Chapter 385: Slaughter

He threw out a very far pulse of his perception skill and sensed a large group of monsters congregating outside the fort. He started to understand why he had initially sensed so many monsters when he had been flying over the forest.

Perhaps the prior floor was meant for him to fight these monsters on his way to the fort. He laughed, luckily for him, he had taken a shortcut and got here without having to deal with so many monsters.

It was likely just a part of the rift, but he was quickly taken back to the gates, where he was assigned a place to fight against these monsters. He had talked with the captain some more and he was given a choice about where he wanted to fight. He could have either gone up to the ramparts and used long-range attacks. He also could have chosen to support the other warriors. Instead, he chose to be placed in the most hectic and dangerous area. The very front.

However, after the conversation with the captain, everything seemed much more… artificial. The actions around him were practiced and it was like everything happening around him was for the sole purpose of him fighting these approaching monsters. Which in a way, was exactly what was occurring.

He wasn’t going to complain, though. He had a feeling that this floor would be interesting at the very least, and for the first time since he entered the rift, he pushed away his training program. While he had already regained many of his resources thanks to the break after the fifth floor and his shortcut through the sixth, he still recognized the need to save his mana and stamina. Sometimes, taking things seriously was fun too.

Plus, he had a feeling that this wouldn’t be the only floor where he would have to face a large number of monsters.

He looked beside him at the other people grouped together. Like the captain and the guards he had met before, these people acted like regular humans. The fear and anxiety coming from their auras felt real.

It was quite impressive that a rift could generate something this complex and realistic. Not to mention that this was only a Tier 3 rift. He couldn’t imagine what it would have been like if it were a Tier 4 or Tier 5 rift.

He was rudely awakened from his daydreaming when he heard the signal for them to move out. Many of the people beside didn’t take a step forward, and he couldn’t blame them either. Their group was one of the few who were supposed to fight outside the fort’s gates.

They were the ones who were supposed to defend the bridge for as long as possible, only giving it up when it wasn’t feasible anymore. With that being said, it was the most dangerous area to be in, especially when the rest of the fighters were on top of the wall, throwing bolts of mana at the incoming monsters.

However, for Julius, this was the perfect situation. The condition was to protect the fort, and he felt like he could do a better job down here than up there. While he had some impressive long-range attacks, he would likely run out of mana before he could take care of all of the monsters.

He would be more efficient down here. Kinetic energy was still his most cost-efficient affinity. Also, his healing skill was decently efficient when he was being mindful. The addition of Drasil helped matters, too. If things got bad, he could always rely on the gluttonous life spirit, who had gained quite a large capacity of mana with the consumption of the treasure.

After all of this time, it is only fair that Drasil finally pulls his own weight, he thought to himself with a smirk.

He felt a thump in his soul suddenly and looked inside to see a pouting Drasil who must have overheard his thoughts. He ignored the adorable pouting spirit though and focused back on the approaching horde of monsters.

The commander yelled at the people to start moving when he saw they were hesitating and it was only then that they slowly made their way down to the edge of the bridge.

Some men were shaking so badly that their metal armor was making a lot of noise. Julius was one of the very few who weren’t wearing any armor whatsoever. However, he was the only person who didn’t have a weapon of his own.

Everyone else had some kind of bladed weapon or in some rare cases, warhammers. However, nobody mentioned it to him. As a matter of fact, nobody even acknowledged him at all, it was almost as if he didn’t exist in their eyes. It was a weird realization.

However, he didn’t pay that much mind. He could only hope that the monsters didn’t treat him that rudely.

Fortunately, he was going to find out pretty soon.

***

The monsters came out of the trees in a much more orderly fashion than he expected. It was like watching an army of monsters come out. There were many various kinds of monsters, a lot of whom were ones he had sensed while flying past them.

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He took note of several stronger-looking monsters, though. These ones were above the rest and were on a similar level to the Ironblood Boar. Some of them appeared to be even stronger than the boar.

However, the most notable enemies were the group of monsters hanging in the back of the horde. There were five of them who were clearly of the same race. They had humanoid features, but were much taller and brutal-looking. Each one had large, vicious horns adorning the crown of their head. They also had dark grey skin and blood red eyes.