Chapter 197: Ape Tyrant
Chapter 197: Ape Tyrant
“Don’t fear,” Kaylan gazed at the centre of the wall. “The monster is dead.”
Ignoring her brother’s words, Astrid's heart thumped. Not out of fear, but from sheer excitement. This was her first venture into a city, and it was more than she expected.
The size of it, the thick mana that made her want to breathe it all in, and the strength of the monsters. The approaching titan-like ape was a worthy opponent.
Even compared to Avemoth, it was almost on the same level as it; which was an astonishing thought. One was from a mysterious dungeon in another world, and the other resided in her own world. Even being on her planet, it was almost reaching the same heights as Avemoth. And it was a monster on the outer edges of the city.
Astrid had heard countless stories of city expeditions. That many who travelled through the bubbled walls and into the depths never returned. To head into a city was to sign away your life. All in hopes to receive an heirloom that could be passed down for generations.
But in a city, nothing was guaranteed.
Although Astrid wanted nothing more than to clash with the titan on her own, her actions had consequences. She wasn’t the strongest here, and that meant that she had to follow orders. Thankfully, she didn’t have to wait long for them.
A man in heavy plate armour standing calmly at the centre of the wall looked on with his sword sheathed at his side. As if he didn’t plan on using it in the first place. It was a peculiar sight considering a monster of immense strength was walking toward them.
He stood there, thinking. Astrid didn’t know what he was dwelling on, but his mouth soon opened. Calm, lethargic, yet the words caused her heart to buzz.
“Ranged users, destroy its legs,” He ordered. “Use everything you have. Don’t spare any mana.”
Mental magic? Astrid wondered as she felt compelled to listen to the man. However, her mental abilities were still greater. She concluded that it must be a secondary effect, or maybe his Intelligence was his second highest stat.
Whatever it was, she listened to the command she was given.
With only one clone, Astrid’s power was at its greatest thanks to the Tree’s eye that she had stolen from the Tree king.
Void purple formed in the palm of both the clone, and Astrid’s own. It spiralled until the air groaned in protest at its might. Others took a good few steps to the side as they withheld their breath from her attack. Even the man at the centre of the wall glanced over at the unusual attack.
Astrid looked at the clone, and the clone looked back. Grinning masks gazing at each other, Astrid let loose the attack.
The spiralling balls of highly condensed void energy and a mix of primal fire shot forward in a haze. It was easy to lose track from how fast they moved, but Astrid was still connected to them.
Pulling on her mind, she forced the spiralling balls of void energy to swerve ever so slightly. Although they were moving faster than the eye could track, they were slowly being pulled together. Blood seeped down from both eyes from the mental strain. Come on. Astrid chanted, and just as they were about to crash into the monster’s legs, they joined.
The world almost seemed to turn purple and black with a smattering of flickering star-like dust. When the dust settled, one entire leg was entirely blown off, and the other was seriously wounded.
I did it. Astrid resisted the urge to jump up in excitement. Even at her current level, controlling the void energy was a daunting task. It required full mental effort, and an extreme amount of concentration in order to control the stubborn energy. It was like wrestling a bear, if it was the size of a mountain, and filled with psycho enhanced drugs…
A roar split through the air, bursting the eardrums of many warriors. A mage was quick to react as she formed a barrier that reduced the noise until it was a muted mumble.
Astrid would have to ask how she was able to do it, so that she herself could incorporate it, but the monster moved.
Even though it only had one leg, it didn’t seem too bothered. It crouched as more spells and arrows pelted its body, and then it leapt high up into the air. Toward them. Straight for the wall.
Astrid couldn’t do anything about it. She couldn’t connect to its body because it was far too strong for her to do anything meaningful without blowing up her mind in the process. Instead, she looked over to the man in full plate armour.
He stood like a sculpture until the titanic ape loomed above. He was a man that Astrid had never seen, and his armour struck a chord within Astrid’s heart. It looked cool. Fur lined with armour with the odd scales muttered around, it was half beastly, half grand.
Finally, the commander moved.
Water erupted from around his feet like a geyser. The force of the water was enough to stop a mountain from falling. Or in this case, a monkey the size of multiple buildings.
The water slammed into the body of the ape, then… It began snowing. Crystals of frigid ice floated around the commander, then, the entire ape erupted into an ice sculpture. Huge ice lances penetrated through the monster, and in the next second, red seeped into the blue spears.
You defeated - Ape Tyrant - Level 293!
| Extra experience is granted for defeating an enemy many levels above!
| Experience is greatly reduced from lack of participation.
Astrid pouted. She hadn’t even levelled up from that massive level difference. It was obvious that losing a leg wasn’t of much importance to the tyrant beast.
However, even though it was incredibly strong, Astrid was confident she could best it on her own. Relying on her movement with blinks, she doubted the monster could even harm a hair on her body. Unless it had a high level movement skill of its own… which she doubted since it was just transformed into a popsicle.
Astrid used her elbow as a poking device as she jabbed it into Daniel’s arm.
“What is it?” Daniel ripped his vision away from the ape.
“Who’s that?” Astrid nudged her nose toward the commander.
“Seems like the commander of the rearguard for this mission,” Daniel responded as if it was obvious.
“Duh,” Astrid scowled. “I mean who is he?”
Daniel smiled and was about to say something to tease Astrid, but seeing her hair floor upward, he thought best not to start what he was going to say.
Clearing his throat, he said, “That’s not a he, lass, that’s a she.”
“Huh?” Astrid looked closer. Unlike Astrid’s own, his, or she didn’t have ‘mounds’ on her armour. It was a seamless piece of armour that if a blade was to make contact with it, it would simply bounce or glide off the surface.
Astrid nodded. She was awesome.
“Pirate King Noah,” Daniel whispered, afraid that the pirate king would hear him.
“Wow.” Astrid’s eyes widened.
She had heard so much of the pirate king Noah. The strongest of all the pirate kings. If she was manning the rearguard, then what did they have to worry about?
However, Astrid felt that something was off about her. Noah’s heart was frantic, and more than that, the mana within her body was chaotic, unruly. It was like a bomb that was getting ready to implode, but she was holding it back.
Astrid’s theory was even more evident when a high level healer wearing white leather armour quickly approached and placed their hand on her back. A potent water mana seeped into Noah’s body, and Astrid was watching it all.
Water healer. Astrid noted. There were many types of healing, and holy magic was only one of them. To Astrid’s knowledge, she knew of water, light, holy, and nature.
Rachelle was the only that had a unique class related to fire and healing. It was why when she was first told that Rachelle was a healer, Astrid was stunned. Confused even. She had never heard of it. It let her know that her knowledge wasn’t as vast as she once thought. There were many things to still learn, and that went for her class as well. Her magic. She had only just started on her path.
But I’ll reach the apex. Astrid swore with a quick nod.
“Astrid Sinwen?” Noah’s voice travelled to Astrid’s ears.
Noah was looking straight at her, yet her body still faced forward. She was like an impenetrable wall. Astrid hated to admit it, but the pirate king kind of reminded Astrid of her father; Lord Sinwen.
“Noah?” Astrid asked in return.
“Care to keep me company?”
“Of course.” Astrid floated next to the commander of the rearguard. “What’s the pirate king of kings doing here as the rearguard? Injured at that.”
Noah strained out a chuckle. Astrid could tell that something was broken within her. Something that obviously couldn’t be healed in a short moment as the healing water magic was still being pressed into her.
“I’m in charge of the safety of the oceans,” Noah said as she gazed out into the city. “If I didn’t help, what kind of leader would I be? The king of kings leads at the front, so when your father got in touch with me about a certain plan, I had to come.”
“So you know?”
“How do you think I got injured,” Noah sighed. “The Order… Are you ready to kill, Astrid?”
Astrid was taken aback at the question, but couldn’t help but laugh in the end. “I’m here to die the land red, and scatter it with bones if it lessens the burden on my family.”
Noah smiled. She looked at Astrid with pride. “Your parents must be proud.”
Now it was Astrid’s turn to gaze into the distance. “They are.”