Chapter 129

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Volume 1 + Chapter 129: Strange Puppet

This is the monster of Reiswyn?

 

These demon wolves are much larger than ordinary wolves. Their fur is like spikes, their yellow beastly eyes have no pupils, and their claws and teeth are deep black.

 

However, this monster, which looks very similar to a wolf, should be the lowest-level monster.

 

Winnie had read a book called “The Monster Compendium,” which mentioned that the more a monster resembles humans or familiar living creatures, the shallower its corruption and the weaker its strength. This is because they are created based on Terraria creatures, closer to the Terraria system. As for the truly high-level monsters, even the followers of the Demon God Pillar, they are all inhuman, looking bizarre as if they grow casually just because no one is watching them.

 

“Everyone, the chit-chat time is over. It’s time to get to work.”

 

“Let’s send these air-polluting monsters back to their hometown!” Winnie took the lead, swinging his spear and slashing a black mist-emitting demon wolf back.

 

If there were any doubts about Winnie’s role as the team leader before departure, those doubts have now completely vanished.

 

Just moments ago, none of them had noticed the demon wolves sneaking up on them for a sneak attack. Thanks to Winnie, their team would have suffered injuries otherwise.

 

“Tsk, these beasts are finally here. I’ve been itching to fight!” Sok, clad in black light armor, drew the twin swords hanging at his waist and sneered. “Daring to sneak attack me, today I’ll make sure you can’t even scream!”

 

“Take this!” Inspired by the captain’s bravery, the team members were also motivated. Sok leaped into the air, plunging both swords into the head of a demon wolf.

 

The demon wolf died on the spot.

 

These monsters behave quite strangely when hit. Winnie knew it was because they lack pain receptors and don’t feel pain.

 

Barbatos, who summoned the “Wolf King’s Armour,” swung his flail with such force that it formed a barrier, repelling the demon wolves surrounding him. The flail, carrying a powerful gust, smashed the attacking wolves away.

 

Jaden’s brass armor, “Copper Wall,” blocked wave after wave of attacking wolves. Armed with a sword and shield, he leaned more towards defense, not rushing to attack but covering his teammates to prevent them from being ambushed.

 

Zedis, with his curly hair, wore a suit of flexible scale armor and wielded a heavy crossbow. Under Jaden’s cover, he took down the larger demon wolves. One shot from the heavy crossbow, and these larger wolves were basically done for, silent with each hit.

 

It was their first time fighting together, and their coordination was rough. Fortunately, their opponents weren’t strong, and they could easily handle them. No demon wolf could break through the line of five armored men.

 

Sok, who had gotten used to killing demon wolves, felt like he could go on a rampage among the wolf pack and immediately plunged deep into the wolves, spinning his blades.

 

However, the sharp blade suddenly felt like it had hit an iron wall, unable to move an inch.

 

Sok was stunned. Looking up, he saw his knife embedded in the abdomen of a standing monster bear, which wasn’t injured at all. The standing bear raised a paw larger than its head and swung it down at Sok.

 

At the critical moment, a heavy crossbow bolt pierced through the monster bear’s head, and its movements stopped as it fell to the ground with a thud.

 

“Phew…” Sok sighed in relief. “Thanks, Zedis!”

 

“Don’t get too far ahead. There might be more powerful monsters behind!” Zedis shouted at him.

 

Hearing this, Zedis was about to retreat when he suddenly felt a chill on the back of his neck.

 

“Sok, come back quickly!”

 

Hearing his teammates’ calls, Sok also realized that something formidable must have appeared behind him and hurriedly tried to retreat.

 

Then, all the monsters they had killed earlier dissolved into liquid, converging together to form a massive, shapeless monster resembling churning magma.

 

The monster extended a hand from the pool, swiftly grabbing Sok, who was trying to run back.

 

“Ahhh!” Sok was lifted by the back of his collar and pulled towards the monster. Logically, wearing the “Shadow Armor,” which enhanced his speed, he should have been able to retreat. That’s why he was so confident, never expecting that his proud speed would be easily suppressed.

 

Zedis gritted his teeth and aimed his crossbow at the monster’s arm. However, the monster’s arm twisted and deformed in mid-air, dodging Zedis’s heavy crossbow bolt.

 

“Damn monster!” Seeing his companion in danger, Barbatos stepped forward, and a pack of wolves’ shadows appeared behind him.

 

[Wolf Pack Slaughter]

 

The wolf spirits attached to Barbatos’s flail, which he hurled towards the massive monster. The tremendous force directly destroyed half of the monster’s body.

 

However, monsters don’t feel pain, and damage to their bodies doesn’t affect their actions. As long as their health bar isn’t depleted, their movements won’t be hindered.

 

Just as the massive monster was about to slam Sok to the ground, Jaden also wanted to help. However, his movements were too slow, and he was sent flying by a whip from the monster.

 

Sok’s “Shadow Armor” was the lightest of light armors, offering almost no protection. Winnie, holding the “Frostfang Spear,” broke through the demon wolf line and rushed to the massive monster, gripping the spear’s end and sweeping it around.

 

[Frost Moon Slash]

 

A surge of frost instantly froze the monster’s massive body.

 

Fierce winds howled around Winnie, freezing the demon wolves attempting to attack him.

 

However, before everyone could breathe a sigh of relief, the ice encasing the monster shattered along with its body. The nearby demon wolves also turned into liquid, absorbed by the monster, quickly repairing its injuries.

 

The nearly destroyed monster came back to life in an instant, wrapping around Sok and lifting him high, then slamming him down hard.

 

Oh no!

 

The others couldn’t get close, and Zedis’s crossbow bolts couldn’t hit the massive monster.

 

Winnie briefly considered using [Roar of Frozen Earth], but then remembered that this time, unlike before, he was surrounded by allies. [Roar of Frozen Earth] was too powerful and didn’t distinguish between friend and foe, easily causing collateral damage. It would be disastrous if he didn’t save anyone but ended up harming all his teammates.

 

[Frost Moon Slash] was still on cooldown.

 

Barbatos, swinging his flail, was also repelled by the monster’s whip and couldn’t get close to help.

 

Sok felt like doom was upon him.

 

Just when everyone was at a loss, a dark golden figure descended from the sky, his cape like a red flame.

 

“Boom! Boom!” The dark golden figure’s foot pierced through the massive monster’s core, landing on one knee. Only then did everyone see that the figure was clad in fully enclosed dark golden armor, with a bird-beak helmet adorned with a red plume and a fiery red cape fluttering on his shoulders.

 

The massive monster, its core destroyed, froze for a moment before exploding into a pool of water.

 

“Ouch!” Sok also fell heavily into the puddle.

 

“Who are you?” Everyone stared in shock at the dark golden bird-beak knight who had suddenly appeared to save them.

 

“You brats, before setting off, you all said you had thoroughly read the monster manual. Yet, when fighting monsters, you don’t aim for the core but keep hitting other regenerating parts. Is this what you call thoroughly reading the manual?” The bird-beak knight stood up and looked at the stunned armored men.

 

As soon as he spoke, everyone recognized him.

 

“Mr. Franklin?”

 

“I was only gone for a short while, and you managed to stir up such a mess, almost getting wiped out by such low-level monsters. Don’t ever say you’re my students when you’re out there. I’d be ashamed.”

 

“Uh, Mr. Franklin, behind you!” A huge shadow emerged behind Franklin, a giant monster bear much larger than the usual ones. Sok quickly shouted.

 

“Don’t interrupt me when I’m talking.” Franklin casually gave the giant bear an uppercut, sending it flying up to a tree branch, and continued. “Daring to fool me, you guys, go back and copy the manual ten times. Let’s see if you remember it then!”

 

“Especially you, Sok. What were you showing off for? You’re taking the blame this time, copy it five more times!”

 

“Uh…” Sok was speechless.

 

Everyone was stunned. The giant monster bear they couldn’t handle earlier was effortlessly sent flying up a tree by Franklin with just one punch. And it seemed like Franklin didn’t even use much strength, just casually dealt with the nuisance behind him.

 

“A bunch of brats, with such poor combat skills, where do you get the confidence to chat while walking in the Reiswyn polluted area?”

 

“You don’t care about your lives, but I still want my job. If I hadn’t arrived in time, you might have had casualties as soon as you entered the contaminated area. Don’t aim too high with your current skills!”

 

After Franklin’s words, everyone remembered that the lowest-level monsters don’t have cores. Only slightly higher-level monsters have cores.

 

However, as the monster’s level increases, the core becomes less obvious and harder to hit.

 

It wasn’t that they hadn’t read the manual carefully, but the intense combat atmosphere made all five of them forget this detail. They just mindlessly fought, and with Sok being held captive by the monster, no one remained calm.

 

“Learn this: the more chaotic the battlefield, the calmer you need to be. Panic is meaningless and will only get you killed.” Franklin effortlessly dealt with the remaining monster bears and large demon wolves with a few punches and kicks, then approached the group.

 

“Originally, I planned to take you deeper into the contaminated area, but now it seems better not to. Just stay here and clear out the demon wolves. With your current skills, you can’t handle a group of monster bears.”

 

Hearing this, everyone looked at each other, silent.

 

So, this guy who said he was going to relieve himself had been secretly following them all along?

 

“Even a lion uses full strength against a rabbit, let alone in a life-and-death battle. Remember, this is a battlefield where life and death are decided in an instant. Got it?” After saying this, Franklin didn’t let the team wait for the monsters to come to them. Instead, he led them deeper into the contaminated area.

 

That’s true, but the academy’s mission is still the academy’s mission. He had to take these brats to recognize all the monsters, understand each monster’s weakness, and learn how to fight to conserve stamina and magic power to the greatest extent.

 

Next year, he wouldn’t be following these brats around anymore. If they still couldn’t learn anything, it would be his fault.

 

Then came the time to divide the spoils. Senior students calculated their scores based on the number of monster cores. However, they were just a group of freshmen, and many of the monsters they killed were the lowest-level ones without cores. Therefore, the kill count was averaged among the team members.

 

Soon, dusk fell over the land tainted by the Demon God Pillar, casting a hazy, dark tone over Reiswyn’s sunset.

 

At this moment, on a plain in Reiswyn, a golden-haired girl with twin tails swung her dragon-tooth greatsword, slaughtering the zombie monsters trying to attack her.

 

As one of the few second-year students at Carillian Academy to become the student council president, Mirexia’s strength and talent were among the top, even in a school filled with geniuses. Therefore, the pollution level of her area was quite high, almost on par with the main battlefields where national armies fought.

 

When Mirexia first came to Reiswyn to exterminate monsters last year, she went to a moderately polluted area, where she faced no pressure. Hence, this time, venturing into a highly polluted area wasn’t reckless.

 

Indeed, these monsters were no match for Mirexia. The enchanted greatsword, longer than her body, left the monsters in ruins.

 

The highly polluted area already had zombie monsters and puppets, humanoid monsters with considerable combat strength. Even senior students would find it challenging to handle them in groups. Yet, Mirexia moved through such an environment as if it were nothing.

 

Picking up the monster cores dropped by the monsters and putting them into the bag she brought, Mirexia gazed at Reiswyn under the setting sun, the land revealing its rotting tumors.

 

The deeper one goes into the contaminated area, the more severe the environment becomes. It’s said that reaching the deepest part of Reiswyn is like entering the belly of a Demon God Pillar.

 

This small area of monsters was almost entirely cleared by her alone.

 

Thinking this, Mirexia turned around and suddenly caught sight of a fleeing figure.

 

What was that??

 

Mirexia frowned slightly. Under the sunset, she vaguely sensed that it seemed to be a puppet.

 

But puppet-level monsters, unlike the followers of the Demon God Pillar, don’t possess intelligence. Could they exhibit human-like behavior such as fleeing??

 

Mirexia felt something was off and chased after it with her greatsword. The bloody sunset cast its glow on her swaying, dazzling platinum hair, highlighting her alluring figure.