As the wave of monsters closed in, the tanks on the frontline braced for impact. A few seconds later numerous crashing sounds rang out throughout the battlefield. Some of the tanks were able to hold their ground against the initial charge, however, there were some who were knocked aside and allowed a few monsters to slip through the gaps.
There were also ranged monsters who stopped at around the twenty meters mark and began their assault from there. Those were the high damaging magic type monsters that should not be left alone.
"Hold the line!" One of the players shouted. He was the leader of a small guild and the group of tanks near his area was mostly casual players. So far, a good number of monsters had already managed to pass by the first line of defense.
After fighting against the monsters inside the Chaotic Dogma Realm who were all, at the very least elite monsters, Halls had no issues protecting Zi Yi, Luna, and Valentine from the swarm of monsters.
As for Izroth and Guan Yu, nothing even needed to be said about those two. A large portion of these monsters was normal and not elite ranked. Therefore, Izroth with his monstrous speed and Guan Yu being a strong plate user did not have to worry about Halls being there to soak up the damage.
The first monster to approach Izroth was a horse with six legs that had spikes running from the tip of its forehead all the way down to its lower back. There was a crazed look in its eyes as if it was in a frenzied state.
Name: Six-Legged Spiked Horse(Normal)
Level: 24
HP: 11,225 (100%)
Neeeeeigh!
The Six-Legged Spiked Horse came to an abrupt halt when it arrived in front of Izroth and stood up straight on its hind legs in an intimidating way. It then brought down its other four hooves towards Izroth and wanted to crush him into nothingness.
Booom!
The sound of a small yet powerful impact sounded off as the Six-Legged Spiked Horse hooves crashed into the ground. However, Izroth was nowhere to be found beneath its hooves.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
«Critical Hit»
-983
«Critical Hit»
-983
Izroth's Blade of Lightning quickly made contact twice with one of the Six-Legged Spiked Horse's vital points. He was now positioned at the side of the monster.
'The difference between normal monsters and elite monsters is night and day.'
A concentrated form of energy converged at Izroth's fingertip as he drove it right into the side of the Six-Legged Spiked Horse's neck. Fissuring Point was Izroth's strongest skill that currently required energy to use. However, its low cooldown, damage, and effect to ignore all defenses made it well worth the energy.
But, he did not stop there. Izroth's Blade of Lightning swept across the Six-Legged Spiked Horse's neck with relative ease instantly after he evaded the incoming attack. When Izroth avoided its first attack, he was able to use Sword Counter which was a part of the Second Sword Form: Returning Wave, to immediately dish out damage that ignored all of the Six-Legged Spiked Horse's defenses.
As soon as Izroth's Blade of Lightning sliced into the Six-Legged Spiked Horse's neck, it instantly released an oppressive aura that weighed down heavily on the monster. Izroth infused five points of his Essence into the skill First Baneful Sword: Destruction as it too slashed down mercilessly at the monster. Thanks to the First Sword Form: Converging Paths, this sword skill would be a guaranteed critical hit.
«Critical Hit»
-2,440
«Critical Hit»
-1,830
«Critical Hit»
-5,375
〈System Alert: Congratulations, you have defeated a Six-Legged Spiked Horse〉
〈System Alert: You have been awarded 3,252 EXP〉
〈System Alert: You have gained 8 points in the event «Protects of Amaharpe». [8 points]〉
Since Izroth defeated the monster alone, he was awarded a large portion of the experience. Although his party members also received some of the experience, it was not nearly as much as he did.
'We can even receive experience while using these avatars, how useful.'
Izroth thought about the countless uses an avatar like this would have within RML. However, he knew that this was only a temporary effect brought about by the Endless Pandemonium Tower.
The Six-Legged Spiked Horse simply did not stand a chance against Izroth's brutal assault. In an instant, Izroth managed to completely decimate a level 24 normal monster.
Also, the cooldown on Izroth's First Baneful Sword: Destruction was reset thanks to being the final and fatal blow against the Six-Legged Spiked Horse. Izroth swiftly rushed towards the next monster who was nearest to him.
The nearby players who saw Izroth make such quick work of a level 24 monster were left dumbfounded. However, one of the players was not so easily impressed.
"Hmph! That noob probably just used all of his cooldowns on that one monster! Doesn't he know that the waves aren't over in just a few seconds? These are only the normal monsters." One of the nearby players named Two Jumps said with a hint of disdain in his voice.
To him, players like Izroth who tried to show off would quickly reveal his true colors. Just as Two Jumps decided to simply ignore Izroth, he heard a voice full of astonishment and shock come from a couple of meters next to him.
"This is... How is he clearing the monsters so fast?!" The player who was staring at Izroth said as he watched him rush throughout the battlefield.
This caused Two Jumps to turn his head to look over in the same direction as the player who spoke and when he saw the sight before him he nearly fell over from the shock.
Two monsters... Four monsters... Six monsters!
Izroth's pace was not slowing down in the slightest! Just as soon as he came across a normal monster, it would fall near instantly as he casually moved on to the next target.
A noob? No, that was no noob! He was definitely a top-ranked player!
Two Jumps felt foolish for his previous thoughts, but just as he was caught up in watching Izroth, he ignored a vicious monster heading right at him. When it slammed into Two Jumps, it stunned him in place. However, before the stun ended, Two Jumps was targeted by multiple monsters and soon met with a swift death. Just like that, Two Jumps participation in the event had ended.
Izroth was not the only impressive one who took action. Guan Yu, Zi Yi, and Valentine all had no trouble clearing out normal monsters.
Guan Yu was fierce in his actions as he brandished his guandao and swept up a group of monsters that charged directly at him.
Zi Yi was skillfully aiming at the monsters vital points and her arrows hit with extreme precision.
Valentine's sequence magic was the most eye-grabbing. Various huge magic symbols and sequences formed in mid-air which was soon followed by some kind of devastating attack.
As for Halls and Luna, they were also doing their part in covering for any of their party members who needed assistance. But, everyone seemed capable of fending for themselves.
Located not too far away in the distance were two players hidden amongst the other casual players. When they notice how strong Izroth and his party was, one of them whispered something to the other player. That player nodded before rushing away from his current location.
...
A few moments later, that same player who left the frontlines arrived before a certain individual.
"Captain Minus!" The player called out as they approached Minus.
At the moment, Minus was fending off monsters around sixty meters away from Izroth and his party on the frontline. When he heard the player call out to him, Minus finished off the monster before him and retreated to a safe distance.
"Report." Minus said in a slightly annoyed manner. He was currently ranked 65 on the points leaderboard for this event and he was close to catching up to the player in front of him. Having to pause like this to deal with a report would only be delaying him from surpassing the players in front of him.
"Sir, an unknown party has appeared within our area. You said to immediately inform you if we saw anything suspicious, well..." The player then went on to explain everything he saw.
Minus had a visible frown on his face. "Top players? Are you sure?" Minus asked for confirmation.
The player nodded his head in response. "Yes, I am positive. They are definitely not some random party. Also, none of them look like they belong to a top guild. Otherwise, why would they be in our sector?"
Minus furrowed his brows as he thought of the possibilities. Not too long ago, a lieutenant of his tried to assassinate a general of Cross Haven. Now all of a sudden, a mysterious party appeared out of seemingly thin air and entered into the sector he was in charge of.
"Could this be another ploy...?" Minus muttered to himself. If suspicious events kept happening around him then his guild would have no choice but to be skeptical of his involvement with the recent events that occurred. After thinking on it for a bit, Minus finally made his decision.
"Keep a close eye on that party for now. But, do not let them discover you are watching them. I'll send someone else to report this to the guild leader. Make sure you stay silent about this. If they become aware of our actions it may cause them to be on further guard." Minus said in a strict tone of voice.
"Understood!" The player gave a respectful bow before returning to his post.
Once the player left, Minus had a bewildered expression on his face.
"I wasn't informed of anything else taking place..." Minus said quietly to himself as he rested his index finger and thumb on his chin.
...
〈System Alert: You have gained 20 points in the event «Protects of Amaharpe». [425 points]〉
Izroth, along with Halls and the others, had just defeated one of the elite monsters that appeared in their area. In total, he eliminated 35 normal monsters and 5 elite monsters. Thanks to this, not only was he able to level up once, but the total amount of points he gained shot up to 425 points!
Although it was not nearly enough to put him in the top 100 on the leaderboards, he had already climbed his way into the top 300s while the sixth wave was still ongoing.
When Izroth leveled up, he felt the power of his Essence increase as well. Now, his Soul Essence was level 13 and his total Essence had increased to 130 points. The effect granted by the Flow of Essence also increased all of his total stats by an extra 0.5%.
There was something else which may be the biggest gain for Izroth out of this entire situation. He felt the shackles loosening on his Heavenly Golden Body physique. Izroth was positive that he would soon make a breakthrough and advance to the next stage of the Heavenly Golden Body physique.
'Not only is my Heavenly Golden Body physique growing more powerful, but my sword forms are advancing at a rapid pace. At this rate, it should not be too long until I reach a new height of strength.'
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Just as Izroth was thinking to himself, a huge explosion followed by the ground shaking violently happened out of nowhere. Soon after the explosion occurred, a large cloud of dust was formed. A few seconds later, the dust cleared out and what was left in its place was a monster that stood around ten meters tall.
It had the body of an elephant, but it was as if its body was carved out of pure stone. Its head and face were that of a demon and it possessed the hind legs of a horse while its front legs were more similar to a gorilla's massive arms.
This beast appeared around forty meters away from Izroth and his party, but even from this distance, they were able to see information about the creature.
Name: Brooding Behemoth Basbus(Rare Event Boss)
Level: 25
HP: 1,500,000 (100%)
The first boss of the sixth wave had appeared! But, the most shocking fact was that it was a rare boss!
Izroth narrowed his eyes as his attention was focused more on a small swirling energy formed on the monster's forehead. When he concentrated on that spot, he could see a tiny shard no bigger than a finger at the center of the energy.