----
"Not an E Rank? No shit Sherlock; we can all feel that! What do you think it is, a D Rank?" Cezar inquired, fishing for Matthias' general estimation. Based on the ripple and his sense, he already fabricated some viable if not definite answers.
"Mm, D Rank? That's hard to say, its presence feels off. More importantly, that isn't what we should be worried about. I'm sure you feel it already, there are already more than 300 E Rank beasts swarming this position as we speak. We'll have to use a proper combat formation this time around," Matthias responded, glancing towards Elaine.
Unlike before where each member barely needed to deal with 10 enemies, with the sheer number of incoming monsters, it would require each member to handle at least 40 enemies!
Even if the monsters weren't strong individually, a large amount would inevitably increase the pressure felt.
Nevertheless, Elaine gave a meaningful nod as she looked towards the Guardian Stone, "Each one of us will have to safeguard a segment of the octagon. Cezar, go fetch that sulking boy."
"Agh?! Why me?" Cezar complained, flabbergasted by Elaine's command. At this very moment, he wanted no more but to engage in combat and acquire more points, yet Elaine was using him as an overqualified errand boy!
"Stop complaining and just go fetch him. The faster you retrieve him, the faster you ca-
"No need, he's coming already," Matthias interjected, his sights never leaving the direction of the ferocious roar.
A few tens of meters away, some of the foliage was rustled and ultimately split apart, revealing Lucian's figure. Unlike before, there was no sign of displeasure on his face. He wore a composed almost stale expression as he approached the others.
"Which part?"
"Southeastern position," Elaine answered.
"Mn," Lucian answered with a succinct nod as he silently advanced towards his assigned positions. Soon enough, he guarded his post, his figure hidden by the breadth of the Guardian Stone.
"What the…? That can't be the same person right? What's with that approach?" Cezar blinked.
"It's simple, he doesn't think of us as comrades anymore, so this is all just obligation to him now. I'm guessing he doesn't wish to form any relationships anymore," Matthias replied, grabbing ahold of the seemingly stronger bow strapped to his back.
Unlike the rest, he spent his tokens differently.
He only brought 3 items—one of the Inferior Battle Suits fit for agile combat, about 50 Refined Arrows for 25 tokens, and lastly, a Tier 1 Weapon for 65 tokens. Unlike the Inferior version, its durability was much greater, and its mana conducting capabilities were more thorough, increasing the standard of Mana needed to activate it.
In other words, Matthias was confident in his strength. For now, on the lower floors, he didn't see the need to purchase inferior survival items. After all, there were certain items available in the Guardian Corps that he could get his hands on with enough merits.
"His loss," Elliot shrugged, not paying the matter any further attention as he raised his tower shield in preparation for tanking his area.
"Is it, really?" Matthias chuckled before plucking the bowstring. 'Mm, basically the same weapons we during training back at the trainee division. It'll suffice.'
Patiently, he waited until the tide of beasts appeared. Different from before, this particular way contained a mixture of enemies—jackals, badgers, lynxes, foxes, boars, and apes. The diversity gave birth to new difficulties as the enemies all possessed different specialties.
Furthermore, within the crowd, there were a few noticeably larger beasts in the mix. There were a few bears with obsidian fur as well as yellow eyes and lions with snow-white fur along with azure-tinted claws.
"Graphite Bears and Glacial Lions?! Oh god, this is going to be annoying," Elliot groaned, a faint amber aura seeping from under his shield, encasing it with a growing rocky surface. With his Stone Resonance ability activated, he drew strength from the ground to fortify his defenses.
With a step, he created a tidal wave of pressure that neutralized the enemies before him. Afterward, he slammed his shield into the earth, opening a small fissure in the ground that trapped some of the beast's limbs.
For now, he settled for crowd control tactics whereas Matthias and Elaine produced pure destruction. While Elaine annihilated her zone with a blanket of flame from what seemed to be a flame amazoness, Matthias aimed an arrow enveloped in overbearing Mana towards the sky.
After it traveling into the sky at an astonishing speed, Matthias raised his hand and clenched it, "Gravity Break!" The arrow shattered into countless fragments, which rained down and incessantly punctured the unlucky beasts to death! With one move, Matthias' Enhancement Point counter rose without end.
Meanwhile, Lucian handled himself quite differently. Using both the slingshot and bow and arrow, he kept the incoming monsters at bay. After his Perception increased to F+, it became easier to aim his projectiles. And, the closer he was, the more frightening his aim became—anything over 75 meters was where his accuracy waned terribly.
Reinforced pebbles blasted the eyes off some of the beasts, while arrows skewered 2 or 3 beasts at a time. Due to his high expenditure, Lucian frequently ran out of arrows, which forced him to spend 5 tokens to purchase 25 more.
With the influx of enemies evenly distributed, each member was busy dealing with 30+ incoming enemies.
Luckily, Lucian's direction didn't possess any of the Glacial Lions or Graphite Bears, hence, the reason Elaine put him there. As the weakest link, he wasn't capable of going toe to toe with those minor D Rank Beast.
Nevertheless, Lucian kept his mind focused on his actions as he evaded attacks, and received the inevitable ones.
'Crap,' Lucian thought. The continued usage of his ability caused his MQ to deplete quickly. Without another thought, Lucian rummaged through his pouch, retrieving one of the blue vials. As he down the contents, his MQ instantly refilled, but Lucian also felt an abnormal sensation.
'It feels as if over half of this vial's content has been wasted somehow.' Unbeknownst to Lucian, the elixir he ingested was capable of restoring a person with an MQ of 50 to full capacity. But, this wasn't something for him to worry about now.
Continuously, Lucian acquired points, gaining them at a speed nearly on par with the others due to the difference in the points received. For every five enemies they killed, it was equivalent to Lucian killing three.
All of a sudden, powerful steps were heard. A black panther towering over the rest, possessing terrifying features appeared. One look and Lucian could tell this monster was on a whole other level!
〈Alert: A Bonus Objective has appeared!〉
«Kill the Apex Panther»
Details: Execute the Apex Panther before it can destroy the Guardian Stone. Upon completion, additional rewards will be distributed.
Rewards-
-Automatic Maximum Merge Tokens
-2x Merge Tokens (1,000)
-Base Destiny Accumulation increased to 1.
-Bronze Treasure Orb
*The death of the Apex Panther isn't required to pass the tutorial.
The rewards were enticing, but there was a reason for it. Even Cezar, Elaine, and Matthias wore serious expressions. The prefix "Apex" meant that not only was the opponent a beast evolved to their highest state, there was even a chance this beast was C Rank, not to mention its abilities were amongst the top of its type!
This wouldn't be an easy fight. Fortunately, the numbers of the beast tide had already dwindled to 1/10 of its original numbers.
Meanwhile, the trio came to a tacit understanding. If their current strength wasn't enough, then they'd forget about conserving their strength and simply upgrade their stats. After all, the bonus rewards were more than worth the hassle.
"Do it," Matthias said suddenly, but his words were directed towards Elaine. After a short pause, she created a large ball of flame and tossed it. Matthias then fired an arrow and executed a combination move—one that augmented their individual destructive ability.
An entire portion was incinerated in the explosion, lightening the load and clearing a path towards the Apex Panther. Only Lucian, Priscilla, and the two others were still embroiled in battle while the trio and Elliot confronted the beast.
A few moments later, Lucian finally fell his last beast, breathing heavily, but in triumph, 'A total of 21 points. That is quite the load, perhaps I'll find a use for them in the future.'
Suddenly, the aftershock of the battle behind him caught his attention. 'Woah...if I were to get involved with that type of enemy, it'd just be inviting death to my front door.'
Yet, Lucian still wore a faint smile.