Chapter 138: The Aftermath
The roar of the Lava Behemoth echoed across the entire plain.
A wave of magma burst out from the cracks between its natural armor and turned the surrounding grass into ash within seconds.
The monster’s yellow eyes were now completely red, no trace of rationality could be seen in its gaze, only rage, only destruction.
This was the berserk state! A state that only activated when monsters reached below 10 percent of their remaining health, a state in which all the monster’s stats increase for a short time and it acts like a mindless creature and a killing machine to survive.
Not every monster has such a state, especially among normal rank monsters it is very rare, even fallen monsters that are below level 20 rarely have such a state.
Some normal monsters after their first evolution might be lucky enough to obtain such a state as their last layer of survival.
These monsters are sometimes among the strongest of their own kind, or are leaders of their herds, or are so confident that they act and live alone.
Lian knew from the information he had obtained in high school that this monster most likely had a berserk state.
And right at that moment, the ground beneath everyone’s feet began to shake.
[ Magma Domain Activated ]
Red cracks spread like veins of fire across the entire plain.
The heat rose quickly, the air became heavy, even breathing had become harder.
Lian frowned, this was the second time he was facing a real berserk monster, the first time was against the Dreadmaw, but at that time that Unholy had only gone crazy because its plans had been disrupted.
And the difference from the Dreadmaw was completely clear, this monster had entered this state to survive and save itself.
The psychological pressure of such a creature could not be recreated by any simulation.
The Lava Behemoth suddenly lowered its head, its massive muscles contracted, and then it shot forward like an armored train.
[ Infernal Charge ]
"Bren!" Rhea’s face turned pale and she shouted.
The shield-bearing warrior did not step back even one step, he raised his shield, mana flowed through his entire body.
[ Fortress Heart ]
Golden veins appeared on his skin, his body looked like a stone fortress.
The next moment the collision happened, a massive explosion sound echoed in the plain, Bren was dragged several meters on the ground, blood came out from the corner of his lips, he felt his ribs and bones shatter.
Blood splattered from his ears and eyes, and he started coughing up blood.
But... he had stopped it, although he had paid a terrible price.
"Now!" Kael’s shout echoed across the field.
Zak disappeared.
[ Hidden Step ]
And appeared behind the monster, his sword flashed, but this time he did not use his previous skill, he just created a deep cut on the monster’s tendon.
Precise, fast, but not deadly, the monster’s defense was stronger than before, and dealing damage to it was even harder.
At the same time, Rhea attacked from the left.
[ Blazing Charge ]
Her body turned into a ball of fire, her massive sword landed on the monster’s armor, sparks and flames spread in the air.
She put all her power into that strike to at least deal some damage, but the monster was still standing.
Lian took a quiet breath, then lightning gathered on his arm, clearly he himself had to act again, he had the highest strength among all of them, and he was the only one who could break this monster’s defense.
[ Thunder Calamity ]
He lunged forward, his fist hit the monster’s side, an explosion of thunder spread through the massive creature’s body.
For a moment its muscles contracted.
In the distance, Kael raised his hand, thunder clouds were slowly forming in the sky, but the time to use his main spell had not yet come.
The monster roared again, this time it raised its head toward the sky, magma gathered in its mouth, but instead of firing directly... it threw it upward.
[ Lava Rain ]
Hundreds of pieces of molten rock appeared in the sky, and then fell to the ground like rain of death.
"Spread out!"
Kael shouted.
Everyone was forced to change their positions, but it was not enough, there were hundreds of magma rocks, Zak and Rhea quickly moved toward Bren and took cover beside him.
Lian activated [ Diamond Skin ] and a protective layer covered his entire body, the small rocks that hit him could not pass through his defense.
But one of the large rocks landed next to Lian, the resulting explosion created a crater several meters wide, and its shockwave even caused his skin to burn.
If it had hit directly... even he would have taken serious damage.
Elias, seeing that the rocks were falling toward him, became terrified, he felt this might be the last moments of his life.
He had nothing to protect himself... was he going to die here?
[ Branches of Thunder ]
Suddenly dozens of lightning bolts struck from the sky and turned all the magma rocks to ash... especially the one that was about to fall on Elias’s head.
"Th-thank... thank you so much, captain." The healer thanked him sincerely upon seeing that Kael had saved him.
"Get back to your positions, we will proceed with the swarm attack." Kael nodded and then shouted.
The group members scattered and positioned themselves in different spots.
Lian, amid the battle, kept observing them, the more he looked, the more sure he became.
This group was professional, not just strong, but professional, their movements were trained, and his guess that they were a trained group became more certain.
The battle continued, minutes passed one after another, the monster took more wounds, but the group also became more tired.
At one moment, the Lava Behemoth lifted its foot and intended to stomp it on Rhea.
But Zak suddenly disappeared.
[ Shadow Sever ]
He appeared directly behind the monster’s neck, his sword landed on one of the old wounds, the monster was distracted by the pain.
And Rhea survived.
The right time had finally come, finally enough mana had been gathered, Kael closed his eyes, mana gathered around him like a storm, dark clouds covered the entire sky.
The sound of thunder could be heard in the distance.
"This spell..." Lian watched this spell being cast with interest, he was sure, this amount of mana, such power... this was a skill with Holy rank!
Kael raised his hand.
[ Heavenly Thunderfall ]
The sky exploded, dozens of massive lightning bolts fell toward the ground, all of them on one point, all of them on the Lava Behemoth.
The resulting explosion swallowed the twilight light, for a few seconds no one could see anything.
"Rhea!"
The red-haired girl smiled, all her mana gathered on her sword.
[ Scarlet Execution ]
Red flames spun around the blade, she rushed toward the monster like a meteor.
At that same moment, Lian also moved, lightning gathered on his right arm and ice claws appeared again.
Then without stopping...
[ Cataclysm Pulse ]
A massive shockwave was released.
Rhea’s strike... Lian’s strike and Kael’s rain of thunder, all of them hit the target almost simultaneously.
For a moment time stopped, the massive body of the Lava Behemoth trembled.
It took one step back... then a second step, its massive horn broke, and finally... it fell.
The plain ground, which had mostly turned into a lava and magma ruin, trembled.
"Did we succeed...?"
And silence returned.
A few seconds later, the system notification appeared.
[ Lava Behemoth level 27 killed ]
[ Contribution Calculated ]
[ Group Kill Penalty Applied ]
[ EXP Acquired ]
[ Stat Points Gained: +9 ]
[ You have obtained a skill ]
Lian paused for a moment.
Nine stats, just from one monster, but for a level 27 monster it was low, if it was not a group kill, he should have gotten 18 stats.
He calculated in his mind.
If he could repeat hunts at this level alone, his growth would be much faster than he imagined.
But for now, he was far from that level of power, although he might reach it soon.
Then he looked at his level, he had not leveled up, but he was not far off, the EXP bar was almost full.
Then he noticed that he had obtained a new skill, in fact, today he had also obtained two other skills from killing other monsters, but he had not had the chance to look at them.
He looked at the group, the four of them were lying on the ground like dead people and clearly needed to rest.
The golden plant was still shining in the center of the plain, maybe the only thing that had remained intact because the monster itself did not want to damage it.
"Thank you for your help, without you we would not have had a chance to defeat it." Kael came forward and added.
"According to the agreement, I will pay you three times the market price for the plant." Kael came forward.
"I still think you are robbing us." Rhea’s face immediately turned ugly.
"But your captain agreed, and without me you would have been dead." Lian shrugged.
Rhea had nothing to say, and that made her even angrier.
The rest of the group was also not happy, but they still thanked him for helping them, they were not foolish enough to think they had a chance alone.
In the end, the final agreement was made.
The plant for Kael, three times the market price for Lian, half of the monster’s corpse for Lian.
And the other half for the group.
Lian gave his account number to him, and it was agreed that the payment would be made within the next 24 hours... but one question still remained.
"How do I know you will send the money?"
"Because I am the son of Ariana Westwood, that should give my identity credibility, right?" A few seconds of silence followed, then Kael said calmly.
Lian was silent for a moment.
Ariana Westwood, the leader of one of the country’s largest guilds, one of the most powerful women in the country.
A woman whose name had been seen many times in the news, but mostly because of the controversies surrounding her.
Because she was a woman who had never married, but had a son, and no one knew who the father of her son was.
Unconsciously, he looked at Kael’s face, then the image of the President appeared in his mind.
Golden hair, green eyes, face shape, their resemblance was really strange.
’At this point I would be an idiot if I thought the resemblance was a coincidence.’ He chuckled to himself.
After they exchanged contact information in case any problem occurred with the payment, he finally separated from the group, the sun had almost completely set.
Lian mounted the Windrunner Strider, today was only supposed to be a simple patrol.
But at the end of the day, he had hunted several monsters, acquired half the corpse of a level 27 monster.
And he was going to receive several million dollars too.
"Not bad." A small smile appeared on his face.
"For the first day back, it really was not bad." As the lights of the base appeared in the distance, Lian looked at the dark sky.
Today was only supposed to be a simple patrol, but the profit he had gained... was much more than he had expected.
