Chapter 185 - Again (5)

Luke and the girls headed North, and it didn't take long for them to find large amounts of monsters waiting for them. Their variety sucked, probably because few overlords were reckless enough to make their monsters spawn even when there were not many enemies to hunt, aside from the ones that belonged to other overlords. The temperature began to decrease and the number of ice-type monsters started to increase as well. Koriri, Frozen Wasps, Ice Dolls… and aside from them, a new type of monster Luke had never seen.

Ice Trolls - Lv 169

HP: 1885/ 1885

MP: 332/ 332

SP: 1254/ 1254

STR: 346

SPE: 254

INT: 22

END: 335

RES: 100

FOC: 800

Free points: 00

Gold Coins: 00

Active Skills: Ice Smash Lv 06, Charge Lv 07, Rage Lv 07

Spells: Ice Arrow Lv 04, Ice Club Lv 04, FireWall Lv 08

Passive: Cold Resistance Lv 10, Wind Resistance Lv 07, Cold Immunity Lv 09, Iron Hearth Lv 05, Vigor Lv 05

"I thought this whole world would be covered in only green… but I guess that would be too much," Luke said. "In any case, hiding here doesn't seem like something elves would usually do."

"We thought that we would be safe in this lands since the first monsters that appeared were weak against cold," Rina explained. "As you can see, we were wrong. Since the monsters got powerful faster than us, the situation became like this."

Rina prepared her whip because some trolls noticed their arrival. Regardless, the trolls weren't much different from the ice goblins. Maybe their species were somehow connected. Nevertheless, those creatures could reach four meters of height, and they also had ice clubs as their weapons. They didn't have any defensive gear aside from some rough shorts and pants made of animal leather. As one would expect, their clothes were tied up in a rather clumsy way. A contest of strength wasn't the best option against them, and despite their size, they were rather fast, so close physical range and long-ranged attacks won't do it. Still, Luke waited until the three monsters that were running toward them could be very close. Once they were close enough that they couldn't react in time, Luke fired Stone Cannons at their faces.

The attack only made them lose twenty percent of health, but that stunned the enemies for a short while. Thanks to that, Rina had the chance to suffocate one of them to death with her whip. Meanwhile, Luke sliced the throat of another one with his sword. However, he didn't stop there. Given the high focus that they had, maybe they could recover even from that. So, he used Sonic Blade at close range to behead the monster. However, the last one recovered faster than Luke and Rina could focus on him. The creature dashed toward Luke, who was closer, and raised its club. Luke turned around to see that and also to see Shalia cover the monster's face with an ice mask. That didn't stop the creature, but at least it granted Luke to move to the side and dodge the strike.

The monster punched himself in the face to get rid of the ice, and that same hand prevented the beast from seeing two Stone Cannons flying toward its head. Those two hit the side of the monster's head and made it get dizzy. Luke didn't have a hard time piercing that wounded part of its head. 

You obtained 150 experience points.

You obtained 150 gold coins.

You obtained 150 experience points.

You obtained 150 gold coins.

…

"Something feels off… while these creatures were at a higher level, I have the feeling that they were weaker than the goblin champions," Luke said.

"I think so too… maybe some monsters gain a bonus in attributes according to their rank," Rina said.

"Just like items have rarity ranks, monsters have too?" Luke frowned. "It seems a bit weird. You guys never heard of that, right?" 

"Right… but a level 110 goblin champion had four thousand points in health, so that is the only explanation," Shalia added.

Before Luke could think more about the subject, he saw a pack of Koriri approaching. They were at a higher level than his own, but Luke wasn't foolish enough to put the same species of monster in another slot of Tame. While they wouldn't be that much useful outside of combat, Luke wondered if he should tame a troll. They certainly could do a lot of heavy labor… but then Luke thought, do goblins and trolls also lay eggs?

"It is time to wake up, Luke," Rina said while pointing to the pack that was fast approaching.

"Right…" Luke said and then shook those weird thoughts out of his head.

Rina threw her boomerangs, and their effects alone made two monsters fall at fearsome speeds toward the ground. As for Luke, he just used Stone Cannon when they entered his range. They weren't known for their sturdiness, so a single hit in the head knocked them out for a short while. Enough time for Luke to approach and finish them off with his sword.

"It is a pity that we can't use that combination against ice monsters," Luke said. "Well, it would be too much if we could."

Luke already had enough coins to learn Earth Manipulation, and thus he would be able to create projectiles whenever he wanted. However, he was also interested in the tenth tier of skill books. He would need 512 thousand gold coins to check those, but he already had almost four hundred thousand thanks to the Talon lord. He probably will obtain the remaining in the next few days, even if he only hunts the small fries, so he wasn't in a hurry. Still, he wondered if that decision would bring him problems later... ignoring the chances to get stronger for the unknown was a rather dangerous move, after all.. However, he didn't change his mind and kept his plan like that.