Chapter 85 — Anomaly (Part 2)

  We still decided to check the Rank-5 zone before returning and reporting these places to the Adventurers’ Guild.

  Honestly, I was really hoping that in the Rank-5 zone there would also be several points with massive concentrations of monsters—places where they respawn in large numbers. That would have been the perfect option for our progress. A huge amount of experience points.

  I couldn’t wait to find a place like that in Rank-5 as well.

  And to be completely honest… I didn’t want to report these places to the guild at all. Of course, I understood that we had to. But the thought still appeared in my mind: what if we just used them ourselves? First completely clear the spawn points in the Rank-4 zone, then switch to Rank-5. That would be a colossal leap in development.

  But considering how seriously Rem and Sherial were taking this, and that everything happening looked like an anomaly, I decided not to even bring it up.

  Even though I really wanted to.

  "Found it," Rem suddenly said.

  I didn’t expect it to happen so quickly. We had only walked about 700–800 meters from the entrance to the Rank-5 zone. This was only the fourth path from the beginning of the Rank-5 area.

  And already here—there was a point with a massive concentration of monsters.

  Right at the beginning of the Rank-5 zone.

  I thought we would simply continue checking. Rem would summon golems and send them along every path in the Rank-5 zone until she had checked all of them.

  But Rem didn’t move forward. She simply stood still.

  "Rem, is something wrong?" Sherial asked.

  "No… I mean yes. I think something isn’t right there. I don’t know exactly what, but we should check this place ourselves," Rem replied.

  We turned around and headed toward the place where Rem’s golem had discovered the area with a large number of monsters.

  We entered the path, and after a short time the first monster appeared.

  It was a wolf. Slightly brown. It stood there, baring its fangs and letting out a low growl.

  At first glance it looked like an ordinary wolf. Nothing remarkable… except for one thing—its size.

  It was about twice as tall as me.

  I looked at Rem and Sherial. They simply nodded.

  So this monster was mine.

  I dashed forward. The monster lunged at me as well.

  When we were about to collide, I shifted slightly to the side. At the moment we passed each other, my sword was already moving.

  The blade entered the wolf’s open mouth and split its head, continuing its motion along the entire body.

  The monster disappeared almost instantly, leaving behind a magic stone.

  If this had been an ordinary creature of flesh and blood… the sight would have been quite unpleasant.

  [Dungeon monster defeated: Brown Fang Wolf (Lv. 120)]

  [Received: +68,740,770 experience points]

  Level 120. And almost seventy million experience points.

  Damn!

  Just a couple hundred monsters like that—and I’d gain the next level.

  But there was something else interesting.

  I looked at the sword in my hand.

  When I cut that monster, I felt the resistance of its body. The blade had actually cut through something.

  I hadn’t felt that before.

  When I fought Rank-3 monsters, they barely offered any resistance. I sliced through them as easily as if I were cutting through air.

  Well… except for the dungeon boss. That enormous tree.

  But that felt different. Like striking a sword against solid stone. There was no pleasure in it.

  But this wolf…

  That was completely different.

  "Hey, what’s with that grin on your face? Right now you look more like some kind of maniac than an adventurer," Sherial said.

  "Nothing like that. I just… well… I liked fighting that monster. That wolf," I replied.

  Sherial smirked.

  "What fighting? You killed it in one strike."

  "Well yeah… I still liked it."

  "Fine. Then the rest of the wolves on this path are yours," Sherial said. "We won’t interfere."

  "Alright," I said, trying not to smile too widely. Though honestly, I really liked what she said.

  I looked further down the path.

  If everything works the same as before… next time two wolves should appear.

  And I think that will be even more fun.

  —

  We continued moving further along the path.

  More than an hour passed, but we didn’t encounter a single monster.

  Damn. I had really hoped to fight those wolves a bit more.

  "This is very suspicious," Rem said.

  "Yeah," Sherial nodded. "Even if a group of adventurers passed through here recently, the monsters should have already respawned. Especially since the first monster was in its usual place."

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  Something caught my interest.

  "Rem, how did your golems manage to go this far if there are such strong monsters here?" I asked.

  "Very simple," Rem replied calmly. "Some of them stay behind and distract the monsters. They sacrifice themselves so the others can move forward."

  She shrugged slightly.

  "Dungeon monsters in places like this usually don’t chase prey very far. So for my golems it’s fairly easy."

  We kept moving forward.

  Yeah, we just need a little patience. Soon we’ll reach the place with a huge number of wolf monsters, and I’ll be able to fight hundreds at once… maybe even thousands.

  That will be truly fun.

  I just need to wait a little.

  "It’s somewhere here," Rem said, stopping.

  Excellent!

  Excited, I immediately stepped off the path, about to enter the forest.

  "Stop! Don’t rush!" Rem said sharply.

  "Why? Wouldn’t it be better to move faster?"

  "No. I already told you something is wrong there. Besides, if the fight starts inside the forest instead of in an open area, these thickets will get in the way badly."

  She pointed at the dense bushes and intertwined branches.

  "In an environment like this we simply won’t be able to fight properly."

  Sherial nodded.

  "She’s right. In these bushes you can’t even see a couple meters ahead."

  Rem was silent for a moment, then said:

  "I’ll summon a couple hundred Rank-5 golems now. They’ll clear a path through the thickets and provide enough protection for us to safely check what’s on the other side."

  A mana potion appeared in Rem’s hand, and she immediately drank it.

  Yeah, Rank-5 golems require a huge amount of mana. I think right now she could summon around three hundred Rank-5 golems if she used all her mana. Of course, I don’t know the exact number, but it should be around that.

  And then an idea came to my mind.

  "Wait," I said.

  "What?" Rem asked.

  "I can quickly check what’s ahead."

  Rem frowned.

  "Check? Did you get a new skill?"

  "No, just… an idea."

  Rem quietly exhaled.

  "Fine. Go ahead."

  I immediately jumped upward.

  Yes, with a single jump I rose to more than twenty meters, it seemed to me. And at the moment when I reached the maximum height and had already begun to fall back down, I teleported into the Training Room.

  As expected, I appeared right on the floor in the center of the room.

  Without wasting time, I jumped again—this time from the floor toward the ceiling of the Training Room.

  Good thing the ceiling here is really high.

  Oh no, no, no…

  For a moment it seemed like I was about to crash into the ceiling.

  But I was wrong. There were still several meters left before the ceiling when my speed began to slow down.

  At that same moment I teleported outside again.

  Now I was already more than forty meters above the ground, far above the treetops.

  Damn… I really got scared that I would hit the ceiling of the Training Room.

  But everything turned out fine.

  I looked forward.

  And saw an open space.

  A large clearing.

  And on it…

  There were wolves.

  Only not brown like the one I had encountered earlier.

  These wolves were black.

  Of course, I didn’t remain in the air for long.

  I had to quickly teleport into the Training Room and back into the outside world, each time jumping again to end up high enough in the air.

  Alright… I need to look at this place more closely.

  I teleported into the Training Room, ran toward one of the walls, and began accelerating as fast as possible.

  When I reached the middle of the room, I suddenly jumped forward and at the same moment teleported outside.

  The momentum was enough to carry me a little over fifty meters forward before I began falling downward.

  I repeated this several times.

  After a while, I was already directly above the clearing where the wolf monsters were roaming.

  I looked at them carefully.

  Is it just me… or is their fur too black?

  Not just black.

  It looked as if it absorbed light, like a piece of darkness itself.

  The clearing turned out to be a bit larger than the place where we fought the Rank-3 monsters. But there were fewer monsters here—about 1,500, maybe at most 2,000.

  Still, considering the size of these wolves, that wasn’t surprising.

  Maybe I should descend and try fighting them?

  If they’re roughly the same level as the brown wolf I already killed, I should be able to handle them without much trouble.

  Some of the wolves suddenly raised their heads and looked in my direction.

  Still, it was unlikely they could do anything. I was already more than 150 meters above the ground, and with each teleport into the Training Room my height increased slightly.

  And suddenly…

  What was that?

  I saw some kind of wave of light spread from the center of the clearing. It quickly expanded in all directions and stopped at the edge of the clearing, as if crashing into the trees.

  The next moment I teleported into the Training Room and then returned outside again.

  And then I noticed something strange.

  Some of the trees and dense plants at the edge of the clearing had disappeared.

  The clearing had become slightly larger.

  Damn…

  Is this monster area expanding?

  And what was that glowing thing in the center of the clearing?

  I need to check.

  I started moving closer.

  Of course, I was still in the air. I got fairly close, but I was still too high to clearly understand what it was.

  From here the object looked like a long spear or staff stuck into the ground. Some crystals were glimmering on it.

  Hm.

  I need to go lower and get a better look.

  By that moment the glow had already disappeared.

  Besides, around that object—within a radius of about thirty to forty meters—there wasn’t a single wolf.

  Looks like I can descend there safely.

  I stopped teleporting into the Training Room and allowed gravity to pull me down.

  I began falling directly into that area.

  But suddenly, when there were about twenty meters left before the ground, an unpleasant sense of danger ran across my skin.

  Instinct.

  I instantly teleported into the Training Room.

  What was that?

  I jumped up about twenty meters again and teleported outside.

  And immediately understood everything.

  Right at the place where I should have been standing less than a second ago, there was already a black wolf.

  So it tried to attack me from behind while I was falling.

  What… can it jump higher than twenty meters?

  Fine. I’ll deal with it now.

  I teleported into the Training Room again.

  Damn… it seems I can’t teleport downward. Upward—yes, but downward doesn’t work.

  Alright.

  I’ll just have to fall down.

  I think I can handle this wolf. Even if others join in, they shouldn’t be too much of a threat.

  I appeared outside again and began falling.

  This time I landed successfully.

  The black wolf was already waiting for me.

  It stood there, growling and watching me carefully.

  In size it was almost the same as the brown wolf I had killed earlier.

  But the feeling from it was completely different.

  This wolf seemed much stronger.

  I quickly looked around.

  The other wolves were also watching me, but for some reason they didn’t move. They simply observed.

  Hm.

  I looked at the object in the center of the clearing.

  Now I was sure—it really was a spear.

  A very beautiful spear, decorated with crystals and strange patterns. Its sharp tip was deeply embedded in the ground.

  Damn…

  It looks amazing.

  I think I’ll take it for myself.

  I took a step toward the spear.

  And the wolf immediately moved toward me.

  Alright. I’ll deal with it first.

  I dashed forward.

  Using the same tactic as before, I approached, shifted slightly to the side, and tried to cut it with one quick strike.

  But…

  The wolf managed to lower its head and dodge.

  My sword only slightly grazed its muzzle and side.

  Just a small wound.

  "What the hell?!"

  The next second I felt a sharp pain.

  Three deep claw marks appeared on my left shoulder. My armor was cut, and blood began to flow.

  Damn.

  I seriously underestimated this wolf.

  It’s much stronger than I thought.

  I quickly created a healing potion and drank it.

  The bleeding stopped, but the wound had not fully healed yet.

  The wolf moved toward me again.

  I instantly teleported into the Training Room and created several more healing potions.

  After a few seconds the wound completely closed.

  I quickly moved to the side—to where, according to my calculations, the wolf was located.

  I memorized its position and prepared my sword.

  Even in the Training Room I had already started the strike, accelerating the blade.

  And at the same moment I teleported.

  When I appeared in the clearing, my sword was already moving.

  The blade appeared just a few centimeters from the wolf’s head.

  It simply didn’t have time to react.

  Besides, the wolf itself had lunged forward.

  The momentum of my strike and the momentum of its movement met.

  The blade entered the head and split it in half—roughly where the brain should have been.

  The resistance was much stronger than that of the previous wolf.

  But the force of the strike was still enough.

  The blade continued further, slicing through the head and part of the body.

  A moment later the wolf’s body scattered into particles of light, and a magic stone fell to the ground.

  [Dungeon monster defeated: Dark Wolf (Lv. 175)]

  [Received: +453,715,381 experience points]

  Level 175? What the hell? That wolf was five levels higher than me!

  And suddenly I heard a whole chorus of growls around me. The wolves surrounding me bared their fangs and growled, ready to attack from all sides at once.

  Damn… I’m in trouble.