The dawn broke through the crystal night and illuminated the forest enshrouded in silence. The gentle warmth of the sun signified a new day. It was high time for today's batch of monsters to arrive.
Throughout the night, I used the lake to nourish myself. My stats had increased by a fair amount and I was feeling refreshed. The lake had a splendid impact on my growth. It hastened by progress towards 3rd Mortal Awakening by 3 months.
I also used my wolves and sent them to roam into the outer section of the forest to kill monsters and gain kill points during the night.
'They are here.'
Out of nowhere, ripples formed on the surface of the lake. The tremors on the ground were slowly increasing as if foretelling the arrival of dangerous foes.
A huge horde of monsters came out of the forest on the side of the middle section. I couldn't hear their movements but the palpitating air was undeniable proof of their massive numbers.
The presence of the horde was unlike anything I had seen previously. Among those hulking figures called monsters, none were below the 3rd Mortal Awakening.
The horde stopped roughly 500 meters away from me and 10 monsters came forward. These ten were completely different from the horde of monsters behind them. The Mortal Awakening monsters too knew this fact and it caused the surreal sight in front of me to unfold.
The entire horde was bowing to the 10 monsters.
'They are all Master ranks. It seems that the monsters who ran away yesterday informed their tribes about me.'
At 200 meters, one monster who had an appearance similar to a chimpanzee, and was around 5 meters big, stopped and stood there. The other 9 monsters slowly encircled me.
Their eyes betrayed the faint signs of intelligence contrary to their bestial figures. They were closely watching my every move before initiating an attack.
And what was I doing? Staying afloat in the middle of the lake, that was what I was doing! There were reasons, okay! I wasn't lazing around, definitely not!
Ahem, the Master rank monsters were out of my league, fighting them head-on was extremely dangerous. And the crown of massacre didn't have many kill points.
The lake also increased my MP regeneration by many folds, allowing me to call my summons a lot freely, as long as I remained in the lake.
Rawr!
A four-legged monster ferociously ran towards me. It had an agile figure and black spots decorated its yellow fur. The distance decreased rapidly and it reached the edge of the lake. Pushing off with its powerful hind legs and using its tail to help balance, the monster jumped.
Its eyes were intently focused on me, and it tensed its muscles to attack me the moment it landed. That was why it didn't notice the 5-meter large black wolf appearing at the edge of the lake.
The leopard monster couldn't run on the surface of the lake, to tackle the issue it was aiming to land on me. It was then going to end me in one direct swoop. But this also made it easier to predict its landing spot.
The wolf growled and ran on the surface of the lake. This was its skill <Pathfinder> F. It was heading for the landing spot of the leopard monster.
The leopard monster opened its maw, intending to bite off my head but, abruptly, a sharp pain arose in its rear. The hound wolf had sunken its jagged teeth in the monster's tail.
Before the monster could howl in pain, another hound wolf appeared ahead of it and ripped a chunk off its neck. The monster spilled blood like a fountain and fell into the lake.
Ding!
⟪You have slain Mountain Leopard, 1-star Master⟫
⟪ 500 Coins Awarded ⟫
⟪ +1 Kill Point ⟫
|| +500 Life Points ||
Just like that, a 1-star Master rank monster, a figure that instilled fear into Mortal Awakening monsters with its presence alone, died.
I was reading the notifications, but I sensed three presences entering my mana sense from behind.
'Release'
At my command, five Hound Wolves appeared from the cards floating on the lake and impeded the monsters. Fur, blood, and flesh flew into the air. The monsters were being suppressed by the wolves.
The sudden appearance of the Master rank enemies shocked the monsters. However, they didn't yet command the horde of Mortal Awakening monsters to attack.
The remaining 5 Master rank monsters also joined the fray. The fight degraded into chaos as 8 monsters against 5 Hound wolves. The last 2 wolves were standing near me, to protect me in case a monster was able to reach here.
A kangaroo-like monster punched at the hound wolf nearest to it. Its fist cut through the air like a bullet and struck the wolf.
On another side, a hound wolf was attacking two monsters that had appearances similar to foxes. The foxes couldn't walk on the lake and the wolf was using this weakness to its advantage by retreating into the lake after attacking once.
The other three wolves were blocking 6 monsters by working together in harmony. The wolves had good coordination and they repeatedly covered for each other.
The monsters were more in number and had better fighting skills. Unlike them, the Hound wolves' skills <Pathfinder> F and <Howl> F weren't combat oriented.
However, the <Pathfinder> F allowed the wolves to walk on any solid and semi-solid surface, even against gravity. While the monsters couldn't use the lake as a foothold.
Both sides had their advantages and disadvantages. The battle was reaching a stalemate. It was as I had intended.
If the scale of battle tipped too much in our favor, the monster would have the horde attack. I would no longer have a chance to win if that happened. However, it would be fine if the horde moves after only 2-3 Master rank monsters were left.
'As long as I kill the Master rank monsters, the horde can be easily dispersed with my Master rank summons.'
Injuries continued to pile up on the monsters as well as the wolves. But there was no death other than the first one. With the increase in intelligence the monsters knew how to attack while defending. They were different from the mortal awakening rank monsters who only knew how to charge blindly.
'I guess this is good enough.'
I climbed the wolf next to me and threw cards into the air.
'Release'
Dozens of cards disappeared and a small horde of fist-sized dragonflies appeared in the air. They had large, multifaceted eyes, a slender, elongated body, four membranous wings, and six legs.
—
Species: Jet Dragonfly
Rank: 1-star Master
Summoning Cost: 250 Magic Power
Housing Space: 20
Physique: 150
Magic Power: 100
Skill: <Detonate> F
Description: Jet Dragonflies have low life spans. They like playing pranks on others and can fly very fast. Years of evolution have affected them in a way that allows them to use every cell of their body perfectly and reach a dangerously high speed by flying.
–
<Detonate>
<Rank: F>
<Attack Damage: 150-175>
<Cost: N/A>
<Description: After reaching its maximum speed, a Jet Dragonfly explodes due to overheating its body. The explosion has a small radius but it is strong enough to break through most F rank defensive skills.>
—
The 2 dozen Jet dragonflies started revolving above the lake at high speed. It created an ear-piercing noise, and caused gales to thrash.
Since I no longer needed to have Baby Tarantulas in my deck to monitor Matthew, it freed a lot of my summoning capacity, allowing me to summon such large numbers.
The monsters went into a frenzy at the emergence of flying enemies. After all, their numbers were nothing to scoff at.
Splash!
Suddenly, the lake's water splashed. A massive monster was standing on its surface. My eyes constricted to a slit and I commanded the 2 wolves to attack immediately. The Jet dragonflies needed half a minute to reach their maximum velocity and use their skill. Until then, I had to hold back these monsters.
The frog monster that jumped to attack me had bright, iridescent scales covering its entire body, reflecting a rainbow of colors in the sunlight. Its feet and hands ended in webbed limbs and it was able to stand on the lake's surface like the wolves.
It opened its maw and a pink-colored tongue shot out. The hound wolf in front of me clawed at the tongue.
But the tongue suddenly changed direction, and went around the wolves' attack range. It was in front of me before I realized it.
I used <Body Strengthening> to boost my physique and <Mana Sense> to keep track of the monster's tongue. Gripping Gylothyn tightly, I also used <Phantom Slash>.
ραпdα nᴏνa| сom The monster's tongue evaded the three blades that extended from my sword. It bought enough time for the 1st wolf to reach the frog. The wolf attacked the frog's body directly.
The frog bent its body slightly, to gather strength in its muscles and leaped into the air.
While in air, its tongue shot towards the Jet dragonflies who were trying to reach their maximum velocity. Its tongue scratched against one dragonfly, causing my summon to wither at a rate visible to the naked eye. The frog didn't stop at this, however.
It used its tongue like a whip and spun it, killing 3 dragonflies, before whipping the tongue at me, who was standing in the lake.
I grasped the wolf's fur tightly as it evaded the attack. However, to my surprise, the frog didn't pull its tongue out of the lake after it landed.
By this time the dragonflies had reached their top speed.
I took a deep breath and commanded them. "Attack the monsters who are fighting against the wolves! Hound Wolves fall back and make sure to not get caught in the explosions!"
During the night when I experimented I had stumbled upon a pleasant surprise. My master rank summons followed my commands. They couldn't follow anything more than basic instructions. But it was an undeniable boon, nonetheless.
The dragonflies ignored the frog monster as it was too close to me and attacked the rest of the Master rank monsters.
Booom! Booom! Booom!
Continuous explosions rang. The monsters' figures were charred black. They began dropping like flies, though a few were still alive. The wolves re-initiated their attacks to kill the remaining ones.
⟪You have slain…⟫
⟪You have slain…⟫
⟪You have slain…⟫
⟪You have slain…⟫
