Chapter 141: Chapter 141: System's New Power

Elio, Lucien, and Selene stood atop the city wall.

Before them, a sight that would have been unthinkable just weeks ago: 100 level 3 summoners, lined up in perfect formation, their rabbits shimmering with an ethereal blue glow.

This group represented a small fraction of the city's new power.

Elio felt a shiver run down his spine. Never before had he seen so many high-level summoners gathered in one place. Each of them possessed enough power to have toppled the previous regime... and likely the new one as well. It was a sobering thought.

Beyond the summoners, stretching as far as the eye could see, the sea of monsters roiled and churned. An endless mass of writhing creatures, their collective roar a constant, terrifying backdrop to the scene.

Lucien's voice cut through the tension, "shall we begin?"

Elio nodded, his throat suddenly dry. "Let's see what they can do."

"Very well," Lucien's voice resonated, breaking the tense silence. "Begin!"

As one, the hundred summoners raised their hands. Their rabbits responded in perfect unison, eyes glowing with an intense blue light. Suddenly, the sky was filled with icy projectiles, a hail of destruction aimed at a specific point in the sea of monsters.

The impact was immediate and visually stunning. A cloud of ice and dust erupted into the air, accompanied by flashes of light indicating the elimination of some monsters.

It seemed they had made a significant dent in the endless mass of creatures.

However, the initial euphoria faded quickly.

Barely a second after impact, the sea of monsters closed in on itself, erasing any evidence of the attack. All that remained was a small dust cloud that dissipated slowly.

"Again," Selene ordered, her voice taut with tension.

The silence that followed was heavy, broken only by the distant roar of the monster horde.

Elio broke the silence. "So, what options do we have left? We can't simply resign ourselves to the idea of sacrificing people."

Lucien nodded, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "Perhaps the key isn't brute force, but discovering the origin of the monsters, or finding some weakness we can exploit."

Selene nodded, her gaze fixed on the horizon where the sea of monsters melded with the sky. "We don't know where they come from. For every monster we eliminate, it seems ten more appear."

Elio observed the sea of monsters, feeling for the first time the true weight of the task ahead. It was more than vast; it was a seemingly infinite enemy, a force of nature that seemed to mock their efforts.

"Well... I'll inform the summoners," Selene said, her voice soft but resolute. "I'll explain that, although the experiment didn't yield the expected result, their participation has been invaluable to our understanding of the challenge we face."

As Selene stepped forward to address the summoners, Lucien turned to Elio. "What's our next move?" he asked, his eyes searching Elio's face for any sign of hope.

Elio stared at the sea of monsters, his mind traveling back to that moment when he was submerged in its depths. "There's something we're not considering," he said slowly, his eyes narrowing in concentration.

Lucien looked at him, intrigued. "What would that be?"

"When I fell into the sea of monsters," Elio continued, his voice taking on a distant quality as he recalled the memory, "I noticed something. The monsters below, the ones in the depths, they didn't move. They were just there, still, supporting those using them as stepping stones."

"You want to go back there?" Lucien asked, his voice betraying his concern.

"Yes," Elio confirmed, his eyes meeting Lucien's with fierce resolve. "I need to go back down there."

"It's madness!" Lucien exclaimed, his frog croaking loudly as if in agreement. "What would you hope to achieve? How would you even survive?"

Elio took a deep breath, his mind already formulating a plan. "The book. If I arm myself with 10 daggers and the resistance cloak that Fathoran left behind, I'd have the maximum equipment. I could enter the book while falling. The book would descend to the bottom like last time, and I could absorb cores again... there were tens of times more than what I have now."