Chapter 296: Bad Omen

When he saw that everyone in the Starlight guild was searching for new skills to purchase, Shane was forced to ask himself why he had never thought of purchasing new skills.

The answer was simple, and it was the costs of skills and martial art techniques.

Yet, this answer was not valid anymore because he had more than enough funds to purchase all kinds of skills, and he wouldn't even notice that he had purchased something because the deduction in his balance would seem negligible.

This might have been exaggerated, but after Shane had purchased two new and expensive skills and one martial art technique, he had barely paid 15,000 gold coins!

In the end, the price was extremely expensive for [Tier-2 (Gold)] skills and martial art techniques, but Shane was fully aware of his skills' capabilities.

The two skills he had purchased were [Eagle Eye(Passive)] and [Mana Membrane(Lesser)].

While [Eagle Eye(Passive)] enhanced his eyesight passively by using a minuscule amount of mana, he was able to increase this consumption in order to further enhance his vision!

This was a great skill, but the [Mana Membrane(Lesser)] skill was not any less useful either!

Upon activating this skill, a faint membrane made of mana would envelop Shane's body tightly, shielding him from most attacks.

That was, at least, as long as he had enough mana to protect himself!

Currently, the amount of mana he had was more than enough to maintain the mana membrane for a long time, even if he would be constantly assaulted!

All of that was only possible thanks to his soul bound world and the sheer amount of mana it had stored.

Other than the two skills he had learned, Shane had also purchased a martial art technique called [Light steps]!

It was not a martial art technique to attack someone, but a movement technique that was supposed to increase his agility and flexibility if properly used.

While purchasing the martial art technique, he had received a manual along with it that had dissipated when the complete details about the technique had been imprinted in his mind!

This was very useful and Shane did not require a long time before he was able to utilize the [Light steps] movement technique to a certain degree.

In addition to the [Slaughterer's Path]  Shane was confident that his combat prowess had become much stronger than it had been a few months ago.

'I should be strong enough to fight all common beasts at and below the peak-Awakened stage...only peak-Awakened stage beast at or above a combat prowess comparable to an Expert stage with a mana purity of 75% would be a small issue!'

Shane was fully aware of his own strength, but when he thought about the fact that he had Umbra and Cosmo next to him, he thought that a common superior peak-Awakened stage shouldn't be able to defeat him either! 

'Umbra alone might already be strong enough to fight against a common superior peak-Awakened stage beast…' 

Yet, before Shane was able to think more about his own combat prowess and that of his tamed beasts, he heard an announcement resounding through the shelter.

"The large-scale beast tide will arrive in less than 10 minutes! The golden centipede king, bloodlust thunder wolf, four-element eagle and the greater phantom tiger have yet to be sighted! The preparations have been finished and everything is ready! 

Please remain calm when the battle starts! Being rash or too confident has never been mankind's means to victory!" 

Shane just nodded his head when he heard the announcement made by the female shelter captain.

After that, he gathered the Starlight guild and Miriam around him before he shared the details of his plan with everyone, if it was one, to begin with.

"Just do whatever you guys want. I think I might have said that often enough, but everyone is aware of their own strength and the perks of their occupation better than anyone else! As such, focus on the stronger beasts if you're confident in killing them with a single attack, or eliminate the Elite stage beasts if you feel like doing so!

In the end, a mage with multiple large-scale skills has a higher possibility of killing dozens of opponents at a lower stage than a single peak-Awakened beast, right?"

Shane just smiled, but Miriam, who heard this couldn't help but frown.

'What kind of leader holds such a strategic meeting before a large-scale beast tide with several million beasts?'

However, when she saw how Shane's word eased the tension of the Starlight guild members, she couldn't help but stare at him as she asked.

"Is this your first beast tide?" 

Based on the way everyone except Shane acted, her assumption seemed to be true, but when she heard Shane's next words, she couldn't help but sigh deeply.

"In my case, it's the second one, but I did not actively participate in the first beast tide I'd witnessed because I was too weak at that time. As for the others, I think it's their first time!"

'And that's fine with you? It is as if you're sacrificing them!!' Miriam wanted to shout out, but the Starlight guild members seemed to be more confident about their strength than she initially expected.

Furthermore, their equipment was superior to that of most Cultivators and even the Military's elite combat units!

If she were to know that the average mana purity of the Starlight guild's members was above 70%, Miriam wouldn't have thought as she did before.

"Let's go!" Shane just said, trying to prevent an awkward situation from occurring.

Out of the corner of his eye, he had seen the Valkyries approaching the shelter gate on the northern side which was the exact path he and the others were about to take.

The Valkyries seemed to be relaxed and didn't display any outward signs of worry, but Shane thought that this was just what he was able to perceive based upon their body language.

However, instead of bothering them, he had just wished them "Good luck" when he and the others walked past them.

They walked out of the shelter because it would be more difficult to do so later on.

There were several million Elite stage beasts after all!

The number of Expert stage guards, guilds, mercenaries, and Elite units from the military numbered in the several hundred thousand, and Shane doubted that those beasts would be a huge issue!

What he had been worried about was the fact that the long-range mana radar had been unable to decipher the exact number of enemies they had to face!

This was the case because the large-scale mana radar wasn't accurate and erroneously counted the overlapping mana fluctuations as one opponent! This grossly misrepresented the enemy's strength making it hard for the defending side to chalk out an effective battle strategy.

With that in mind, there could be many more opponents than they had estimated, but that was a well-established fact.

Nevertheless, the number of defenders was huge, and the only problem were the four Overlord beasts!

When Shane and the others saw the first black dots on the horizon, they expected the AI to announce the start of the battle but a sudden and unexpected announcement resounded through the RadiantRing shelter once again!

"Attention please! Attention please!! The large-scale mana-radar has sighted the four Overlord beasts...Each beast is approaching the shelter from a different direction….Furthermore….the mana radar shows signs that each of the overlords is marching towards the shelter leading the same number of beasts...they will be arriving shortly!!"

It was as if mankind's worst dream had come true and Shane couldn't help but ask himself how nobody had noticed such an important thing up until the last minute!

There were several million beasts approaching them from all four directions after all!! 

How was it even possible for such a large number of beasts to gather without anyone's knowledge?

Furthermore, it couldn't be the case that all of those beasts belonged to the race of the four Overlord beasts.

Shane sensed foul play and every possibility he could think of pointed towards the Destar race!

He was not sure why or how everything could turn into an even worse situation.

However, it was evident that the battle mankind had to face today was the worst beast tide they were about to face inside the Basic Primordial Dimensions since the Dimension Portals had appeared!

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