Chapter 46: Mireborn Broodmass
Max wasn’t only discussing their flaws, he was also laying out a plan on how to coordinate with each other with their current formation.
His party members instantly understood his instructions simply because Max was using their earlier battle as a reference to easily comprehend his plan.
Truth to be told, Max was surprised at himself. He was known as a solo player in the past, but mostly when the apocalypse descended.
During the first three years in Apocalypse Online in his past life, he was known as a shot caller.
He studied very hard to learn about tactics just to be recruited by another party to earn money.
However, after three years, when the Tactician class in the support path became popular, he became less important.
He had long forgotten about the time he was still a shot caller, and he didn’t think his studies in tactical formation would come in handy in the present.
He thanked his hard-working ass in his past life.
Once they’ve rested enough, physically, as their mind was still heavily working from Max’s instructions, they stood up and continued clearing the path in the Inner Ruin Corridor.
They encountered more corrupted knights. But this time, they’ve fought better than before. Max didn’t even have to cast an arcane bolt anymore, satisfied by their performance.
As they went deeper into the Inner Ruin Corridor, Max collected identifiable imperial remains.
First was the Watchtower Legion Identification Plates. It was a small, engraved metal tags issued to Imperial soldiers stationed at the outpost. It was already tarnished and some names were unreadable due to mana erosion.
He decided to collect them, knowing it could be returned as a historical record recovery, military verification, and memorial registration.
Then, the broken weapons of the soldiers that were corrupted with demonic mana.
Max collected them while having his eyebrows furrowed. The amount of demonic mana, even though they were only remains, were alarming. If he was present during the time the outpost was conquered by the demons, even he doubts he could survive.
Max also collected the Defensive Rune Plates, a military arcane component. They were inscribed metal plates originally embedded into the walls. Although most of them were cracked or inactive, he only collected some that retained their partial rune activity.
He believed that it would be useful for rune study. He might earned money if he sold it to Archmage Arlen.
Max continued to collect the imperial remains until they finally arrived at the end of the inner corridor. It wasn’t completely dark, but it wasn’t bright either.
There was a pulse of dim light from a crystal, illuminating the other side of the inner ruin corridor from time to time.
Max had Jasper scout the situation inside. When he returned, his face was ashen.
He stood in front of Max and trembled when he was about to report.
Max didn’t pressure him until Jasper finally said what he had seen inside.
He stammered. "I-It’s a nest."
Max frowned. An E-rank dungeon’s boss is a nest? The rank of the dungeon based on the boss’ rank itself, so why would the actual situation seem grimmer than its supposed rank?
Jasper took a deep breath and finally exhaled.
After managing his emotion, he stared at Max’s eyes and said in a solemn tone, "It’s an E-rank Demon, the Mireborn Broodmass."
Everyone was familiar with the Mireborn Broodmass. They were less common than an imp, but their number was average in the Mirefall Province due to its environmental factors.
The Mireborn Broodmass were not harmful, unless one touched their body as it contained a concentrated demonic mana. They started as small—not fast, doesn’t have limbs, and was often a hunting target by beginners.
That was why everyone, even Max himself, was perplexed.
Jasper understood they wouldn’t believe him.
He paused, taking sometime to sort out his thoughts.
He finally said, "The Mireborn Broodmass was spread across the chamber. The surface of its body was composed of black organic matter mixed with partially dissolved armor and bone fragments of..."
He couldn’t continue. He closed his eyes, letting the pause mourn for the brave heroes of the past.
After a while, he opened them an said, "It already evolved to the point it was not only large but also has multiple red eye-like growths that would often emerge as it almost caught me. It was sensitive to its surroundings.
The reason I said it was a nest because it constantly produced lesser demon fragments. There were small malformed humanoid creatures, some were crawling. Their numbers were immense.
At least... At least..."
Jasper took a deep breath and said in a grave tone, "twenty times than our number."
Everyone had their face paled. Everyone immediately turned towards Max, whose expression was difficult to read.
He remained composed, inducing relief to their anxious hearts.
He swept his gaze at them and said in his normal tone, "Rest for now. Me and Jasper will continue to observe."
They nodded. Jasper glanced at Max, who nodded at him as they finally went closer to the other side of the inner ruin corridor.
The main reason Max decided to observe by himself was because he felt like the report was lacking. The Mireborn Broodmass couldn’t simply evolve to a state it was comparable to powerful demons at C rank.
Although he already had suspicions, he decided to check it himself.
As soon as they reached the end of the inner ruin corridor, Max leaned his back to the wall and tilted his head.
Outside of the inner ruin corridor was a chamber. The chamber barely had remnants of its previous usage.
Broken relay foundations, imperial floor sigils, collapsed operator platforms, and defensive barrier anchors. At once glance, it wasn’t difficult to conclude that the chamber was previously a central control point of the Watchtower.
But now.
It was no more than a house of a demon.
Max glanced at the large sludge-like biomass spread across the chamber, with its spawns scattered around.
The chamber wasn’t large and could barely fit them all in.
They were currently at the inner corridor that faced the left side of the Mireborn Broodmass based on the direction it was facing.
When Max landed his gaze at him, his heart skipped a beat from the immense demonic aura it exuded.
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