“Rescue.” Melania said as she pulled a small dagger from who knows where.
Before her words even settled, she had already dashed into the monster horde.
Her speed was so quick that it left afterimages behind.
Faint, ghostly blue light flickered beneath her feet.
It was the assassin’s low-tier skill—Shadow Step!
Fuzzsir didn’t use any weapons.
Instead, he bent down, placing his hand on the grass, and a gray magical array suddenly expanded beneath him.
It was the Necromancer class skill—Reanimation of the Dead!
Streams of death energy surged into the bodies of several Devil Monkeys.
The corpses, riddled with bullet holes, suddenly twitched violently.
Then, with the horrified gazes of several officers, their eyes snapped open, and they shot upright from the ground.
Green flames burned wildly in their eyes, an eerie and terrifying sight.
Fuzzsir nodded in satisfaction, seemingly pleased with his new “toys.”
With a gentle smile, he addressed the monsters, saying, “Kill them all. Not a single one left.”
Instantly, four or five of the reanimated Devil Monkeys, as though receiving a command, charged toward their still-living kin.
The situation had completely reversed in an instant!
Luca had been keeping over a dozen of the monsters occupied by himself, and after Quagmire and the others arrived, Donlow, who had been on the defensive, began to take the offensive.
Despite their overwhelming numbers, these Devil Monkeys were still just low-tier monsters. Under the fierce onslaught from Luca and the others, they began to falter.
These monsters were clearly more intelligent than the average creature. Seeing things turning against them, they started to retreat. First, one fled, then two, then three, until the entire pack began a full retreat.
“Don’t chase them. There might be other monsters in the forest. We need to rescue the others first.” Luca cut a Devil Monkey in half with a swift slash, then called out to Quagmire and the others, who were too caught up in the carnage.
Hearing this, Quagmire and the others finally stopped their pursuit.
“We’re finally alive!” Donlow threw her heavy sword aside, collapsing to the ground without any care for her appearance.
Her chest rose and fell in rapid breaths, her forehead slick with sweat, and her body was covered in numerous wounds.
The deepest was on her abdomen, almost as if her stomach had been ripped open. Fresh, crimson blood poured from the wound, soaking through her white T-shirt.
The others were in no better condition. One of the officers had his arm bitten off by a Devil Monkey and had lost too much blood. He was unconscious and urgently needed medical treatment.
Quagmire and the others quickly helped the injured to their feet, preparing to get them out of there.
Luca, however, was looking toward the direction where the Devil Monkeys had fled, his eyes shining with a sharp glint. If there really was a Node in Black Mountain, it was most likely in that direction…
“What are you looking at? Let’s go.” Donlow, having regained some strength, spoke up, interrupting Luca’s thoughts. Just as he was about to suggest they leave, Luca’s expression suddenly changed, and he looked toward the direction he had been observing earlier.
At the same time, the ground beneath them began to violently tremble. freёwebnoѵel.com
“Roar!!!” A deafening roar echoed through the forest, and black demonic energy surged into the sky, causing everyone’s expressions to shift in alarm.
This was… a Node?!
“As expected, it’s here.” Luca’s gaze turned cold.
Without a second thought, he charged straight toward the direction where the Node had activated.
By the time Quagmire and the others reacted, all they could see was his retreating back.
“Shit, what is this kid planning to do?” Quagmire said, his face full of shock.
The others were equally baffled.
Only Melania’s eyes shifted as she said, “Does he plan to find the Node?”
“He’s out of his mind. Who knows how many monsters are inside the Node? He’s basically walking to his death!” Quagmire almost felt dizzy from the frustration.
There was no time to think further. He lowered the officer he had been carrying and turned to Donlow and the others. “You guys leave first. I’ll go bring that kid back.”
“I’m going with you,” Melania immediately replied.
“I’m going to deliver my head too,” Fuzzsir said seriously.
Donlow was about to say something.
When Quagmire cut her off with a scowl. “Don’t cause trouble. Melania and I will go. If we run into any danger, with our speed, we can get out of it. You guys following us won’t help.”
Fuzzsir wasn’t happy with that. “You’re human, I’m human too. If you can deliver your head, I can deliver mine. Why can you go, and I can’t? You’re discriminating against mentally ill people!”
Quagmire’s face darkened. He kicked Fuzzsir in the rear and shouted, “Get lost!”
Although their strength was rated S, that was in comparison to humans. When it came to monsters, especially a monster horde, the difference between them and ordinary humans was that they might have time to strike a cool pose before being devoured. It was still death either way.
Fuzzsir and Donlow both looked reluctant, but Quagmire couldn’t help rolling his eyes. He had never seen anyone so eager to rush to their own death. He really couldn’t rely on any of them.
Meanwhile, as Luca ventured deeper into Black Mountain, the fluctuations of the Node became more and more pronounced, along with a thick, suffocating demonic aura.
Compared to the Nodes Luca had encountered before, this one had much less demonic energy and weaker fluctuations. There was a high chance that no high-level monsters would emerge.
However, Luca did not let his guard down. After all, this was reality, not a game. He focused his mind, and a magnificent silver-white magic rune appeared around him, with frost spreading over the blade of his sword.
“Frostborn” activated with a forceful surge!
Luca’s aura suddenly skyrocketed, and he transformed into a streak of silver-white light, quickly closing in on his target.
The demon monkeys that had been fleeing in panic were still scrambling, unaware that behind them, a white reaper was fast approaching.
Luca didn’t rush to strike. Instead, his gaze fixed on the area further ahead. Black mist enveloped the forest, and the light seemed to be swallowed by it, creating an eerie and mysterious atmosphere.
“This should be it,” he muttered under his breath, a chill creeping into his eyes. In his previous life, when the monster horde erupted, Celephais and the surrounding cities had all fallen. The disaster had been so sudden that by the time others reacted, Celephais had already become a paradise for monsters, and it wasn’t until Luca’s rebirth that the Human Race managed to reclaim it.
Now, he finally had a chance to do something about it.
After glancing at the few remaining demon monkeys, which had slowed their retreat, Luca focused again. He gathered more cold energy around his sword, and ice crystals began to form along the blade.
With a sudden burst of power, Luca shot forward like a great bird, heading straight for the fleeing demon monkeys.
Luca had only spared these monkeys earlier to use them as a guide. Now that he had found the Node, there was no longer any need to keep them alive.
After the previous battle, over thirty demon monkeys had been reduced to fewer than ten. They were almost at the Node, and the remaining monkeys had begun to relax, thinking they were nearly safe.
But at that very moment, one of the demon monkeys suddenly felt an overwhelming chill sweep over its body.
Before it could figure out what was happening, the world seemed to spin around it, and it found itself staring at the decapitated body of one of its kin, standing straight up with blood pouring out like a fountain.
At the same time, it saw a white figure darting toward the rest of the monkeys.
“Screech! Screech!!” The terrified and enraged scream of the demon monkey shattered the silence of the forest.
The remaining demon monkeys looked at Luca with eyes full of fury. They couldn’t believe that this human had actually dared to chase them down and attack them!
Without hesitation, a group of demon monkeys charged at Luca, intent on making this damned human pay for his actions.
Luca’s gaze remained indifferent as he focused on condensing the frost around his sword…
Three minutes later…
He took a step forward, heading deeper into the forest.
Behind him, statues of frozen demon monkeys stood, their expressions filled with fear, frozen in place.
A chilling white mist rose from their bodies and slowly dissipated. Stay tuned to
Less than ten minutes after Luca’s departure…
Two figures dropped down from the trees.
“So this kid wasn’t even using his full strength before?” Quagmire stared at the ice sculptures before him, each one looking like a piece of art. He tapped one of the frozen demon monkey statues, which was encased in solid ice, and clicked his tongue. “I’d bet that his power in the game has already reached Gold Grade. No wonder he’s brave enough to go after the Node alone.”
Melania, however, was focused on a footprint Luca had left in the dirt. Her eyes gleamed with a dark light.
After observing for a moment, she slowly shook her head. “At least Platinum.”
Quagmire froze for a moment, surprised. “Seriously? There are only a handful of people who can reach Platinum Grade at this stage, and they’re all the top players.”
He himself was only at Gold Grade, and that was after relentlessly grinding every day. He couldn’t quite wrap his head around what kind of freakish player could level up so quickly to Platinum.
Melania didn’t respond verbally, just nodded, then turned her head and continued moving toward the heart of the forest. What Quagmire didn’t notice was the deep confusion that flashed across her eyes after she turned away.
In truth, Melania had been conservative in her assessment. If she were to go by her real guess, Luca’s strength in the game might have already reached the High Tier. But that theory was far too shocking. Even she wasn’t sure she could believe it.
Meanwhile, as Luca ventured deeper into Black Mountain, the surrounding magical energy grew thicker. The already dim forest became even darker, filled with an oppressive and eerie atmosphere.
He hadn’t walked far into the depths of Black Mountain when he encountered other monsters. They weren’t demon monkeys, but instead solitary, decayed wolves, which weren’t very strong.
After swiftly killing the wolf, he continued forward, only to encounter a Titan boa constrictor. And as he got closer to the Node, the number of monsters he faced seemed to increase.
Ghost foxes, phantom butterflies, undead ghouls, and all kinds of other eerie creatures roamed the area.
Though their strength wasn’t much, their numbers were overwhelming. Still, none of them posed any real threat to Luca, and they were all easily slain. The difference in his power with and without using Superclass magic runes was night and day.
By the time Luca reached the abyss-like crack that marked the Node’s location.
Dozens of monsters had already fallen beneath his sword!