Chapter 2078: Althea Vs Mantis
A portion of the mountain has been decimated by the two battles. The immediate area was pitifully desolate, not that the men had the mind to care.
By this time, Garan’s fight was already over. He dealt with a monster around his level, so the battle was fair.
With Garan making use of his two elements, he did not hold back, intending on guarding his wife during her battle.
He used not only his brute elementalist strength, but also his excellent observation skills.
The monster he was going against was one capable of short-term flight. It had sharp talons and claws, and was capable of attacking from difficult-to-defend angles.
In the end, like the other two leaders who had consumed a good portion of their energy in this battle, Garan was the same.
He was about to head to Althea when he saw Beru getting thrown out. He used a good portion of his remaining mana to freeze the monster’s feet for a few seconds before heading straight to his wife.
Beru reappeared just as Virion shot the finishing laser and was a bit startled. However, the chaos around them had not yet calmed, and there was still the rest of the mob wreaking havoc.
Meanwhile, the other fights were still ongoing and seemingly far from over.
Althea was currently cooperating with one fire spearman and one high-level half-orc to deal with the other level 30 beast. It was a level 34 monster called the Spinecrawler.
It was an insectoid type of monster that resembled a mantis, except it had wings and had a black, sticky body. It was far more disgusting than a mantis.
While battling this, they would hear the explosions and ground shaking from the other higher-level battles.
Level 40s battles were really no joke, but fortunately, their wars had seen level 50s and level 60s fighting, so they adjusted and no longer had to be swept away.
They kept their battle within the forest, avoiding the clearing. Going to an open space was more advantageous to the flying monster than them.
Rather, they time it well, making sure it received damage every time it dared to attack.
The fight with several elementalists and half-orcs was quite beautiful. There were flashes of color and gorgeous muscle movements. Had it not been a legitimate fight that could take lives, some onlookers could think this was a performance.
Prolonging it would make it a battle of attrition, and the monster even got impatient that it switched targets to a weaker teammate when he ventured into their area.
Rather, it was on purpose.
Althea knew a bit about this beast thanks to someone’s contributions in the monster encyclopedia. During the couple of weeks they were preparing for this trip, she had read about monsters that could be found in areas where she would head to.
It was not complete, and some of the entries would actually depend on her when she went home, but there were times like these where she’d find those hours very useful.
Anyway, she knew it was especially bloodthirsty.
If it expended energy for a while without tasting blood and meat, it could go crazy, instinctively looking for easier sources.
So, they calculated and looked at the battlefields nearest to them. They slowly moved over, making sure to not distract the other fights.
Althea then set up traps with her vines in the area in between, allowing her to make a move at an instant.
As soon as it descended low enough, elemental vines appeared below and held down its claws, and the other two immediately attacked it from behind.
She could reach it earlier but she worried it’d be like a fly and escape when she thought she was close to hitting it, so she had to make sure it was low enough and in the forest to limit its movements.
"Hit it!"
Her teammates this time had similar levels to her so one shot could only damage the monster—it was, after all, several levels higher—by so much.
Fortunately, it wasn’t impossible to kill it within a few since most of them were elementalists.
Even their half-orc, a goat-type one, had horns with extra penetration effects. They managed to wear it down, making it lose two of its legs, and soon it was at its last threads of life.
KKKKRRRKKKHHHH!!!
It screeched as it squirmed awkwardly on the ground. Being left with one hind leg and one forearm, it couldn’t move anymore. It instead started to swish its long and sharp scythes around while in place.
It was intimidating, but they knew the monster was about to end, and Althea simply places earth ramps underneath to make sure it didn’t hit collateral damage or get close to them.
It was just that the prolonged fight and splatter of blood everywhere attracted more monsters to them. Some were weak and were in their level 20s.
Althea’s skills were in cooldown and she herself was tired, so this new arrival of enemies could mean trouble.
Fortunately, Garan appeared and froze the beasts’ feet.
Led by Althea, who trusted her husband, she climbed up a tree and shot arrow after arrow on the monsters’ weak spots.
[Triple Shot]
Althea even used her earth skills to lead several weaker ones to the mantis-like creature, making use of its indiscriminate last shots.
Althea received the final shots, gaining more experience for herself.
She smiled.
The fight continued on and took a toll on everyone’s status and inventory.
Fortunately, none of the three dozen or so people in this mission were deadweights, otherwise, they wouldn’t be sent out at all.
Althea also saw a few new techniques and decided to record and learn from them. (With express permission from the owners, of course).
For example, she saw an earth elementalist use his earth element to control the movement of a level 20 enemy.
The stone under his command pulverised by itself, floated and surrounded a monster’s appendage, and then turned to stone again. It solidified to a bigger mass, looking like sturdy cuffs.
ROAAAARR
Interestingly, it seemed like part of rock punctured through, which was impressive. No wonder she felt like the outward mass didn’t match. Part of it went inside the monster’s flesh.
The human and half-orc party soon finished their respective battles, took the loot they wanted along with bits of meat, heading further east to their destination.
As they left, Althea couldn’t help but look back at the massive carcass of the level 40+ monster, surrounded by hundreds of square meters of clearing created by the fight.
Because there were no more trees around it, it looked particularly prominent. It was actually as big as a small building.
"I always do wonder how these high-level monsters form."
The monsters didn’t procreate. They were products of dark energy that plagued the continent.
It mimicked, combined, and modified existing creatures throughout history, creating the forms they had now.
They appeared fully formed in adult form, and with specific energy levels, giving a specific range of experience points per ’species’.
The question was: Were they formed instantaneously? She wouldn’t question the normal monsters much, but seeing how large level 40 monsters were made her curious about their conception.
The amount of energy to form that level must’ve been massive, right?
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