[Port city of Neima - City wall, South Zone]
Unable to hold on any longer, Hadrif fell to her knees on the ground. In an attempt to stand, she leaned on her massive war hammer as she tried not to faint from fatigue. Her breathing was heavy, her head was spinning and her ears were ringing.
She was almost at her limit.
Both she and her two companions had been fighting the Sanacran scorpion for about fifteen minutes, but the beast turned out to be much stronger than they could handle.
The leader of the Red ax Clan, Edwin Wildur, had been the first to fall.
Only ten minutes after both she and the city governor, Orson Silverdward, had joined the fight against the scorpion, the effect of the potion Edwin used had worn off. So the mercenary leader was no longer able to stand up to the creature.
Twenty seconds after the potion's effect ended, Edwin had received a heavy blow from the creature. As a consequence, his magic battle-ax had been destroyed into hundreds of pieces and he was sent flying several yards away.
At present no one knew whether the man was alive or not.
Orson, who had been floating in the air and attacking from a distance, had also reached his limit. Throughout the entire confrontation, the governor had been launching magical attacks at the giant scorpion relentlessly until he ran out of mana.
Moreover, despite being at a greater distance compared to Edwin and Hadrif who were melee attackers, Orson had also not come out of the confrontation unscathed and had multiple wounds all over his body. He had even lost his right eye to one of the scorpion's attacks.
As for Hadrif, her condition was far from fine.
Her enchanted armor had been almost destroyed, so her body had been defenseless against the scorpion's attacks. Although the poisonous sting had not been able to touch her coppery skin, the creature's continuous blows and magical attacks had seriously injured her.
At least five of her ribs were broken, she had multiple cuts, lacerations, and bruises all over her body. In addition, her left lower arm was so badly damaged to the point where her flesh and bone had been exposed.
'Damn it... If only I could hold on for a few more minutes... Just a couple more hits.' She thought. She no longer knew if the pain she felt was a product of her injuries or the frustration she felt at having failed to exterminate the creature.
One of her war hammers had been destroyed by the scorpion and she only had a little over 10% of her mana left.
On the other hand, the Sanacran scorpion was also badly wounded. It had cracks all over its reddish spiny exoskeleton, the tentacles protruding from its head had been cut off, it was missing a pair of legs and its tail was almost severed.
But despite its condition, the giant scorpion showed no sign of weakness and looked like it could continue fighting for another couple of hours.
*Weng Weng*
The space around the creature's mouth began to distort, forming a sphere of energy that grew to the size of a beach ball.
Hadrif wanted to get up, but she was so badly injured that even if she managed to stand up it was unlikely she could dodge the scorpion's attack.
"Kriiiiaaagh!"
But just as she was about to be attacked, the Sanacran scorpion shrieked in pain, and the energy sphere dissipated before it was finished. A second later, the scorpion's reinforcement skill was canceled, its reddish exoskeleton returned to its original black color and began to crack, releasing large amounts of purple fluid.
*BAM!*
Seeing this, Hadrif gathered all her strength and struck the ground with her huge war hammer.
*SHIK SHIK SHIK SHIK*
The moment the war hammer hit the ground dozens of sharp crystal spears emerged from beneath the scorpion, piercing and impaling it instantly. It all happened so fast that the Sanacran scorpion could only give one last shriek of pain before perishing from the loss of blood.
When the scorpion finally died, Hadrif looked around and smiled in relief. All the monsters that were besieging the city had stopped attacking and began to retreat into the depths of the jungle.
Only when all the monsters retreated did Hadrif stop resisting against exhaustion. She fainted and her body fell to the ground with a thud.
****
[Abandoned town 23 kilometers (14.29 miles) northwest of the port city of Neima.At the same time.].
*BOOM*
The moment the black lightning hit the ground it created a shockwave that sent Marcus flying a couple of yards backward. But despite the enormous destructive power of the black lightning, he had not suffered any damage and even recovered some of his HP thanks to the necrotic energy it contained.
After about five seconds, the magic circle in the sky disappeared and the black lightning stopped. When the spell ended, all that was left was a huge crater more than 4 meters (13 ft) wide and between 40 (15.74 inches) and 60 centimeters (23.62 inches) deep. In addition, the grass and all the trees and shrubs in the area began to wither and die at a frighteningly fast rate.
Aylinor, who had been hit by the necrotic energy lightning, was right in the center of the crater. However, his body had turned completely solid and gray as if he had been petrified.
Marcus quickly stood up and unsheathed his sword. But after waiting for a while he realized that Aylinor was completely motionless and didn't seem to have any vital signs.
Once he knew that the priest posed no threat to him, Marcus sheathed his sword and walked over to one of the eight Rehi crystals he had placed in the area just a few moments before. When he took it, the crystal cracked and turned to dust.
'Hmm...So I can only use it once. Too bad, if only I could extend the lifespan of the crystals I wouldn't have to worry about using higher-level spells.'
In the time he had been in the port city, Marcus had not only been practicing his magic, but he had also been trying to create a magical artifact to block and protect himself from solar energy.
At the same time, Marcus had been experimenting with his remaining Rehi crystals to see how he could exploit their potential. One such experiment was to charge the crystals with necrotic energy. The idea was to use the necrotic energy stored in the crystals to recover his HP during battle.
Unfortunately, although he had been able to charge the crystals, Marcus had not yet been able to find a way to absorb the necrotic energy efficiently. In addition, the necrotic energy stored in the crystals caused their lifespan to decrease considerably.
So even if the crystals charged with necrotic energy could heal him a little, the amount of HP he regained was so minimal that it simply wasn't worth the cost. The good news was that Marcus could use the contaminated Rehi crystals as an energy source for his necromancy spells.
*Crack Crack*
At that moment, Marcus heard a sound as if something was cracking. He quickly turned around and looked down at Aylinor's petrified body.
*Crack Crack Crack Crack*.
In a matter of seconds, the priest's body began to crack until it finally collapsed, turning into a pile of gray dust. Then, a small millipede emerged from the gray dust and began to run.
But before the millipede could go even a yard, Marcus ran towards it and caught it in his hand.
"You bastard, let me go or you will suffer pain worse than death!" Shrieked the millipede in a high-pitched voice.
"Aylinor? Is that really you? "Even though both his appearance and voice were very different, Marcus instantly recognized the priest's arrogant tone." Pfff... I see. So this is your last resort to escape. Hahaha... Sorry is just that... you look so pathetic. I mean, have you heard your voice? It's so high pitched...' Although he couldn't speak or laugh, Marcus was able to use [Telepathy] to convey to the priest perfectly what his thoughts were, including how amused he was by his millipede transformation.
"YOU BASTARD!" As irritated as he was, Aylinor could do nothing to free himself from Marcus' grip other than squirm and shriek.
"Well, whatever." he said with complete indifference when he was done "laughing". Then, he exerted force in his hand and began to crush Aylinor's frail body.
"Wait! Wait! Think well of what you are doing. Let's negotiate! If you kill me not only will you gain nothing, but when the Church of Deadly Plagues finds out about my death they won't leave you alone. But if you let me live, I can forget all this and I'll even give you whatever you want! High-grade Rehi crystals, magic potions, money, enchanted and magic items, anything! You just have to let me live. What do you say?"
"I'm sorry, but in my country, we don't negotiate with terrorists... Well, maybe we do, but the government and the media hide it from the people. But the point is I don't plan to negotiate with you." Marcus said as he put even more pressure on Aylinor's body.
"AAAAH! You motherf**ker! Do you plan to make the entire Church of the Deadly Plagues your enemy?! Are you out of your mind?!" shouted Aylinor in his shrill voice.
"Come on. Do you really think the church will know it was me who killed you? And even if they did, I don't care. If the church people want to kill me, let them try. But I won't make it easy for them. Goodbye, Aylinor."
*Scrunch*
Finally, Marcus closed his fist, crushing Aylinor and making him puree. A few seconds later, the system notifications came in.
Ding!
....
{The skill [Energy Magic] leveled up}
....
{The skill [Necromancy] leveled up}
....
{The skill [Sword Technique] leveled up}
....
{The user has killed a [Human/ Arthropod Chimera] for the first time. 18,990 additional experience points will be awarded}
....
{User has killed a [Corrupted Wizard] for the first time. 9,450 additional experience points will be awarded}
....
{You earned 180,990 XP}
....
{You leveled up}
....
{You gained 68 stat points}
….
'What, just one level?! Don't f**k with me! This guy was a level 49 rank 5 and this is all I get for defeating him?!' Marcus was upset about this.
He hadn't expected that after all the trouble he went through to kill the priest he would only get this. Even if his skills had leveled up, the reward didn't seem to be up to par.
But just then, the system sent him another series of notifications.
....
{You earned 673,120 XP}
....
{You leveled up}
{You leveled up}
....
{You gained 136 stat points}
....
{Conditions have been met}
....
{The title [Arachnid Genocide] has been removed}
....
{You have acquired the title [Arthropod Annihilator]}
....
{Arthropod Annihilator: Attacks against arthropod beasts or similar monsters are increased by 15%}
....
{The user has slain a great variety of monstrous creatures in a short amount of time}
....
{Conditions have been met}
....
{You have acquired the title [Monstrosity Slayer]}
....
{Monstrosity Slayer: Attacks against monstrosity creatures are increased by 10%}
....
'And this...? Ah, my undead must have just finished annihilating all of Aylinor's parasitic worms.' Immediately after receiving the notifications from the system, Marcus used his necromancy to communicate with the undead under his control.
And indeed, after connecting with the remaining undead, Marcus discovered that all the Naragor parasitic worms had died shortly after the priest's body turned into a pile of ashes.
On the other hand, of the nearly thirty undead at his disposal, only five remained. Four skeleton archers and the zombie centipede. The fact that so many undead had survived had surprised Marcus.
After the priest had used his [Entomorphosis] Marcus had been forced to deactivate the [Fear Aura] so the undead had lost the advantage against the worms. But against all his expectations the undead had not only managed to defeat the worms but there were also some survivors.
'Okay, the title [Monstrosity Slayer] I should have acquired for killing off the parasitic worms... But what was the reason for acquiring [Arthropod Annihilator]? Is it because I killed Aylinor who was a chimera? Well, I guess it doesn't matter... Open Status'.
================================
Name: Marcus Edevane
Titles: [Undead Killer][Adversity Overcomer]
[Arthropod Annihilator][Monstrosity Slayer].
Race: Undead
Species: Semi-lich Warrior.
Rank: 3
Level: 34 (248,021/357,000 exp)
================================
HP: 502/1001
MP: 26/3735
Strength: 94 Stamina: max
Defense: 77 (+350) Intelligence: 374
Vitality: 100 Wisdom: 122
Agility: 96
Stats points: 204
================================
Skills:
{[Corpse body][Fear aura lv:5]
[Dark Resistance lv:3][Evil Resistance lv:4]
[Energy Sense lv:5][Melee Combat lv:4]
[Marksmanship lv:4][Sword Technique lv:6]
[Mace Technique lv:4][Acrobatics lv:7]
[Energy Magic lv:3][Necromancy lv:3]
[Darkness Magic lv:2][Analysis lv:4]
[Inventory lv:4][Dark Vision lv:9]
[Automatic MP recovery lv:3][Craftsmanship lv:2]}
Weaknesses:
{[Blunt damage lv:6][Solar/Light damage lv:9]
[Fire damage lv:7][Spiritual damage lv:9]
[Holy damage lv:Max]}
================================
'Holy Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!!! 357,000 XP?!' Although he was happy with the progress he made, the moment Marcus saw the amount of XP he needed to level up he was so surprised that his jaw almost dropped.
'Sigh... Well, I guess there's no point in complaining about that.' While he had certainly been shocked at first, Marcus knew that as his level would increase, the amount of XP needed to level up would as well.
But since there was nothing he could do to resolve this, Marcus simply ignored it and immediately began distributing his stat points.
[INT 374»454];[MP:3,735»4,541]
[STR 94»115]
[DEF 77»107]
[VIT 100»140];[HP:1,001»1,400]
[AGI 96»112]
[WIS 122»139]
After distributing his stat points, Marcus felt a stream of power flowing through his body healing his wounds and regenerating his MP at an incredible speed. Once the process was over, he was more than satisfied with the results.
Now even if it was daytime his stats would only be a little lower than an average human's. But since his [Energy magic] had increased in level, his strength would be comparable to that of a wizard at the pinnacle of the 1st realm.
'Um? What is this?' Just as he was about to leave town, Marcus noticed something glowing in the pile of dust that was once the priest's body. As he got closer, he noticed that among the dust were two objects.
One was a ring and the other was a dodecahedron crystal that emitted a faint glow and was attached to a small, triangular, three-legged obsidian platform.
'Where did he keep them? 'Forget it. I don't even want to think about it. But...' Without a second thought, Marcus immediately used [Analysis] on the objects.
================================
Name: Eye of the Scarlet Queen
Artifact: Magic Item
Tier: Imperial
================================
Durability: 13,020/13,800
Capacity: 0/30,000
Descripción:***********************
*********************************
*********************************
Abilities:
Entomantic Boost ***
Reduced mana cost ***
Mass Manipulation lv: *
================================
================================
Name: Minor Space Ring
Artifact: Magic Item
Tier: low
================================
Durability: 16/398
Capacity: 10/50 (KG)
Description: A ring created
from the use of space magic, Rhei crystal dust
and magical smithing techniques.
Abilities:
Space storage lv: 2
================================