerberus\' blood. In less than 5 minutes, the two of them had managed to finish off these three Tier 4 abyss gatekeepers.

"Everything was according to plan. Great job, Aria." Alex said with a smile as he looked at Aria

Aria who heard his words could only smile without saying anything. She then sat cross-legged and used a skill.

[Soothing Mist - Tier 2 Water Spell]

[Creates mist of water around the user helps calm their spirit energy, aiding the healing process]

Meanwhile, Alex collected the results of the battle. He put the three dead Cerberus bodies into different storage rings because of their large size. The meat of a tier 4 beast and its skins would have been useful, improving cultivation and gear level. He also managed to get 2 red spirit stones from the three Cerberus corpses. Alex couldn\'t help but laugh boisterously.

"Not bad.. Not bad at all!"

----------------------------------

Written and Directed by Avans, Published by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l, 

Join Avan\'s Discord server: https://discord.gg/7ngn7yN9xN