But just you wait, Divine Voice. I’ll come back, stronger than you even thought possible, and I’ll be the one beating you to a pulp.
I circled around the kesaran pasarans as I thought, avoiding their Heat Beams with ease. I could see their every movement. Yeah, I’ll let Allo and Treant handle these guys. Allo needs to get out of the low-level danger zone as fast as she can…and Treant needs to evolve soon too.
“Master Dragon…? Is something on your mind?” Allo called out to me. She must’ve caught on to my frustration about the whole Mad God thing.
‹I’ll…tell you later. For now, let’s work on wiping these guys out.›
“O-okay!”
I’d been planning to take them out from the beginning to farm levels, but now that I knew about the Ngai Forest’s Mad God effect, I felt much less guilty about it. These monsters needed to be freed from their madness.
‹I-I’ll help too! Leave it to us! I’m getting used to the height now too!›
I sensed a sudden increase in temperature from my back and turned around to look. Treant stood tall, its eyes burning with red light.
‹Let me tell you something!› Treant called to the kesaran pasarans. ‹You are not the only ones who can use Heat Beam!›
A beam of red light sliced through one of the spheres from top to bottom. Tufts of strange, cotton-like material danced around the area.
‹How was that, Master?!› Treant crowed gleefully.
I glanced at the kesaran pasaran’s status screen again.
Species: Kesaran Pasaran
Status: Mad God
Lv: 94/130
HP: 2268/2284
MP: 1321/1414
It…barely put a dent in its HP. That seemed like a pretty powerful blast, but it only did sixteen damage?
Well, I guess it made sense… Treant was a much lower rank, and it had fewer levels in its rank than these guys do—and most importantly, it wasn’t an attack-focused monster. No wonder it couldn’t do much against opponents this strong.
‹Oh, yes!› gloated Treant. ‹This time for sure! I can feel it!›
‹Y-yeah… Great job, Treant!› I called out. ‹Next time, could you try and get a little closer and hit ’em with a skill that’ll give them a status condition, like Guard Lost or Anti-Power, maybe? I’m sure you’ll get some Experience Points from that!›
‹Oh… Right, understood.› As much as I tried to hide it, Treant seemed to sense my lack of enthusiasm. I could feel its blatant disappointment through Telepathy.
Sorry, Treant… But you won’t get any Experience Points like this, no matter how many Heat Beams you fire.
“Master Dragon! Um…may I borrow a little MP?” Allo asked. I nodded. By absorbing some of my MP with Mana Drain, Allo could temporarily increase her magic power.
She placed her palms against my back and began to draw a small amount of MP from me. I glanced behind me to see her glowing faintly with light, powered up from my Oneiros magic.
“Dark Kaleidoscope!” The glowing light turned black, enveloping Allo in darkness. Her outline blurred, and then split into three figures.
That’s one of her new Walpurgis clone skills!
The three figures raised their arms in unison. Orbs of black light formed from their fingertips: three Dark Spheres.
“Aim for the one in front!” one of the Allos called to the others.
“Got it!”
The three Dark Spheres all shot toward the same kesaran pasaran at once, slamming into the white orb in quick succession. With each shot, the kesaran pasaran’s body shuddered and shot out more of the strange cotton. By the third sphere, it was spraying green body fluid into the air.
“Ou, ouu, ouuuuuuuu!” It gave a bizarre howl.
H-huh?! This thing has a mouth…?
Species: Kesaran Pasaran
Status: Mad God
Lv: 94/130
HP: 2085/2284
MP: 1299/1414
O-ooh! Allo did over a hundred points of damage! That’s pretty impressive, considering she’s still only level 1. If she keeps at it, she’ll get a bunch of experience.
‹That did a lot of damage! Keep going, Allo!›
“All right!”
I caught a glimpse of the three Allos high-fiving each other. Interesting… The description for Dark Kaleidoscope mentioned each clone having their own consciousness. I thought they’d be able to speak to each other through their minds to give instructions, but from the looks of things, that was not the case. Allo and her other selves were having the equivalent of a group huddle.
As the three Allos smiled at each other, Treant looked on with lifeless eyes.
‹H-hey, Treant…I’m counting on you to give them some serious status conditions, okay?›
‹Yeah. That way Allo can do more damage and get even more Experience Points,› Treant said sullenly.
‹Hey, c’mon. Don’t let it get you down…›
I swooped toward the kesaran pasaran again to let Treant use Guard Lost, and then the three Allos battered it with another round of Dark Spheres. Once they’d whittled down a bit over half its health, I slashed at it with my Dimension Claws. The white sphere split open, pouring green fluid everywhere, and started to tumble toward the ground.
Gained 5,358 Experience Points.
Title Skill “Walking Egg” Lv — activated: gained 5,358 Experience Points.
Oneiros Lv 124 has become Lv 125.
All right! One down. Let’s see where Allo’s at.
Name: Allo
Species: Walpurgis
Status: Cursed, Magic Modifier (Major)
Lv: 51/130
HP: 49/69
MP: 347/2208
Wh-whoa! She went up fifty levels with a single monster! Even with the Experience Point boost from Demon King’s Blessing, that was pretty dang impressive. She had the leveling abilities and status of a true master hunter now.
‹Amazing job, Allo! You went up fifty levels at once!›
“Really?!”
“Yaaaay!”
The three Allos cheered. I was glad to see them so happy. But I also felt a little contrite, given the circumstances.
‹Ah, Master! Me next! Me next!› Treant demanded.
Do I have to look…? This is…kind of painful.
Species: Tyrant Guardian
Status: Cursed, Tree Spirit Transformation: Lv 4
Lv: 69/85
HP: 374/769
MP: 318/318
Treant only went up three levels… I mean, levels got harder to raise the higher your level rose, but after seeing Allo shoot up fifty levels at once, it…didn’t feel great. How had Treant gained all its levels up until now? I didn’t even know. Was it always this hard for it to gain levels?
‹Master? How did I do…?› Treant asked.
‹You went up five—no, three levels…›
‹Were you…about to pretend I gained two more levels than I really did?›
Instead of replying, I dove toward the second kesaran pasaran.