Chapter 43: Broken wall
With that, the last Crystallce also fell to the might of the squad. But it wasn’t without sacrifice, as yet again two undead were killed in the process, but that could be blamed on their own stupidity—it’s not like they have brains anyway. And it was a necessary sacrifice for the victory; aside from that, nothing significant happened.
And this time even Vexar behaved quite well, except for one time when he was literally about to die if I hadn’t cast the shield. But that wasn’t worth worrying about, as now he can learn from all these mistakes. I wouldn’t have thought that Vexar fighting without recklessness would be the most shocking part of the battle.
But here we are, and that was exactly the most shocking part, and for that, even his siblings were congratulating him.
Returning toward the gate that somehow held at this point, despite the nonstop pounding of the goblins. Dhruv turned around and asked Azarex about the gate updates.
"The gate had held this long because, from the looks of it, goblins and spiders were fighting themselves and didn’t have that much opportunity to break the wall... but we didn’t have long before they would be attracted toward the free meal." Azarex replayed after connecting with the goblin, who had climbed the wall and was looking at all this happening live.
Dhruv nodded, listing the answer; he wasn’t surprised by the fact that spiders and goblins were fighting each other. As they had shown signs of enmity during the first wave. And Azarex is correct; they would stop fighting together for the free food—Dead Crystallce—or maybe even ally together to break the gate. And that would be a reasonable decision for anyone, as why would you risk your life when there is free food out there?
With a moment of respite, Dhruv’s mind began to unravel the reason behind this unexpected second wave. At first, he thought that every day there would be one wave lasting for three days, as dictated by the quest. But he couldn’t get any wrong when, just after four hours, a new wave happened.
"...could that mean there will be a wave every four hours? If that’s the case, things could get out of control quite rapidly," he mused. If it were the only wave, he could somehow manage it. But it wasn’t just another monster every four hours; they were 20-30% stronger than the previous wave, along with some new types of monsters in their mix. Dhruv shivers just thinking how strong the last wave monster would be...
’...if this system is followed and monsters grow every time, Then, according to the cosmos, this second quest is going to last three days. That means twenty-four into three, which would get me seventy-two hours. Now, dividing seventy-two...’ Irritated with all the calculations, he bites his lips
’...Man! Why the fuck am I even doing the math.’ He frowned at the fact that even in the apocalypse, he had to do the math. But who has ever escaped from the graph of math? Gritting his teeth, he had done all the calculations, and he wasn’t happy with the answer one bit.
’...So, I had to face a total of 18 waves, where the monster’s strength would grow at least 20-30% every time, and even when I consider the average 25% increase in strength, by the last wave, I had to face three hoards of monsters at Tier IV, halfway into Tier V. On top of only 4 hours of rest between each wave,’ Dhruv gulped a mouthful of saliva while thinking all this.
’How was anyone supposed to fight these monsters?’ He questioned the situation, but deep down, he knew that they weren’t supposed to face it alone. But what can he do—ask for help? Who would be free enough to help one helpless man who is trapped on an island that was supposed to be filled with monsters even before the apocalypse?
’No, I have to become strong... So strong that I don’t have to worry about protecting myself and what belongs to me,’ he thought. Thinking how he had to not only become strong but also do it very quickly, his mind slipped on the stone that was in his pocket, shimmering with white...
"Crack...crack"
His thinking was interrupted when he heard something getting cracked. Instinctively, his gaze went in the direction of the walls. There he saw a small crack, but it was growing at an alarming speed. And before long the crack was large enough to fit a small goblins to pass through.
His thought was abruptly interrupted by the sound of cracking. His instincts prompted him to turn his gaze toward the walls. There, he observed a minute crack forming which was expanding at an alarmingly swift pace. Before he knew it, the crack had widened sufficiently to allow the passage of a small goblin.
The passing goblin didn’t think thoroughly and quickly ran with all its might toward the group, whom he considered prey. which was even more delicious than the free food, considering their special simmering core. it couldn’t wait to devour the delicacy. So, It ran with all its might.
His sprint was abruptly halted when a large ice spike obliterated his head. The Undead Crystallce had killed it before it could get near, but that wasn’t sufficient. That seemingly small crack marked the beginning of the wall’s demise, and with every second, it was extending further.
Alaric quickly dissipated into the shadow, Azarex began controlling the six undead with much precision now, Vexar snapped his neck, and with a wide grin, he ran toward the incoming goblins.
Dhruv remained standing, tired, and wanting some rest. The low-level stamina had begun showing its effect, but he knew it wasn’t time for rest. Downing a health potion for swift revitalization, he let out a sigh of both relief and resignation.
He brought forth the metal arrow blueprint and initiated the process of infusing it with mana. However, instead of launching it immediately, he began to expand the size of the spell, pushing it to its limits. He had been practicing this for quite some time. He filled the blueprint to its capacity with mana. But didn’t stop there and began to compress the mana to increase the speed of the spell. He compressed and compressed further, repeating the process until the spell was on the brink of collapse, ready to be unleashed.
With a smile, Druv unleashed the spell. It materialized as a colossal metal arrow, two meters tall and twenty centimeters in diameter, Saying it was an arrow was like mocking the spell. As he released the spell, the arrow surged forward with insane speed, leaving a trail of disrupted air in its wake.
"Splassh boooom..."
The goblins that stood before it had no chance to react as the colossal projectile struck it with thunderous force, obliterating at least twenty in an instant before coming to a stop.
Laughing hysterically, he shouted...
"Come forth," he declared, his tone unwavering. "Each of you will meet the same fate as Thoso if you dare to block my path!"
