Chapter 338: Showcasing Improvements
Standing in a field of crushed trees and scattered four-eyed monkey corpses.
Jack let out a heavy puff of steamy exhale, his head cocking to observe the distance, as his topless body glowed with a faint coating of iridescent black.
His crimson eyes dimmed, their bright glow dulling, all while his senses interacted intimately with the air.
’God, I never imagined the bronze upgrade would provide such massive boosts.’ Jack was in awe of his new capabilities.
Somehow he had developed a mental influence over air molecules, allowing his range of abilities to continue to grow.
Plus, the effectiveness of his stats was through the roof, and with the new binding trait stat, Stamina, Jack didn’t even feel exhausted.
All while his pores absorbed the stats gained from the kill, glowing orbs were all that remained in the place of corpses.
Jack basked in the intoxicating process for a second before he opened his eyes, continuing to stare at the horizon.
Due to his improved senses, he was able to sense the presence of allies from afar.
Not directly sensing them but instead the flow of essence bleeding into the atmosphere in their wake.
It was quite a faint trail, but Jack was confident in being able to follow it.
All he had to do was wait for the division soldiers to catch up so he could lead them towards the allies.
His fist clenched in worry as he wondered how many of their friends had made it to shore.
He hoped they were alright, especially Seth—Jack really hoped Seth would at least end up on this island.
He believed Seth was practically unkillable, and as long as the guy was here, he was confident that if anyone could show them a way out of being stranded in the middle of the ocean, it would be Seth.
That guy’s means were just outright unfathomable...
Suddenly, footsteps began to ring out behind him. Jack nodded—it seemed the soldiers were here, time to move.
...
Meanwhile on Elaine and Brandon’s end, they didn’t really struggle in front of the four-eyed monkeys despite walking at the same pace with the division soldiers.
In fact, Brandon didn’t really need to do anything much, aside from acting when there were a few close calls.
Elaine’s army of the frozen took care of everything, displaying a terrifying level of persistence and ferocity.
They engaged the monkeys; their near-immortal state and lack of pain receptors made them a terrifying force to engage.
Unless one could crush them in one move, they would keep coming; they knew no fear, they knew no relent.
Frozen bulls, shackled corrupted corpses and a few defilers, rushed at the nimble four-eyed monkeys.
Overpowering the abhorrent four-eyed primates with sheer numbers, leaping into attack with an unrelenting lethality.
Then there was the fact that Elaine directed and controlled the battlefield, creating advantages and flaws in the opponents’ ranks, making the frozen army’s job easier.
It was a complete decimation...
"Hmmm." Elaine pursed her lips in contemplation, glancing at the raining corpses of the four-eyed monkeys with interest.
These guys had a natural mental-sense-deflecting fur; they would be very useful during stealth or penetration-like missions.
Without a second thought, she decided to add this bunch to her army, a storm of Ice-Nether essence filling the air in rolling waves.
Covering the battlefield as they moved, though this action cost a shit ton of essence units, it helped multiply their enemy forces.
Besides, activating the death-embracing ice fog was a gene skill effect that would remain for a few extra minutes, constantly embracing all corpses within its range into becoming frozen soldiers.
Brandon glanced at Elaine, clicking his tongue in envy—there was no argument that Elaine was truly unrivaled when it came to large-scale battles.
Her efficiency shone when faced with more than a few opponents; she was practically built to decimate armies.
The four-eyed monkeys were absolutely crushed, with none ever getting close to even harming a human.
"I need to farm some stats too." Brandon muttered, a wave of heat seeping into the atmosphere.
Elaine turned in his direction, mid-casting, her eyes focused on him as she yelled in warning.
"Keep it tame, there are trees everywhere!"
Silent as Brandon’s arms flared with sapphire shade embers, flickering with a blazing intensity, they slowly rumbled in a whirl of storms.
Brandon threw a casual glance Elaine’s way, "don’t worry, I have full control."
The air around his neck pulsed with ripples as a flaming fox crawled out of the undulating space.
Coiling intimately around Brandon’s neck, the intensity of his flames grew calmer but noticeably hotter.
The blue glaze in Brandon’s eyes grew wild, the origin essence concentrated around him growing thicker and driving the corrupted creatures even more insane.
His class skill flowing alive, reducing the cost of his flame interactions, giving him more rein over them.
Embers blazed wild, swallowing a whole group of four-eyed monkeys, Elaine’s heart aching at the sight.
Every kill from Brandon meant a soldier less for her frozen hordes, and she wasn’t even worried that he was burning their corpses after all that would fade either way since it was him.
And because of this, she grew more focused, her class was from the necromancer family, meaning it gave her a raw affinity with pure death.
And she realized that as she killed, she could also feel the build-up of some sort of force within her soul.
Cold and dark, she could only attribute it to her death affinity, but she really didn’t know how to activate it or what it was even meant to do.
Her eyes were swallowed by darkness, going completely liquid black, as a haze of dark mist seeped out of her frame.
Elaine wasn’t sure what it was but she felt it was something immensely powerful and would be better used on the corruption zone boss.
And so they progressed through the thick forest, unbeknownst to the humans, lurking in the trees were a fleet of at least five, over ten feet tall, four-eyed monkeys.
The feral mist seeping out of their frames signified extreme condensed corrupted essence, which revealed their identities as defiled.
Meeting four defiled before meeting even a mini-boss was a sign that even the buffed-up soldiers of the human race wouldn’t want to encounter.