Masteria Online: Shattering the Dark God's Grand Scheme-Chapter 74 - Gathering Wood

"Kill!" Valeria barked, already launching herself off the ship, swinging her large two-handed sword.

So quick!

Matching her speed, Lumi’s arm turned into a blue as he quickly rose his staff and fired off a Light Shower as soon as he could. "Light Shower!"

His attack landed just a few milliseconds before Valeria directly decapitated the monster.

[EXP +44]

"Hm?" Valeria slammed her boot on the dead monster, jumping back to the ship, where she gave Lumi a strange look.

ZAP!

A sudden electric sound rang throughout the air. Countless of the smaller corrupted creatures floated up lifeless. Jin gave a small smile as stares were turned his direction, caught with a hand in the water. "Whattya looking at me for? It was the fastest way! Plus I get the ones under the ship too."

Valeria gave a small shrug, with the other Knights putting on some helpless looks. Even Lumi could only sigh helplessly. He would have liked to land at least a single hit on each for the experience. The Knights were doing 99% of the work, but that 1% was enough for the system’s requirements.

Still, swarms of weak swimmers were truly inconvenient to fight.

"Everyone alright?" Valeria called out, mostly towards Pingu.

Pingu gave a small, nervous nod. "Just..." He gestured towards Jin and asked. "Please tell me if you are going to do that again."

Jin put his hands up innocently, a grin on his face. "Don’t worry, the electricity would never shock you."

They reached the first island without further major incidents. Though smaller corrupted fish occasionally surfaced, they only served as free XP as they were quickly dispatched. The island itself was a desolate place. Rocky ground covered in patches of ice, the few plants present twisted into unnatural shapes.

Near the center stood a grove of Purifying Willows, or at least what remained of one. Most of the trees had been deliberately destroyed, cut down and burned. But some wood had survived, their white bark gleaming with an inner light that pushed back the corruption.

"Beautiful." Marcus breathed. "Look at the magical flow. They’re actually converting the corrupted energy into pure mana."

"Let’s harvest what we need quickly." Lumi ordered. "Speed is key."

They worked efficiently, gathering fallen branches and carefully cutting what they needed without harming any of the trees that still held to life. The wood was surprisingly light, easier to lift than an equal volume of oak.

As they worked, Lumi noticed movement at the edge of his vision. More corrupted creatures were emerging from the water, drawn by their presence.

"Company!" he called out, already beginning a spell.

"With me." Valeria kept Pingu close, in case anything attacked him.

"Aww!" Jin audibly complained. "They are out of the water! I can’t do the thing again!"

"You really..." Elara couldn’t keep up with his antics.

"I feel like using fire here isn’t the best idea." Marcus spoke aloud, looking towards the trees. "I won’t burn the trees by accident, but still. I don’t want to risk it."

Valeria gave a sigh. "They are weak, just get rid of them."

"Okay." Elara made the winds start to churn as she raised her bow.

"Light Shower!" Lumi immediately involved himself. Light Shower was such a simple spell, and yet so versatile. It was swift, did damage, and pierced.

By angling and bending the spell, he pierced through the weak points of multiple monsters at once with a single spell, making them shriek in pain.

"Light Shower!" "Light Shower!"

As long as he hit them once, the experience began flowing in. By the time the last one fell, he was close to another level.

"Hm." Zara lightly approached once the enemies were all dead. "You are very enthusiastic. We can take care of them easy."

Lumi ignored the comment. Instead, he got closer to one of the dead bodies. There were clear signs of artificiality. "These aren’t naturally corrupted spawn. These weren’t mutated. Someone made these and transformed them into weapons."

"The Wings of Darkness?" Marcus suggested.

"Certainly." Lumi nodded.

Valeria lightly frowned, looking troubled. "This corruption feels different from their usual methods. This is new to me."

Lumi looked at her. "It’s them."

She nodded, and didn’t question it further. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

They finished gathering the Purifying Wood and returned to their ship. The voyage to the next marked location was slower, everyone expecting another attack. Just as they had come to expect, the attack came.

This time, it came in the form of corrupted birds. Aerial creatures were twisted into sharp angled predators that dove at the ship in kamikaze attacks.

Elara took the lead, her mastery of wind allowing her to control the aerial battlefield. She created air currents that slowed down their speed, allowing them to easily be hit.

Watching the enemies be so quickly dispatched, Lumi’s eyebrow twitched. "Valeria."

"Yes?" She turned her head towards Lumi, her sword having just sliced through another monster.

"I made a small mistake. I forgot to ask something of your team."

Valeria nodded, indicating that he should continue speaking. So Lumi took a deep breath and asked. "Unless it’ll endanger someone, please let me get at least one hit on every enemy before you kill them."

"Oh!" Valeria exclaimed from light shock, not expecting something like that at all. "That’s... weird. But alright. You are the leader for a reason." She turned to the others. "Team, hear that? Try not to kill them unless he’s hit em once! Keep track best you can!"

"Understood!" They collectively shouted out.

And then there was Pingu. The poor penguin who had just heard that absurd request, and witnessed that nonsense be accepted.

Pingu looked at Lumi. Then at Valeria. Then at the floor, then at his flippers. Finally, his gaze reached Lumi again. "But... why?"

Lumi gave him a gentle smile. "Trust me, it’s very important."

Pingu’s expectant gaze clearly communicated he was waiting for the reason.

Lumi finished. "Apologies, but I cannot tell you why."

Pingu: "..."