Chapter 176: Surfing a Tsunami of Space Monsters

Chapter 176: Surfing a Tsunami of Space Monsters

Space monsters were unique creatures. They were formed by Dao that stuck together, the fundamental properties of the universe given shape and form. When that happened, sentience was developed, but most monsters only remained at the E-Grade, their infancy.

As a result, they were driven by two primary instincts: progress, and survival. Progress came from devouring other creatures that cultivated the Daousually cultivators, or sometimes compatible space monsters. Survival was more complex, and being barely sentient, what space monsters did was blindly follow what other space monsters were doing. If they saw one moving with purpose, they followed it. That is how monster hordes were formed.

At the same time, this sort of instinct could have unintended consequences.

In the densely crowded environment of Space Ring, once enough monsters got to running, there was no stopping them. More monsters took note and automatically started running as well, spreading the panic like a wildfire in dry grass. A massive horde could form swiftly, with dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of space monsters all rushing over each other to escapesomething. They didnt know what they were running from, nor did it matter. Everybody else was doing it, so they followed.

The super horde that formed on this day was the result of an event chain accidentally started by Jack. When he activated his Life Drop to fight the electric eel, the eruption of Dao was so strong that it caught the attention of a D-Grade space monster slumbering in the bottom of Space Ring. That monster rose to investigate. However, as the Life Dao had disappeared, it focused on the closest special occurrence it could sensethe gathering of space monsters around a specific bubble.

The D-Grade monster didnt know what was happening there, but it had the intelligencealbeit barelyto connect the dots. It concluded that a high-quality, life-related treasure had matured inside that bubble. Such a treasure could be invaluable to this monster, since it cultivated the Dao of Death. Therefore, it grabbed the bubble and pulled it to its lair in the inner wall of Space Ring, where it could investigate at its leisure.

However, the monsters arrival and subsequent frustration had terrorized the nearby space monsters, sending them into a frenzied escape. In its retreat, it also squashed some of them to quell its rage, further fueling their panic. Such a monster could create large waves. It wasnt long before every E-Grade monster in the region, from peak to King, was in motion, heading out of the darkness and into the light, where the poor cultivators had no idea what was about to happen.The debut release of this chapter happened at Ñòv€l-B1n.

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Jack, Nauja, Gan Salin, and Brock emerged from their fast descending bubble into a void that brimmed with activity. Behind them, the mossy palace floated in a bubble wrapped by large, white tentacles. They barely caught a glimpse of the massive creature below, dragging the bubble ever deeper.

It was a white squid the length of a skyscraper. A space kraken. The entire palace was like a toy to it.

Thankfully, the kraken didnt pay them any attention. It descended at great speed, quickly disappearing in the darkness as the palaces torches went off one by one.

Unfortunately, the kraken wasnt the only monster here. More and more of them surged out of the depths, frightened out of their minds by the krakens appearance and anger. Jack glimpsed dozens of them in the bubbles dying light. The weakest were peak E-Grades, and the strongest was a King monster that resembled a dark blue rhinoceros.

All those monsters were surging towards Jack, Brock, Nauja, and Gan Salin. They barely caught a glimpse of all the monsters before the final torch in the palace went out, and they were sunk in absolute darkness.

For a moment, there was stillness. Jack hovered in the darkness quietly, like the approaching horde was only a dream.

Then, something crashed into them, and the group was flung forward. They didnt try to fight back. They let the flood take them, doing their best to align with it and stay alive. Their only saving grace was that the monsters, in their haste to escape, did not try to eat them.

Jacks world was filled with bursts of all kinds of Dao. He was almost overwhelmed. His mind focused on his friends. Wind, Insanity. Brock, he was carrying.

There were dozens of Daos erupting out of everywhere around him. Shapes bumped into him in the darkness. The monsters fell an urge to come together, leading to a tightly clustered pack in complete absence of light.

Jack finally felt a mind-turning burst from the side. He rushed over, hoping to not get tackled by a monster, and found Gan Salin.

He was struggling. Already, he was in dire straits, his bursts of Dao erratic. Two monsters surrounded him, not trying to kill him but accidentally swatting him with their tentacles, while he was trying his hardest to survive.

Jack couldnt see the battle, but he could perceive parts of it.

He sensed Salin erupt with speed as he dashed at Jack. Suddenly, he was flung asideprobably batted by a loose tentacle. The strike was hard, but Salin wouldnt give up. He forced himself to remain conscious and doubled down on his original trajectory, once again rushing toward Jack.

Trying to escape through the horde would be very difficult; the monsters changed positions all the time, and one mistake would be enough to get them crushed.

All they could do was ride the tide and try to survive in the ever increasing pressure. Moreover, all these attacks slowed them down, and they had to constantly expel Dao from their Dao Seeds to stay up to speed. Their endurance wasnt infinite. Eventually, they would run out, and they would fall into the horde.

This cant go on! Jack thought. We must find a way to use less energy.

It wasnt just the sides and flank. There were monsters above and below them, everywhere the eye could see, pressuring them so hard that they had to give it their all just to stay afloat. Naturally, they wouldnt last long like this.

Jack looked back, trying to find a solution, and crossed eyes with Gan Salin. The canine smiled brightly like hed been waiting for this moment. He reached to his belt and recovered the old, steady rope hed taken from the mossy palace, giving it a couple test tugs.

At the time, Jack had thought Salin was joking. As it turns out, he might have had a point.

I cant believe this, Jack thought, reaching out. Salin gave him the rope. Jack let the canine hold off the monsters for a moment as he looked for a suitable target.

There. Right below them was a rhinoceros-like space monster. A King. However, being a King also meant that the other monsters gave it a wide berth. It was perfect.

Jack dived down, using a series of Meteor Punches to approach the rhino. He quickly passed the rope around one of its horns.

It was surreal.

The rhino ignored him, not even bothering with his small existence. Every other monster was running away, filling the rhino with urgency.

Jacks rope was now tied around the rhinos horn. He gave it a tug to make sure there was no problem. The rhino, bursting with strength as it was, didnt even slow down. He gestured at his friends, who rushed to join him, letting two monsters clash where they used to float.

Jack was holding onto the rope for dear life. There was barely enough space for the three of themat least, Brock was holding onto Jacks back.

Finally, however, they were somewhat safe. No monsters would attack the rhino, even by accident, and there were no other Kings around. Moreover, it didnt seem to mind giving them a ride. For now, they could take a breather.

Which let Jack gaze ahead, where the horde was headed. He saw poor cultivators rushing to reach a bubble before the wall of space monsters reached them first. He saw a bubble swept to the side, pushed along by all the monsters behind it. Two cultivators were inside, pale-faced and shaking like leavesone was the lizard-riding man from Village Ring.

Looking into the distanceand shielding his eyes from the sun mushroomsJack saw another bubble in their immediate path. It was a sandy coast.

Suddenly, three cultivators jumped up from the coast, voluntarily exiting their bubble. It was like they hadnt noticed the approaching super horde. Jack prayed for their poor, stupid souls.

Then, those cultivators started running in parallel with the horde, but slightly slower. They let the horde approach them and slowly merged into it, matching the speed of the frontrunners. Coincidentally, they happened to arrive very close to Jacks team. He, Brock, and Gan Salin were staring like theyd seen a ghost.

One of the new cultivators erupted with lightning, charring a monster in front of him and making room for his team to dash. Another swung a mallet larger than her torso, smashing it into the void, expelling Dao from its business end, and propelling the entire team forward. The third member just watched, content to be carried around by the other two.

In the blink of an eye, this new team of cultivators reached Jacks rhino and flew beside it.

Long time no see, Jack, said the Sage telepathically, with a full smile that showed off his yellow teeth. Care to share the ride?