Chapter 41: Battle of the 1st Echelon Ranks (1)
[Fire Lion]
[Level]: 74
[Race]: Fire Lion
[Bloodline]: Infernal Sovereign Bloodline
[Rank]: 2nd Echelon Rank Beast
[Stats]: Strength: 1308 / Agility: 1239 / Physique: 1271 / Sense: 1031 / Mana: 997 / Magic: 985
...
Looking at the lion’s stats, Kai informed Elias while slipping off his boots and tossing them to him.
"Use these temporarily. With my curse and those boots, your speed should be just above the lion’s. Just make sure you don’t take a direct hit from that bastard. Otherwise, in the worst-case scenario, you might die directly." Kai communicated with Elias through their connections.
"I know." Elias took the boots and wore them immediately and looked at the lion with a cold expression. "That lion must have received a huge benefit from those bastards since it has become much stronger by strengthening its bloodline."
"It’s fine. Just stay alive until we clear the 1st Echelon side. I’ve got an idea that could raise our chances significantly if we pull it off." Kai looked at the lion, who seemed to be still wary of its surroundings even though it should’ve noticed our presence with its strength.
The lion was around 2.8 meters long and 2.2 meters tall, with a shoulder height of about 1.7 meters. Compared to a normal lion, it was much bigger and more ferocious, as its paws were burning with crimson flames. The tip of its tail also had the same crimson flames burning brightly.
’What the hell is that lion doing?’ Kai thought to himself as he was baffled when he looked at the lion.
He thought that when the lion roared before, it signaled that it wanted to attack, but what the hell was it doing looking around stupidly?
Kai shook his head and enhanced Elias’ armor quickly before drinking another mana potion since he didn’t want to think about such useless things anymore.
"Let’s change our plan a little bit." Kai immediately had another idea when he saw that the lion didn’t seem to care about them.
He then explained his new idea. If what he guessed would be true, if not, then just follow the original plan since there was no harm in trying this idea that could benefit them in case it worked.
His new idea was simple: he would put Elias in the Undead Space and start the fight. With the lion’s current situation and pride, it might not make a move.
So, in the time when the lion didn’t make a move, Kai and the others would kill as many 1st Echelon Beasts as they could and wouldn’t resurrect any beasts until the lion made its move.
Otherwise, if Kai killed them and resurrected them right away, the lion would notice that it wouldn’t be long before they swarmed to him together.
Subsequently, Kai and Elias pretended to go back toward the town before Kai put Elias into the Undead Space when he was sure that the distance was out of the lion’s reach.
When Kai and Elias were heading back toward the town, the fire lion glanced at them for a second before looking around with vigilance once again.
After Kai went back to the field, he decided to test if he could abuse his goblin slayer title so that he could increase all of his stats by a whooping 30%.
"Attack me." Kai ordered his first undead goblin.
The little goblin immediately attacked without hesitation at his master’s order and when Kai blocked it easily, he suddenly felt his strength increased greatly and became ecstatic that he forgot to order the goblin to stop, resulting in the goblin stabbing his stomach with his dagger.
"Stop, you little shit." Kai cursed and slapped its head lightly, throwing him a few meters away.
The little goblin stood and scratched its head innocently as it didn’t understand why Kai was mad when he was the one who ordered it.
Sigh!
’It seems that I need to be more precise with this one.’
Kai sighed and pulled the dagger before throwing it at the goblin and healing the stab wound on his stomach.
The others watched Kai weirdly but at this point, they didn’t think of it as much since they had seen a scene far more absurd than this.
[Stats]: Strength: 120 (+45) / Agility: 144 (+40) / Physique: 101 (+25) / Sense: 57 (+20) / Mana: 107 (+45) / Magic: 79 (+45)
Looking at his new stats, Kai was pleased, as his stats were now at least somewhat on par with a 1st Echelon Rank. Of course, only with those who had just advanced.
Without waiting long, Kai directly shouted as he charged forward. "Attack!"
Now that Kai didn’t have his boots, he intended to focus on killing the weakest of 1st Echelon Beasts first.
A tide of burning-red eyes and snarling muzzles flooded the splintered field. Feline shapes—lynxes wreathed in violet flame, panthers with crystalline claws, and dozens of Fire Lions dashed over trampled grass.
A few scaled jaguars and a two-headed dire cheetah prowled among them, but eight out of ten were cats, half of whom had the tell-tale infernal mane of the Fire-Lion race.
On the human side forty 1st Echelon Awakeners from the town plus Kai and his hulking Undead Goblin Commander fanned out in a rough crescent.
Kai flipped his Azure Sword once, letting the watery mana on the edge to vibrate like a tuning fork.
"Formation eight!" Tanks moved forward, while rear mages staggered. "Don’t clump!"
The town head yelled orders, but everyone’s gaze ultimately shifted to Kai, silently questioning ’what next?’
It’s time to set the board.
Kai’s boots were gone, as Elias had worn them in the Undead Space, yet his thighs coiled like spring steel. He rushed ahead of the human line, like a silver comet against a wall of flaming carnivores.
A Level 25 Lynx, with mana sparkling from its whiskers as it pounced to intercept.
Kai’s eyes flashed grey as he snapped his fingers and used his [Slow Curse] skill in the surroundings.
A translucent ripple spread from his body like an inverted shockwave. Every beast inside the circle staggered as if invisible mud clung to their paws. Flames dimmed and claws lost their blur. The lynx that was mid-pounce felt its joints slowed down in mid-air.
Kai squatted and twisted, grabbing the lynx by the back of its neck with his left hand and slamming its skull into the ground like a hammer striking a melon.
Crunch!
The bones gave way as the lynx twitched once, and died.
"Curse landed! They’re twenty percent slower now!"
While the other Awakeners cheered, Kai took out one 1st Echelon Mana potion and downed it.
Pure liquid poured into his core and filled his mana fully in an instant.
[Ding! You have killed the 1st Echelon Lynx, acquiring +2 str, +3 agi, +2 phy, +2 sense, +1 mana, +1 magic.]
Taking a glance at the notification, Kai felt satisfied since at least he could still gain something from killing them since his level was stuck now.
As for the experience points, the system would give them all after he advanced to the next rank. So, he didn’t care about it that much since it was useless in his current state.
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