CHAPTER 36: SWARM OF BEASTS

Ash’s boots crunched over the frozen ground. Hundreds of crystals glimmered under the crimson sky, each one pulsing faintly, as if alive.

He moved forward and bent down, picking one up. The core throbbed in his palm, cold seeping through his bare skin, freezing his blood.

His luck warned him, causing him to drop it.

Jessie shouted from afar. "Ash—drop it."

Before he could react and retreat, the crystal shuddered and cracked apart in front of him.

Shards shot outward like glass shrapnel, digging into his skin, painting the ground red with his blood. From the fragments, a small beast emerged—a crystalline wolf, jagged and translucent, with glowing veins of frost for blood.

"Another wolf fight," Ash barely muttered, controlling his cry of pain.

The ground trembled.

All around them, dozens of crystals cracked one after another as if a chain reaction... opening one after another. Wolves, serpents, and birdlike shapes crawled out, each one no bigger than a man but radiating murderous intent.

The wings of the bird reflected the crimson light through their crystalline body.

Jessie cursed. "They’re eggs!"

Ash clicked his tongue, drawing his blade. He lunged at the nearest wolf, carving through its neck. It shattered into frost, leaving only dust behind.

He had put all his might into this single strike and this wolf had only half generated, so killing it with one slice was possible, but he couldn’t go head-on with more of them.

As he killed the first one, three more had already closed the distance.

A circle lit up around the beasts, causing their defense to wear down.

"Twilight Trap." Jessie cast the spell.

Ash understood and was ready for an assault, but a serpent coiled around his leg, icy fangs sinking into his thigh. Ash tore it off with a grimace, stabbing it through the head.

Another wolf leapt from behind.

His thighs were already bloody from glittering ice shards, and now the snake had bitten him. He felt a numbing sensation in his legs and then—

"Thud."

He felt his leg go numb, unable to feel it at all. He barely gave a glance at his leg, which had turned black, showing symptoms of frostbite.

He was in a precarious situation. The wolf was midair, and he couldn’t turn around.

To buy some time, he had no choice but to use the skill.

[Killing Intent - 10 MP/Second]

[MP - 32/70]

As he expected, the wolf was about to fall on him since it was midair, and his Killing Intent skill didn’t really freeze someone... it just made them fear so much that they forgot to move.

A Fireball intercepted, the explosion sending the wolf flying. She had put a heavy amount of mana into the spell and it really worked.

According to logic, her E-rank spells should have little to no effect on the beasts, but she was level eight for a long time and all her spells were capped out.

On top of that, she had a C-rank staff that helped her increase damage inflicted. It also had the ability to lower mana consumption compared to casting without the staff. And on top of that, it gave some crucial physical stats that barely put her in condition to evade attacks.

Ash exhaled sharply, seeing the beast burnt alive. "Tch. Too many."

He was sure these beasts weren’t as powerful as that golem, maybe because they had just manifested or they were supposed to be like that from the start and the golem was exceptional.

But one thing was clear—they were definitely far wiser and stronger than E-rank beasts. If he really had to compare them with something, then they were equivalent to the boss monster of an E-rank dungeon. Each one of them was as strong as a boss monster.

On top of that, their number was the real problem here.

His hand moved to his side. With a practiced motion, he pulled the gun out. The sleek black weapon gleamed faintly under the crimson reflection.

The first shot’s suppressed sound spread like thunder in the ruins. A wolf’s head exploded into frost dust. This was the first shot, and he remembered charging it with an extra 5 MP. So in this bullet, 10 MP points were invested.

He really couldn’t find any difference, since both the normal and charged shots just made a meat paste of their head.

This would help when facing a C-rank, where normal bullets would cease to work and charged bullets would help.

The second shot tore through a serpent mid-leap that was about to coil around his body.

His leg already felt lifeless, so he couldn’t afford another snake bite.

Each bullet traveled at instant speed, ripping their souls out, more efficient and devastating than his blade. Ash spun the revolver in his grip, shooting a storm of bullets into the dungeon’s beasts.

With each kill, a monotonous echo of the system rewarded him.

The swarm looked hesitant after a dozen or so kills.

The bodies of the deceased formed a wall of frozen dust. There were still many beasts awakening. If he had to give a rough estimate, then around fifty beasts were still charging down and many more emerging.

His hands trembled, feeling the heat from the gun warming his palms.

Having already shot fifteen bullets. Now every bullet would consume 5 MP, and he didn’t have enough to keep shooting.

"Jessie, can you hold them back for some time?" Ash asked, retreating.

He saw a bird with its sharp beak diving downward toward him.

It’s eyes were lifeless as of a dead person, there was no emotion in its eyes. It didn’t care if there was any threat.

Seeing no way out, he was forced to use 5 MP to shoot another bullet.

[MP - 33/70]

His MP was higher than it should be because of his armour that changed the snake attack to refill his MP.

Also he currently wasn’t using the blade, so he was able to access the restricted 10 MP.

He glanced toward the system screen, making sure that he had already leveled up. All he could do was quickly distribute the stat points in so much time.

"You’re lucky... my spell just leveled up."

Jessie steadied herself, casting a wide AoE spell. "Dragon Flame!"

A wave of fire descended like a frenzied dragon, engulfing the beasts in its maw across the snow. The colour of her flames turning darker shades of red showing their intensity.