Chapter 8 - Attacking the beast nest
In the middle of a small patches of vegetation.
Alex woke up with a leisure and looked around him only to be shocked by the patches of greenery around him.
"The growth rate of these plants is just too shocking. Is it because of the skill or the beast corpses?"
"It's probably the beast corpse."
"Status"
[Name: Alex]
[Profession: Abyssal Druid (S)]
[Level: 3]
[Exp: 5684/25000]
[Vitality: 72.87]
[Strength: 59.17]
[Agility: 80.02]
[Mana: 70.19]
[Stamina: 107.23]
[+15 stat points(+5 per level)]
[Skills: Corrupted Whisper Level 3 (789/2500) {Stem of Corruption (1) (1349/10000)}]
"..."
"F*ck! 107 for stamina?!"
"Hehe doesn't that mean I can have more rounds at night..."
ROAR!!
The beautiful image that he had just created was destroyed by the beast roar.
Can't I have a personal fantasy for a moment!
RUMBLE!!
A strong vibration came from the ground underneath. The beast tide that had just announced didn't even know when, but their bodies were impaled by ink black wooden spears that had emerged from the ground in an instant.
[Skill used on a rank 3 abyssal beast]
[Skill used on a rank 3 abyssal beast]
[Skill used on a rank 3 abyssal beast]
[Skill used on a rank 3 abyssal beast]
....
[Received 0.12 vitality....]
[Received 0.17 mana....]
[Received 0.13 strength....]
[Received 0.10 strength....]
....
"Hm... so the root of corruption is the stem of corruption after its evolution."
"Those barks are as hard as steel, and they are steel being reinforced after devouring. Someone benefitted from being a foodie."
"I'll keep these stat points for future use."
"The skill effects have increased thanks to the increase of beast rank. There's also the shadow damage that has increased, and now it can be seen from the naked eye if looked closely."
"What heaven defying effect will level 5 bring, I can't wait to see it."
PLOP!
The flower bud began to circle around Alex after eating its share.
Since the last night, they both were grinding the beast tides that were headed towards them. They had already arrived at the position of beast nest.
They were just a few kilometres away from it, but Alex didn't have any problem scouting it with his stem of corruption. Furthermore, they had settled at this place for the night to rest.
"This nest is not even a complete nest. According to the military knowledge, this is just a pseudo nest."
"Rank 1 beasts give 10 Exp, Rank 2 beasts give 30 Exp, Rank 3 beasts give 50 Exp. Because of the 70:30 ratio, I receive 7 Exp, 21 Exp and 35 Exp respectively."
"Doggy (Stem of Corruption) can take on dozens of rank 3, but any more than that, and it will have a hard time."
"There are ways to complete this damn assessment."
"One, I can let doggy go attack the beasts freely and focus solely on its development."
"Two, I can also accompany it during the fights, but my mana is finite, and we have to rest from time to time which will slow down its growth by more than 50%. This way, we both will become stronger."
"But...that would put both of us in a limelight. My mana talent makes me at least twice more than what a normal mage can perform on battlefield."
"The possibility of killing an awakened beast is high because of doggy, but if I can steal its stats...."
"Hm... let's go and steal some stats."
The ground shook with tremors and Alex was soon covered enclosed by a black wood cocoon. There were some small gaps left in this cocoon for Alex to breath and monitor the field.
RUMBLE!!
Doggy began to rush with its full speed, which attracted the attention of beasts.
HOWL!!
The beasts rushed outside their nests, baring their teeth on doggy with vigilance. These were just a bunch of rank 1 cannon fodders.
As soon as they had come in the range of 50 metres from their position--
BOOM!!
Numerous roots rushed out of the ground and impaling them without mercy.
[+7 Exp]
[+7 Exp]
[+7 Exp]
[+7 Exp]
The dead corpses were transported to the back of cocoon, where Alex barraged them with his skill increasing proficiency. As soon as the skills were cast, their bodies began to shrink in the blink of an eye.
[+7 Exp]
[+7 Exp]
[+7 Exp]
[+7 Exp]
[Skill used on rank 1 beast]
[Skill used on rank 1 beast]
[Skill used on rank 1 beast]
[Skill used on rank 1 beast]
[Received 0.06 stamina]
[Received 0.09 mana]
[Received 0.07 agility]
Both of them turned into a lawn mower that massacred the beasts from the front and left the corpses behind. The tide of dozens of beasts turned gradually into a hundred beasts, which slowly turned into a thousand strong beast tide.
Even with the help of doggy's protection, there were several times when the beasts had tried to attack Alex with their sharp long tails.
Nearly an hour had passed, and they had not been able to move an inch forward due to the strong numbers of beasts.
Killing one would give the chance for other two to take its place.
As soon as his mana was going to deplete, he would order doggy to stop attacking and harden the thickness of his cocoon, but the beast tide didn't stop attacking it, causing the hard barks to be left with scratches and eventually losing some thin layers.
Within half an hour, Alex would start attacking again.
[Skill used on rank 2.]
[Skill used on rank 3.]
[Skill used on rank 2.]
[Received 0.12 mana]
[Received 0.19 strength]
[Received 0.22 mana]
Time passed slowly, and the sky had already turned dark.
Both Alex and doggy were busy with the endless farming of these beasts. They had already killed a few thousand, yet the counterattack from the opposing side had not faltered at all.
The rank 1 beasts were almost nowhere to be seen, rank 2 beasts replaced them and there were also the rank 3 ones attacking sneakily.
"Fall back for now." Alex fell on branched inside cocoon.