Neither of them were the fastest, though.
“It’s quite rowdy down below,” Zyrus activated the eyes of annihilation while looking at the beach. Unlike humans and other monsters who crossed the sandy area without a hitch, the rats and specter scorpions took a different path.
They were tasked with underground reconnaissance. And it was no wonder they found their targets with a skill like earth movement. A lot of bugs were living beneath the layer of sand. It wasn’t anything worth of note if this was a normal beach. Yet due to the presence of mana, even the insects of the second ring were mightier than the monsters of the first ring.
“As you already know from Anansi’s explanation, you can now create parties with up to 100 players. Add the trolls and shield warriors in swordsman’s party, and pair up archers with mages and spearmen. As for the rest, team them up with a mix of two races.”
Zyrus ordered Ria while he readied his mana. Not even he dared to be careless in the foreign environment.
“Done.”
“Move in groups of ten. If you see any animal, kill it. If you see a tree, cut it down and collect the fruits. Stones, fallen leaves, or any other thing you find on the island, I want them collected into different areas. Is that clear?”
“…Alright,” Ria replied after a bit of hesitation. She didn’t know the motive behind such destructive activities. Knowing Zyrus’s nature though, she was sure that he’d explain them sooner or later.
Soon, players moved under their respective leaders’ commands. Other crown holders liked to form parties with all professions, but Zyrus disagreed with the method.
It looked nice on paper and it was indeed more effective. But on a large-scale battle where hundreds of thousands of players fought with all sorts of abilities, the simple tactics were much more lethal. A party comprised of swordsman, mage, shield warrior, rogue and archer was the standard when it came to hunting monsters. On a large scale warfare, a formation made up of a hundred swordsmen could easily wipe out dozens of such parties.
“Keep an eye on them,” Zyus jumped off from Franken’s back and rushed into the forest. He had long since noticed the Iguanas and Fruit bats in the forest.
He snuck closer to a papaya tree and blasted a vortex at the iguana that was hiding behind the leaves.
-256
*Grrrrk*
The green creature was flung back to the empty ground. Zyrus jumped after it and blasted it with another two cyan vortexes.
-123
-256
‘This is frustrating and exciting at the same time.’
Zyrus chuckled as he dodged the iguanas’ bullet-like tongue. Anything was possible with mana, and a lizard shooting its tongue was one such example.
-256
Exp +150
Finally, the green iguana stopped breathing after he hit it with the fourth vortex. Just killing this 3-foot-long lizard required more than 3 hits.
‘The suppression of a higher ring is nothing to laugh about.’
Strictly speaking, this place wasn’t 100% the second ring. It was more like a phase between the second and the third ring.
Although it was still in a mirror dimension, the level of its merging was higher than anywhere else in the Kyros continent. This made it so that this oceanic region was the strongest place in the second ring and the weakest in the third ring.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Even if the merging rate was just 10% higher, the mana levels on this island were too much for those at lv 20. It was troublesome to kill creatures of a higher level of existence. That being said, the payoff for accomplishing this feat was more than worth it.
Zyrus ran around his army and looked for scattered iguanas. He could’ve killed more if he had gone all out, but his goal was to observe his troops' progress. His actions were akin to throwing a stone on a calm lake. The entire forest was stirred in frenzy as hordes of monsters started fending off against the invaders.
‘They’re still clumsy, but they’ve got the basics right.’
Shield warrior, swordsman, spearman, archer, and mage. Except for the rogue and assassin class options for dagger users, the rest had only one advancement at level 20. This was a true class which came with its own set of active and passive skills. Unlike before when they only knew how to use their weapon, the players now understood the fundamental basics of their profession.
“Surge.”
-256
Zyrus slammed his vortex towards the iguana while surveying a group of players. Five shield warriors and the same number of swordsmen were fighting against a lone iguana.
*Grrrk*
-56,-56,-56
Zyrus’s feet didn’t stop even for a moment. His MP was limited, and his usage of stamina was inefficient without the bloodspine spear.
‘I’ll have to rely on magic for the time being.’
He could finish the spear's evolution by using the fang of Nidraxis. However, he didn’t plan to do that before receiving the cube’s mission for the second ring.
“Form.”
Drops of water swirled around the iguana and bound it for a few seconds. Zyrus didn’t have enough MP to form a vortex that could shred it apart, but he could achieve the same result with his claws.
*Slash*
-378
Exp +150
‘It’s more satisfying than I thought.’
Zyrus looked at his bloody claw in surprise. When it came to dealing with small mobs it was more energy efficient compared to the vortex.
He gestured the group of players to take back the dead iguana and climbed up the nearby tree. He had a lot of ideas about creating new skills, and unlike in the first ring, he had the time to work on those ideas.
“Hey! Isn’t this too difficult?”
“Why do you think we have a decade to reach level 50?”
Zyrus replied to Lauren as he jumped above the group of bears. Unlike humans who could use their weapons to fight, these large fellows had to fight in a humiliating manner. It was quite a sight to see dozens of huge bears gang up on a little lizard. The ogres and trolls weren’t much better in that regard as they too faced the same issue.
The creatures here were too small to be hit without accuracy. Quite the contrary, it were the bears and ogres who were at risk if they fought alone. The iguana’s tongues were hard to avoid even for the nimble assassins.
Humans had their fair share of troubles as well. Their arrows failed to pierce the iguanas while the mages didn’t have enough mana to blast one to death. Those who used the daggers were the worst off among the players. They weren’t fast enough to dodge all the attacks, neither could they pierce the iguanas’ skin.
The shield warriors were barely holding on with the one-sided beating. The swordsmen and spearmen had it easy compared to all of them.
Zyrus ran around for an hour and killed one more iguana. He had already recovered most of his MP with his monstrous recovery speed.
“Expand.”
He held his palms forward and launched a huge vortex. It consumed all of his recovered MP, but the results were just as great. The poor iguanas were drowned to death before they could even scream.
Exp +150
Level up!
[+2 Strength]
[+1 Agility]
[+1 Mana]
Zyrus’s taut muscles relaxed as soothing power seeped into his body. His improvement was all the more observable in this suppressive environment. The feeling was similar to having a heavy stone lifted off of one’s shoulders.
At the same time that he leveled up to 21, all of the players received a notification.
[March forth to claim your throne, and conquer the vast lands with your flag held high]
[You have selected
as a starting zone. Your faction has received a “Blank Flag”]
[New authorities will be given based on your performance]
[Ranking system has been added!]
[Countdown for the next reward: 29d 21h]
[Players will earn points based on their activity. Rewards will be given according to your ranks]
*KIKIkiii*
“Retreat,”
Zyrus didn’t wait for a second and gave the command to head back. The fruit bats were roused like a hornet’s nest after seeing the white flag that had appeared above his head.
“Use everything you have to attack them, no need for a prolonged fight.”
Zyrus had no intention to hold back either. The flag would automatically draw aggro from non-affiliated monsters. And since the island didn’t have a civilization, every creature would be drawn to the flag and try to kill him.
[Come Forth]
*Crrrack*
The space tore apart all around him. Numerous portals were created for his summons to descend into this region.
200 ophidian warriors charged out and used their claws to climb up the trees. Shi kun and Jacob followed right after and used their strongest skills.
[Wrathful Reckoning]
[Prairie Fire]
*Kikkkki*
A significant portion of the bats flew away from the main horde, only to be burned by orange flames. Scent of charred flesh and burning wood permeated through the whole region.
“Mages, use all your mana and retreat with the bears. Rogues and assassins are next,” Zyrus gave out another command and channeled his mana.
He didn’t have much MP left, so he had to make his every attack count.
[Shackles of nihility]
Blue shackles bound by black chains erupted from the coconut trees, binding the bats that were flying above.