Chapter 93
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 93
Chapter Title: The 704th Wave (3)
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A violet flash filled the world.
The roar erupted a split second later.
KABOOOOM!
The shockwave from the distant explosion swept across the plains like a tidal wave and slammed into the Lord's Castle.
Even I could barely hold on.
Opening my eyes amidst the acrid dust, I saw a status window blinking before me.
[The Sage informs you that Idic's recent attack was a skill it did not originally possess!]
It seemed the Sage was flustered too, as the sentence was disjointed.
But I understood its meaning.
The creature originally only possessed Proliferation and Predation.
Which meant.
‘This bombardment is a newly generated skill.’
Or.
It was granted power from somewhere else.
Either way, it was unbelievable.
The Lord's Castle?
A monster borrowing power from the Lord's Castle?
[The Sage recommends assessing the current state of your forces!]
At the Sage's urging, I collected myself. There was no time to think.
With the aftershock still lingering, I checked the dot window.
‘They're all red. This is dangerous.’
The monster dots gathered around Idic were all blinking red.
It meant their health had taken critical damage.
“Sage, check with Scry.”
Following my command, the Sage relayed the situation on the ground through its scrying.
The ground around Idic was carved out like a crater, and amidst the rampant violet flames, my summons lay fallen.
[The Sage informs you that the monsters of the detachment, excluding the Ice-Ear Turtle, have sustained extreme damage. All monsters are under the Exhaustion debuff from the aftermath of the 「Void Barrage」.]
The worst-case scenario.
But there was one positive.
Immediately after decimating its surroundings with the violet flash.
Idic was also unable to move, its bloodshot eye darting around.
[Idic of the Void enters a state of severe Exhaustion as a penalty for using 「Void Barrage」.]
The creature was afflicted with the same debuff as my Lord's Castle forces.
Exhaustion.
One of the most vicious debuffs in MonMonMak, it reduces all stats by 50 percent and inflicts a forced stun.
The stun duration was.
‘Five minutes.’
In other words, for five minutes, that void monster was completely defenseless.
The problem, then, was the forces left to attack Idic.
‘The only remaining forces are all ranged monsters.’
I could send the Lord's Castle's soldier ants for close combat, but their movement speed was too slow.
I stared at the plains, littered with the remains of golems and clones.
Crossing that distance to reach Idic in five minutes was impossible.
The conclusion was.
‘I have to land an effective hit with a ranged attack somehow.’
I gazed at the Mana Deployment Turrets positioned below.
Idic had 5 percent of its health remaining.
Considering the destructive power of the Mana Deployment Turrets and the Amur Ants' acidic fluid…
‘It'll be close.’
The Amur Ants' acidic fluid only lowered defense; it couldn't deal significant damage.
As for other means of ranged attack…
“……Ah.”
In that moment, I realized there was one other ranged attack method available from the Lord's Castle.
I immediately shouted to the Dream Lord.
“Lord, as long as I don't move from this spot, I can exert influence on this world, right?”
[I cannot be certain. However, the restraining force is used solely to hold you, the Lord of the present world, in that space. It is highly likely that it cannot control other external variables.]
Then it was worth a try.
“Sage.”
Vwong!
The Beholder Sage gazed at me with a worried eye.
It had realized why I called it.
“Let me know if it looks like I'm in danger. I'm counting on you.”
[The Sage does not wish to see you in danger. (•́∧•̀)]
“If this place falls, I die anyway.”
Vwong.
At my words, the Sage bobbed up and down.
A firm resolve filled its eye.
I nodded and moved to the edge of the watchtower.
In that position.
*Click.*
I raised my right arm and aimed forward.
A metal bracelet with thin, engraved lines was wrapped around my wrist.
The Pierce Bracelet. That was the means now available to me.
Vwooom.
As I focused my mind on the bracelet, blue mana seeped into the engraved lines.
The energy slithered and gathered in the groove at the center of the bracelet.
[Preparations for mana discharge are complete.]
A status window flickered at the edge of my vision.
But I waited. I took a deep breath and continued to focus.
Kiiiiing!
The low hum resonating from the bracelet grew louder.
Beside me, the Sage pointed out the necessary information.
[3 minutes remaining until Idic's status effect is removed.]
My right arm trembled violently from the strain of forcibly condensing the mana.
Yet, I kept my arm fixed straight on Idic below.
[The Mana Deployment Turrets and the Queen Ant Legion's acid bombardment are ready to fire.]
I waited for the right moment. The mana was now gathered beneath my open palm, forming a sphere the size of a baseball.
But not yet. This wasn't enough to finish it.
[2 minutes remaining until Idic's status effect is removed.]
KWOOOOOSH!
After another 60 seconds, the sphere of mana in my right hand had grown to a diameter of three meters.
This alone could incinerate any ordinary A-rank monster in an instant.
It was only possible because the Pierce Bracelet had no mana limit.
And with such destructive power.
[The Sage informs you that your mana threshold is about to reach its limit! It warns that consuming any more mana may cause severe damage to your body!]
The backlash that would follow would also be immense.
That's how mana was. The source of supernatural abilities, yet a concept that couldn't be checked on a status window. So, I trusted myself.
“Just a little more. I can do it, right, Sage?”
Come to think of it, the Lord's Castle was a type of skill itself.
An aggregate of monsters and various inanimate objects.
And I had been operating it all this time without issue.
I judged that was only possible because I had that much mana inherent in my body.
Therefore, I could do it now, too.
KWOOOOOOOOSH!
*CRUMBLE!*
A part of the watchtower's wall broke off and fell to the ground.
That's how massive the sphere of mana in my hand had become.
As cold sweat trickled down my body, and I had to grab my uncontrollably shaking right arm with my left hand.
[The Sage informs you that 1 minute remains until Idic's status effect is removed!]
[It also frantically informs you that the remaining mana in your body is on the verge of depletion, and complete depletion could be life-threatening!]
“Thanks, Sage.”
Finally, the signal I had been waiting for came.
I converted my focused consciousness into the will to 'fire' and sent it to my right arm.
[Mana Discharge]
KABOOOOOOOM!
The sphere of mana in my hand shot out in a straight line with a deafening roar.
A twenty-meter diameter mass of blue energy streaked across the battlefield, leaving a blue scar in its wake.
At the same time, blue-green meteors decorated the night sky.
They arched alongside the cannonball I had fired, hurtling toward Idic.
And the void monster, preparing to recover from its exhaustion.
[!]
Only then did it see the azure meteor flying toward it.
This meteor was different from the ones that had battered its clones.
Its size was enough to cause significant harm to its body, the condensed mana potent enough to erase its very existence.
[------!]
A shrill scream tore across the battlefield.
And I moved my exhausted hand to issue a final command in the dot window.
The moment the status effect wore off, all members of the detachment were to board the Ice-Ear Turtle.
Just as the sphere of mana reached Idic's nose.
[Idic's and the Lord's Castle monsters' status effects are removed.]
Idic extended countless tentacles from its body to block the mana sphere, while the Lord's Castle monsters hid inside the Ice-Ear Turtle's shell.
And finally, the sphere of mana touched Idic's outstretched body.
THUD!
The barrier of tentacles blocking its front should have been impervious to most attacks.
But not this time.
THUD!
The blue meteor mercilessly crushed the wall before it.
THUD, THUD, THUD, THUD!
The layered walls, made of dozens of tentacles, collapsed like dominoes.
And as Idic's bloodshot eye widened as if to tear.
[---]
KABOOOOOOOM!
The creature's scream was drowned out by the earth-shattering explosion.
It was reminiscent of a nuclear bomb.
Between the mountains, in the gorge where the creature stood, an azure light flashed, and a giant mushroom cloud erupted immediately after.
KWOOOOOOOOOSH!
The shockwave hit afterward.
Its destructive power was incomparable to the void bombardment; I had to cling to the watchtower wall to keep from being blown away.
How long did I endure, battered by the gale-force winds?
By the time the azure light, which had shone like the dawn, subsided and the winds from the battlefield calmed, I could finally open my eyes.
It was so quiet it was hard to believe the deafening roar from just moments ago.
And, amidst the settled dust and quieted gales, Idic was still there.
With an empty hole where its eye used to be.
[Idic of the Void has taken 3650 damage.]
[Fatal blow! Idic of the Void is annihilated.]
After those two status windows appeared in succession.
*Sssshhhh.*
The monster, large enough to swallow a mountain, began to melt away.
Its remains, like black tar, didn't flow but seeped into the ground.
The same happened to the clones that lay neutralized on the plains.
And then.
[You have cleared the 704th wave.]
On the now peaceful plains, the long-awaited dot window appeared.
“Haha.”
A dry laugh escaped my throat.
I did it.
I pulled it off again.
It was a battlefield unlike any I had ever experienced.
It was my first time, so I was inexperienced and clumsy.
But I managed to defend it somehow.
Just as I always had.
With all my strength, together with all the monsters of the Lord's Castle.
Suddenly, the Sage beside me bounced.
[The Sage informs you that you have exhausted your mana to the brink of its threshold and must rest immediately.]
“I know, thanks.”
I slumped against the castle wall.
My vision was already blurry.
After the battle ended, I had wanted to look around the Lord's Castle a bit or talk more with the Lord.
But it seemed that wasn't possible right now.
*Ssshh...*
My eyelids felt heavy.
As my eyes closed on their own, and I fell asleep as if fainting.
[You have done well, Lord of the present world.]
A voice soothed my weary self.
[I hope to meet you soon.]
I'd like to see her face, too. A simple pixelated image leaves too much to the imagination.
With that silly thought.
[Ending play of 「Monsters Are Blocked by Monsters」.]
I welcomed the encroaching slumber.
* * *
When I came to, I was looking at a familiar ceiling.
I was lying in the spacious living room of my officetel, the very place where I had first linked with the Lord's Castle.
Vwong!
“Nyaaaaah!”
“Ugh!”
As I slowly sat up, the Sage and San-gun, who had been resummoned to the present world, rushed toward me.
It seemed I had made them worry a lot.
I checked the time; a full 10 hours had passed since I'd linked with the Lord's Castle.
Which meant I had been unconscious for at least eight hours.
“I'm fine, I'm fine.”
Perhaps thanks to the deep sleep, my body felt light.
I linked to the Lord's Castle while stroking the creatures clinging to me like sticky rice cakes.
Because there was a procedure I had to check after clearing a wave.
[704th Wave Reward Calculation]
I didn't have high hopes.
It was tougher than any wave I'd faced before, but in the end, only one monster, Idic, had appeared.
Being a Void-type and 8-star, it would probably drop some rare byproducts.
It was at that moment, with that thought in mind, that I checked the Lord's Castle that appeared before my eyes.
“……Huh?”
I narrowed my eyes and craned my neck.
In a corner of the Lord's Castle, there was something I had never seen before.