Chapter 51 - Hunt For Control Points (4)

Back when Zok was busy killing those Chiroterae, he was getting too many notifications to keep a note of everything. On top of that, the notifications were distracting him from the fight so he ignored muted them entirely. That's why he wasn't aware that he had gained some control points from the creatures.

"But, according to index, the Chiroterae didn't have any control points then how did killing them give me so many points?" Zok mumbled to himself.

He wasn't complaining that he found what he was looking for. However, he wanted to know how he did get those points. He didn't have to think for long though, he had noticed it before. The details in the Index weren't absolute. Cero was an example of how off the mark the information listed in the index could be.

On top of all that, Cero was an aberrant creature, just like those Chiroterae. And Zok knew aberrant creatures could not be compared to the normal ones as they were more like an anomaly. He opened the Index and it confirmed his suspicions.

'The information listed here is for the usual Night Hunter Chiroterae. Not the aberrant form.'

Also, a swarm of creatures wouldn't work as one being unless someone was controlling them. Zok was sure of this fact because even the last time he had fought against the swarm of spiderlings, they were being controlled by the Arachnid. Thus, Zok came to the conclusion that someone had to be controlling the Chiroterae, just like the spiderlings.

'But back then, only killing the Arachnid gave me control points and killing the spiderlings did not. Then...' Zok closed the tabs and once again began thinking about it, 'Maybe in the swarm of 150 Chiroterae... there were a few Chiroterae who could control the others? It makes some sense.'

That was the best explanation Zok could think of. Either way, he had finally found a ray of hope that would help him solve the drought of control points. But he wasn't getting all too excited just now. Especially since he wasn't sure whether his observation was correct or not.

Thankfully, he had the coordinates of the place where Chiroterae were nesting. He could always visit that place to put his theory to the test.

'I should probably visit the place tomorrow morning and try to gather as many control points as I can while I'm not earning Exp.'

His thinking was simple. He wasn't going to be able to gain exp to level up for a week thanks to the [Elude] skill. Thus it was the best time to fight against weaker enemies. As he won't lose out on much exp and still gain the stat points he so desperately needed.

"Fighting against the stronger creatures right now would be a waste of both time and precious Exp. I'll think about it later. For now, let's sleep."

***

The next morning, the sky was lit up earlier than it usually did. But Zok wasn't complaining. The earlier he could get to the nest, the more exp he would be able to get. Zok decided it was better to only take Cero with him as he could take care of his own and left the others behind. Initially, Zok wanted to take Kaira as well, but that would mean he would have to take Shira with them too because leaving her alone in the cave wasn't a good idea.

Although Shira was strong, Zok didn't want to take the risk, especially since they were heading into the unknown. He would rather take the ones whom he knew would be able to take care of themselves and Cero was the only one who could do that against the Chiroterae.

So he told Kaira and Shira to hold the fort while he and Cero followed the direction as it was mentioned in the Index and arrived at the nest. However, when they arrived there, a surprise had been waiting for them. In front of them stood a ginormous tree and nothing else. He checked again and he was standing at the right place. But there were no beasts there, none at all.

"What kind of sick joke is this?"

Frustrated by the issue at hand, Zok grabbed a stone and threw it towards the tree. But rather than hitting the tree, it felt like an invisible force blocked the tree and the stone was hurled back at him.

[This Instance Dungeon is only accessible during the night.]

"... what the hell does Instance Dungeon even mean?"

[Instance Dungeon is just like other dungeons that appear every now and then. However, these dungeons are only open at a certain time and are accessible to certain people for a short duration of time.]

"It will open for me right?"

[Every time the Instance Dungeon is cleared, it resets and the next time a new type of creature spawns in the dungeon. The dungeon remains open for 1-3 hours. If the dungeon is left and is not taken care of, the creatures would find their outside causing a condition called a Dungeon break.]

Zok was confused like he hadn't been in a long time. He couldn't understand what the Instance dungeon meant. But he was able to grasp the important parts. He needed to wait till night to be able to access the location he wanted to go to.

"You could have told me that earlier..." Zok facepalmed himself, "Now I am stuck here waiting for this damned place to open up. At least there are some beasts to kill around here. I'll be able to level up Cero quite a bit till nightfall. Let's go and make you even stronger, Cero."

"Hmph!" Cero loudly snorted and charged towards a nearby Hranta.

"Wait! Don't- I freaking knew it." Zok shook his head as the Hranta effortlessly jumped out of Cero's way and he smashed right into the tree behind the Hranta, "Always charging in like a blind fool. Tsk.. I guess we need to work on fixing that now."