It was hard to have imagined that such a large amount of monsters would be attracted. At this point, several freshmen from different universities arrived on the scene and went into hiding. But, unfortunately for some, they were found by some monsters and ended up dead. Some that were found, however, did manage to escape.
“Amon, those scoundrels are still around.” Barbara looked a little angry.
Amon didn’t even need her to say their names to know who she was talking about. He said, “Just continue with our initial plan. They are also our rivals in this competition.”
“Yeah.” Barbara’s expression curved into a smile.
.
.
Almost an hour later…
It was like a disaster on earth: monsters everywhere, blood staining the floor, some not even red blood, either purple or green, but most of it was red. The blood-eating tree was already full of bloody leaves, and then something unexpected started to happen.
“It is bearing fruit…!” Maisa covered her mouth as soon as she finished speaking.
Of course, some monsters could have heard, but they didn’t care since their attention was on the blood-eating tree. The monsters’ predatory eyes grew even more bloodthirsty. Fierce screams echoed as the monsters began to kill each other even faster and fiercer.
The lurking fledglings also began to covet the fruit. Although they didn’t know what kind of fruit would emerge, for the monsters to go so mad, it must be something very good in their opinion.
“Amon, is this still under control?” Ariel asked as she looked at him.
Amon was silent for a few seconds. His mind wandered, until he finally replied, “We still have a chance to collect our reward. However, the difficulty level has increased a lot.”
Before, new monsters stopped coming, however, now even more monsters started to appear. And after using the device, some he found to be much stronger than the ones who came before…
_ _
[Species]: Monster
[Rank]: 1 Genetic Factor – Second Level 11 Gene Block. .
[Type of monster]: Omnivorous/Extreme Aggressive.
[Quality]: Good.
_ _
This wasn’t the first he’d seen that had created a genetic factor among the monsters present; it was actually the third.
To make matters worse, the weaker monsters feared these greater monsters and walked away. Amon’s hope was that these monsters would have fought each other, but now it would be difficult to reap any benefit.
‘With my current strength…’ Amon started having dangerous thoughts. He still didn’t know the limit of his strength.
Also, although these monsters created a genetic factor, it didn’t mean that their factors had been filled 100% before creating them. They might even have been before level 80.
‘If it’s that case, maybe…’
For now, Amon put that thought aside. Just in case he needed to fight one of those monsters that created a genetic factor to reap the rewards, he would take a chance and try his luck.
“Now even monsters with a genetic factor have appeared. This is getting on my nerves!” Julia muttered with an angry expression, wanting to flip a table: “╰(‵□′)╯(┻━┻ !”
As she muttered, the fruit from before started to show even more results. Now it was glowing a seductive red hue, and the scent was irresistible even to Amon’s party.
The throng of monsters went crazy, ignoring even the monsters that created a genetic factor and ran madly towards the blood-eating tree!
“That’s good…” Ariel muttered.
“Yeah,” Amon agreed.
As long as the monsters went crazy, they still had a chance to overrun the monsters that created genetic factors. If that happened, it was a good thing for Amon’s group.
Although…
Amon had underestimated the strength of one of the monsters with a genetic factor.
When the genetic factor monster slammed the hooves of its forelegs into the ground, earth spikes manifested immediately. It had reacted with such incredible speed – something no monster had ever shown before.
Amon’s eyes turned serious. It wasn’t just this one that had this kind of performance. A bear-like monster roared and flames came out of its mouth. It was like a mighty flamethrower. The flames encountered too many monsters at once, not even giving them a chance to dodge.
‘When you create a genetic factor, is the time to exercise your power made instantaneous?’ Ariel touched her chin with interest.
“This is very fast and strong…” Maisa muttered under her breath.
Amon nodded in agreement.
If before he thought he had a chance to kill these monsters, now he wasn’t so sure. Though he managed to use his genetics fast, it wasn’t as fast as these genetic-factor monsters were showing. Only if he got lucky, maybe he could win…
The fight for the fruit continued. Some foolish fledglings couldn’t take it and went ahead and tried to get the fruit for themselves. However, they couldn’t even get through the traps created by Amon and the girls before they were discovered and killed by the monsters. Some of the monsters were already angry at not being able to go up against the monsters with genetic factors unlocked, so they took it out on these reckless humans.
Others who had the same thoughts as these fledglings changed their minds immediately. Just like those who were trampled and killed, they thought the monsters were distracted by the blood-eating tree and wouldn’t even notice them coming.
“It’s better to give up for now and wait…” They practically all had the same thought.
Julia, who created an arc with water, undid it when she saw that it would no longer be needed.
“Looks like we won’t need to act at the moment,” Julia said in a low voice.
“See, the bear monster did it…” Ariel said when she saw the bear take the fruit.
“Ariel, get ready. If you get the chance, pull the fruit,” Amon said, “If I get my hands on it, maybe I can create a genetic factor…”
“Okay,” Ariel nodded, not giving Amon a chance to finish talking.
She would support him, even if it could lead to their death. After all, it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance, and although she was surprised that Amon was close to creating a genetic factor, after some thought, it was reasonable. Amon had twice reached enlightenment; it wouldn’t be weird if he was on the edge of another breakthrough, would it?
“Amon, what direction are we going to run if Ariel succeeds?” Julia asked, already wanting to prepare their escape route.
Amon closed his eyes. Moments later, he opened them. “Let’s go that way.”
The direction he pointed had a sharp hill. The girls nodded.
Just as the bear monster showed joy and was about to eat the red fruit the size of an adult man’s fist, another furry four-armed monster hit the bear monster’s arm hard, the fruit escaping from his hand.
“Now!”
Ariel got serious. Before the furry monster could grab the red fruit, the fruit floated into the air.
“ROAR!!”
Both the bear monster and the furry four-armed monster roared in fury! Amon, Ariel, Barbara, Julia and Maisa already started running before the fruit even reached them. The most important thing was to make these crazy monsters lose sight of them. Of course, that was easier said than done.
Even when Ariel tried to use the trees to make the monsters unable to follow their trail, it was nearly impossible because of the fruit’s strong scent.
“Ariel, cut a small piece, and spread some of the juice on the trees,” Amon said.
“Okay, I’ll do that, but won’t it wear off?” Ariel asked.
“If it fails, whatever. If it continues like this though, it won’t do us any good,” Amon shrugged nonchalantly.
“Okay, I’ll do it,” Ariel agreed and used her psychic power to cut a small sliver of the fruit. To their group’s surprise, a lot of juices started to come out, and it spread wherever she went.
With a quick thought, Ariel used her psychic power to circle the fruit and stop the juice from dripping, while the piece she’d cut off earlier, she tossed in a different direction than they were going.
“ROAR!!”
Ariel nearly jumped in fright when she heard a fierce roar, followed by another and another.
“Go on, your gamble seems to have worked,” Amon said.
“Yeah,” she smiled.
When the fruit came even closer to them, Ariel gave it to Amon who then put it away in the storage space that was given to them before entering this place.
“Luckily the smell is gone.” Julia felt like applauding.
“Yes, but we can’t be too relieved just yet,” Maisa said, “The moment these monsters find out-”
“ROAR!”
“BANG!”
The roars became even more fierce as the sounds of trees being felled, along with the sound of fighting came closer…
“A fight?” Maisa was confused.
“Hahahaha!” Ariel laughed out loud, “These silly monsters were completely fooled.” Ariel, when using her powers, was able to have a vague idea of ??what happened.
She said, “One of them ate the piece of fruit, and the rest thought it was the whole fruit, and they started killing each other, hahahaha!”
“Okay, let’s continue. Even if they were tricked, if they find us, they will still try to kill us,” Amon warned.
“Yeah!”
.
.
Some minutes later…
Near the top of the jagged hill, Amon and the girls found a hole in the hill.
“Is there a monster living here?” Maisa was cautious.
“It is currently empty.”
Amon could tell after closing his eyes for a few seconds. Even Ariel using her powers didn’t find any life forms in the cave.
“It is likely that whatever lives here was also attracted to the blood-eating tree,” Barbara deduced.
“Mm, let’s go inside,” Amon said, “If I’m lucky, I’ll get to create my first genetic factor. When that happens…”
“When that happens, we can reap even more reward~” Maisa added.
“Yeah,” Amon agreed.
He looked at Ariel. “Ariel, using your powers, can you create a spell to isolate this cave?”
“I can.” But the person who responded was Barbara.
“Seriously?” The other girls all looked at her.
“Yes, I learned from my mother,” Barbara said, “That day at the restaurant she gave me this spell and said that one day it might come in handy.”
“Very good.” Amon gave a rare smile.