The light blue ocean soon revealed itself as a massive horde of slimes, unlike any Alex had seen before.
The ground trembled beneath Alex's feet, the vibrations echoing through his bones as a surge of adrenaline coursed through his veins. His heart raced in his chest, a mix of excitement and trepidation. The air crackled with anticipation, carrying the acrid scent of slime. The sight of the approaching horde sent shivers down his spine, and he tightened his grip on his weapons, steeling himself for the impending clash.
Alex had mentally prepared for this moment since he learned the boss would be a horde boss. Horde bosses were infamous their difficulty in lower-ranked ruins. The number of enemies in a horde lessened with each tier, and low-level hordes could consist of thousands of weak enemies.
Preparing himself as best he couldn't help but critique himself on not being in a party it would make the situation considerably easier.
He had initially planned to join a party when he became a hunter but knew that his stats would make it difficult for anyone to accept him.
when he entering the ruin and learning about the boss battle type, he devised a simple plan.
His sword had the ability to shoot out a high-pressure stream of slime, which was flammable.he possessed a ring that could cast fireballs.
Slimes were not immune to fire, and their cores melted easily. Though not the most ideal method of dealing with slimes, it was his only option as the horde drew closer.
While slimes were individually more or less harmless , their combined mass could crush bones and suffocate their enemies.
The battle was about to begin.
Alex waited until the slimes were roughly 10 meters away before focusing his mind on the slime stream.
The sword's holes opened, sucking in the surrounding air.
After three seconds, a toxic slime stream shot out from the blade, parting the sea of slimes.
Alex cast a fireball using the ring.
The fireball easily ignited the toxic slimes, creating a wall of fire.
He swiftly moved to the side of the fire wall, waiting for the sword's 5 minute cooldown.
During that time, he dashed around, attempting to burn as many slimes as he could while finishing off the weakened ones.
In that attack, Alex had killed approximately 130 slimes and weakened many others.
The initial strike had been as successful as he had hoped, leaving a significant impact on the thousand slimes that were supposed to be there.
The wall of fire effectively corralled the slimes, making Alex's task easier. Jogging on the grass plains, he continued to cast fireballs with the ring's help, ensuring he maintained around 50 mana for emergencies.
In between fireball cooldowns, he stabbed and slashed at the weakened slimes.
Spotting an opening to deliver a massive blow to the slimes, Alex thought to explore the full potential of his sword.
He thought to himself, "This sword can do more than just produce a stream." Instead of a stream, he wanted to test creating a ball of slime.
His first experiment involved creating a wave. Taking aim at a group of about 150 slimes, he cleared his mind and focused on summoning a wave of toxic slime.
It took a few seconds for the sword to comprehend his intentions.
the holes sucked more vigorously this time as the sowrd was charging up. The sword generated two green magic circles in front of it.
Alex gripped the handle with both hands and prepared for the recoil. He positioned his feet, and tensed his body.
Once he was in position, the sowrd produced a large amount of slime. As the slime moved through a circle, its amount seemed to double. After the second circle, it paused briefly before forming a wave, then propelling itself forward at incredible speed.
The recoil pushed Alex back a few feet. He had never felt so powerful. Shocked and in awe, he realized he had hit close to 300 slimes, surpassing his initial target of 150.
The wave lasted only about 10 seconds, but the amount of slime produced during that time managed to eliminate a quarter of the horde.
Quickly regaining his footing, Alex cast a fireball to ignite the remaining slimes, enhancing the effectiveness of his attack.
Now, approximately half of the horde was dead, and the other half was severely weakened due to the intense heat.
With a more manageable number of slimes remaining, Alex took a moment to contemplate his next move. The sword's cooldown indicated a waiting time of 10 minutes before he could use the ability again.
During this break, Alex realized the true usefulness of the sword, recognizing the multitude of ways he could employ it. However, he pushed those thoughts aside and refocused on the present threat.
The weakened horde was less of a threat. horde bosses only appeared after all the main horde members were eliminated so Alex thought it would be best have a breather
Alex patiently waited out the cooldown.
Feeling a desire to try a new attack—one that inflicted minimal damage but had a larger area of effect—Alex decided that rain would be the perfect choice, considering his attacks needed to be liquid-based.
The cooldown ended, and Alex pointed the sword upward, visualizing clouds forming and rain falling in all directions.
It took about 15 seconds for the sword to comprehend his intent.
Eventually, the sword began to disappear. Moments later, three massive magic circles, the same color as before but at least ten times larger, orbited around Alex before flying up about 40 meters within the horde room. They spun around, leaving clouds in their wake, which moved away from Alex and encircled the room, leaving only the corners of the horde room untouched.
Above Alex, there was now a donut-shaped formation of green clouds with green static within them. Alex stood unharmed in the eye of the storm.
Five minutes later, the rain started, the sowrd had turned the slime into a gas and when it fell it was like acid rain.
Alex was shocked by what he had just accomplished.
he could hardly believe he had achieved something of such magnitude and once again, he thought about the numerous possibilities the sword offered.
The system created an icon in the corner of his vision, displaying the cooldown for the sword.
To his dismay, the cooldown lasted for an hour and thirty minutes. However, he understood the reason behind it.
Whenever he utilized the sword's slime producing feature, the cooldown duration depended on factors such as the amount of slime used, the force applied, and the complexity of the attack. Grand-scale attacks would result in the sword being temporarily unavailable.
As the rain cleared, the weakened slimes boiled and sizzled away.
Now the horde boss would arrive soon.