Chương 35: Solo Mission - Ben (3)

Ben was flabbergasted. What the hell was he looking at? The monsters that were marching his way were like moving apartment blocks; they were at least ten to fifteen feet tall. They were as white as the snow surrounding them, but by no means at all could they be called Snow White. They had dark eyes with seemingly non-existent pupils and endless rows of shark's teeth. They looked ready to chew Ben up and swallow him alive.

"A-A-Am I supposed to defeat those?" Ben pointed at the beasts in front of him and shuddered. He couldn't even talk properly, and it wasn't due to the adverse weather.

"Those look like something out of my worst nightmare. I don't want to be defeating a hundred of those!" Clomp! Clomp! Clomp! Ben felt like he had been thrown straight into a horror movie. What he was looking at was something that could make an ordinary human scared to death.

"Screw you, Cayman!" Ben hollered at the top of his voice.

"If these beasts are high-level beasts, I'm chopping your head off when I get back home!" He begged that he didn't have to defeat those abominable snowmen to claim the planet. He wanted to curse Cayman with all his might since Cayman was acting more like a villain rather than a saving grace at that point. If Hoppers knew beforehand what missions each planet had to offer and what mana beasts lived on each planet, then nobody would even dare to touch the planet Ben was on.

Even Ben would reject this planet in an instant if he had the choice; if he knew that he would be defeating those abominable snowmen in advance on this planet, then of course he was going to say no to exploring this planet.

"Screw this," Ben said.

"Planet 503 can go to some other planet. I'm gonna get frostbite and after that I'm gonna get eaten alive by those monsters!" Clomp! Clomp! Clomp! As the monsters got closer and closer towards Ben, he realised that he wasn't just dealing with a handful of them. Ben was looking at a whole party of those monsters, and as time passed, there were at least thirty of those things walking in a large group towards him.

"I'm basically risking my life to get mega-rich. No fair!" Tentatively, Ben checked the mission details. He needed to see what kind of beasts he would be defeating on this planet. [Mission 2/3: defeat the beasts] Description: defeat all the mana beasts living on this planet. Time limit: none Reward: mana crystals. Failure: death [Mission 2/3: defeat the beasts] Beasts to defeat: 1) Blizzard Yeti (basic, 0/50) 2) Blizzard Yeti (basic/advanced, 0/50) 3)??? (?? /??)"What the hell is a yeti?" Ben questioned, confused.

He scratched the back of his head.

"I hope it's not those guys marching towards me and offering me to death!" He didn't want to think about those threatening beasts at the moment. He turned his head to look away from the beasts.

"Let's look for the beasts I have to kill then. I hope I don't run into any more of those things." Walking on the snow was almost impossible, and after a while, Ben gave up. However, he always had a solution to everything. [Skill, 'Teleportation (basic)', has been activated.] He could just use his teleportation skill and hop to a different area.

"At least Cayman came in useful for once," Ben murmured. Clomp! Clomp! Clomp!

"How the hell are they still coming for me???" Ben was aghast. His jaw dropped. The legs of those monsters were longer than his height. They were at least six feet tall. Those legs alone might even be longer than Theo's height, and Theo was already a muscular tower who made Ben look up just to speak to him.

"You brats!" Ben shouted.

"I'm more than half your size! Go look for someone else your own size!" But those things still chased after Ben. Ben sighed. He was beginning to tremble, and this time, it was a combination of both the cold and the monsters. They weren't leaving him alone. Anxiously, Ben looked at the name tags of the things chasing after him, and what he saw almost made him faint. He was about to feel disheartened very shortly. [Blizzard Yeti (basic)]"Fuck," Ben cursed, spitting on the ground.

"Fuck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Ben couldn't believe it. A part of him wanted the cold to engulf him whole and turn him into an elegant ice statue.

"And they're only at the basic level!?!?!?!?!???" Ben was bewildered. He was baffled. He was glued to the spot. He had to defeat fifty of those things.

"Those things are the scariest basic-level monsters I'll ever have to defeat." He had to defeat his worst nightmare not once, not twice, not thrice, but fifty times. And they were only at the lowest level of the Bali system.

"So that's a yeti, huh?" Ben finally got the answer he so desperately desired.

"I can't be asked to give you a fancy name, so I'll just call you snow monsters." The snow monsters continued to charge at Ben with their mouths open, showing the miniscule daggers glued onto their mouths.

"Hopefully their abominable appearances are only just for show. Looks like I have to defeat you either way." Ben reached into his inventory and pulled out one of the mana swords he had received from Cayman. He then pointed his sword at the snow monsters.

"Make this day count," Ben said with an ice-cold expression, openly attempting to face his fear, "because today might probably be your last." All of his anxiousness had suddenly disappeared, replaced by an insatiable feeling of determination and pride. They're only at the basic level, Ben thought in his head. They shouldn't be a pain in the ass to defeat. Just think of them like the mana lions or the black spotted jaguars I've defeated in the past. Yes, it's just a group of black spotted jaguars in front of me.

[Skill, 'Teleportation (basic)', has been activated.] [Skill, 'Enhanced Strength (basic)', has been activated.] Whoosh! Slice! Ben's skill sent him flying into the air, and with the snow monsters caught off-guard and not knowing where Ben really was, Ben sliced off the heads of the front three snow monsters with ease. It was like cutting a slice of cake. When Ben landed, he could feel the cold penetrating into his body.

The heads of the snow monsters he had just decapitated landed on the soft snow mere inches from where Ben landed. They floated on the soft snow and didn't submerge. The heads of the snow monsters he had just cut off were enough to give him nightmares for at least a week. One of the snow monsters he sliced had its mouth and eyes wide open at the time of impact, which made him tremble even more and look away. At first, no blood trickled out of the snow monsters' bodies.

But then, mini waterfalls of black blood began gushing out of their heads and their necks, staining the fresh, pure white snow a dark, sinister black colour. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. [Blizzard Yeti (basic, 3/50)]"If I can defeat all a hundred beasts like this, this planet is gonna be a piece of cake to claim," Ben said to himself proudly.

"They are extremely scary but they don't have the strength to back that up." There were at least thirty more snow monsters heading Ben's way. And Ben knew exactly what he needed to do. [Skill, 'Teleportation (basic)', has been activated.] [Skill, 'Enhanced Strength (basic)', has been activated.] Slice! Ben displayed exceptional agility and elegant swordsmanship although he had only held a sword once or twice beforehand.

His movements were sharp, and he displayed an ice-cold aura as he beheaded three more snow monsters. Clack! The monsters' heads fell to the ground like large snowballs. It was so easy to sever the heads of the snow monsters that it made Ben think he really was just cutting through snow.

"They really are just snowmen," Ben said to himself.

"There really was nothing to worry about." Ben had gone insane. However, this time, his insanity wasn't due to Cayman sending him to winter wonderland, it was due to Ben's determination and killing intent. It was hard to imagine that the same Ben Oxley had been feeling hesitant and apprehensive just a few minutes ago. He had played many violent games in the past, but he never imagined that he would be the main character in one of them.

"Come at me, snow monsters!" Ben bellowed as he embraced the accumulating ice-cold aura surrounding him.

"I'm not afraid of you anymore!" Slash! The head of a nearby snow monster was detached from its torso. Slash! Down went another snow monster. Slash! [Blizzard Yeti (basic, 13/50)] Slash!

"I can get used to this." Ben was all over the place. One moment, he was in front of a fifteen-foot tall snow monster, and the next, he was behind the monster, and the monster's head was rolling on the ground like a bowling ball. Slash! Slash! Slash!

"I'm just too cold," Ben said, proudly exuding his ice-cold aura, "and this is just too easy." Slash! [Blizzard Yeti (basic, 28/50)] Ben never thought that he would ever end up killing animals. He never thought that he would get a chance to leave Earth and venture out into space. He never thought that there would be other planets out there for him to explore. And yet here he was, defying all odds, defeating mana beasts with ease on another planet. On the future Planet 503.

"This planet is mine!!!" Ben yelled as he effortlessly sent the heads of at least five more snow monsters flying in the air. [Skill, 'Teleportation (basic)', has been activated.] [Skill, 'Teleportation (basic)', has been activated.] [Skill, 'Teleportation (basic)', has been activated.] Slash! Slash! Slash! They were all unarmed. They all couldn't fight back as Ben displayed no mercy and defeated them with ease. Soon, they were all down. All fifty of them.

[Blizzard Yeti (basic, 50/50)] Ben landed on the snow, panting but now sweating. He had solved the problem of suffering in the extreme cold, but he still wasn't warm enough to restore a normal body temperature. [Skill, 'Recovery (basic)', has been activated.] Soon, his bodily functions were returning to normal.

"I'll come for the mana crystals later," Ben said to himself.

"I'd rather get them all at once since I still have some in my pocket." Mana consumption. [Mana consumption] Available mana: 79% Time left until fully replenished: 2 hours, 23 minutes"It's fine," Ben said and let out a sigh.

"I can carry on." Clomp! Clomp! Clomp! There were more snow monsters in the distance. Their stomps were loud, and if they were placed on Planet Earth, they might be able to tear down a large building just by stomping on the ground.

"These ones are going to be harder," Ben mumbled, "but I've got enough confidence in me to mutilate a legendary-level beast." There they were. Wave two of defeating the snow monsters had begun. They were marching closer and closer towards Ben just like the first wave had done. And when they were close enough, Ben was able to read the name tags of the beasts above their heads. [Blizzard Yeti (basic/advanced)]"With 79% of my mana left, I can definitely do this."

Ben clenched onto his sword tightly, not letting go despite facing even scarier versions of his worst nightmare. After all, defeating fifty of his fear-inducing worst nightmares had instilled confidence in his brain.

"I feel ready. I've already defeated fifty of the basic version, and I've overcome my fear of those things. Let's do this!" Clomp! Clomp! Clomp! [Skill, 'Teleportation (basic)', has been activated.] [Skill, 'Enhanced Strength (basic)', has been activated.] Slash! In the blink of an eye, two snow monsters in that large group had their heads severed. They flew freely in the air before crashing down on the snow with a loud thud. Ben was ice-cold, both literally and figuratively. He didn't stop there.

He managed to catch a few more snow monsters off-guard and sliced off their heads. The tar-like blood that every mana beast had in their bodies seeped out of the corpses, staining the pure white snow an awful jet-black colour. In summary, there was a massive oil spill on the snow. Slash! Slash! Slash! With their eyes wide open and mouths gaping, the snow monsters were beheaded one by one. They couldn't hold in their shock as their vision moved in circles before it completely disappeared. Ben was having fun.

Lots of fun. It was his worst nightmare he was going up against after all. He suddenly had the thought that his worst nightmare wasn't that scary anymore. [Blizzard Yeti (basic/advanced, 15/50)]"I can do this," Ben reminded himself.

"They only look scary. There's nothing scary about their moves." Slash! Stab! Swing!

"Come at me, you foul beasts!" Ben hollered at the top of his voice.

"You're all going down today!" Ben made it look so effortless, as if even a toddler with the skills he had could sever the heads of the menacing monsters. His dance moves were so elegant and refined that it made him look like a seasoned pro despite only doing this for several weeks. Soon, twenty out of the fifty snow monsters heading Ben's way were dead on the floor. Then it was thirty. Forty. Forty-five. It didn't take long for there to only be three beasts standing.

Ben, at the pinnacle of the basic level, had defeated forty-seven beasts flirting with the advanced level in just a matter of minutes to the point where the beasts couldn't even fight back. After all, he was also flirting with the advanced level. It was the epitome of a one-sided fight. Slash! Slash! Slash! [Blizzard Yeti (basic/advanced, 50/50)] Ben dropped to the ground after slashing off the heads of the last three beasts.

The sight in front of him was something straight out of one of the scariest horror movies; a hundred decapitated beasts, some of them with eyes wide open and mouths gaping, were sprawled lifelessly on the soft blanket of snow, their blood trickling down and painting the snow black. It was akin to standing on zebra fur. And Ben wasn't fazed at all.

"All in a day's work for a Hopper," Ben said. Then he sighed. He was a mess; the designer t-shirt he wore for the mission was stained with the fresh blood of the mana beasts, and his arms had ugly black spots all over the place as if he was suffering from a disease. His face wasn't much better either, since there was beast blood about to trickle down to his eyes. He turned his head from left to right, but all he could see were rotting corpses that needed to be tidied up as soon as possible.

Then, without warning, the flurry of system messages appeared. [You have gained 150 XP for defeating 50 'Blizzard Yeti (basic)'.] [You have gained 1500 XP for defeating 50 'Blizzard Yeti (basic/advanced).] [Total XP: 1660/2000]"Sweet." Less than four hundred XP to go. However, Ben couldn't admire the amount of XP he had gained just yet, since there was still something that was bugging him that he couldn't shake off.

"Where's that mystery beast?" Ben was puzzled.

"I don't see it anywhere." He paced around the area where he had killed the snow monsters, but there was no sign of another beast on its way to hunt Ben down.

"Oh well. Looks like I should collect the mana crystals first." Squatting down next to the nearest corpse, Ben used his sword to slice open the body, reaching into it and grabbing four solid glistening crystals. He put them all into his mouth at once.

"That's so much better," Ben said after the crystals were transported to his mana core.

"I needed that so badly." He did the same for the next few beasts. Whenever he encountered a beast flirting with the advanced level, he would store the advanced-level mana crystals into his pockets.

"I wish consuming mana crystals could make me warmer." He was still extremely cold and about to suffer from severe hypothermia. He had forgotten all about the mystery beast and thought his mission was over. He thought he could finally go back to a place where he could tolerate the temperature. However, when he was about to collect more mana crystals- Slash!

"What?" Ben looked down at his torso and abdomen. That was when he discovered that he had been brutally stabbed.