Chapter 142: A game (4)

Luke frowned when he arrived in Havana, the city had been completely taken by smoke, and he barely could see ten meters ahead. While that was a good chance to find the subject and leave as soon as possible, Rina gave him some bad news…

"This smoke is filled with mana as well. Finding anything in the distance will be…" Rina said.

"Difficult… So, this smoke is being emitted by monsters, huh," Luke said and then covered his mouth and nose with an improvised mask. "They must be a high-level fire-type monster."

"There must be some parts in this city that are free of the smoke. Otherwise, he wouldn't have managed to send the message," Shalia said. "I advise you to look for those places. He must be around there."

That was a problem… because they had tried to see the city from above, but they only saw a massive smoke cloud. Most likely, the wind will change the direction of the smoke at some point, but who knows when that will happen. Luke didn't want to spend the entire day there... even if was to help a friend of Shalia's.

In any case, Luke headed toward the center of the town since usually, the crystals would appear there. The situation in Havana was quite different than Luke had imagined. While there were some vehicles here and there that had been melted completely, there weren't any signs of zombies. The buildings also were relatively intact, so the real problem was the smoke and the three crystals. Due to the hordes, escaping the city wasn't an option for most, and even though the monsters weren't destroying the city while searching for survivors, the smoke could be deadly… even more so when it had mana.

"I guess there is even the possibility that the crystal owner summoned this type of creature to kill the survivors by suffocating them," Luke said. "By doing so, he would save time looking for them and could focus on fighting the other monsters."

"... That is quite possible," Rina said.

It seemed that Rina didn't have much experience in dealing with unorthodox battle tactics. It wasn't surprising since she always fought against enemies much stronger. They had no need for battle tactics. That was good to know. Luke would use all the dirty tactics available against the fuckers that think that his home planet is their playground. He will show them how nasty the human race can be… or how nasty he is. He shouldn't bundle himself and other ordinary people together.

Nevertheless, after telling Artiuno to hide in one of the tallest buildings where the smoke was less dense, Luke began to look for the crystals. It would be easier to find them than Shalia's friend. He was probably hiding somewhere, but some noise might make him and his partner come out to check. It also could make all the monsters move toward his direction... that chance was slim, though, since a bad move might decide the end of the war of the monsters.

It didn't take long for Luke to find out one of the enemies. The creature was big and made a lot of noise while it was moving, after all. It had a humanoid shape, and its body was completely made of dirt… it seemed like a golem, but the Golems that Luke knew were bigger and rounder.

Mud Doll - Lv 65

HP: 774/ 774

MP: 350/ 350

SP: 120/ 120

STR: 140

SPE: 10

INT: 20

END: 60

RES: 60

FOC: 80

Free points: 00

Gold Coins: 00

Active Skills: Charge Lv 06, Repair Lv 05

Spells: Earth Wall Lv 07, Stone Bullet Lv 06

Passive: Earth Resistance Lv 10, Water Resistance lv 05

Appraisal had reached level five, and now Luke could see the attributes of the monsters, but in exchange for that, he apparently could see fewer skills of the enemies. It was quite mysterious… In any case, the appearance was a weird if compared to the Golems Luke had seen. In the games he played, the enemies that looked like Dolls were the most creepy ones, but seeing them in the middle of the day wasn't that scary.

"What the hell is that…" Luke frowned. "It looks like a mannequin…"

The creature found Luke a bit later, probably because it had to rely on other means to find him since it didn't have eyes. Still, Luke lost the chance to attack first due to the surprise. The beast charged toward him, but its speed was laughable. The only problem was the strength on its feet… whenever it stepped, it made the ground crack and tremble. Luke couldn't let that thing get any closer… so he used a Water Cannon.

Although the monster was also made of water, the attack made its body slowly fall apart… as expected, that thing needed a certain level of water to exist. Much more water and it becomes unable to use its strength as a golem-type creature, and too little would make it even slower… Still, the HP of the monster didn't decrease even a little bit.

"Where is the core?" Luke asked. "Usually golems have a core, right?"

"That is not a golem, though," Rina said.

Luke sighed after hearing that… the monster had no obvious weak spots, so he just used Spark Ball several times when he saw the monster trembling all over. Apparently, it was highly effective since the monster died after three shots. It was quite surprising, but maybe using a little fire and then a sword strike would be more effective.

You obtained 42 experience points.

You obtained 42 gold coins.

"... They are getting stronger… a bit too fast," Luke said.

"Well, it seems that they have been running amok for an entire month. It doesn't surprise me that they reached this level," Rina explained. "Besides, the smoke doesn't affect them. In fact, it makes them grow stronger by themselves naturally."

"So, they are a natural counter to the fire monsters," Luke nodded. "It seems like a real war is taking place here…"