CHAPTER 227: FIRST DAY OF POWER-LEVELING (1)

"We will go easy."

Reidar pressed against the crumbling concrete, watching the creatures below through a fractured window.

Stormscale Skitterlords. What an ugly name.

Reidar knew those monsters’ names were different in the original language it was created in, but this was the closest translation to the original name.

Whatever.

Towering lizards, each the size of a delivery van with hides crackling with unstable lightning and armored tails sweeping the debris-strewn street, sending rubble flying.

"They have lightning affinity," Matthias said. "Don’t let those spikes touch you and try to stay away as far as you can from them."

Seraphine nocked an arrow. "We have five targets. The best thing would be simultaneous takedowns before they react. Archers, on my signal. Reidar, I’ll leave the main job to you. You need to grab their attention well enough for us to be safe. All right?"

Reidar nodded, fingers brushing his new wand, the Scepter of Whispers. Below, the lead Skitterlord raised its head.

"Don’t worry, Seraphine..."

Reidar closed his eyes, and four forms materialized between their ruined perch and the Skitterlords.

A barely visible vortex of air and energy coalesced into the Zephyr Muse. Beside it, a feminine figure wreathed in fire appeared, the Cinderheart Efreeti. Next to it was a placid, flowing water elemental, the Tidal Saint, and then a massive stone elemental, the Terran Bulwark, grounded itself with a low rumble.

Then the ground heaved. Reidar summoned two more creatures. Two colossal stone giants who had the names of Twin Boulderback Behemoths.

Both of them were at least three stories tall and made of living stone. Once they materialized, they tore through the air and landed on the ground, making everything tremble.

Seraphine took a deep intake of air. She couldn’t quite believe what Reidar had just summoned. "Are these...?"

Reidar nodded. "The Twin Boulderback Behemoths."

She was taken aback.

"When did you learn to summon them?"

Reidar grinned.

"The vendor in your skyscraper." Reidar kept his gaze fixed ahead. "Zix had a fascinating inventory, and with the Survival Points I brought him, I guess he will have more intriguing things in the future."

He kept grinning.

"That skill must have cost a king’s ransom."

"It’s better I do not tell you how much I paid for all those skills. I doubt you would believe me, anyway."

The Skitterlords backed away. Their crackling spikes flared brighter as a sort of warning. They were inviting the enemy to stay away from them, something quite unusual for bloodthirsty monsters.

The lead beast let out a roar, its tail lashing against a wrecked car. The Cinderheart Efreeti raised a hand, and a concentrated beam of fire seared across the street, melting a patch of the Skitterlord’s armored hide.

The Tidal Saint raised a hand as it activated a skill, and pearlescent mist unfurled, clinging to the party members and Reidar’s summoned army like a second skin. The skill was called Soothing Mist, and it constantly healed the party members.

Although no damage had been done, it was still better than nothing to have something ready that might heal everyone as soon as they got injured.

The creature also gave them Aqueous Barrier, which formed a protective bubble around the target. Flow was another skill the creature used, which increased the raid evasion and speed further, and lastly, it used Deluge on the area to provide an area healing effect for whoever fought inside of it.

Then the Zephyr Muse did the same; a vortex of pure air became the raid’s unseen conductor. The creatures used multiple skills on the party members: Guiding Wind swept through the archers and fighters. The skill gave them increased speed and made their movements easier.

Then it used Slipstream, which granted the party a greater chance and ability to avoid projectiles. Lastly, it gave them a skill called Uplift that made them levitate on the ground through wind, which made their movements even faster.

Those skills were also used on the summoned creatures, and their movements became faster.

"With this you should have a better chance of not getting killed," Reidar said.

The Terran Bulwark planted itself on the ground, becoming an immovable anchor that attracted the monsters.

Instead, the Twin Boulderbacks took a single, earth-shaking step forward. The street fractured beneath their weight. The Skitterlords, faced with this sudden, overwhelmingly large force of monsters, hesitated when the monsters took more steps.

Reidar’s forces advanced. The Twin Boulderback Behemoths led the charge, making everything tremble and threatening everyone’s balance. The Cinderheart Efreeti unleashed a Fireball that exploded against a Skitterlord’s chest, scorching its hide and inflicting serious wounds.

The Terran Bulwark, instead, absorbed the violent lightning discharge the Skitterlords used trying to kill the creatures.

Reidar’s Skeletal warriors, Shadow Guardians, and Spectral legion appeared next.

It was a bit overkill, but Reidar didn’t care. He needed the creatures to die quickly, but only after the other party members had a chance to hit them first. Reidar felt the immense mana drain, however.

This time, he was using all the skills with his own mana, and wasn’t using his summons for proxy casting since his proficiency was still too low to share them. The Skitterlords, now surrounded, started their counterattack.

Seraphine saw the Skitterlords completely focused on Reidar’s summons, buried under a tide of spectral steel, skeletal warriors, and living stone.

The main danger was sort of neutralized, but until she and the others did something, they were not going to get the C.L.A.S.P. points.

"Spriggans!" she said. "Find your firing lines! Ranged attacks only; stay out of the lightning arcs! Tag every target you can! We need a contribution for every kill! Fire at will!"

Her command triggered the human group. Seraphine herself drew first. An arrow trailing faint, silver light zipped past a Spectral Swordsman’s shoulder and sank deep into the eye socket of a thrashing Skitterlord. It didn’t do much to the monster; it barely grazed it, but it was still better than nothing.