The Villain has Perished-Chapter 23 How A Summoner Fights [2]
[Flashback to the morning]
"Haah! Haah!"
I wiped the sweat from my forehead and stood, using my Gylothyn as support. The sun would reach its peak in a few hours. It was still early morning now and I had completed hunting my 4th monster group.
'The numbers of monsters are increasing every time.'
The 1st group had 7 monsters, the 2nd had 9, there were 10 monsters in the 3rd group and the 4th group had 13 monsters. The majority of monsters being 2nd Mortal Awakening wasn't helping either.
A familiar chime echoed in my head.
Ding!
<<Body Strengthening level 1 learned!>>
<<Increased Mana Absorption level 1 learned!>>
—
<Body Strengthening>
<Level: 1>
<Cost: 5 Magic Power per second>
<Description: Increases your Physique stat by 10 points>
-
<Increased Mana Absorption>
<Level: 1>
<Cost: N/A>
<Description: Your mana absorption rate has increased. You can now absorb mana 10% faster from all the previous sources.>
—
'I finally learned these two!'
Body strengthening was an active skill that boosted physical abilities by coating the body in mana. It was one of the most basic skills to have and yet no one could deny its usefulness!
Whereas Increased Mana Absorption was a passive skill. You can absorb mana from the atmosphere, mana stones, or other sources to regain mana faster! Above all, it also affects mana recovery speed!
It was tiresome to check my stats while standing, so I sat down. I took out 3 green pills from my bag and ate them.
—
<Stamina Recovery Pills>
Grade: Low-Common
Description: Restores your very stamina slightly. Effects can be stacked. The bottle contains 30 pills.
—
I bought them in the morning before I attacked. It cost me all the coins I had left after creating the traps. I could buy more of them now that I had extra coins, but you can guess, they got outrageously expensive!
'Scammer Shop!'
—
Name: Sol Lionel
Age: 19 years
Race: Demi-Human
Rank: Beginner
Profession: N/A
Coins: 5400
-
[Stats]
Physique: 21.91
Magic Power: 110.00/231.45
-
[Skills]
<Bluff> Level 4
<Celestial Swordsmanship> Level 3
<Bitch Slap> Level 7
<Body Strengthening> Level 1
<Increased Mana Absorption> Level 1
—
'The coins are steadily increasing! I can't wait until I get enough coins to use the Crown of Massacre!'
My skills were also growing!
The reason behind my fast skill progression was the Tower of Babel. With my spiritual link connected with the Tower, unlike others who are connected to the world link, I can progress faster than others, at least until coalescence begins and everyone also gets connected to the Tower of Babel.
The spiritual link, or link for short, is the reason why one can break through their limits and learn ranked skills.
A world link connects its residents spiritually. It allows anyone on the server to tap into other residents' records unconsciously and learn from them. Server is what the collection of individual links is called, and the record is the information that the world spirits have on their residents.
Learning a skill isn't an individual effort. You are tapping into records of those who had learned a similar skill in the past, learning from them and mastering those techniques. Two things of note were that you can't tap into records of those who are alive, and you can only tap into records of the past, not the present.
ραпdα n?νa| сom We cannot actively tap into the link. It happens passively and we have no control over it. Rather, it was correct to say it happens continuously and unconsciously.
Tapping into others' records and making those skills yours were two different factors altogether. The link was a support at best. It won't develop your skills without personal effort.
The multiverse link, Tower of Babel, allowed users to tap into every world link. Hence, a faster progression because you get to tap into a very specific similar technique. The reason lay in the vast number of records, much larger than those available from a single world link.
Though it was cheating, I was going to use this advantage to my heart's content! The connection to the Tower was not harmful, after all. Not yet, at least.
—
[Flashback ends]
'Ah, hell naw! I wasted too much time with a useless flashback!'
The monsters were almost at my tail! I used my skill!
<Body Strengthening> Level 4
A cool sensation spread over my body as mana wrapped around me. My head felt strangely clear. It was as if a murky fog covering my mind was slightly lifted. It was addicting honestly.
'Strange, I don't think the body strengthening skill should clear my mind at level 4… This isn't the time to be brainstorming though! Run bitch, run!'
My mana was being drained rapidly. I used the mana stone to refill my MP. Thankfully, the <Increased Mana Absorption> was now Level 5, and the process ended swiftly.
With the increased stats, which were comparable to a beginner 2nd Mortal Awakening, I was able to buy a few more seconds.
My point with the flashback was that the fights became easier thanks to the skills. The skills were also undergoing tremendous growth, as I was using them in real battles.
—
<Body Strengthening>
<Level: 4>
<Cost: 8 Magic Power per second>
<Description: Increases your Physique stat by 25 points>
-
<Increased Mana Absorption>
<Level: 5>
<Cost: N/A>
<Description: Your mana absorption rate has increased. You can now absorb mana 50% faster from all the previous sources.>
—
After learning from my mistake from first 4 hunts, I only baited the small group of monsters from the lakeside every time. To not get overwhelmed by their numbers.
In total, I eliminated 10 groups of monsters that averaged 12 monsters each. Roughly 70 of those monsters were 1st Mortal Awakening, and the rest were 2nd Mortal Awakening.
However, the 3rd Mortal Awakening monsters were now beginning to pay attention to me. They numbered over 50. It didn't help that it was almost evening. I decided to make this last hunt, before launching a full-scale attack at the lake.
Since I was successful till now, I dared to pull a larger group. But accidentally called too many!
I entered the passage between the two hills and popped the last 5 stamina recovery pills into my mouth. The effect was apparent quickly. The heaviness of my muscles lessened, and so did my dull movements.
'Ugh, all my traps are gone except one.'
The monsters running at the forefront, large birds that couldn't fly, fell into pits. Just as half of the monsters entered the passageway, I released one boar.
At the edges on top of the hill on my right, there were numerous tree trunks hacked and placed in a particular order. The preparation of the logs took me a few good hours last night. I also had to buy a saw from the Shop. Thankfully, the hard work was going to help me now.
'Release'
A boar came out of the card beside the logs on the hill. The boar unknowingly pushed one log forward due to the location of the card and the log. The log rolled ahead and pushed another log. It created a domino effect and…
Dozens of tree logs fell from the hills!
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Ding!
<<You have slain…>>
<<You have slain…>>
<<You have…>>
<<You…>>
<<…>>
<<…>>
<< 1200 Coins awarded! >>
<< +6 Kill Points! >>
|| +600 Life Points! ||
Too many monsters were chasing after me. But I was, of course, prepared! Six monsters died to my trap!
By the time the logs fell, almost all monsters had entered the passage. The ones who died were the last 6 monsters at the end of the pack.
The monsters were disoriented thanks to the massive shocks created by the falling logs. I didn't give them time to rest and released 15 boars!
Ding!
|| Number of Greats Boar summoned: 15 ||
|| Great Boars' Physique will be temporarily strengthened! ||
|| Great Boar Physique: 250(+2.5)! ||
Seven boars sandwiched the panicked monsters from both sides! Chaos erupted!
The sound of system notification continued in my ears like a waterfall! It was as mesmerizing as it was overwhelming!
I didn't hold back either. With a mana stone in my left hand and a sword in my right hand, I rushed into the fray!
<Body strengthening>
A cool sensation enveloped my being and my physical stats almost tripled!
I went deeper into the battlefield while killing the monsters that were fatally hit by the boars. Despite the lower numbers, we had the upper hand in this fight, but that wouldn't last long.
'Summon Great Boar x2'
The moment my feet reached my destination, I summoned two more boars in the middle of the enemy monsters! The monsters were flung away when two massive boars appeared beneath them!
The battle was progressing quickly and the boars were also dying at a swift pace. I had my eyes peeled open to <Cancel> summon the ones who were about to die and summon new boars.
The monsters who had the number advantage quickly began to lose their advantage as the number of boars never fell below 15. The more they killed, the more boars appeared!
Spurt!
My sword pierced the ostrich-like monster's head.
Wiping my forehead, I took out another mana stone from my pocket and started absorbing it.
The boars were dying at a fast pace. My mana absorption was barely keeping up. If I didn't have <Cancel> skill to remove boars who were near death and refill a bit of my mana instantly, I would've lost this tug of war already.
It might seem like I was winning, but the results were just as uncertain as when the battle had begun. I was walking on a tightrope.
My hand swept across my face, and I realized….
A grin was etched on my face.
