Chapter 903 Chapter 902: 'Advice'
Stabbing my knife down into the thick neck of the Bear sprawled out on the ground below me, I twisted the blade and snapped its cervical vertebrae, causing the monster's nervous system to flatline instantly and making it twitch a few times before remaining in a static position, indicating its desired demise.
As I wrenched my dagger free from the rotted meat - doing so carefully to avoid splashing its nasty blood on myself or have pieces of its flesh be dragged away with the blade - I checked the System notifications and nodded to myself, content with what I was seeing.
[Undead Silex Ursa killed - 202,046 Xp awarded]
The experience I was receiving for these Undead monsters was higher than what I received for their normal, living counterparts, and I could tell why rather easily.
Despite their looser, more uncoordinated movements and rasher actions, the Undead were stronger and far more resilient than their living counterparts, roughly by 1.5 times and sometimes upwards of 2 times in both those categories.
Normal killing moves - like snapping the neck - still ignored that resilience thanks to how the body works for most living, flesh having mammalian creatures, but otherwise, these Undead lived through attacks that would put it's living variant on the ground writhing around in agony before eventually succumbing to the wound.
It was an interesting observation I had, and one that made me curious about the tattoo on my left arm; was there a correlation between the tattoo that increased my own resilience and the thing that increased the resilience of these monsters?
The Nua Fiends; were they walking tanks that could absorb an astronomical amount of punishment before even faltering for a brief moment?
If so, then we really need to find it on its own, since the idea of fighting a veritable tank with an angry, demented attack dog in the Ka Fiend was one that I wasn't too keen on experiencing at the moment, especially since I had no idea what these Fiends were capable of on their own...
Though, the idea of fighting both at the same time was an intriguing one, especially since it would give us practical experience against battling multiple strong foes at the same time, which was something that we desperately needed to get under our belts soon.
Most of the enemies we came across so far haven't provided the largest amount of challenge for us as a collective, and now that we had a Knight of Cinder watching over us but not actively participating unless we required it, what better time was there to seek out said strong enemies than now?
Also, the thought did cross my mind to leave this Nua Fiend for last so that we could fight some more Undead, which would allow me to rack up a larger amount of experience in mere moments compared to the usual hordes we found; roughly double what I was normally getting, which had given me a large leap in my current level, which was on the cusp of going form 61 to 62.
I wanted to be greedier and greedier down here, to make up for the moments where I was living this life to its fullest not worrying about the fighting, about the life and death battles, so that I could balance out my gaining of strength and my gaining of love to be roughly equal, and besides the Island that the Marquess took us too, this was the next best place for me to grind levels...
Even more so with the two Fiends waiting for me to kill them; Tza'Orbias gave me 7.5 million experience, and while Cali said that they weren't anywhere near the level of Tza'Orbias in terms of mana strength, the fact that there were two of them might make this a more impressive gain than battling that blue bastard.
Besides, the Tza Fiends were the ones that used magic more than anything else, so their mana strength might be lacking, but that doesn't mean they couldn't be as strong as Tza'Orbias, just in a different way.
"Miss Kat, are you calmer now?"
Sheathing my dagger, I let out a sigh and turned around, my eyes landing on the red skinned man behind me who was rubbing his hands together and staring at me inquisitively.
"I would argue - Lord Belian - that I was never once NOT calm during that fight. Why?"
Pursing his lips, Belian tilted his head and prepared to say something, before decisively closing his mouth and nodding when I raised a brow at him, taking the hint for now and leaving that part of whatever he wanted to say inside his head.
"Well then, might I ask what the plan is going forwards? We have come rather far this delve, but time is continuing to tick."
"Why ask me and not Jahi or Satanya?"
We both looked towards the two Demoness', who were currently finishing off their own fights and back tracking towards us, stabbing and finishing off whatever monsters were tenacious enough to live past their initial battle.
"I think you know that answer, but I'll go ahead and say it anyways. Satanya wants to make a good impression on me, hoping to prove that she is ready for more responsibilities and as such, a higher position in the Clan. She is looking for results as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, Jahi has the blood of the Asmodia's in her veins, so her desire for another battle is strong, whilst her stamina is just as high as it ever was. Neither are currently thinking of much besides themselves and their own desires, and that's not an issue. Hence why I am coming to you."
The Demon's words made me furrow my brow as I turned back to him, something that made him chuckle softly as he added "They want to push forwards without thinking about every variable; at least, in this moment, they are experiencing tunnel vision. See, notice how they are approaching us swiftly, but not taking a look around; neither has tried to determine the current standing of their party, and are instead looking to gather with the 'important' members of the party to ask a simple question... listen. Don't say anything, just... listen."
He fell silent when they came into earshot, and I frowned for a moment before looking towards the two women, letting the frown dissipate as I donned a neutral mask, curiosity filling me as I wondered if Belian was correct or not.
"Well, that's all of them, right? Wasn't that bad, even with them streaming from the nearby caverns. Which makes me wonder if said caverns are connected to actual grottos or if they are just small pockets that used to house some groups of these monsters, like the Deer or the Wolves."
Jahi nodded at Satanya's observation, looking around at the various entrances that lined the rocky wall of the grotto before saying "We should split up into groups and check out each of them, like we used to. Two hundred steps, retreat at any sign of danger. Check them out and figure out where we need to go from here."
I took in both of the Demoness' expressions as they talked, and seeing how Satanya would peek at Belian constantly before focusing back on Jahi as the two continued to chat was something that I might have picked up on before, but now that it had been pointed out to me...
The two were already planning for us to not only continue on, but to do so in split groups that would spread our strength, and while that was both a valid and reliable strategy, as I took a look around at the Demons, I couldn't help but think that Belian was right.
We all were still ready to go, but considering most of the Demons were sitting or leaning on their weapons silently, keeping to themselves for the moment and regulating their breathing or meditating, it was clear that they had taken a significant hit to their energy for the moment, and leaping into action right away would mean sending them out with a slightly higher risk of making a mistake...
Something that I hadn't noticed before, because obviously fighting leads to a decrease in your energy; that's incredibly obvious, but it wasn't something that popped into my mind right away, especially not when I knew that my own Core and that my own body was lagging behind a bit.
I had used a lot of mana and energy in this fight, and most of the others had as well, but...
"See?"
That single word made Jahi and Satanya fall silent, the two looking at Belian in surprise as the Demon spoke, while I nodded as I looked between the two of them; it wasn't a problem, wasn't a fault or a mark of a terrible leader, but-
"Different perspectives are crucial, especially in a situation like this. Understanding when to press forwards without rest and when to stop is just as important as being strong enough to do those things. This is a moment where forgoing rest leads to far too much risk. There is no need for that risk besides the desire to keep moving. Understand?"
The confusion that gripped the other two only grew as I nodded, making Belian chuckle as he shouted "Everyone, take a few minutes! One sip of each potion, sit, and gather your strength!"
In his normal voice, he looked back at us and said "Take a look at the people in your party, then make a judgement. This lull needs to be used before pushing forwards. If you have doubts, get a second opinion and then make your choice. Kat, give that second opinion before they even have to ask for it. You all have good potential, but currently your inexperience is holding you back a bit..."
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