SS Awakening: My Monster Merging System!

Chapter 150: Human Vs Keth

The shadow that had pounced on Zich was not a monster as he had initially thought, but another race. To be specific, a Keth!

This Keth had clearly also been deployed nearby, and he moved with great ease through the swamp terrain. He had waited until Zich was engaged with the monsters before approaching from beneath the water, intending to launch a surprise attack.

His judgment wasn’t bad.

Unfortunately, Zich had been waiting all along.

"Silk Barrier."

A translucent white barrier instantly unfolded behind him.

CLANG!

The harpoon struck the barrier with a dull metallic clang.

Zich turned around, a Blood Arc already formed in his palm.

The Keth candidate reacted extremely quickly. He shrank back and dropped into the water again. The Blood Arc grazed his shoulder, slicing away only a strip of wet flesh without keeping him there.

"Nice reaction."

The Keth candidate surfaced from another patch of black water, staring at him warily.

"Human Summoner, you shouldn’t fight a Keth in a swamp."

"I wasn’t planning to fight you fairly."

The Keth candidate’s expression darkened. The next second, he dived beneath the water again. Several ripples rapidly spread across the surface as he moved at remarkable speed, constantly changing direction, clearly intending to use the water’s advantage to probe from multiple angles.

Against an ordinary candidate, they might not even be able to locate him. But Zich didn’t pursue.

"Slimy, the shallow water."

Slimy immediately understood. It began continuously spraying poison into several of the surrounding shallow waterways. As the poison spread, the routes that had originally been most suitable for the Keth’s movement instantly became dangerous.

The Keth candidate was forced to change direction.

His speed noticeably slowed.

He quickly realized the problem.

This swamp should have been his advantage, but that seemingly insignificant slime was gradually contaminating every bit of it.

"Annoying summon!"

The Keth candidate burst out of the water, his harpoon surging toward Slimy with the current.

Startled, Slimy bounced backward.

Zich had already appeared in front of it.

"Shadow Blink."

His figure landed atop a dry rock, perfectly blocking the Keth’s advance.

The Keth candidate’s expression changed as he attempted to dive back into the water.

But the water beneath his feet had already been contaminated by poison.

He was a moment too slow.

Zich raised his hand, and blood aura gathered.

FWOOOSH!

The slash cut across the Keth candidate’s chest, forcing him completely out of the water. He crashed awkwardly into a broken tree, sending mud and water flying everywhere.

Zich didn’t give him a chance to recover.

With a single step, he rushed in front of him and slammed his fist heavily into the Keth candidate’s shoulder.

BOOM!

The Keth candidate’s body dropped as his knees smashed into the mud.

A system notification soon appeared.

[Candidate Eliminated]

[Remaining Candidates: 59]

[Zich Grave — First Elimination Recorded]

Looking at the notification, Zich frowned slightly.

He hadn’t originally intended to become the first candidate to eliminate someone.

It was too conspicuous.

But since the other party had taken the initiative to ambush him, letting him go would have been foolish.

"Whatever."

Slimy bounced over beside him, looking as though it was waiting to be praised.

Zich glanced at it.

"You did well."

Slimy quickly became full of energy.

The swamp became somewhat quieter after the Keth candidate disappeared, but Zich did not remain there. The recent battle had already created enough commotion, and the system had recorded the first elimination. If there were other candidates or more monsters nearby, it was only a matter of time before they were drawn over.

He left the area with Slimy, moving toward the thicker fog.

The black water gently rippled beside his feet.

In the distance, a burst of fire suddenly flared through the mist.

Elsewhere, dull crashing sounds echoed from a rocky region.

Farther away still, a pillar of freezing energy shot into the sky, turning an entire forest white.

The entire battlefield had already begun to come alive.

Zich climbed onto a slightly higher patch of marshland, looking at the traces of battle coming from three different directions.

The system timer slowly ticked at the edge of his vision.

[Time Left: 84:32]

[Remaining Candidates: 59]

He let out a soft breath before stepping into the fog.

"Looks like it won’t stay quiet for much longer."

Inside the Observation Hall, the instant Zich completed the first elimination, the central light screen enlarged the scene of the Blackwater Marsh for a brief moment, allowing all the representatives who had been watching other regions to see the Keth candidate being forced out of the water, then struck into the muddy ground by Zich with a single blow before dissolving into fragments of simulated light.

As the Keth candidate’s name turned gray on the list, a small marker appeared behind the name Zich Grave.

[First Elimination Recorded]

The atmosphere on the Human platform instantly underwent a subtle change.

No one cheered loudly, nor did anyone deliberately show off, but several Human guild scouts who had originally been observing quietly noticeably sat up straighter, and a few corporate sponsors also began reviewing Zich’s profile again, as if they had finally realized that this Summoner, whose name had stirred up endless discussions on the forums, was not simply a lucky newcomer pushed up by rumors.

The reaction on the Keth platform was completely different.

An elderly Keth representative frowned, his damp brows knitted together, as his fingers lightly tapped twice on the crystal record board. His voice carried obvious dissatisfaction.

"The Blackwater Marsh should have been terrain suited for our race."

Another Keth representative beside him remained silent for a while before speaking in a lower voice.

"Precisely because it suits us, it’s even more embarrassing after the opponent turned it against us."

After those words were spoken, the Keth platform became much quieter.

The eliminated candidate was not their strongest participant, but for the very first stage to begin with the first elimination taking place in the marshland most suited to the Keth, and at the hands of a Human Summoner, was embarrassing enough on its own.

More troublesome was that Zich had not won through brute force.

He first observed the water’s surface, then used Slimy to contaminate the route, and within the environment where the Keth candidate excelled the most, he instead cut off the opponent’s mobility advantage.

Arthur stood at the very front of the Human platform, his expression unchanged, though a faint trace of a smile appeared in his eyes.

One elimination meant nothing.

But the first elimination, on an occasion like this, was itself a signal.

At the very least, every race now knew that the Summoner from the First Shelter, who had been discussed more than anyone else, truly had a reason to be placed on the observation list.