Chapter 190
J: Surprise~ X8
– You have obtained 1EP.
– You have obtained 1EP.
I received EP with a certain probability when the enemies died. EP was originally something that could only be obtained by sacrificing items.
But currency that could be used in the Delta store was dropping instead of a complete item.
Did Delta have something to do with this place.
"Haah!"
I split the enemy's formation while swinging the Dancing Sword like crazy. Our side that moved as if a single ent.i.ty and the enemy side that moved haphazardly.
In a situation where the ability was similar, the thing that decided victory or defeat was formation and strategy.
Also, my army that moved as one through the Recruitment skill was obtaining victory by completely shutting out the enemies.
A battle of 10 to 1.
It could be said that it was a stunning achievement in a straight forward battle with no advantage in terrain and while being surrounded.
However.
It was a problem that the number of enemies was over 10 times that of ours.
Like how one's clothes get wet due to a drizzle, the formation started breaking down here and there.
The low numbers was also a problem but the fact that even monsters didn't have infinite stamina was a critical problem.
The movement of the monsters that were fighting several dozens each started getting visibly slower.
"Kuoo!"
In the end, they couldn't endure and ally monsters started falling here and there.
The white monsters started crawling in from those gaps.
Both sides were unyielding warriors that had no fear of death.
The side getting surrounded, and the side getting swiped away.
The battle of monsters was much more ghastly and cruel.
"d.a.m.n it……."
Also, the side getting pushed back was mine. Of course, it wasn't a loss until now. It might be wise to back out now.
The amount of reward points I got in that short amount of time was 200,000 points and quite a bit of EP had stacked up as well.
I was thinking that it was about time to stop when.
– Milworm will evolve due to receiving experience.
A strange message appeared.
Mother Million Worm (4): A worm that travels within the ground. Has the ability of a strong biting attack and spraying poison. Once dead, turns into Baby Worm (1).
A monster leveled up.
That in itself wasn't weird. Edward leveled up through his blood sucking ability after all. However, this was a normal monster.
Something that didn't happen until now had happened.
While I was faltering messages appeared one after another.
– Silver Wolf will evolve due to receiving experience.
– Cave Wolf will evolve due to receiving experience.
– White Tiger will evolve due to receiving experience.
They weren't simply rising in level, the characteristics they possessed where changing as well.
The Silver Wolf changed to a Tundra Silver Light Wolf and gained resistance against the cold while the Cave Wolf became a Blind Cave Wolf that had extremely developed hearing that could locate enemies with only sound in exchange for not being able to see.
There was a newly inserted word in this entire process.
It was none other than experience.
I never thought about monsters gaining experience.
I had thought of them as a type of consumable that would die after being used for a while.
However, looking at the situation now it seems monsters get a certain amount of experience they kill a monster.
I inspected the Milworm a bit closer.
There was a stat added on its profile that wasn't there before.
Mother Million Worm (4): 3/100
Also, once it killed another monster, the number went up from 3 to 4. It seems they receive 1 experience for each monster.
It's stingy as h.e.l.l.
I thought that this is why it was difficult for the monsters to level up.
I checked the White Tiger that had level up from level 5 to level 6 just in case.
Giant White Tiger (6): 2/1,000
It would level up after killing 1,000.
Of course, the amount needed to go from level 5 to level 6 would be smaller than this but it should still be over 500.
There was no way it would have been able to kill over 500 in this battle alone so
Also, that stat had only appeared after leveling up for the first time.
It could be said to be a type of hidden factor.
The Giant White Tiger started biting the enemies while rampaging more fiercely.
It had only gone up to level 6 from level 5 but it was flying as if it had been reborn. It was a completely different sight from its previous exhausted look.
I couldn't know for sure but it seems its used up stamina was restored during its level up.
Also, I thought that this might be able to lead this battle to victory.
"Kuoo!!"
– Black Tiger will evolve due to receiving experience.
I turned my head to look at the Black Tiger that got larger.
The number on its head wasn't 8 but 9.
Ah. I think it might really be possible to win this?
The amount of experience needed to go from level 8 to level 9 was 3,000.
It could be known how hard it hunted to get to that point.
As the monsters leveled up one after another, the mood changed completely.
They had gotten stronger than before and even their stamina got reset so the gap that was increasing slowly closed up and the white monsters that had the upper hand started getting pushed back.
The enemies that seemed like a white wave had been crippled at this point.
The remaining enemies seemed to be several thousand so it would have been difficult if they pushed through a single point with all they had but it seemed futile for them to try to destroy the monster army at the moment.
I also started cutting down the enemies while swinging the Dancing Sword like a madman.
***
The number of monsters that I had slain myself in 2 hours numbered almost 1,000.
It was a bit of a shame that ores or items didn't drop but it was already quite a profit with just the reward points and EP and more than anything, it was encouraging that the monsters were leveling up at high speeds.
I think it will be difficult to have such a battle again so I had to gain as much as possible out of it.
I was continuing the battle while erasing the number of white monsters when the enemies suddenly started crying towards the sky at once.
With the sound that spread like an infection, the enemies started gathering at a certain location.
The moment I was wondering if they were planning on breaking through a single point, they weren't just gathering but started combining with each other.
It was like clay coming together to form a huge ma.s.s.
"Wow…… I get to see such a thing while alive."
"Were you made like that as well?"
"I'm feeling the need to embed the fact that I'm not a monster."
Edward was a monster from a Red Hole. However, I didn't think that he would be that different from monsters from the Alpha system.
He himself thought so, which is why he has a face full of anger.
He was denying it within his mind but his conscious knows that they are similar to himself and since such beings are doing such a strange act there's no way he would feel good.
A weird cry filled the entire plain.
I thought that it would be dangerous if I just left it like that so I moved the monsters. I had started an attack against the monsters that were combining.
"Haah!"
I threw the Dancing Sword with Aura Blade to penetrate dozens of monsters. The Black Tiger rampaged and dismembered the enemies. The Milworm sucked their bodily fluids and created a living mummy.
However, all these waves of attacks didn't prevent their combination.
The ones dying mixed in with their comrades with their last breaths and the ones already dead got added to the combining ma.s.s.
We, who had been surrounded contraily were the ones surrounding now but it didn't seem to be possible to stop them from becoming one.
"What are they trying to do……."
"Not sure. I can only think of one thing."
Edward said so with a serious look.
I also had the same thought. However, I didn't want to say it.
The power of the being created by combining a thousand monsters, would the current me be able to face it?
I determined that further attacks would have no meaning so I made the monsters retreat.
It's because it would be troubling if it suddenly started attacking.
That's why I put as much distance as possible between us and waited in silence.
What kind of monster will appear.
There's no way a monster over level 10 will appear, right.
However, it would be weird for a mere level 10 monster to appear when so many monsters were combined.
I was observing the white ma.s.s with half excitement and half fear in what would happen when cracks started appearing on the surface of the ma.s.s.
Blue flames burst out from the cracks.
I could feel unprecedented power from the middle of the ma.s.s.
"G.o.d d.a.m.n it!"
I finally realized the ident.i.ty of that thing and hurriedly unsummoned the monsters.
The hundreds of monsters that filled the plain quickly disappeared and a huge explosion occurred from the cracking white ma.s.s.
"Edward!"
"I know!"
Edward and I hurriedly took out an Escape Scroll.
The moment I ripped it, a dreadful heat that burned everything brushed past my body.
I snapped back to conscience at the sound that shook the dungeon. I could still feel the dreadful pain that burned my entire body.
Checking my skill, the cooltime for 'Immortality' was running. It seems I was a bit late in ripping the Escape Scroll. Edward opened his mouth while raising his body from the floor.
"What was that just now?"
"It was probably a type of bomb. A type that gathers the energy the monsters have into a single point and explodes."
To be honest, I didn't have any certainty until the very end.
However, the moment cracks appeared I felt that it was dangerous and felt that I might die. It was the right decision in the end.
If I was even the slightest bit late it would have been impossible to talk while alive like this. Even if I had immortality there was no way an explosion of that scale would calm down so quickly so I might have died the moment I revived.
The place we were at currently was the stage we fought the Grabgor.
The hole on the back wall that was connected to the Alpha system was still there but it was just an empty s.p.a.ce. It was impossible to enter the Alpha system through this again.
"Let's go back now."
It can be said that I fulfilled my role at this point.
The problem of the compensation should have been solved with this and I can look forward to having a good relations.h.i.+p with the American government from now on. Of course, there's something to ask before that.