Shiny loot glittered amidst the wreckage of the battlefield, tempting the eyes of the victorious group that had emerged from the one-sided battle unscathed. The only sounds to be heard were the echoes of rocks and mana flowing towards the partially opened dome and the excited chatter of the group as they surveyed their gains. It was like being in a candy store, but instead of candy, there were deadly weapons and accessories scattered everywhere.
Ignis's eyes lit up like a child in a candy store as he caught sight of his first-ever silver-ranked loot in this life. His lunatic grin was so wide, it looked like it could stretch from one end of the battlefield to the other.
The group's eyes widened with excitement at the sight of the shiny loot, but their joy was short-lived. Suddenly, the howls and growls of the monsters echoed through the battlefield; this sent the group into alert. It sounded like someone stole their peaches.
As the howls grew louder, the ground beneath them began to shake, and the sky turned even more dark with ominous clouds. Kate gripped her fiery sword tightly, while Rex created a dozen shields in preparation for the incoming attack. Hannah and Ethyn looked at each other; their faces, on the other hand, looked a bit excited.
Ignis, on the other hand, just stood there with his lunatic grin, staring at the loot on the ground. "Looks like we have company again," he said, chuckling to himself. "I guess the monsters are jealous of our loot. Let's give them a warm welcome, shall we?"
Suddenly, the monsters switched their tactics and began to unleash a barrage of deadly, colourful rays upon the group. As the group looked up, they saw a kaleidoscope of colours raining down upon them. It was like a twisted and deadly rainbow.
The monsters may not have been coming in for close combat, but their long-range attacks were no joke. The colourful lights seemed innocent enough like they belonged in a children's cartoon, but the group knew better.
As Kate shouted, the group quickly realised the severity of the situation. They knew they had to act fast if they wanted to survive the incoming attack.
Without hesitation, Hannah and Rex started to use their talents, their faces tense with concentration. Rex launched his shields towards the incoming attacks, the sound of their impact echoing across the battlefield. Hannah's vines snaked out, wrapping around the rainbow rays and yanking them off course. The deadly light show was no match for their combined efforts, but the tension was still thick enough to cut with a sword.
Ignis was rushing towards the monsters in the forest, who were launching long-range attacks. His trademark grin was plastered on his face as if he was excited to face these deadly creatures head-on. He dodged the incoming attacks with ease as if they were nothing more than a pesky annoyance. It was as if he was saying, "Is that all you've got?" as he charged forward.
He was soon close enough to determine the level of the monsters attacking them, and they were all bronze ranked and between levels five and eight.
As he studied them, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. They were all bronze-ranked, sure, but there was a strange precision to their attacks. It was almost as if they were being commanded by some unseen force besides the guardian, lurking just beyond Ignis's line of sight in the dark, foreboding forest.
As he thought of this, a sudden realisation dawned on him. Killing the monsters in one area, he quickly climbed a tree and soon began to search for something.
"Where the fuck are these silver-ranked monsters commanding these shitheads from?" As he mumbled, he continuously looked to find the silver-ranked monster.
"I should have guessed it earlier."
" If there is a gold-ranked monster, they might have silver-ranked monsters under them, and this guardian is now turning into a unique monster, which means it'll have several silver-ranked monsters under its command, and there might be a possibility of a gold-ranked monster under it."
"These fucking possibilities... " Ignis was starting to get irritated by the number of possibilities.
"It'll be a hassle if those silvery bastards interfere while we fight that guardian. Haaaa." Ignis shook his head, thinking about everything.
Ignis didn't waste a moment overthinking the possible outcomes and instead jumped straight into the action, taking down the monsters with lethal strikes from his Kusarigama. His attacks were so efficient that no monster stood a chance against him, resulting in multiple multi-kills. And as a bonus, the whole group was reaping the benefits of his title [The Syndicate Liquidator], receiving an extra 50% experience. Ignis was like a one-man army, taking down monsters like a lunatic boss!
These extra experience points soon started showing results. Two people levelled up, the first being Zen from level 6 to level 7, and then Ethyn from level 7 to level 8.
Both were overjoyed to level up, but Ethyn was so ecstatic that she charged towards the monsters and began returning the "gifts" of experience points with interest, leaving the monsters scratching their heads in confusion.
The monsters were getting slaughtered left and right like it was a BBQ party, and the group was the grill master.
But little did they know, a pack of 12 monsters was sneakily approaching the partially opened dome. These weren't your regular hyenas; they had horns, four eyes, and fangs that would make a dentist run for their life. If Ignis had appraised these monsters, he would have been like, "Holy crap, these are the ones I was looking for!"
As soon as they reached a certain range of the dome, they were torn apart by the concentration of mana in the area, and it was like a vacuum cleaner sucking them into the dome. Even seeing this, none of the hyenas were shocked, as if they knew their fate. Not that anyone could tell—they looked about as emotional as a rock.
As the silver-ranked hyenas were being consumed by the dome, the intense humming sound coming from it grew louder and louder. It was clear that something big was happening inside. The mana and rocks surrounding the area were being sucked into the dome with a force that was becoming increasingly intense, making it clear that the situation was becoming more and more serious by the moment.
When Ignis and the group noticed this, everyone started to kill the monsters with increased intensity, as if they knew that the time for the big battle was close.
Time passed...
10 minutes later...
Ignis, the monster-slaying machine, had added another twenty thousand experience points to his already impressive collection. He was on the brink of levelling up.
Rex and Hannah, on the other hand, had already levelled up moments earlier. They both reached level 8, and Kate was close to reaching level 9.
Ignis, always the efficient one, quickly put Zen and Hannah to work collecting loot. They scurried around, grabbing anything of value they could find.
Soon, the loot was piled high, and Ignis took charge of distributing it among the group. There were 28 ordinary-ranked items, 236 bronze-ranked items, and 3 silver-ranked items. Ignis carefully examined each piece and divided it up among the team.
Ignis proceeded to examine the loot and distribute it to everyone. All the ordianry ranked loot was put on the trading area by everyone, as all of them got four pieces of ordianry ranked loot. Ethyn and Ignis were given two pieces extra as a sign of thanks.
Ignis, without even a shred of hesitation, took it too and put it on sale.
Ethyn felt guilty for not contributing as much as they had exaggerated. Hannah, ever the persuasive one, convinced Ethyn to keep her extra pieces, despite her protests that she didn't deserve them.
And now was the time for the bronze-ranked loot; there were a total of 236 items, and it had every item that the group could equip.
It had helmets, gloves, chestplates, boots, rings, amulets, and different weapons. Everyone took one of these and equipped it, replacing their old equipment. And again, the left-over equipment was evenly distributed, and the extras were all given to Kate and Ignis equally.
And finally, it was time for the group to focus on the most prized loot that they had obtained from the hunt.
All three of the silver-ranked loots were weapons.
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Weapon: Claymore (Sword)
Rank: Silver
Level: 8
Attributes: Strength +15, Agility +10.
Effect: The sword grants the wielder increased resistance to physical or magical attacks for a short time after taking damage. (Activating chances are 5%.)
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Weapon: Longbow
Rank: Silver
Level: 8
Attributes: stamina +15, agility +10.
Effect: Increases the precision by 4%.
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Weapon: War Hammer
Rank: Silver
Level: 8
Attributes: Strength +20, Vitality +5.
Effect: Increases the attack power by 1%.
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By only seeing these weapons, everyone was able to tell to whom they should belong.
Ethyn, with her sharp eyes, immediately snatched the longbow before anyone else could even blink. Rex, with his muscles bulging, lifted the war hammer with ease and let out a victory roar.
Kate, however, seemed to be in a dilemma as she already had a silver-ranked great sword, but the claymore was too tempting to resist. She eventually picked it up, with a look of determination on her face, ready to unleash its power on any unsuspecting monsters.
Ethyn, who had just gotten her longbow, had a very happy expression and looked towards Ignis as if asking him to make it even more powerful with his talent [the Mark of Divinity].
As Ignis saw Ethyn making puppy eyes, he shook his head and looked towards his interface for the first time after using his talent [Divinity Mark] on the newly obtained items in the chaotic battlefield.
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Name: Ignis
Level: 9 (23,480/25,600)
Talent: Infusion
Class: none
Title: The Syndicate Liquidator
HP: 4,850
Mana: 2,275
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Stamina: 39 (+35)
Intellect: 31 (+60)
Strength: 45 (+30)
Defense: 36 (+80)
Vitality: 37 (+60)
Agility: 42 (+40)
Unassigned attribute points: 0
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Skills:
Stinger (F+)
Appraisal (F+)
Unassigned skill points: 9
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Equipment:
Kusarigama (Ordinary)
Ring (Bronze)
Chestplate (Bronze)
Boots (Bronze)
Helmet(Bronze)
Amulet(Bronze)
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[System Points: 5,948]
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