Chương 345: Gardens

Through one of the arrow-slits in the house, I got my first good look at the physical forms of the creatures that had landed in front of the house. They were some of the most bizarre and creepy-looking monsters I had seen, and that was in comparison to the madness of the Market. The first monster looked like a ball of hands, all clutching onto each other. The way it moved was wrong - it resembled a colony of worms writhing across the ground, or something similar. The monster's soul was even more bizarre.

It only had one soul, despite the fact that it looked like a walking colony. The next two monsters were somewhat more normal looking. They had scales on the outside of their body, like that of a dragon. They had large, muscular frames, reminding me of some of the green-skinned men of the city. They might have been possible to mistake for particularly odd-looking residents of the city, save for the cold, dead eyes in their skull, or the twisting, writhing flesh underneath their scales.

These had the lowest life force of them all, although I suspected that their scales would make it hard to pierce their body with arrows. The final two monsters were even more strange. They looked like half-melted dolls made of clay. Their bodies twitched and squirmed when I looked away - but when I stared directly at them, their bodies looked like simple, half-shaped lumps. I couldn't tell whether it was some sort of illusion or a different kind of ability, but something about them was off.

However, their bodies weren't made entirely of clay. For some reason, they had incredibly long, luscious hair. It would have been beautiful enough to make me a bit jealous, if it didn't seem so utterly out of place on the grotesque, inhuman abominations. These creatures had the highest life force in the group, which probably meant they were the strongest. The five monsters sprinted towards the house. I heard the singer yell something, and another volley of arrows snapped towards the monsters.

I had to give them credit. The archers of this city were fast. And accurate. Four out of every five arrows found a target, which was a level of accuracy most archers would never reach when firing at enemies on a chaotic battlefield through tiny slits in the wall. Most of the arrows even punctured the flesh of our enemies. The monsters with scales on their bodies got an eyeful of arrows, with one of them dropping dead on the spot, and the other yowling in pain and collapsing on the spot.

A final arrow hit him and killed him a moment later. The colony of hands was violently ripped apart by a shower of arrows, and while the hands did start reassemble in a few seconds, its lifeforce was severely depleted, and nearly a quarter of the hands stopped moving. The clay dolls proved the most troubling. The arrows punctured their bodies, but didn't seem to do much. The clay monsters kept running, as if they didn't even notice the arrows.

The archers didn't have time for a third volley before the clay monsters reached us. One of the clay golems kicked in the door, and the wooden doorway collapsed like wet paper. The clay golem leapt into the room - and immediately took an axe to the face, as a green-skilled fellow smashed into it with practiced ease. The clay golem didn't seem too bothered, and lunged towards the man, but he clearly had experience fighting. He slid out of the way, before using the axe as a handle to wrench the monster around.

I realized that the green-skinned man wasn't even trying to kill the monster. He was using the axe to drag it around and throw it off - balance. The strange hair on the clay monster whipped towards the man, like a head full of daggers and whips. The man ducked out of the way, then shoved the monster into the wall. A moment later, another warrior stepped next to the monster, and the two started working on beheading it. The second clay golem was only a few seconds behind the first.

I heard the singing mage start a new song, right before the clay monster impacted the wall. It crashed into the stone and wood frame of the wall - and then bounced off. It reeled back, caught completely off guard, and got another head full of arrows. Even if it didn't die, it seemed slowed down - either because its head was a weakness, or from accumulation of damage. I wasn't sure which. The colony of hands leapt towards one of the archers hiding in an arrow slit, and the man stumbled backwards.

The archers were still pelting the hands with arrows, but they seemed distracted by the multiple threats. I decided to simplify the battlefield a bit. The colony of hands had a lot of life force - but my extinguishes were terrifying. Some creatures could survive an extinguish to the face - but the colony of hands was nowhere near that level of strength. My extinguish hit the creature, and instantly, about 70% of its life force vanished.

I left the last bit for the archers, so that it wouldn't be too obvious I was helping out. I would probably prove my spellcasting abilities later on - but highly practiced, lethal spellcasting as a three year old would make anyone feel something was wrong. The hands slowed, and another wave of arrows finished it off. The archers seemed a bit baffled by how quickly the creature died, but immediately redirected their attention to the two remaining clay monsters.

The clay monster that had been tangling with the green-skinned man was finally starting to slow down. I could now confirm that they were less terrifying than they first appeared. They had some kind of limited 'reserve' of regeneration, but once they took enough injuries, they got slower and weaker. With a final cut, the other man who had been helping split the creature in half, and it stopped moving. Stolen novel; please report.

The final clay monster charged towards the ruined doorway, but another volley of arrows crashed into it with the same unnatural power and accuracy every archer in this world seemed to have. Right as it stumbled through the doorway, the green-skinned man gave it another axe to the face, and it died before I could sneak in another extinguish for some Achievement. I felt a bit regretful about that, but I suspected it wouldn't matter much in the grand scheme of things.

It looked like this city got attacked frequently, so I could always pick up more abilities next time. Most of the other houses in the area also seemed to be doing fine. They held off their monsters, dispatched them swiftly, and then assisted other houses that were still struggling. Within four minutes, there were no surviving monsters in the area, and as far as I could tell only a few people got injured.

Five minutes later, another wave of massive fireballs caught the fleeing passenger-carrying monsters, eradicating the final monsters in the city. I grinned. Two-bell incursions really weren't that bad. Now that the danger had passed, I opened up my System messages to look at my rewards for the fight.

Slaughter: Kill a Formless - Stage 2 (Grasping Hands Variant) Influence: Assist in defending 'Palynthia' against a second-stage invasion by a [Minor] amount Achievement +1, 000, Achievement +30 I blinked in surprise as I evaluated my Achievement earnings from the fight. Getting 1, 000 Achievement… Well, it definitely didn't feel like I had earned that. At all. Most monsters that gave us 1, 000 Achievement were at least capable of ripping off our heads at a moments notice.

However, the 'Grasping Hands Variant' of the Formless had given me 1, 000 Achievement for a monster that I would kill with a single attack. I could probably handle four or five of them easily -and that was with a basic grade attunement. This thing gave way more rewards than I should have gotten for its threat level. However, that wasn't my biggest reward from the fight. Not by a long shot.

Even though it had single-handedly propelled my Achievement from 12, 201 to 13, 231 My second reward from the fight was far more interesting. Endless Hunger of the Ocean has devoured Formless - Stage 2 (Grasping Hands variant) for the first time. A new Skill has been created Unwoven Hands - your ability to manipulate your hands far exceeds what should be possible for your Grade of Agility. Your hands can even operate without being connected to your body!

(essence must still be paid to activate this ability - any essence is usable). Your Agility is increased by 3 Grades, but only for your hands (wrist and below). You may also control your hands even if they are no longer connected to you. (Note: No more than 10 hands can benefit from these boosts at a time.) I blinked in confusion. I integrated the new Skill into one of my skill slots - after all, right now my slots were empty, and this skill had no downside.

At the same time, I wondered how this skill actually worked. It claimed that I could control up to ten hands at a time, and that I could control them even if they weren't connected to my body. In other words… would I be able to control an extra eight pairs of hands, if I chopped off my hands and then used my healing magic to regrow them? The idea was interesting. Though, in practice, I couldn't really think of a use for that.

My hands wouldn't get any extra Grades of Strength, and Grade 6 strength wouldn't accomplish much in a Tier 4 world. Any enemy that actually cared about my extra hands was probably going to be weak enough that I could kill it easily anyway. Paying essence for a useless ability was just silly. I tried to shrug, although my infantile muscles made the motion rather awkward. Even if I didn't have a use for the ability now, maybe I would find one later.

I could always replace it with something better if I found the option. Then, I moved on to my third reward from the fight. This one was wholly unexpected - in a very pleasant way. Skill: You have raised your understanding of [Death Magic] to Basic Grade! Achievement +2, 000 Since you have raised your understanding of [Seperation] Magic to basic grade for the first time, you have earned a new Skill!

Upon your death, you will have the option to purchase [Basic Seperation Magic] as an ability, for the cost of 4000 Achievement. This Ability has the following effects: Keywords: None Your spells and abilities that would cause instant death in a given target are enhanced by a moderate amount (approximately a quarter of a skill Grade.) It is easier to raise 'splitting magic' to Basic Grade (if relevant). (considerably less effective when trying to raise a skill beyond Heroic Grade).

Glut Penalty: 15 I had gotten an at least somewhat useful-looking Ability just for killing a random, rather weak enemy. It took me a couple seconds to realize what the System meant by 'separation' magic, but I got it after some thinking. The core 'idea' behind extinguish was to put out the flame of life, thus kicking the soul back into the ocean. While I typically thought of that as 'death' magic, it was also, in a sense, separation. I was both surprised and pleased with seeing a new, unexpected ability pop up.

Granted, I seriously doubted this Ability was worth 4, 000 Achievement and 15 Glut penalty - the price was a bit high for the benefits the skill gave me. Still, I was impressed by the 'Garden' aspect of this world. I had gotten a new Generic skill from a single fight. Granted, it was my favorite spell, which I had been using for two lives and about a century now, so the barrier to higher skill levels was probably way lower than usual. Still, it was excellent progress.

Not to mention, I had earned 2, 000 Achievement in the process. That was… exceptional growth speed. My Achievement total had gone from 13, 231 to 15, 231. In less than a day, I had earned over 3, 000 Achievement in this world. That was even better than the rate of Achievement we got per hour in the Market! A few moments later, I felt something… stir. it took me a moment to figure out what it was - it wasn't anything that I could see around me, nor was it part of the physical world at all.

Instead, it had sounded from my communication bracelet. It was Felix. He hadn't sent any actual words through the communication bracelet, but he had sent a sort of mental sigh, letting everyone know that he was awake. <Felix! You're awake! > I said. Right after my first battle in this world, one of my friends had woken up.