novelkee Chapter 172: Pugalo
Chapter 172: Pugalo
Zyrus normally didn’t share too much in order to train his troops. But now that they were punching above their league, it was time for him to step up.
“The leafhoppers are different from the ones you know. What we’ll face upon arrival would be hordes of these bullet-like insects. And when I say 'bullet', I mean it. Hundreds of thousands of them could pierce through a normal lv 30 players with ease.”
Everyone was speechless. Just how frightening was that? Even if they didn’t die due to their armor and high defense, just the impact would wreck their insides.
“Troublesome indeed. What are the other two?” Ria asked with a slight frown. She was confident in her clairvoyance, but such aoe attacks were her hard counter.
“The second are the scarecrows. There are ten of them scattered throughout this island which has an area of 36 square miles. Almost 90% of this is water layers, and within that 10% you’d fight these 10 boss monsters.”
Such a placement was geographically illogical. A farm without crops with an ocean passing through it–such a thing was only possible in the sanctuary.
“You’re going to fight the field boss on your own?”
“Nope. You’ll know why when we get there,” Zyrus waved at the leaders and exited the cabin. He divulged the leafhoppers' information because it would take thousands of lives if the players were unprepared. There was no need to go through such needless loss.
There was a difference between training and suicide; only those like Kyle and Jacob had sufficient strength to treat the fight against the boss monster as a form of training.
Days passed by as the whole army sailed towards the last island. The dragon of war was the vanguard while the Tiamat was at the rear. Phorcys and Sedna led the remaining 6 galleons which were slightly smaller than the previous four.
From afar, it looked like a black leaf was floating on the vast ocean. And on the dawn of the 83rd day since Zyrus’s return, the leaf arrived at the distant shore.
“Beautiful!”
“Yeah. But the better it looks, the more fucked up it’ll be,” Shi kun shook his head which was shining under the crimson sunlight.
The entire ocean was lit up by the sun which rose behind them. In front of them was a scene that defied the logic of nature, and yet, it was more harmonious than any place they’d seen.
“Remember, don’t stray away from your main galleon.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Hundreds of captains answered Zyrus’s call.
“Disperse,” Zyrus waved his hand and activated the mana circuits to raise the speed. There were numerous ‘channels’ with land on both sides. Each channel was wide and deep enough for 100 ships to pass through. As for the land, even the grass that grew on them was 20 feet tall.
The sharp and green blades swayed and welcomed the players. At the same time, large swaths of leafhoppers flew in their direction.
[Caution! You have arrived at the last island of the second zone]
[Caution! Field boss “Pugalo” has detected your presence!]
[Commencing field raid…]
***
Zyrus took the dragon of war to sail straight to the core of the scarecrow island. The rest followed his arrangement and spread out to encircle the whole field. Although the radius of more than a dozen kilometers was huge, they had 1000 ships after all.
And all of them were inlaid with various magic formations, not to mention the first batch which was forged with the essence of Nuckelavee. Their speed and sturdiness were enough to sustain the journey.
*Bang*Bang*Bang*
The frost cannons rained down on the grassy fields and froze the slithering worms. At the same time, the torpedoes fried off the bugs that were swimming towards the longboats.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
*Shiiu*Shiiu*Shiiu*
But the main attacking force was still the ballistas. They were pitiful in numbers against the flying hordes of insects, but each arrow took more than a hundred lives before slowing down.
‘This is the true power of humanity.’
Zyrus observed everything from the sky, his soul threads searching across the entire region. Only he, Franken, and 400 Aydahar Cavaler were on the ship. None of them had to lift a finger to withstand the first wave of the attack.
Magic formations, the ships’ ability to devour blood and recover, and the numerous weapons lessened their losses to the bare minimum. Even before his regression, he knew that regardless of his or other elites’ strength, there was no way they could protect the millions of weak humans.
Talent in the technological field, passing down generations of knowledge, and last but not the least, their large numbers. These were the cornerstones for the survival of many humanoid races.
*Kiiikikiki*
*Kihihihi*
‘And that’s the weakness of races like that…’
Zyrus looked down at the ten sources of eerie cackling. The sanctuary was after all a fair place. None of the races had an absolute advantage over any map.
At the same time he was observing the island on Franken’s back, the players received a new text.
[Pugalo has awakened its subordinates]
[Defeat the 10-boss level scarecrow to progress in the field raid!]
[Caution! The island territory had been placed under lockdown. No one can enter or exit so long as the raid is active]
“Let’s get closer to them.”
“Helping them already?” Franken asked while slamming his hooves on the clouds. The fluffy clouds behaved like a springboard and sent the duo hurling towards the other side.
“Not at all. I just want to see how they'll deal with it.”
Below, they could see the players preparing for the boss monsters. 10 thirty-meter-tall scarecrows were taking shape in the directions he had mentioned.
Zyrus had told them about the spawn points in order to save time. However, there was a crucial detail that he left out.
*Bang*Shiiiu*Bang*
Volleys of white cannonballs and dark arrows were fired at the emerging boss monsters. And then, nothing happened.
“What…!”
“How can that be?”
Everyone was flustered for a moment. None of their attacks even scratched the yellow-brown straws of the scarecrow.
“Hehehe…look at those punks. They’ll finally realize what it means by ‘Weapons of War.’”
“Mhm. Sure brings back bad memories,” Zyrus smirked alongside Franken as he looked at the players. There were big differences between each ring of the sanctuary.
From the first ring, they acquired the basic system. From the second, they got classes and detailed status windows. Similarly, the third ring would give other functions related to large-scale wars.
Just think about it; there were thousands to even a million players fighting in a war. With the current system, just how many damage numbers would there be? The players would barely see what’s in front of them, much less fight.
The whole idea behind the damage numbers and weak points was to train the regular players about how to fight. From the third ring, they’d get the option to switch between bars and numbers for Hp, MP, stamina, etc.
The neat thing was, the players could group things to get the general bars. For example, one could see the army’s health and energy bar, a castle’s hp, a cannon’s hp and mp levels…etc. At the same time, they’d also learn what could and couldn't be targeted by the weapons of war.
*Kihihihi*
“Tch… they wasted all that time and now it’s done transforming.” Franken shook his head as he observed the battle below.
“Well, they’re newbies at the end of the day. This should make them realize the issue.”
And indeed, Zyrus was correct. Ria and the other leaders quickly realized their mistakes and anchored their ships near the farms. All of this happened in less than a minute, but it had huge implications.
1 minute- 60 seconds. It was enough time to surround the emerging boss monsters. Now, not only did the players have to fight the emerged boss, they had to deal with the bugs that spawned on the farm as well.
“Shouldn’t you say something?”
“Nope. The scarecrows aren't that strong, just annoying. We’ll at most lose a couple thousand.”
Zyrus was prepared to suffer some losses to train his army. Losing thousands of players was common in war. Anything less than that should be called a one-sided massacre and not a war.
[Prairie Fire]
[Trickster Turtle]
Jacob and Shi kun started the counterattack on their farms. Flames rose sky high while the attacks of the scarecrows were blocked by emerald shields.
[Creed of Sacrifice]
[Weight of The Heart]
Strongfist brandished his gauntlets while Kyle activated his mask. Lauren, Druv…everyone used their items and self-created skills to start off the battle.
They weren’t like Zyrus who had a unique class. Even against monsters who had an upgrade at lv 40, the Balaur summoner was just as strong. The players had it much harder as many of their skills were restricted against the boss monster.
*Kikikiki*
“Don’t engage with the boss monsters unless you’re in the elite squad. Clear the field first and wait for further orders,” Ria’s command organized the players on all battlefields.
The scarecrows waved their gigantic limbs and wreaked havoc. The hands made from dried grass didn’t have any weight to them; but the moment a player was touched their entire body would be shredded apart like paper.
Only Shi kun, Druv, Kyle, and Strongfist dared to attack the field boss head-on. Lauren and Jacob used their long-range attacks while Ria fought with her elite team and clairvoyance.
“Let's go and finish the remaining ones!” Franken couldn’t float still after being affected by the morale. Zyrus on the other hand had different plans.
“Watch a while longer. After that, you deal with one, the knights will deal with one, and leave the last for anyone who has the guts to try it.”
“Got it.”
The results thus far were good considering they were attacking a higher-level area. Nonetheless, the true fight had just begun.
‘Let me see how far you’ve grown.’