The remaining, stronger monsters started licking their wounds while growling at me threateningly.
I chuckled at their cute sight as I prepared my next spell. I wanted to at least reach level 26 in this round, so I had my work cut out for me.
It was time I showed the audience what it meant to be the King of AoE.
“Wrath, I hope you’ve gotten enough XP to satisfy your hunger…” I murmured before dashing behind Iris and lifting her up into my arms. Her armor was extremely cumbersome, but it proved to be no problem at all with my Strength stat of 65.
“… What are you doing?” She asked with a disbelieving scowl. There was a great amount of audible annoyance in her tone.
“I’m going to go all out, I don’t want to injure my partner.”
“Then at least stop princess carrying me!”
“No, I don’t think I will.”
“I’ll climb on your back, or better yet, I will go to the other end of the arena and continue farming there.” She decreed, once again ascertaining that despite her mental issues, she was perfectly capable of logical reasoning.
I didn’t reply as I eyed the person with whom I shared such a strange bond with. I’d met Ayame about four months ago, but I spent more than 13 years with Iris. However, she spent only a few days in my company, and almost all of that time was spent tensely as we were either outright hostile to each other or worried about the other’s betrayal due to the secrets we knew about the other.
“… Bastard.” She spat once she realized that I had no plans of letting her get anywhere from my arms. It was a rare chance for me to be in her company, I had no desire to let this woman escape to the other side of the arena.
“I’m sure a few XP packs will remain for you to slay. If you remain unsatisfied by the end of this event, I’ll lease Ghost to you so that you can have a fruitful greenskin hunting trip in the forests. [Airwalk]”
As I ran up into the skies where not many of these brutish, physical-oriented monsters could hurt me, I contemplated my best course of action. There were only a few intermediate spells I didn’t use in combat just yet out of the 16 new acquisitions. There was one in particular which I thought would be perfect right now.
I aimed the finger of my hand which was holding Iris’ thighs down at the arena. “[Mist Veil]”
A thick fog burst forth from my extended finger. It began cascading down like a waterfall and rapidly spreading across the arena floor. The snarls of the wounded beasts turned into uneasy growls as they lost visibility. Not only were some of them wounded but their prey even started walking on the air to reach a height that was outside their attack range. However, the worst was the heavy mist obscuring their vision and disorienting them completely.
“You’d just blindfolded these dumb monsters… But you should know that some of them don’t exactly rely on eyesight.” Iris muttered as she wriggled in my arms, clearly not satisfied with her current position. Though she couldn’t fool me, I knew perfectly well how strong she was, especially if she activated her class’ boosts and focused them to her Strength stat. If she really wanted to, she could easily overpower me and ‘escape’.
“Their sense of smell and sense of hearing, huh. Don’t worry, I’ll get to them right now. Close your ears, I’ll be a bit loud.”
I could sense the agitation of the monsters that were relying heavily on sight like the goblins and orcs. They became helpless as they began to find their way in the mist.
It was time to overpower the senses of the more beast-like creatures as my partner had warned. Werewolves and Ogres, while they were crippled by the loss of sight, were still functional.
I took a deep breath and channeled wind magic into my lungs. I braced myself as the energy surged through me. I bent forward and looked down at those below me, after which I parted my jaws apart like a dragon who was about to unleash a breath attack.
“[Sonic Boom]!”
I unleashed a compressed shockwave of air that expanded downward in a roaring cone.
It shattered the mist for a moment, but this was no normal mist. The spell quickly regained it’s shapeless form as it once again enveloped a good portion of the giant arena.
The beasts caught within the blast screamed as they were flung backward while clutching their ears or staggering as the pressure disoriented their senses even further. The ground trembled beneath as dust and fog swirled into chaotic spirals.
Within the dissipating mist, I spotted several orcs and beasts sprawled across the arena floor.
“Sense of sight lost, check. Sense of hearing lost, check. Now then…”
“[Lava Pool]”
The arena quaked in response as bright, crimson magma erupted from beneath the monsters’ feet. A scorching patch of molten rock bubbled to the surface, swallowing the stunned orcs and dire beasts who were too slow to react. Their pained screams echoed as the searing heat burned through armor, flesh, and fur.
“Sense of smell lost, check.” I decreed while watching the monsters do their best to avoid the surface below them. The stronger monsters climbed on top of the weaker ones and used them as a shield against the lava floor.
The scent of sulfur and burning meat traveled up to the two of us, and the crowd’s distant cheers turned into a thunderous roar.
But I wasn’t done. Not even close.
I pointed my hand toward the arena once more. The molten earth bubbled and hissed as the monsters rushed to the edges of the lava pool or climbed on top of each other. Too bad for them – despite the ‘pain’ coming from down below, the real enemy was above them.
Climbing on top of each other only ensured that they were closer to my lethal range.
“[Rockfall].”
Massive boulders materialized from thin air and plummeted toward the ground.
The first rock crashed into the lava pool, sending molten magma splattering in all directions and catching the escaping beasts. More boulders followed, pounding the ground mercilessly, leaving craters in their wake. Monsters unlucky enough to be directly below the impact zones were crushed instantly, disappearing in flashes of light. Those nearby were thrown into the air or buried alive beneath the rubble.