Chapter 1121: Emerging Danger
Rhode wasn’t in the mood to care about Erin anymore, despite her being the reason why he was here in the first place. He found a much more bothersome thing waiting for him to handle. As he entered deeper into the Chaos Nest, he was stunned to realize that not only did the monster corrode the entire moon base, but it had also contaminated the moon itself. Fortunately, there weren’t many life forms and the only thing stopping Rhode’s group from advancing were the pitiful soldiers in the base. If not, maybe Rhode’s group would have a much harder time stopping the Chaos Nest. But even so, this didn’t mean they were having it easy now!
“Heyah!”
Rhode flitted across the ground as two shadow clones split out of his body, dividing him into three from the left, right, and middle. They raised their swords and struck the monster ahead. Along with his attack, the flesh monsters all around them crawled like spiders widening their mouths as they spurted black, turbid liquid at Rhode. But before the seemingly poisonous liquid struck him, it was stopped by a golden s.h.i.+eld that appeared out of nowhere. At the next instant, Rhode turned his wrist around and another card flashed in his hand. Then, dozens of crossbows glowing in magical radiance emerged behind him. The dazzling magical radiance flickered constantly in the run-down, metallic tunnel, repelling the monsters that crawled toward it.
“Tsk.”
Gazing at the relentless flesh monsters that continued to swarm forward despite being struck by arrows, Rhode couldn’t help but express his annoyance. Just as what his younger sister had warned, the deeper they went, the stronger the resistance they faced. From the start, Mini Bubble Gum, Canary, Lydia, and him were able to fight individually. But toward the end, they had no choice but to tackle the endless monsters as a group. What gave Rhode a bigger headache was that the moon base had been contaminated by the monsters completely, causing their surroundings to be covered in revolting walls of flesh. But this wasn’t all because Rhode also discovered that if they weren’t able to defeat them instantly, the monsters would be devoured into the stomachs of the ‘walls of flesh’ and re-enhanced into stronger monsters that would seek revenge. This was why the only way to eliminate them once and for all was to seize the opportunity to eradicate them all. If not, there would be no end to this chase!
If Rhode had his dragon soul powers, he could demolish them in a single slash of his blade. But after leaving behind his dragon essence, his current strength was just level 85, the same as a max-leveled player. As for Canary and Mini Bubble Gum, they were also affected by the disruption to their data, causing their strength to decline to level 80. Even though their skills still existed, they weren’t as formidable as before in terms of strength. On the other hand, Lydia was the only one with her full strength. But after advancing deeper into the dangerous Chaos Nest, she wasn’t fighting alone. Instead, she followed Rhode’s group closely and rushed toward the core of the nest alongside them.
“Third wave!”
Evading the monsters’ attack once again, Rhode raised his sword abruptly and penetrated the monster before him. However, the monster didn’t flinch at all, not even when the holy energy erupting from his blade was burning its body. It let out a blood-curdling roar, stretching and slas.h.i.+ng its enormous claws at him. Along with this move, another two monsters pounced on Rhode from the left and right, attempting to surround him. But facing their pincer attack, Rhode wasn’t fl.u.s.tered at all. Instead, he let out a snort, retracted his blade, and retreated swiftly. Meanwhile, two shadow clones split out of his body again, das.h.i.+ng ahead and raising their swords, neglecting the razor-sharp claws.
Boom!
It was apparent that even though the monsters were strong, their IQ had a lot of room for improvement. They didn’t notice the difference between these two preys and the one before. Facing the shadow clones, not only did the monsters not retreat, but they also continued to charge ahead and slash their claws at them. But at the same time, their brains were punctured by the tip of Rhode’s blade and they collapsed to the ground, losing all control immediately. Meanwhile, the squirming walls of flesh shuddered and extended a dozen tentacles to retrieve the corpses. But before they succeeded…
“Wingda mais.”
Canary extended her arms, spraying a blue, cold mist from between her hands. Shortly after, the three corpses and fluttering tentacles froze into ice at the same time. Even though she was adept in the flame and wind elements, as a mage, how could she be worthy of possessing the ‘maiden cla.s.s’ if she didn’t master all elements? Although she wasn’t an expert in the water element, with the help of the harsh coldness of the environment right now, her ice spells were greatly effective.
The tentacles and monsters that intended to retrieve the corpses froze entirely. Although it was only for a few seconds, it was more than enough for the rest on stand by.
“Heyah!”
Boom!
A holy beam of light comparable to a cannon blast from a wars.h.i.+p dazzled. Mini Bubble Gum raised her arms high up in the air. Along in this motion, the ‘Guardian Light’ behind this floating little fella erupted with several, enormous light beams. They merged into one, devouring all obstacles in their path completely. Be it the debris in the hallway, corpses of the monsters, or tentacles struggling to break free from the ice cage, they were submerged in sacred, white radiance before vanis.h.i.+ng into thin air.
The walls of flesh shuddered in uncertainty in response to the attack of the holy brilliance, continuously taking in and spitting out chunks of flesh, attempting to make up for the damage they received. But Rhode’s group obviously wouldn’t let them have their way so easily. Expanding her wings and gliding in the air in the back of the group, Lydia narrowed her eyes and struck forth with her blades that emanated a golden radiance. Two blade rays as glaring as lightning bolts spread throughout the walls of flesh, forming a continuous net that wrapped the entire wall. The wriggling flesh blackened and hardened upon being struck by the pure, sacred attack, losing its motion completely like burnt meat.
“Leader, how far ahead left?!”
Even though this ‘team’ of Rhode’s was rather complete in terms of support, healing, and damage output, he lacked a main tanker to attract ‘aggro’ from the monsters. There was another problem for Bubble and Canary to handle, which was also a problem for all spell casters. They expended more than half of their spiritual powers and there was no way for them to replenish it!
In the Dragon Soul Continent, Canary and Mini Bubble Gum didn’t need to worry about ‘low mana’ at all. One, they usually didn’t need to attack unless it was against BOSSes. Second, restoring spiritual powers wasn’t tough in the Dragon Soul Continent. But after returning to this world, they realized the rate of recovery of their spiritual powers was incredibly slow, at one-tenth of the usual rate. What gave them a headache was that they couldn’t find any tools or devices to restore their spiritual powers!
This also meant that they needed to reserve their spiritual powers while eliminating the Chaos Nest. But the problem was that their strength was declining while the monsters were becoming stronger, causing them to expend more spiritual powers. It was as though players raiding a dungeon without bringing health potions, which was definitely a huge challenge.
Mini Bubble Gum and Canary were veterans in raiding dungeons, so they were clearly aware of this. Even though they seemed to be struggling now, it was due to them preserving their strength. As of now, they had expended one-third of their energy. Although it didn’t seem like a lot, considering they might have to face the ‘final BOSS’ later, this was almost at their limit. If they continued to expend their spiritual powers, they might have insufficient power to take down the BOSS later.
It was the same for Rhode, which was also why he rarely summoned card spirits and didn’t use any venue cards. Instead, he relied on his sword skills in battles only. Perhaps Lydia was the only one unaffected as her symbol was the ‘sun’ and with the moon’s surface facing it, she wasn’t affected at all.
“Soon, just ahead!”
Rhode sensed the increasing presence of Chaos ahead and couldn’t help but feel startled. Fortunately, even though the presence felt strong, it wasn’t as strong as a Devil Monarch’s, which made him heave a sigh of relief. If the Chaos Nest had the strength of a Devil Monarch, perhaps he might have a hard time defeating it. And now, as Chaos had devoured the entire base, causing it to be unable to conceal its presence, this became advantageous for Rhode’s group in a certain way.
Right there!
“Your Highness Lydia!”
“Leave it to me.”
Upon hearing Rhode’s yell, Lydia revealed an elegant smile before soaring ahead and penetrating the thick and disgusting wall of flesh mercilessly with her two blades. Shortly after, a string of dazzling radiance flickered like lightning bolts. The sealed world cracked entirely, displaying its terrifying side to everyone.
“Argh… this thing is… so disgusting.”
Even though Mini Bubble Gum and Canary were mentally prepared for the disturbing scene, they still revealed disgusted expressions after witnessing it. Just a distance ahead, there was a huge ball of flesh hovering in midair as though it were a presence fused with hundreds of humans. Not only were there densely packed limbs, but there were also struggling faces groaning in agony. This enormous monster seemed like a big-headed baby with a small body curled up together. Something resembling an umbilical cord had wrapped around it, connecting it and the h.e.l.l-like sea of blood together. At this moment, the baby also seemed to notice the arrival of Rhode’s group. It opened its eyes all of a sudden, staring at them with wide-opened eyes. The group sensed endless insanity and chaos from its eyes as though it were a wild animal that had lost its mind. Upon detecting its prey, the monster erupted an unparalleled murderous intent, widening its mouth and letting out a mournful scream.
Meanwhile, Rhode ordered without any hesitation.
“Attack!”