SS Awakening: My Monster Merging System!

Chapter 153: A Field Monster Appears!

Braka Stonehide was colliding head on with a giant beast. The monster had a thick carapace and four stout forelimbs, each charge capable of shaking loose stones from the rock walls.

Yet Braka didn’t dodge. He stood on the gravel ground, grinning broadly, seized the bone horns on the monster’s head with both hands, and forcefully stopped its charge head on.

His feet plowed two deep furrows into the ground, his whole body pushed back several meters, yet he never let go. He even let out a great roar, telling the simulated beast to put more strength into its charge.

The next moment, the beast tattoos on his body deepened. With a sudden burst of power, he threw the giant beast off course, leaped up, pressed down on its head, and smashed it heavily into the rock wall.

BOOOOM!

The entire rocky valley shuddered.

The reaction from the audience seats was extremely intense because this kind of battle held nothing overly complex. It was visceral, violent, and deeply satisfying, letting people understand at a single glance exactly what this man relied on to stand on the candidate list.

The feed continued jumping.

At the entrance of the old fortress, Alden Klaus stood before a broken stone gate. He didn’t move around, nor did he actively hunt down candidates. However, several weaker candidates had already gathered behind him. They had clearly discovered the value of this guardian knight and chose to temporarily rely on his defensive line to withstand the monster waves.

When a wave of monsters crashed forward, Alden simply raised his shield. A gray light spread out. The monster wave collided with the defensive aura but could not cross the stone gate behind him.

BOOM!

Alden’s elimination count wasn’t high, but the candidates behind him survived. The military observers in the observation hall swiftly gave their assessment.

"High team value. Suitable for defensive rotations. If the rules allow temporary alliances, he will become a core that many weaker teams are willing to rely on."

Finally, the screen cut to a ruin shrouded in thick fog.

Lucien Vilhart stood in the center of a crumbling square. Surrounding him were entirely undead type monsters. They walked out of the fog, blue fire burning in their eye sockets, holding rusted weapons, appearing to be simulated enemies specifically deployed in this area.

Lucien raised one hand. Golden white flames spread from his palm, sweeping through the fog like a bright, clean wave of light.

FWOOSH!

The undead constructs burned silently. They vanished into thin air as if erased by light.

Lucien’s expression remained gentle. He even glanced up at the observation orb floating in midair, as if knowing someone was watching him, then smiled softly.

In the observation hall, many gazes immediately turned toward another screen.

That was Zich’s location in the Blackwater Marsh.

"A Holy Warlock and a Summoner with undead type monsters," a Keth representative smirked.

This contrast was far too distinct and would be quite exciting to watch. Even though the two were far apart right now, it was already enough to make the audience anticipate what would happen when they truly clashed.

Just then, the number of candidates on the main screen changed again.

[Remaining Candidates: 55]

Zich’s feed appeared briefly.

He had just completed his second elimination, standing in the fog of the Blackwater Marsh with a blue slime beside him.

He hadn’t approached any large scale battles after the first two eliminations. Just as the feed was about to switch away, a red danger marker suddenly appeared near Zich’s area.

[Field Monster Awakening]

[Danger Level Rising]

The expressions of quite a few representatives turned serious.

Field monsters weren’t ordinary obstacles. The very purpose of their existence was to break up hiding, force movement, punish candidates who remained in the same area for too long, and reward those who kept moving.

Arthur looked at that red danger marker, a flicker of annoyance passing through his gaze as he realized that the field monster could get rid of one of his most promising candidates.

"...This is bad."

The moment the fog in the Blackwater Marsh began to distort, Zich planted his foot firmly on the ground and observed for several seconds because he knew very well that in a place like this, with limited visibility, unstable footing, and surrounded entirely by black water, taking the wrong first step was often more dangerous than an enemy’s attack.

You could get yourself killed even before the enemy attacked.

At that moment, the water level around him began to rise. Several stones that had originally been exposed above the surface were slowly swallowed by the black water.

A few rotting logs lying across the mud began to sink as well. The ground beneath his feet, which had been relatively solid, grew softer, as if the entire marsh was trying to force him deeper in a slow but unmistakable way.

Zich glanced at the red danger marker flashing at the edge of his vision. He raised his head and looked into the depths of the fog.

’It’s not that the monster is hiding in the marsh. The marsh itself is helping it hunt.’

Slimy, sprawled on his shoulder, trembled slightly all over. Venom was already churning inside its body. It had clearly sensed that something within this black water was awakening.

"Iron."

Black particles coalesced beside Zich, and the towering elite undead knight materialized in the marsh.

The moment Iron touched down, the weight of its heavy armor caused the muddy water underfoot to sink noticeably. This terrain was far from ideal for it. It was too heavy, and any ordinary charge risked getting it stuck in the mud first.

However, Iron didn’t rush forward mindlessly like an ordinary summon.

It first looked down at the ground, then drove its black greatsword into a patch of harder mud nearby, using the blade to test the stability below.

After that, it lifted a foot and stepped onto a half submerged rotting log. The moment it discovered the log was sinking, it immediately swung its sword and cut down a collapsed black tree nearby, shoving a thicker section of the trunk in front of Zich to temporarily lay out a traversable path.

Zich watched this, a flicker of surprise passing through his eyes.

"Good judgment."

Like usual, Iron didn’t reply. It simply pulled its greatsword free and moved back to stand on a more stable spot, as if using its own method to assess the usable terrain of the entire marsh.

But the marsh clearly had no intention of giving them more time.

The black water suddenly exploded. A massive tail swept out from underwater and smashed the very log Zich had been preparing to step onto into splinters.

BOOOOM!!!

Wood fragments and black water sprayed everywhere. Slimy was so startled that it nearly launched itself off Zich’s shoulder.

Zich quickly activated Shadow Blink. His figure flickered and reappeared several meters away on a surviving patch of stone, but the moment he landed, that stone began to sink as well.

"Tch."

He kicked off it, forcing himself onto the other log Iron had just pushed forward. At the same moment, Slimy opened its mouth and spat venom.

PSHHH!

The green venom spread rapidly upon hitting the black water, forcing a massive silhouette to emerge from beneath the surface.

The thing was long, like a crocodile, but also like a serpent. Its entire body was covered in mud black scales, with rows of bony plates running along its back. As its body coiled underwater, it seemed to occupy nearly half of the marsh.

Then, slowly, it surfaced.