Chapter 287

Defense Specialization and the Explosion

“Phew . What should I do… I promised Maple that I would get in the top with everyone else…”

Izu wondered what to do . While she could deal damage by using powerful bombs, it required some preparation, so it would be very back-breaking to kill enough monsters to enter the top .

“First, I have to prepare . Alright, this should be a good place . I just have to send everyone a message…”

Unlike Yui and Mai, she decided to hunt monsters in the jungle, which was much deeper than the forest . Here, there were not only a lot of monsters, but players who came to hunt them . And so Izu prepared to attack while also remaining hidden . As she had warned the other guild members to stay away, she could go all out without having to worry .

Izu called out Fay, and then took out the bombs from her inventory . Fay was now flying around with wings made of leaves that matched the forest .

“Fay, ‘Rage of the Forest, ‘Item Strengthen, ‘Spirit Mischief,’ ‘Recycle’!”

Izu gave the orders, and then Fay floated towards the bombs and covered them with a green aura . After a while, it was absorbed by the bombs, and they started to change shape . She looked at the bombs with a satisfied expression . She already had improved on their power, but now they were even stronger . And through ‘Spirit Mischief,’ only she and the party members would be able to see where they were placed . Now she just needed to wait for them to be detonated .

“It becomes so thorny… I’ll put it here . ”

The bomb looked like a chestnut in its burr . She put them in bushes and in the hollows of trees so that they wouldn’t be triggered too quickly .

“And now…this . ”

Izu took out a blue crystal from her pouch and crushed it . And then water started to flow out, and Fay turned into something that looked like liquid .

“Alright, here goes . Fay, ‘String Water’!”

Next she had Fay fly around and cover the jungle in thin strings of water that you would only notice if you were very careful . Little by little, the jungle was filled with Izu’s skills and items .

Fay’s appearance changed every time that Izu crushed a crystal, and various effects were applied to the items .

Ice, thunder, earth, fire . And as they were all transparent, the jungle still looked the same .

“Phew… Good, that should do . Thank you, Fay . ”

Izu used a rope to escape into a tree and used the same rope to secure herself to it . Then she checked the water strings that Fay had made .

“Good . And there’s no one in the area… Let’s go…! Fay! ‘Protection of the Fairy’!”

Fay’s skill resulted in greatly reducing damage from items . Izu was extra careful to cover her body in the skill’s effect . And then she crushed a yellow crystal near the water strings .

An electric current shot through the strings and spread throughout the jungle in a flash .

Izu closed her eyes and covered her ears . Then the entire jungle was filled with a bright flash as explosive flames spread everywhere .

“…!”

The electric current that traveled through the water string detonated the bombs, causing ice blades, poison, fire, thunder, wind, and light effects to fly throughout the jungle . This caused massive amounts of damage and status effects .

Furthermore, Izu’s bombs were no longer finished after exploding . Due to ‘Recycle,’ there was a 50% chance that the items would return to being ‘unused . ’

Explosions would erupt where there was nothing, and there was nowhere to escape in the jungle .

After the sounds of the explosions had died down completely, Izu looked down at the ground and saw that it was covered in so many things representing various attributes, that it was hard to believe this place had been a jungle earlier .

“…Uh, did I go too far? Bu-but this is to get into the top!”

As she still had more time, Izu set off for her next destination in order to set up the bombs .

“What!? …Was that for real…?”

Chrome was stunned as he looked at the far away jungle . This was because he understood what the reason for the sudden explosion was .

“Is that Fay’s power…? How scary…”

Just as he tried to imagine what the number of player and monster deaths were, he received a message from Izu .

“It’s about the next bomb . I’ll have to stay far away from it… There were multiple explosions, and I wouldn’t survive if I accidentally got caught in it . ”

Chrome was wearing Necro, which was a monster that was usually in the shape of a set of armor . The good thing about Necro, was that when Chrome equipped it, some of Necro’s stats would be applied to him .

While it wasn’t anything flashy, it raised Chrome’s chances of survival .

Chrome had fought with quite a few players and monsters at this point, but as it was difficult to get his HP down during a one on one battle, he continued to win .

Just then, a tree monster known as a treant, appeared in front of Chrome . However, unlike the many that Chrome had already killed, this one was huge .

“Oh! A big one, huh? If I’m not wrong, this one gives you a buff that lets you know the location of other monsters . ”

As Chrome’s mobility had not been raised much by his tamed monster, knowing the location of monsters was important .

“Alright . Let’s go, Necro! ‘Strong Armor’!”

As Chrome shouted, Necro’s shape started to change . The armor became harder and more durable . And his great shield became bigger and stronger .

On the other hand, travel speed and attack power would drop a little, but he had acquired incredible defense power .

Necro’s features involved being able to use different skills depending on its shape . And it’s abilities changed as well .

“We’ll take it slow…until you show an opening!”

Chrome blocked the attack with his great shield and cut back . The treant’s attacks were simple, and it could not break Chrome’s enhanced guard .

“Necro! ‘Impact Reflect’!”

He had Necro use a skill on top of it, which meant he could now deal damage when blocking an enemy’s attack . The more the treant attacked, the more unfavorable its situation would become .

“‘Shield Attack’ on! Necro, ‘Attack Armor’!”

After seeing the treant lose its balance, he ordered Necro to transform again .

And then, Chrome’s billhook elongated to the size of a longsword, and blue flames erupted from the armor .

“Necro, ‘Absorb Lifeforce’!”

And so he gained a new recovery skill through Necro . If Necro was in this form, then he would have two layers of healing effects when attacking with a short sword .

So as long as he stayed on the offensive, his HP would not go down .

“Good . Now to finish you off!”

He swung his longsword and cut deep into the treant and killed it . Then he opened his map to make sure that he had acquired the buff that showed him the location of the other monsters .

“Yes . Now I can see the monsters on here . Uh… It looks like Maple is quite busy . There must be some reason that she’s staying in the same place the whole time… I wonder what it is…”

Chrome had no idea what was happening with her . However, there were things in this world that were best left to the imagination .

“Okay . This is our chance to rack up points, Necro . I’m counting on you . I can’t do enough damage alone . ‘Provoke’!”

Several monsters reacted to Chrome and jumped on him . Treants that were smaller than the last one stretched out their arms towards him . There was a butterfly monster that spread its status affecting scales everywhere, and there were groups of goblins that ambushed him from the bushes .

“Necro! ‘Ghost Charge’!”

Chrome ordered, and blue flames started to cover the longsword . As the flames grew larger, Chrome held up his greatshield and blocked the attacks .

And then, as if it could bear it no longer, a huge burst of fire erupted from the blade .

“Necre! ‘Burst Flame’!”

The longer you waited, the more powerful the attack . The pale flames burned everything that was in front of him, dealing great damage to the monsters . Furthermore, ‘Blaze’ continued to deal damage, giving Chrome a huge advantage all at once . One by one, the rest of the enemies had the last of their HP taken away .

“Phew . What a relief . It’s a lot easier to deal with being surrounded now . ”

He felt how much easier it was to go solo with Necro around . It was something he had thought during the time he had borrowed Syrup as well . A tamed monster made a big difference .

“I have to work hard in order to get in the top . Judging by what I saw, Izu seems to be doing very well . I can’t fall behind . ”

Chrome praised his armor by knocking on it, just like how Maple and the others petted their monsters . And then he rushed towards the next group of monsters he could see on the map .