C-Grade Shelter Plunder Battle (3)
“What is that crystal over there?” “It’s huge, isn’t it?”
A vast-looking area. And right in the center, a colossal crystal.
“What about that number?” “Yeah?”
[A : 0] [B : 0]
A sign displaying the number zero. Split between A and B, it clearly indicated scores.
Mass Slaughter will begin shortly. Please prepare.
“Guys, you know you can’t lose, right?”
“Of course.”
“We know our skills. Nothing like that will ever happen.”
“Yeah. Ssaem. Just trust me. If I just do attribute conversion, I’ll sweep them all away.”
The kids answered with absolute confidence.
Thinking about it now, I somewhat regret having accepted that bet.
After all, once we only secured a C-grade shelter, expanding the forces of a guild whose name wasn’t even well-known would be nearly impossible.
Yet the provocation from that guy had an oddly irresistible pull.
Logically, refusing would have been the right choice, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
“Is there something there?”
A decision made as if bewitched by something.
Whether the owner of the voice I had heard beyond the wall possessed any special ability, doubt began to creep in.
But there was no longer any time for such thoughts.
Starting now, Mass Slaughter begins.
Your faction is B.
Defeat the greater number of monsters than the opposing side within the time limit to win.
Once all monsters in this area are eliminated, the next wave will spawn.
The faster you kill monsters, the more you can eliminate within the time limit.
Also, if the crystal in the center is destroyed, you will automatically lose. Please be careful.
“Then START!”
Time limit: 02:00:00
And with the starting signal, sounds echoed from all around.
“Kwoooow!”
“Kuaaaak!”
“Alright. Jin-hwan, handle the monsters approaching while protecting the crystal with Ji-ah. Ara and Jin-ri, and I will spread out and deal with the monsters. Got it?”
“Yes, understood.”
“Yes!”
Following my orders, everyone moved with perfect coordination.
Jin-hwan took Ji-ah and set up near the crystal, while Ara and Jin-ri began attacking the monsters in front of them.
Spirit Summoning Technique - Intermediate
※ Intermediate Water Spirit Lois summoned.
First, Ara summoned her spirit.
Unlike the small puppy-like low-grade water spirit from before, a massive canine-shaped intermediate spirit appeared before her, roughly the size of a person.
“Lois. Take care of those guys.”
“Understood.”
The intermediate spirit, capable of human speech, immediately rushed toward the nearest monster and crushed its head with a massive paw.
“When did you start summoning intermediate spirits?”
“I’ve been practicing a bit.”
Stimulated by Ara’s display, Jin-ri didn’t stay idle either.
Fire Lance
※ Flame lance
A massive flame spear erupted from Jin-ri’s staff and soared toward the monster.
Kwaaang!
With a deafening explosion, the monster was obliterated.
“I can’t just sit around either.”
Named Monster Ursula ★★ Lv-2 summoned.
📍 Location: C-Grade Shelter
🎁 Reward: Special drops
“Wipe out all the monsters nearby.”
“Got it.”
Ursula immediately began slaughtering the monsters using her legs.
I walked around, knife in hand, piercing the necks of the summoned monsters and rapidly reducing their numbers.
[A : 34] [B : 42]
Every time we eliminated monsters, the scoreboard numbers kept climbing.
Those numbers would clearly become crucial for gauging the gap between us and the opponents.
“Ssaem, there don’t seem to be any more nearby.”
“Hmm?”
After taking out about forty-seven, no monsters remained in sight.
“To respawn new monsters, we have to kill all the ones that appear, right?”
Some monsters were hiding somewhere nearby.
Monsters that wouldn’t reset unless all were killed.
That meant victory in this Mass Slaughter depended on how quickly we could locate and eliminate the hidden ones.
“The best way to find hidden monsters would be with these guys.”
Ten harpies summoned.
They flew around searching for the hidden monsters.
“This place is surprisingly vast.”
Sharing the harpies’ vision through integration, I surveyed the surroundings. The area was far larger than I had imagined.
If the monsters hid deliberately, finding them would be nearly impossible.
Moreover, they didn’t seem to be confined to the ground.
“Kieeeeeek!”
The harpies severed the lives of the monsters they flew past.
More importantly, there was water nearby, and monsters were apparently hiding there too.
“What do I do about that?”
For now, I sent one harpy straight into the water.
And then…
Special Ability - Bomb Drop
※ A powerful bomb is installed on the target.
Kwaaaaang!
The harpy exploded along with the monsters in the water.
And that had been the final monster.
All monsters have been eliminated.
New monsters will be summoned.
“I get the general idea now.”
[A : 43] [B : 50]
The summoned monsters weren’t particularly strong.
That made it easy to kill them.
The real challenge was quickly eliminating the ones scattered across this vast area.
That would be the key to victory in this Mass Slaughter.
“Then let’s see… First, I’ll take out the monsters that have already appeared one by one while thinking hard.”
“How can I kill all the monsters with the current information using the minimum movement path?”
“Okay. Jin-ri, you remember the area with water earlier? Go there.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Whenever new monsters spawn, hit them with electric attacks first and then come over.”
“Ah! Got it.”
I sent Jin-ri, who had electric-attribute attacks, to the water area first to clear the monsters there, then handled the rest.
“As for the sky, the harpies will keep flying and handling things, so don’t worry. Jin-hwan and Ursula will clear the inner area from the inside out, so Ara and I will come in from the outside and take care of the monsters.”
“Yes, understood.”
“Yes!”
This was the best strategy we could devise right now.
“I guess I’ll have to summon the White Dragon kid too.”
“Kuuul…”
The White Dragon kid, who had been sleeping or napping, appeared.
He looked so different from the Black Dragon I had seen that I wondered if they were even the same species.
“Hey, wake up!”
“Uuuu…”
The sleepy-eyed White Dragon barely opened his eyes.
Right in front of him appeared a monster.
“Whoa! What’s this?”
“If you’ve come to your senses, fly up to the sky and help the harpies.”
“W-what?”
“Hurry up, brat. Can’t you see I’m busy?”
The White Dragon, suddenly summoned and bewildered, looked around before flying up to help the harpies.
“Alright, let’s begin.”
So in the water area, Jin-ri.
On the outside, Han and Ara.
In the sky, White Dragon and the harpies.
Inside, Jin-hwan, Ursula, and Ji-ah.
They began rapidly eliminating the monsters.
Time passed, and about ten minutes remained.
[A : 846] [B : 1066]
“Ssaem, it looks like we’re almost winning.”
“Yeah. With this gap, they definitely can’t catch up in the remaining time.”
The difference was obvious even to the naked eye.
Once fifty or so monsters appeared, we could never catch up to that number in the remaining time.
Victory was all but certain.
Remaining time: 10 minutes.
Monsters will now spawn without limit.
“Huh?”
But I had clearly underestimated the situation.
The number of monsters summoned at once suddenly exceeded five hundred.
“W-what?!”
The monsters that suddenly appeared were numerous.
Of course they weren’t strong, but their sheer numbers were overwhelming.
“Everyone! Don’t panic and keep doing what you’re doing!”
“Yes! Got it!”
“Yes!”
Even though the number of monsters summoned at once had increased, it wouldn’t change the outcome.
After all, our killing speed was still faster.
If we continued as we had been, we would definitely win…
“Ssaem! Look at the scoreboard!”
“Why?!”
After a few minutes of monsters spawning, the numbers on the scoreboard looked strange.
[A : 1146] [B : 1166]
“Insane. Why is the opposing side’s killing speed so much faster? They’ve already caught up?”
“We’re going to lose!”
But our killing speed was currently the best it could be.
Each of us was using our area-of-effect skills to eliminate monsters, and Jin-hwan had joined in as well.
There was no way to kill monsters any faster than this.
“Should I release White Dragon’s seal?”
The last remaining option.
Releasing White Dragon’s seal.
In fact, I had avoided using it in case of some unknown calamity.
If a calamity occurred, it would be the only hope for defeating those monsters.
“Damn it. What do I do?”
But if we lost here, not only would our shelter be gone, but our guild would disappear as well.
And in that case, who knew what those guys would do.
“Hah… Ssaem, what should we do? It looks like there’s something that can kill a large number of monsters over there.”
“With this, we probably won’t be able to win.”
[A : 1554] [B : 1264]
The gap had already reached three hundred monsters.
The remaining time was running out.
If things continued like this, our defeat was certain.
“Damn it. I guess I have no choice but to use it.”
I had no choice but to look at White Dragon.
And just as I was about to release his seal…
“Ji-ah! Danger!”
Following Jin-hwan’s shout, I turned my head and saw Ji-ah approaching the swarm of monsters.
She pointed at a monster with her hand and activated her skill.
Virus Spread
※ Spreads the virus through saliva or blood.
※ Once infected, you can no longer distinguish between enemies and allies.
At the same time, the first monster to be infected had its eyes bloodshot, then lost consciousness and began biting and attacking the surrounding monsters wildly.
And in the process, the blood sprayed everywhere.
With hundreds of monsters tangled together in this situation, the virus spread rapidly, becoming the perfect condition for instant transmission to all the monsters.