Chapter 1000: The Culmination of Effort

Chapter 1000: The Culmination of Effort



"Maintain your positions!"ing at the top of his lungs, a ferocious expression appeared on Leon's face as he looked at the members making up his quadrant.

Seeing how they were able to handle themselves against the monsters of the seventh wave, the man faintly let out a sigh of relief, only to return his gaze to the remaining monsters before them.

Whoosh!

Knowing that his members wouldn't be able to last as long as him, Leon charged forward with all his might, slashing down with his blade towards the first monster he saw.

"[Bestial Cleaver]!"

With the help of a skill, the man was able to push the monster he was facing backwards while also dealing splash damage towards the other monsters in his surroundings.

Unsurprisingly, with how much damage he'd dealt with the skill, Leon had attracted all of the monsters' aggro, causing some of them to shift their attention away from the other members. Inwardly glad that his action had worked, Leon moved a bit deeper into the battlefield, making use of the swordsmanship he'd learned to fight against a group of monsters at once.

Then, feeling like he'd exhausted the monsters as much as possible, the man then caught the monsters off guard, conjuring a spell that immediately engulfed all of the monsters within his vicinity in flames.

"[Blaze Field]!"

Fwoosh!

With the spell he'd conjured continuously dealing damage to the monsters in his vicinity, Leon made quick work of the monsters he'd attracted, utilizing both the swordsmanship he'd honed and the magic he'd obtained due to his class.

'Though the enemies are stronger, I'm now even stronger than them,' thought Leon to himself, keeping up the morale of his quadrant as he continued to fight against the monsters without holding back.

Because of that, it did not take long for their quadrant to clear their portion of the seventh wave, causing everyone to look at one another with smiles on their faces as they made their way back.

Of course, Leon also had a smile on his face, even though he was tallying the number of people that were injured during the seventh wave.

Then again, while recording the conditions of his members in preparation for the upcoming wave, the man briefly thought about how far he already was on his journey.

From his humble beginnings as a citizen of Astarto Village, he enlisted himself as one of the village guards in order to protect his home from the monster tide.

With that, he put in all of the effort he could to strengthen himself, which eventually bore fruit by the time a monster tide did come to the village.

Though he did feel a bit of jealousy towards people like Valyr, who had grown stronger than him, he knew that he would eventually reach their level as well, which had surprisingly become true by the time the reinforcement elixirs were introduced.

After consuming the reinforcement elixirs, he felt like he'd been given wings, allowing him to achieve feats that were normally impossible for the previous him to even think of doing.

Because of that, he pushed himself beyond his limits, removing the box that confined his thinking as he eventually decided to pursue the path of both swordsmanship and magic.

'If it weren't for those reinforcement elixirs, I probably wouldn't have taken the courage to pursue two paths at once,' thought Leon to himself with a slight chuckle as he told the members of his quadrant to rest up for the upcoming wave.

'I wonder who introduced those miraculous things to the village in the first place?'

"Guard Captain Leon!" Though, just as he began to ponder over the question in his mind, a messenger had arrived before him, gasping for air as if he'd pushed his body to its limits.

"Haah... haah..." Catching his breath for a bit, the messenger soon conveyed to Leon the orders that were given to him. "Mayor Astarto... she ordered all of the quadrants to stay behind for the upcoming wave."

"Hmm?" Leon slightly frowned at the messenger's words. "Is the center quadrant going to make a move? Are they planning on using the upcoming wave to also deal a blow to the Greater Tidemother?"

The messenger shook his head in response. "That's not it. The mayor mentioned that a special person would be dealing with the upcoming wave on their own."

"A special person?" At first, a dubious expression appeared on Leon's face. After all, which person was that strong to handle an entire wave on their own?

Fortunately, after recalling the conversation he made before making his way to his respective quadrant, Leon felt the thoughts in his mind click into place as he found his answer.

"Did the mayor say which person was taking care of the eighth wave?" Though he knew a couple of people within town that had the ability to deal with a wave on their own, Leon had a feeling that the person making a move this time was someone different.

Someone who'd taken care of an entire monster tide mostly through his own strength.

Someone he knew quite well.

Thankfully, the messenger's response did not disappoint him.

he was prepared for what was to come, pushing his agility to its limits as he arrived at the

battlefield proper.

Awoooooo!!!

In response, the monsters making up the eighth wave all begun to charge towards him, their eyes glowing a crimson red due to the effects of Mark of the Alltide.

Briefly sparing a glance towards the Greater Tidemother behind the eighth wave, a confident smile appeared on Valyr's face as he retrieved his trusty spear from his back. Then, after checking how strong his opponents were with a quick use of [Superior Analysis],

he took a step back before swinging his spear upward, summoning the Prime Azure Energy he

had cultivated thus far.

"[Four Paths Azure War Arts]."

"[Stampede of the Azure Tiger]."

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

In response to his movement, a wave of dark blue energy appeared before him, only to condense into a tide of azure tigers that seemed to threaten the monsters of the eighth wave in quality.

Empowered by both Valyr's stats and the Prime Azure Energy forming their bodies, the azure tigers did not hesitate to charge towards the monsters, utilizing all of the strength their bodies contained to defeat the foes they had been put up against.

Returning the spear to his back, Valyr briefly spared another glance to the people behind him, seeing that all of them were now looking at the sight before them with their mouths wide

open.

Inwardly chuckling at their reactions, Valyr thought about how he still had more to show them, manipulating the Prime Azure Energy within his body to head towards his hands.

Raising both of his hands as he invoked yet another skill, the young man briefly wondered to himself whether the reason why he'd gotten this far was due to luck being in his favor, allowing the series of connections and coincidences he'd accumulated so far to turn into

something greater.

After thinking about it for a bit, he felt like there was truth to the matter, considering that luck was somewhat important if one wanted to go far.

Yet, at the same time, he felt like the statement was also false.

After all, he wouldn't have been able to make use of that luck if he didn't make an effort in the

first place.

He wouldn't have created Prime Azure Energy.

He wouldn't have obtained the Four Paths Azure Warlord subclass.

He wouldn't have obtained the First Blacksmith class.

He wouldn't have wielded Azure Energy.

He wouldn't have wielded Shadow Energy.

He wouldn't have forged the equipment he was currently wielding.

He wouldn't have access to all the power he currently had.

He wouldn't have gotten to where he was today...

If he didn't take the first step that started it all.

'This is just the culmination of my efforts,' thought Valyr to himself as he brought a second

wave of hell to the monsters of the eighth wave.

'And I'll make sure it stays that way.'

"[Four Paths Azure Magic Arts]." "[Azure Phoenix's Lament]."