bookrandom Chapter 79: Don’t Unlock this -
Chapter 79: Don’t Unlock this -
"Finally, the bastard is squirming," Thane commented.
"Tear him to pieces," I commanded.
Donald and Damien didn’t relent, and within a few moments, the entire body of the mutated goblin was sliced into pieces, and the goblin died an agonizing death.
"Ahh, a goblin shaman would have been better," I commented as I exhaled from exhaustion.
CH 079 – A Sovereign’s Gaze
[Aiden’s POV]
After the successful subjugation of another rift, we moved to our next destination. This raid seemed to have ended in loss as we couldn’t collect any corpses due to that ritual situation, so we proceeded promptly.
"You handled the situations well, Master. Such types of goblins are more difficult to deal with as time passes," Azravael spoke as he stood behind me.
I was looking at the passing clouds from near the railing as we traveled at the astonishing speed of Tidebreaker.
"It’s nothing, that’s my duty. I am more worried about us facing a Sovereign. All the bosses we encountered were amidst breakthrough or just on the precipice."
"At this rate there’s a high possibility of appearance of a Sovereign rank boss monster," I explained.
"If that happens, you should save yourself master. We will buy you some time," Damien spoke as appeared on other side behind me.
"If the monster has just ranked up, we could hold the line. My spells are potent enough if I use the reserved blood but he is right master, you should safeguard yourself first," Azravael added.
A small smile bloomed on my face, "It’s okay, I will think of something. You guys go rest, we will have to fight more," I replied to their wary.
"As you command, master," ×2 both nodded and left.
’System?’ I spoke mentally.
[Yes, Host.]
’Perform a gacha pull using 200 origin points on potions banner,’ I replied.
[Commencing 20 consecutive gacha pulls...]
System performed the usual pull mechanics while I waited. I had gained around 8000 Origin points till now from the attacks, so I decided to get some more types potions to aid in coming battles.
The result was within expectations with 1 SS rank potion and 19 S-rank potions. I stored them in inventory for now.
I paused my thoughts for a bit, letting myself breath truly. Again the thought of who could be behind this attack raged in my mind.
’I guess the council will have better answers,’ I thought.
I left the railings, as much fun it was to stand there and see the clouds move around me, I wanted to refill myself before next confrontation.
Settling myself in Primordial Anchor Seat, I continued practicing the breathing technique until a knock on the door signalled that we reached our next destination.
I stood at the railings again, it had become my favorite position to stand now, as I looked over another rift location. The moon hiding between clouds was making it difficult to get a clear sense as the day ended.
Although my sigil enhanced eyes worked, allowing me to get a better loo at the enemy.
"Trolls," I muttered as my eyes scanned the surroundings.
Around 8 feet height, less intelligent and more brute forced. There marking appearance included greyish skin which was difficult to detect in the night.
However, the single horns on their head helped me with identification. They were on the low threat spectrum compared to other monsters due to their low intelligence.
But, it didn’t meant that they were easy prey. Their high stamina and overwhelming strength was cause for concern, especially if their numbers were this staggering.
I turned to face everyone gathered on deck, "This time we have trolls. They have high stamina and strength but low intelligence so make sure to not drag out the fight. Keep it precise and targeted."
"Although, they are one of the easily defeatable monsters we are facing but remain vigilant as we are seeing an unusual patterns with the bosses. So keep doing what you did until now." I addressed them.
"Any questions?" I added.
"No, Master," everyone responded.
"Good, let’s clear one more rift," I spoke as I turned towards the monsters again.
This time I kept my plan simple, I didn’t wanted to take any chances in terms of strength regarding trolls so I decided to go with precision.
Hundreds of mana nails appeared floating above our heads, the darkness of the night was doing a good job at hiding them so I added more nails than before.
With a swipe of my hand, all nails rained downward as we followed the trail of nails. Notifications of origin points piled up silently in the corner of my vision but I remained focused on the planning the fight ahead.
Everybody jumped down to attack, my vision was enhanced and vampires were basically beings of the night. I was thinking of the way so that the 3 humans and one dryad don’t face trolls at a disadvantage.
However, my worry was cut short as small spheres of light started floating around Britany and started spreading in the battlefield.
"Well, this solves the light problem," I commented as I notched a mana arrow on the bow construct, aiming at the heads of trolls.
This has almost became a routine, it provided easy pickings while giving me clear vision of the everybody’s fights, making it easier to command.
My small battalion followed the commands as I had stated. They started targeting vitals organs of the trolls, killing them easily. For a moment, I thought I should wake up Felicia and had her join in but I decided against it.
We kept pressing our assault on the trolls. Despite their numbers close to a thousand, they were dropping like flies. Seeing their numbers reduced, I decided to join my team on the ground.
I kept my movement easy with simple flow. Instead of only using fist, I used a arrowhead construct in my enclosed fist and smashed them into their heads, killing them in one blow.
However, I also noticed that they weren’t showing any behaviors of panic or fleeing like other monsters. Even if they were low in intelligence, they are supposed to have at least little bit of self preservation.
Feeling something amiss regarding this martyr behavior of the trolls, I kepts my eyes peeled for the boss monster.
’Maybe he is in the rift, we didn’t have the chance to enter any of the rifts yet due to boss monster always emerging first,’ I thought, trying to make sense of the situation.
"Did anybody see the troll boss?" I asked.
"No, boss, we are looking for him, but he is nowhere to be found yet," Thane reposnsded
"No, master. We searched the entire field there are no monster of that caliber," Damien added.
"Let’s pick up the pace, I don’t like thjs situations," I ordered.
Without giving any more thoughts, we increased our pace of killing trolls. I wanted to entee the rift before any unfortunate situation took place.
Within half an hour, almost all the trolls were dead but the rift was still the same without any movement or fluctuations. Just as I killed the final troll, I spoke immediately.
"We have to enter the rift, the boss monster will be inside."
"Let me lead the way master," Damien spoke.
I agreed without any objection, however just as we were about step forward towards the rift. The atmosphere changed, the air that was flowing freely, suddenly became still.
I raised my hand to signal to stop, "Something is coming, back off," I shouted.
Everyone also flet the same pressure, as we all steped backwards without much thought.
[Max’s POV]
Once again, I found myself surrounded by wooden structures; however, there were some different feelings, like I was being actively watched as soon as I appeared. The walls, floor, and ceiling—everything was made up of the thickest roots possible.
This place was mostly dark, and the only source of light was the glow in the tree roots, likely because of sap. This emerald light was supported by small bioluminescent spores flying around. As I took a step, it felt like the floor was stretching beneath me.
The silence was also thickening and heavy, all in all one of the creepiest places. Just as I took a few steps, the system panel appeared with information about the new round.
– – –
[Round 2:] ROOTBOUND LABYRINTH
[Participants:] 500
[Advancement Slots:] 50
[Duration:] 60 minutes
[Each player is placed in one of the 5 Rootbound Labyrinths]
[Scoring Parameters:] Claim one of 10 Heart Seeds
[Once a player activates a heart seed, they will be immediately advanced]
[There are no retries; once dead in the Labyrinth, players will be spawned on their respective floor]
[Round 2 begins....]
– – –
I guess we are in final phases now, I muttered while darting my eyes around for anything suspicious. The next moment, the root walls separated, giving an exit from this place.
I stepped outside, to be greeted by multiple paths, ornate with branches and leaves. I was floating ahead with average speed and had my OGS active. I could observe a faint line connecting all of the roots moving towards a single point.
I followed this point to see if it provided any clue to the position of heart seeds. Suddenly, my senses caught on to something coming at me.
In a few seconds, 5 monsters appeared in front of me, and the system panel popped up with information.
[Thornmaw Stalkers]
[Rank:] B+
[Veinlash Creepers]
[Rank:] B+
As soon as they laid eyes on me, they attacked. Multiple roots appeared around me trying to ensnare me. I dodged them mid-air.
The quadrupedal monsters, Thornmaw Stalkers, lunged at me with their jaws open. However, they found their mouth stuffed with hot plasma as it burned them from the inside.
The Veinlash creepers were cut in pieces by my plasma rays. I refrained from using Aethercut Plasma because of its ability to produce sound afterwards of the attack.
I journeyed ahead, dispatching some monsters ahead. I was feeling slightly repetitive and planning to rest for a day or two after this tournament.
Clearing floors was not this boring, but as the tournament neared its end. My sole focus now was to win this tournament and spend some time with Revanya; she always loved to hear how I killed monsters on the planet.
As the memories of her calling me ’Big brother Max, you are so strong to be able to kill those monsters, but don’t worry, when I enter the tower, I will earn many Myth Coins so that we can enjoy them freely.’ An inexplicable smile formed on my face.
Her words were always full of hope and love for me. I didn’t know why, but recently I had started having more memories of Revanya in these last 2 days, probably because I am getting bored, I thought.
As I followed the faint trace lines, they started getting thicker and thicker. I encountered a few more beasts, but they didn’t cause any delay.
I encountered a group of 4 players ganging up on 2 other players. It had only been around 10 minutes, so I stopped to see how things played out while spreading my mana to see how far these faint glowing lines connected.
The leader of the 4-player group with a warrior attire and shield in his hands spoke with a grin of his, "You guys could have joined us, but you had to oppose me when we found each other."
The player opposite to him, who looked bruised and bleeding down to several cuts on his body, spoke with a strained voice, "Why do you need to eliminate people when the objective of this round is to activate heart seeds? We 6 could have themed together, so why do you choose this?"
The leader and his three lackeys laughed wickedly. "You still don’t get it. In these 60 minutes, we may never find this ’Heart seed,’ but if we eliminate anyone we see, doesn’t that increase our chances? Even if we don’t complete the objective, what would the system do if there are less than 10 players left?"
Hearing the reasoning of that leader, I laughed loudly despite knowing that I would be found out. I mean, this reason looked logical and everything, but it becomes idiotic when they think they can con the system.
The one who manages knows how many people, and these dumb idiots think they can outshine the system. My laughter reached their ears, and they started searching for the source.
I stepped out in front of them; the leader looked mad and spoke furiously, "What are you laughing for? Do you think we are joking here?"
I looked straight in his eyes, controlling my laugh, and replied, "Yes."
"So you are the cocky type. I have seen many of those in Tower; in the end they kneel before me." The leader sneered and gave one of his lackeys a look.
The lackey moved forward with his sword blazing and swinging towards me at full speed, shouting, Infernal Slash.
Before he could show off his skills effect, his head melted under the plasma ray.
I spoke nonchalantly, "It’s funny because you chumps seem to think you can bypass system words and think of yourselves as smart. Even I don’t live in that illusion."
This was the last thing they heard before they met the same fate as the previous one.
I looked at two players and addressed them, "You have around 40 minutes; good luck," and took off as I pinpointed the clutter where these lines seemed to be connecting.
The more I neared the pointed direction, the more monsters appeared, but at this point they were just one shot away from melting.
Plasma was the best; silent, deadly, and destructive; it’s everything you could ask for in the best offense.
The narrow walls started widening as I reached my destination; there I saw another humanoid monster. The system quickly appeared as a panel with information.
[Seed Guardian:] Bloomwarden Myrmidon
[Rank:] A -
[Abilities:] Adaptive Armament, Judgement Growth, Rootbind Sentence, Bloom Reversal, Verdant Finality
"One more humanoid monster, huh? I hope she is better than the previous one," I commented, ready to claim the Heart Seed.