Chapter 53: Leveling up: unsealing the ghost path (3)

The magical beasts were divided to tiers, such as tier-1, tier-2, tier-3, and so on…

In any of these tiers, there are 4 small levels, which are low, mid, high, and peak. Of course, it goes without saying that low tier-1 beast is weaker by default than mid tier-1 beast, and mid is weaker than high and high weaker than peak, and so on.

The difference in the small levels was small, at least when comparing to the deference between the tiers.

For instant, two or three low tier-1 beasts might be able to kill mid tier-1 beast, sometimes even one low tier-1 beast can achieve that. Several low tier-1 beasts might be able to kill high tier-1 beast, or even peak tier-1 beast. Of course, that's all in general.

However, when it comes to the tiers, then 10, 20, 30, or even a larger number of peak tier-1 beasts might not be able to even kill one low tier-2 beast, or even injure it for that matter.

Of course, that is the general rule. But, it could also be said that there are some variables that might bend this rule, such as, the type of the beast, the type of its innate spell, or the superiority of its bloodline. Some beasts with high order bloodline might inherit innate spells or physical advantages that might enables them to transcend this rule, and battle beasts with higher level or even tier than themselves, to a certain extent of course. All depending on the superiority of their bloodline, and the type of advantages it provides.

An example of this would be the azure gazelle king that Reem had summoned.

His bloodline advantage was obvious, as it allowed it to have a very strong four innate spells when he is merely in the first tier. However, still, his bloodline wasn't overpowered to the point that allows him to kill beasts of higher tiers. But considering that his bloodline allowed him to fight few flying beasts on the same level as him which was a peak tier-1 beast, on the same time, and still hold his own… his bloodline could be said to be a very powerful one.

That was the reason why the azure gazelle king was able to secure an entire side of the formation and even kill many beasts as strong as him.

Anyway, moving to the magicians' artifact advancement subject…

When a magician wants to advance his artifacts level, then, the usual way would be getting a core from a magical beast with a counterpart level to his own, or on a level that is not very far off his own level. Of course, magical core from beast with one level higher than the magician's level would help the magician to advance his artifact by absorbing only one core, while 5 or so magical cores from beast on the same level as the magician's are required advancing the artifact. As for cores from beasts that are lower than the level of the magician, then large number of them is needed for the magician to advance his artifact.

For example, Ramie's level now was Rank-1 magician with Lv.2 artifact, which meant that the counterpart magical beast level to him would be mid tier-1 beast. So, if he wanted to advance his artifact from Lv.2 to Lv.3 artifact, then he would need one magical core from high tier-1 beast, or 5 cores from mid tier-1 beast. As for the reason for such exponential increase in the cores numbers, it was related to the purity of the core. The higher the level of the magical beast, the purer the core and the more magic energy the artifact can absorb from them without a waste.

This particularity was the reason why Ramie was so happy right now!

In his hand, now, rested 1 core from high tier-1 beast, and 4 cores from low tier-1 beasts. The high tier-1 core came from the last beast he killed.

Finally, he was going to advance his artifact and unlock another spell!

But it wasn't only that, as with advancement, his magic energy pool would increase by yet another 20 magic unit, which will bring up his total magic points to 49!

It takes 5 magic energy points to cast his green vine spell one time to project one vine, and 10 points to use it twice to bring out two vines. Before, this would have left him with 19 magic energy points to spend on the vines, which although seemed a lot, but considering that to merely maintain the existence of the vines, magic energy had to be spent, not to mention moving the vines, exerting strength with them, and increasing their length, all of that requires an intense use of magic energy that would eat up the 19 points in a very short time.

Anyhow, the additional 20 point was something he was in dire need of, to increase his survival chances. This advancement was sure to raise his battle power by a significant notch.

Putting away the magical cores, Ramie turned around, and started scanning the battle around.

Tenths of flying beasts corpses were littered everywhere. Small patches of fire were lighted in many scattered spots across the area, which came from the fuel of the Molotov bottles.

Blood and body parts of both the beasts and the fighters filled the ground, causing a thick stench of blood to permeate the air. The atmosphere was quite sickening.

The faces around were as pale and as aghast as zombie's expressions, with not an iota of liveliness in them. The surviving fihgters were simply either looking around in daze or wandering lifelessly, with empty, dull eyes, as if they had just got their souls sucked away from them.

For a good while, a deadly and desolate silence permeated the area.

The aura of death, despair, and bleakness was so concentrated that it was almost tangible. The atmosphere around was so heavy, so depressing that even without the blood and corpses in the ground, one could easily see that this place was a site of disaster.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! My brother!!!!!"

One blood curdling cry of utmost pain and bitterness sounded out. Afterward, and as if opening a gate, several other cries equally painful and bitter, sounded out here and there.

It wasn't weird, considering that this compound was small society of families, where everyone knew everyone else.

However, this wasn't the worst part here.

But the worst part was that across the battlefield not even one human corpse could be seen, but only remnants, such as a hand, half arm, half a leg, or other smaller pieces. Every single corpse was taken by the beasts away.

The joy in Ramie's heart vanished into smoke. And a strong sense of gloom washed over his heart, bringing him back to the dark reality around.

The compound's residents did not win, but suffered a tragic lose by all standards. The beasts did not retreat because they were defeated, but fled because they had already gotten what they came for.

This tragedy proved that his group's decision to leave this compound and head for the capital instead of settling here was indeed the correct one. As even though there were over 20 warrior and magician here, with even a level 2 warrior among them, but in the end, they still almost got annihilated in a single attack.

Casting a look at a certain direction, the compound leader was standing alone outside the bloody area, turning his back to the battle site. He didn't even go check on his wounded son after the beasts retreated. He didn't even dare to turn and look around.

It was obvious that he was feeling guilty at abandoning everyone at a critical juncture, thus allowing the tier-2 beast to inflict such disastrous losses on them.

After the tier-2 beast started running havoc among them, the other beasts took advantage of the situation and started harvesting lives at a horrifying rate, killing a lot of people in a very short instant.

This was obviously the result of the compound leader's decision.

Although, his last outburst of strength was unquestionably the reason why the beasts fled away, thus saving everyone here, but…

Over 60% of the losses were inflicted in the last bit of the battle, as a direct result of him abandoning his position.

Among the 18 warriors, 11 met their demise. 3 magicians from the five died, as well as 50 other survivors from the 80!

The death toll was indeed disastrous, and that is not counting the wounded numbers. This outcome would inevitably cause a sharp decline in the total defensive force of the compound, making the upcoming days especially dangerous for them.

If the compound was to suffer any other attack on such scale again, then it was highly likely that they might not survive it at all. Because, if the other warriors and magicians died, then, the compound leader alone would definitely be unable to confront a horde alone, not unless he is much stronger than the strongest beast in the horde, Which is a very hard thing to achieve, considering that the only life energy cores that can allow him to increase his strength are from tier-2 beasts.

So, to increase his life energy ignition percent, he'd have to specifically find a low tier-2 beast, and kill it.

However… this was very hard thing to do, considering that the leader's life energy ignition percent was merely 2%, making him comparable to a very weak low tier-2 beast. After all, for lv.2 warrior to be comparable to a low tier-2 beast, he'd have to have an ignition percent between 1% and 25%, and it goes without saying that lv.2 warrior with 25% percent is stronger than a warrior with 2%.

As such, not only does he have to find low tier-2 beast, but the beast should have to be very week one among his peers. More accurately, the compound leader had to find a beast that had only recently advanced to the second tier.

Even though the compound leader had just forced a mid tier-2 beast into retreating, it was more of a team effort than his sole power. As the warriors, the magicians, and the other people in his team prevented the beast from solely focusing on him, and forcing the beast to be on constant guard against their attacks, spells, and their Molotov bottles, thus preventing the beast from exerting his full power and soloing the team leader. Otherwise, this battle would have ended with a very different outcome.

Besides, it wasn't as if beasts come at demand.

Even if the leader gathered a team and wandered outside the compound to look for newly advanced low tier-2 beats, there was no guarantee whatsoever that they won't come across a large horde of beasts or one strong beast above the second tier, and face annihilation without a chance of retaliation.

Also, if they were to leave, to look for beasts, then, who would stay to protect the families in the compound?

These people's situation was depressing for all corners…

Anyway, for the mean time, the only way for them to get cores was from the beasts that attacks the compound. After all, there was no shortage on such beasts, not to mention that they had reached these levels of theirs in the first place due to this strategy.

As Ramie was sighing at the miserable situation of the compound residents, Lance and Neil walked over, and asked in a concerned tone:"The feathers…? Are you ok?"

Turning to look at them, Ramie nodded, before saying:"Yea, don't worry about me. It's nothing!"

Right now, there were three feathers sticking out of his shoulder, arm, and femur, respectively. All on the right side of his body.

However, Ramie didn't feel the slightest pain at all… he was feeling only a bit of discomfort at the three sites.

'It seems that I have really lost the sense of pain…?'

Thinking about this particularity, ramie remembered that when he fought the demonic brothers back at the borders, he did not sense any pain at all at the time, even though that he received a direct hit to the chest, and got his left arm blown off.

Ramie simply grabbed the feather at his arm and pulled it out. However, Instead of the red blood, small amounts of yellow greenish blood flowed out for a moment before stopping. Just like that, the injury was sealed, and the healing process started at an abnormal rate.

The strange color of his blood did not surprise him at all. He had seen it back when his left arm was blown off.

The two other feathers were pulled out afterward.

Casting a brief gaze at where Reem and her friend were, it was obvious that they were both fine, physically wise at least. As their faces showed signs of traumatic fear. The two girls were still in shock at the bloody scene around.

The azure gazelle king powerful aura made it so that only few peak tier-1 beasts attacked Reem's team, making them the least attacked team in the entire formation, as all of the other beasts below the peak level didn't dare to even come close to their direction. As for the few peak level beasts that had attacked, the gazelle beast simply bombarded them with his innate lighting attacks, killing many of them before they could even attack.

The only casualties that Reem's team had suffered came in the last moments of the battle, when the compound leader abandoned his position, which encouraged other beasts to launch a frenzied attack on her team, leading to their casualties. Otherwise, her team wouldn't have lost anyone at all.

It wasn't only Reem's team, but the frightening aura of her beast lessened the pressure on the other two nearby teams, which included the team of Lance and Neil.

…

"Should we leave the compound before the gazelle advances his tier… before the compound gets attacked again?"

Neil voiced his concern in a shaky tone from the side.

It was obvious at this point that the compound chances of surviving another attack on such magnitude didn't look promising at all. So, Neil couldn't help to voice his thoughts. After all, this was not their home, and there were staying here only under the premise that it was the safer choice for them. But now that this place was attacked in such away, this made it obvious that staying here might not be necessarily the wisest choice any more. Hence, Neil voiced his doubts.

"Not necessarily true! Together, we aren't weak, indeed. But, look around… there were a lot of warriors and magicians here as well as tenths of people who aided in the fight, yet… we almost got completely annihilated! Now, can you imagine what would have happened had this flock caught us alone in the way to the capital…?" Ramie answered in a firm tone.

Hearing this, Neil's facial muscles twitched as he imagined such frightening scenario.

Ramie then continued, answering himself:"We would turn into food no matter how hard we fight. Unfortunately, this is the fact now; group strength is a very good thing, but there outside, the only thing that could really make difference, is the individual strength! Without first having a second level powerhouse with us, it would be very unwise to leave the compound before then. Otherwise…"

The three felt very gloomy at such situation.

Staying here was dangerous, but… so was leaving.

"This doesn't need a lot of thinking. Remember, the summoned beast's advancement could be triggered at any moment. Hence, we should wait until he advances, to discuss this matter. Also, by staying here, we'd be under the protection of a level.2 warrior! Not to mention other warriors and magicians." Lance said. Then, he went silent for a moment before adding:"If the worse came to the worst, we can always have Reem convince her beast to carry us and escape."

Ramie sighed in his heart, before saying: "The compound residents suffered a massive damage in this fight… however; they did kill a lot of beasts! So, their gain of cores is rather abundant. Anyway, I'll go get my share of the cores. You should do the same as well. We should quickly raise our levels."

Saying so, Ramie turned and moved toward the two warriors in his team. They were extracting the cores from the beasts the team members killed.

…