Bellarios: A rank 3 monster that had the perfect magical defenses to compensate for my only weakness.
The basic statistics he had were the following:
[Mana resistance: +200]
Mana resistance to a level that could not be found in any other monster, and...
[General sensitivity to attributes: +30]
Water, fire, air, earth, etc.: Regardless of the skill attribute he used, this increase in sensitivity would increase his effectiveness.
And that was it.
Those two statistics were the only ones Bellarios had. Honestly, if I had anything else, I would question the developer's ability to design a balanced game.
Damn.
It wasn't the first time I thought about it, but I wondered again what it would be like if that second statistic was Resistance instead of Sensitivity. That being said, Sensitivity was worth a lot and was a very important stat in this game, but only if he built a Fire Barbarian or an Earth Barbarian. It wouldn't do me much good as a shield barbarian.
The only ability it applies to right now is Storm.
Eye of the Storm was classified as a wind attribute ability, and Origin was water. These two were affected by the user's Attribute Sensitivity, and would be more effective now that I had some in my name. But since they were skills I was going to erase later anyway, this increase wouldn't end up making much of a difference to me.
...The important thing is Bellarios' skills.
Although it was a shame that I didn't gain stamina for both stats, I realized that I couldn't complain when I remembered the skill I did gain. After all, statistics can complement each other.
(P) Circulation Loop: Every time a rank 3 or higher monster dies within a certain radius, your stats have a certain chance to increase).
And I had gotten a passive that happened to increase my stats.
In some ways, this ability was similar to Manticore Inheritance, which allowed the user to increase their stats by consuming mana stones, but the key difference was this: The Circulation Loop had no limit. Well, since the probability of it triggering plummeted as my stats increased, my functional limit was around 400 stat points, but still...
(A) Greed Scales: When activated, you gain additional Mana Resistance relative to your base Mana Resistance.
In the end, however, the active was the core of this essence.
I got +35 from Deep Sea Giant, +20 from Bayon, +80 from Ogre, +200 from Bellarios, +40 from Erase Inheritance, and then another +8 from going around eating those potions around that Rift... So there are 383 in total.
But that's not all. When you added an additional 30% of the Earth Dragon Blessing to those 383...
A large total of 497.9.
Unfortunately, that number was just under five hundred.
However, there was a reason why gigantization was my main skill. Earth Dragon Blessing wasn't even part of my original Barbarian Shield team.
[You have launched gigantization. Your Threat Level and Physical Attributes increase in proportion to your increase in size].
Even without using Transcendent Gigantization or increasing my stats with Wild Blast, my Mana Resistance would exceed five hundred from this alone.
[You have cast Scales of Greed].
Activating my newly acquired ability, blue scales appeared on the thick skin I shared with my fellow barbarians.
«Oh! Bjorn is turning into a Lizardman!»
Eh, don't insult me asian.
I looked at my transformed body with a smile.
[Your Mana Resistance is greater than 500. All magic damage taken will be reduced by 50%. All Physical Resistance stats will increase in proportion to the amount of magic damage absorbed].
He had finally obtained the Barbarian Dragon Mode.
Unfortunately, I barely had a moment to take the essence, use its ability, and admire my new state before...
«I really congratulate you on your achievement, Your Honor. However, I wish to continue with the mission at hand».
With those words from Jerome, which destroyed my mood, I returned to the hunting ground, huffing to myself. Everyone knew he was obsessed with the mission. It was a little annoying, but considering how good he was at his job, I decided to let it go.
[Has matado a un Bantao.]
[You have killed an elderly Wyvern.]
[Has matado a un Fleetwonder...]
After all, the more rank three monsters we defeated, the more we would gain.
¡Shaaaa!
As we carried about seven monsters, a halo appeared above my head and attracted the bright light of our most recent death before disappearing. It was an effect that marked the activation of the Circulation Loop.
[Your Mana Resistance has increased by +1 permanently.]
[Your natural Regeneration has increased by +1 permanently.]
I had already seen this ability activate for Auyen several times, so I wasn't too surprised, but since I couldn't see the system messages, I couldn't tell what stats I was getting. We would have to make regular visits to the Magic Tower to check our statistics and find out which ones went up.
In any case, he could tell that physical statistics were the most likely suspects.
That one could have been right within range. Let's get a little closer.
Circulation loop had some activation conditions. When you were less than a meter away from the defeated monster, the augmented stat had a high probability of being a physical stat, and if you were less than five meters away, however, it was completely random. If you were more than ten meters away, research suggested that the statistic was more likely related to your abilities.
Oh, of course, all this research was done by me firsthand.
«Stop! Squad Three and Temporary Squad Four will now switch places with Squad One and Squad Two!»
Shortly after, the commander gave another order to the group. Smiles of relief danced on the faces of the gentlemen who had been working with me at the front, but I was an exception.
Ah... I just want to stay here and continue increasing my stats.
When would I have the chance to mass kill so many rank three or higher monsters again? I wanted to get all the statistics I could while working with this expedition group.
However, Commander Jerome silenced me. «You may not know this because you have no experience leading an army, but rules are rules, Your Honor. You have to follow them».
Yes, I assumed that if exceptions were made, more people would come to challenge his authority. Feeling that there was no point in trying to convince him, I turned around and listened to my disappointed heart.
¡Bum! ¡Bum! ¡Crujido!
As I left the stone door behind and approached the shelves, I had a bird's eye view of the battle unfolding below.
¡Vwoong!
The knights brandished auras of all the colors of the rainbow.
¡Shaaa!
The priests' healings lit up the battlefield, allowing the knights to fight without worrying about any injuries they might suffer.
«¡Ihilart Bendai Tian!»
Dozens of wizards used group spells in feats of overwhelming firepower.
In reality, they were the reason why he had used fountain pen at the beginning to get Bellarios essence even though he planned not to use it for as long as possible. It was to prepare me for the worst case scenario.
There are too many magicians here.
If they ended up becoming my enemies, I would have been screwed in my previous state.
But now... at least I can defend myself a little.
I sighed. In that sense, I really needed to give Amelia her next scent as well, but it was too wasteful to use the last remaining load of the fountain pen on that. Maybe I would be lucky if I waited long enough.
«Sir, what are you thinking so much about?»
«Why are you always so curious about what I'm thinking?»
«Ahaha... am I? Why am I...?»
«It's nothing...» I returned to my task of removing books from the shelves, still lost in thought.
Finally, it was time to change, and more or less when we would have needed to change again, the day came to an end.
We repeated this routine a few more times until, before I knew it, it was four in the afternoon on our 114th day in the maze, there were only about eight hours left before the rainy season began.
«...Commander, we have reached the last shelf.»
The library would soon be completely clear.
Honestly, even I was a little surprised. I never imagined that it would be possible to reach the last stage of the library in just one week. The last time we came, our group had to stop at rank three and two monsters, and even that took us a month. Their speed was totally different from ours.
However, he had some excuses. The objective of his group was not to hunt, but to clear the land. Unlike us, who hunted as many rank three monsters as we could, these guys only took out one book from each row so they could continue climbing the shelves.
«You can all rest until new orders are given!»
The palace army, which had spent the last week summoning and fighting monsters late into the night, finally had a moment to rest as the mission was put on pause.
That, of course, was not the case for the leaders.
«Then we will begin our meeting».
While everyone else was lying down and resting to regain their health and PM, the other leaders and I were gathered to the side for a meeting. We all had gloomy faces.
I knew from the beginning that the later books would have rank one monsters, since Hamsick himself had told me so. But they didn't know it.
«We had our suspicions, but it seems that rank one monsters appear on the last shelf», the deputy commander, the one leading the meeting, said calmly, although I noticed a slight tremor in his voice. Not that it meant anything about our course of action. «First of all, I want to make it clear that the commander has decided that even if he has to face a rank one monster, the mission will continue as planned».
I expected it, but there was a bit of commotion from some of the other leaders.
«A rank one monster... We will surely suffer serious casualties».
«I'm starting to wonder if all this is worth it».
I understood how they felt. It wasn't like we didn't get here without sacrifices.
«Commander, seven people have already died in combat!»
Seven people had been killed in battle last week. Six of them were warriors from the expedition group. One of them was a warrior from the Armin group of adventurers. No matter how many priests we had, not even they could do anything when someone died instantly.
It is also not uncommon to see severed arms and legs scattered across the battlefield now.
The last summoning book we used had two rank two monsters accompanied by four rank three and all of us were fighting together instead of in turns as usual, but even then, the number of members that had been torn from us during that battle had been of more than twenty. Luckily, the priests had managed to reimplant them immediately after finishing the battle, but what would happen against a rank one?
Thinking clearly the same thing, one of the knights spoke. «If we suffer more casualties here, this could turn into a huge loss for the palace...»
«High.» Commander Jerome immediately cut him off. «This is a sacred mission entrusted to us by the royal family of Rafdonia. Therefore, we must do our duty. No matter the sacrifices that have to be made along the way».
As we were an army with a strict hierarchy, Jerome's stern response silenced the anxious knight.
The deputy commander intervened quickly to resume the meeting. «Whether or not we will continue with the mission is not the topic we have come to discuss». Jerome had already decided that we were going to fight, so there was only one other reason for him to summon us. «We have identified seven monsters that we can summon. Please feel free to share your opinions on which one we should fight».
We were here to debate which monster would be the best to face.
When the meeting started in earnest, many different opinions were shared, but at first I stayed quiet to listen to others.
«I think Leviathan is the best option. We are not currently in the ocean. As it is a monster that gains a significant advantage from its native habitat, I suspect it will be easier to defeat on land».
First of all, Leviathan was the wrong choice. Although the logic was pretty solid, we didn't have the necessary equipment to defeat that particular monster.
«How about Tol-Lapupa? It is a monster very specialized in defense, so if we invest time in preparing, we should be able to defeat it without taking much damage.»
That was also a no. We had a lot of knights on our side, but in the end, the mages formed the core of the damaging forces of this group. We would never be able to break its shell with spells.
«I think the Kashan would be the best...»
«Well, I think a Ridger would be a better option than a Kashan-»
Each of the leaders offered their opinion and supported or questioned the ideas of the others. Of course, every word that came out of their mouths was shit. Most people had never seen a rank one monster in their life and had only heard stories about them. In essence, they were legendary and mythical creatures that most adventurers only talked about in theory.
Am I going to have to intervene?
Even if it was only in the game, he had a lot of experience defeating countless rank one monsters. And frankly, from my point of view, this meeting was meaningless.
Just look at how the whole conversation was being framed: we were discussing which monster would be best to hunt to minimize the amount of damage we would take. None of them were considering the idea that we could fail. They truly believed that no matter which of the seven we summoned, we would be able to defeat him.
«Come to think of it, you haven't said anything in a while, Lord Baron».
«...Are you talking about me?»
«Do you have any opinions to share?»
Oh, right. Honestly, I had been about to speak, and this guy had been kind enough to set the stage for me.
«This price».
The other leaders at the meeting seemed intrigued, their attention immediately focused on me.
«If we're going to summon one, it has to be Kashan», I declared, getting straight to the point. At my announcement, the eyes of others lit up with interest.
«The Wolf of Prophecy?»
«So you are of the same opinion as me, Your Honor».
Some seemed surprised, while others seemed pleased that he agreed with them. Moreover...
«If you don't mind, could I ask you to explain to me why it has to be Kashan?», the highest-ranking mage of the expedition group asked me. He looked over my shoulder at me with an expression that suggested he considered me nothing more than a mindless barbarian.
This guy is the one who wanted to summon Leviathan.
The old wizard continued lecturing me. «Kashan is the monster with the greatest attack power of all the ones we have discussed. It is guaranteed to cause the most damage to our group».
Hey, don't act like you know everything just because you've read some books and can do some magic.
«However, if there's a reason you think we should choose Kashan over the other monsters, tell me. If you can't convince everyone here...»
«I have a reason.»
«…¿Eh?»
I wasn't sure why this old man seemed so surprised when he was the one who asked me for explanations in the first place. «Tol-Lapupa, Leviathan or whatever, none of those are options».
«...What do you mean?»
What do you mean, what do I mean?
«Kashan is the only one we have any hope of defeating.»
The others were impossible for us to defeat in the first place.