Chapter 143: A game (5)

For a while, Luke only found stray Mud Dolls, and even though his strategy to fry them up by using Spark Ball worked, he didn't obtain much success while using physical attacks, even though he had two swords with fire and ice attributes. While he could slice them up, it takes too much time to do so, like he had to cut one of the monster's limbs and then freeze it with his Frozen Claymore for it to become unable to return to the monster's body. The fire claymore also worked in the same manner… it took too much time, though.

"It is just like the rules of a game… there are some enemies that, no matter what, are stupidly powerful against physical attacks," Luke said.

Luke wondered why he was so surprised. Monsters were giving him experience and imaginary current, not only that, they were also dropping items... It made perfect sense that some game rules could be applied there. Another problem regarding the Mud Dolls… Artiuno couldn't eat them, so hunting them to make Artiuno lay more eggs was no good. For that matter, the fire monsters that Luke had yet to find also were no good. Their bodies probably would keep emitting smoke… or at least they would keep burning even after death.

In any case, it seemed that Luke had arrived on the back of the Mud Dolls territory, and since the monsters were fighting against two other species and the zombies, he already had the diversion that he needed to sneak around and destroy the crystal.

"You are showing a vicious smile, Luke," Rina frowned. "Vicious and maniacally smile… it is quite concerning if your mother had to see you right now…"

"My bad… I can't help it since it seems that I can use the stupidity of the monsters in my favor," Luke said.

"If you ask me, it is quite the charming smile," Shalia said.

"Now you are making me worry…" Luke frowned.

After thinking for a while, Luke decided to leave a message using the mud of the monster's body along the way. It would be bad if Shalia's friend didn't notice that an ally had come to help… After all, Luke couldn't stay in such a place for several days. As for the message, he just wrote Shalia's name. That should suffice… unless her friend was someone crazy who would think that it was a trap.

"Do you think you can freeze their bodies in order for me to smash them into pieces in a single moment?" Luke asked. "Firing magic while flying on Artiuno's back is fun, but right now, only relying on that is kind of boring."

"I get what you mean… but only if I use even more mana that you are already using to deal with them," Shalia explained. "Unless I use that much, I will only freeze the surface of their bodies, and that won't be enough."

It was a pity, but considering that she already could do that much, it was a sign that she was recovering her powers on Earth. While she couldn't maintain her real form for long, at least she could show a decent fraction of it for a while. In any case, the more Luke walked… the number of enemies didn't increase. The number of strays looking for enemies coming from behind was low, probably because on the back of the Mud Golems territory, there was the ocean.

"Hehe, this is so much fun," Luke said.

"You should be more cautious of this. You are about to break the balance of power that probably has been lasting over the last few weeks," Rina said. "If you don't play your cards well, you will become the sole target for three species of monsters."

"While that sounds scary, I will get more experience and gold coins," Luke said. "Still, I suppose I should be more careful…"

Although he said that, the golems couldn't notice him unless they were like seven to eight meters away from him. Even if the other enemies had better sense, it shouldn't be that better. He could always attack them and hide in the numerous buildings around. He could even attack them from above with his grenades. The options were numerous…

In any case, it didn't take long for Luke to find the crystal that was spawning Mud Golems. In fact, Rina was the one who found it. Luke couldn't see it unless he got really close. Since they were inorganic creatures, he imagined that their master probably was a summoner of some sort… he could keep spawning soldiers as long as they had mana.

You received a quest.

Quest: destroy the crystal.

Reward: 10.000 gold coins.

"This is weird… it is the first time I get the quest before seeing the crystal," Luke said.

It was probably because someone who was in Luke's group found it… or because he was supposed to see it if the smoke wasn't so dense. Regardless, before attacking it, Luke decided to check the surroundings and found an army of Mud Dolls guarding the area in half a circle formation. Since they weren't guarding all directions, but only two, it was safe to assume that the other species were in those directions.

When he approached those places, he managed to see some silhouettes in the distance. It was hard to see it clearly, but they were the other species, and for some reason, they weren't fighting right now. At least two of them weren't moving.

"That is odd… in any case, I suppose I can't make them go at each other and destroy all the crystals in a single swoop," Luke rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

It was a bit risky, but Luke will have to destroy one of the crystals and then decimate as many Mud Dolls as possible. By doing so, he will entice the other monsters to attack and finish his job. While they do that, Luke will destroy the other two crystals...