“Why don’t we carry worm powder since the high level monsters are afraid of it? Wouldn’t it help us avoid those monsters?” Eugene asked in curious tone.
“Wait until we get out of here…” Ian continued: “We will be moving at full speed into the wasteland.” Ian winked at Martin and both of them began to rush out at full speed to lead the team.
Dean eyes lit up as he followed after them.
He had noticed that there were lots of heat sources in the vicinity of the worm powder’s smell.
“Luna and Dean, immediately report to us if there is something wrong.” Ian added.
Luna and Dean nodded as they ran in the middle of the team while Ruby, Rosemary and Eugene were at the back protecting Dean and Luna from the threats that may attack them from the behind.
“There is a monster at 11 o’clock.”
“There are monsters at ten o’clock.”
Dean constantly reported Ian monsters that they were going to encounter on their path. He didn’t report the others that were in other directions.
In the blink of an eye they run for 7 or 8 minutes into the wasteland. They occasionally met high level monsters but choose to take detours. However, because of worm powder they didn’t meet high level monsters.
Ian and Martin gradually reduced their running speed. They were in dangerous zone and they had to keep their bodies at the best state. The problem was that they were losing a lot of stamina because of running at high speeds.
Ian responded to Eugene’s previous question after they reduced their speed: “Worm powder works well with high level monsters but it tempts ordinary monsters. Usually, there would be large number of ordinary monsters gathered at the border line. The thing is when I say ordinary monsters I don’t mean level 7 or 8 monsters that live close to the giant wall but ordinary level monsters from the wasteland.”
Eugene froze up: “So why don’t we make traps using the worm powder to bait those monsters and sweep the area clean? Wouldn’t it be much more speedier when cleaning out the area?”
Ian nodded: “The idea is a good one. Actually many people have thought about it but it can’t be implemented. Its very difficult to create traps to kill monsters that are above level 30. Lots of materials will be needed and those have to be transported from the giant wall. A lot of risk has to be taken into account to accomplish this. Dean is an archer and should be clear about making traps, aren’t you?”
Dean conferred with Ian: “Yes, the traps are mainly for monsters on level 10 or so. The resources needed for much advanced monsters is unbelievably high.”
The point of traps was using the surrounding environment to deal with the monsters. In the wilderness the best you could do was to dig a pit or throw a boulder. The effect of those traps would be close to nothing for monsters that were level 30 or higher. This is why the archer career was less popular with senior hunters. At the limitless level, because of the environment and the high level monsters that they faced the archer career wasn’t popular either. As an archer the person couldn’t go for a single combat neither have the ability to become the core of the team.
Glenn was an archer when she was a primary hunter but she chose the path of an assassin later on.
With the addition of the magic marks of the black weaver she was able to lead her team to survive in the wilderness much easier. As an assassin she was able to kill monsters that would be much more powerful than herself.
Dean as a traditional archer was still using a bow and arrow. He was at a disadvantage just from the perspective of weapons. The higher the physical strength of the archer was the higher the requirements on the bow was. The problem was not how good his vision was or how well his strength was, the problem was the penetrative strength of the arrows!
At the limitless level the accuracy was already a basic requirement for the archer.
The penetrative strength of the arrow depended on the bow.
Dean had his own ways to deal with monsters above level 30 as a traditional archer. However he didn’t want to expose these methods in front of Ian and others.
Ian continued: “In addition the worm powder is a high end product. Even the deacon level personnel of the clan can’t touch worm powder let along ordinary members of the dragon clan like us.”
Eugene staggered: “This thing should be very precious. Isn’t it waste to spill it in the border?”
Ian rolled his eyes: “Do you think its waste to use resources on protection of the giant wall?”
Eugene understood that the worm powder was a boundary on its own. It was like an invisible giant wall that blocked the high level monsters. That was why it wasn’t extravagant to use these much of the worm powder.
“Captain why don’t we go back and get a bit of worm powder?” Eugene said: “It should be alright as long as its smell isn’t leaked. We can take it out and use a trump card in case we encounter a high level monster!”
“No use…” Ian shook his head: “Although the high-level monsters are disgusted by the smell of the worm powder but it doesn’t mean that it is enough to stop them! Otherwise those high level monsters wouldn’t occasionally sneak out from the wasteland. It would be very difficult to dispel a high level monsters desire to hunt if we encounter it. Lets put it this way, we hate dirty places with feces and excrement. But what if there is a gold there? Would we hate the place and stay away if we know there is a treasure? We will fight back the nauseous feeling to pick out the gold!”
Eugene wryly smiled: “It seems there is no way.”
“We have an architect in here! Do you think that the others are fools? Do you think that you are the only one who can come up with solutions?” Martin said in a cold tone.
Eugene slightly smiled but kept silent.
“One of the marks that I had put is gone.” Luna suddenly said.
Ian and Martin stopped and turned to look at her. Ian asked: “Which one?”
“20 miles or so, 11 o’clock. In front of us.” Luna shook her head: “It may be washed away by the rain or falling stones. I had left the mark when we were implementing the task last time. So its been almost half a year…”
Ian replied: “Your marks can’t be washed away that easily.”
Luna asked: “Do we take a detour?”
Ian pondered for a while and looked around. He could see the outline of the dark green mountains after the ruins of the city. The place was misty.
“The ‘silencer’ is a rare level monster.” Ian frowned: “Its auditory sensitive but can also drill and hide under the ground. According to the atlas it likes to live in soft and damp areas. It likes to ear rotten things including rotting plants and leaves. But its favorite meal is rotten flesh and blood.”
“We are at area no 3 of the orange wasteland. The place is moist which means that silencer is lurking somewhere after the ruins of the city.”
Martin nodded: “It will be very difficult for us to find it so we will go the old way. We will let it come out to find us. Everyone be ready to fight at any moment.”
Ian nodded and glanced at a tall building near them. He climbed to the top using the vines over the surface of the building. He climbed to the roof and looked around. He shouted: “We will be going to the west where the mist is heaviest.”
He came back and took the lead.
Dean and Luna followed his lead as they were responsible for reconnaissance.
Along the way they took detours to avoid advanced monsters. Occasionally they met undeads or lower level monster which Ian directly beheaded.
Dean understood why there have been so many monsters outside the giant wall. Pioneers were responsible for killing high level monsters. Limitless only killed monsters that were in the mission. They ignored the rest of the monsters because they didn’t want to unnecessarily use their stamina.
These monsters survived and bred more and more.
“Hey!” Dean pointed towards a monster as they passed through the corner of a street. Ian looked at the monsters appearance and laughed: “It’s a rare cytoplasmic monkey! We are lucky!”
All of them smiled as they could get parasitic soul worm of a rare monster. It could be exchanged in the dragon clan from 200 to 1000 reward points depending on the value of the worm.
“Eugene, Dean! Which one of you is going to get it?” Ian laughed: “You gotta be quick not to let go of it.”
Eugene was fast in response: “I will go.” He raised his sword and rushed out.
A cytoplasmic monkey at growth period was a monster at level between 18 to 25. It had a humanoid body and several heads. Each of those heads were stained with mucus and light yellow liquid flew out. It’s claws looked like tree branches but were very sharp. Its body was very crooked and looked scary.
A mature cytoplasmic monkey would reach level 57 and can easily kill an advanced limitless. However for the cytoplasmic monkey in front of them to reach that level it had to transform at least twice.
Hiss~~ The cytoplasmic monkey roared as it saw Eugene rush at it. Its abdomen crack open and vicious teeth were shown. It jumped out to meet Eugene.
Eugene was flexible as he easily escaped the attacks of the cytoplasmic monkey. He used his sword to cut the monster’s body as he passed it. Yellow blood splashed out and spluttered onto Eugene’s armor.
Eugene stopped and turned back to stab once more. The next shot pierced the monsters body and Eugene flicked his arm. The wound expanded and the monster’s body leaned forward because of imbalance.
At the same time Eugene used his sword to cut off heads of the monster.
The battle ended fast. After all, Eugene was a primary limitless and he could cope with monsters at level 40. Although the cytoplasmic monkey was a rare monster but it was less than level 30. The difference of 10 levels of strength showed the difference in fight.
Eugene removed the parasitic soul worm and put it into the finger long tube that he took out from the backpack.
Eugene laughed as he joined the team: “That little things was very flexible.”
Ian smiled: “Let’s go the blood of the monster will lead others to here.” They quickly left the street.
The body of the cytoplasmic monkey trembled slightly after the team left the street. It seemed as if something was dragging its body into the dark alley. Afterwards, chewing sounds echoed from the alley.
Dean and other met a lot of monsters after killing the cytoplasmic monkey. The largest number of monsters were undeads. Occasionally they would meet flying monsters. These monsters would hover and fly at high altitudes and dive down to grab an undead or monster to fly back and disappear in the distance.
It was getting dark.
Ian stopped their movement and they went to find a basement which was very dusty and full of cobwebs in the ruins. There were dry and sticky slurries in the basement. They seemed to be feces and saliva left by a monster.
However, it meant that the monster have left this place for a long time.
“Clean your armors.” Ian took vines and grass from the roadside and cleaned the blood from his armor.
Eugene, Rosemary, Martin and others silently cleaned their armors. They knew that the bloodstains may lead monsters to them.
“We have reached the edge of the city. The mountain is in front of us.” Ian talked as he wiped his armor: “Tomorrow, we will go to that mountain. It should be the most humid place in this area. The silencer must be lurking there. We will take a break now and the real battle will start tomorrow.”