CHAPTER 33: OUT OF CONTROL

Lucien sincerely despised cursing, but ever since he’d joined this game—no, had been active in this game for the last three to four days—he had cursed more than he had in the past twenty-five years of his life. His future was not looking bright at all.

He stifled another curse just as it was about to escape his lips again.

The leveling system was beyond terrible! But actually, when he thought about it, whatever the gaming company did to create such a reward system, it was extremely efficient—unbiased to any level.

Lucien had noticed that there was a fixed amount of Fusion points he gained from monsters, and there was a required amount of Fusion points he needed to advance to a new level.

For example, to advance to level 30, he needed to kill four Elite Palebranch Wights. He had killed four more and still hadn’t advanced to level 31.

In the course of how difficult it was to kill four, he had cursed twice, which was why he had to stifle this curse.

Although this proved to be extremely challenging, it struck a balance and didn’t matter whether one was a low-level player challenging high-level monsters or following the regular path. At the initial stages, it would benefit a low-level player hunting high-level monsters, but after several kills of the same kind of monster, it began to get less and less efficient. One couldn’t really trick the system in this game.

Lucien braced himself and lunged into the air. In that moment, the land shook with another shockwave, and the Palebranch Wights around him lost balance yet again. He vanished and went on a ten-second killing spree.

He had switched to the Palebranch Spear and was grateful he did because it was more effective in dealing with the Wights, especially when he ignited the spear with flames. The Elites weren’t resistant to the flame because the spear applied Wither and Whisperroot, with the latter being devastating after several strikes.

However slowly, he was progressing and learning. And the battle between the two behemoths was echoing into their side of the woods.

The whole place shook intermittently. At times he would hear Godzilla’s fierce cry; other times he would hear a screech like a thousand shards of glass shattering.

Regardless of which it was, he continued his battle at a steady pace. Not to mention that Severance was highly effective against these monsters compared to how insignificant it had seemed when he was using it against the behemoth.

It completely slashed off those twig hands that elongated toward him when he was retreating and cleaved through attacks he knew he was going to be too slow to respond to, severing their hands or burying a deep groove into their wooden torso.

The monsters didn’t bleed, but the damage was always evident.

For now, Lucien was too weak to launch a full frontal assault against the Elite Wights, so he was resigned to the fact that all he could do was go invisible, dive in for an attack, and dive back out before he got caught up in their web.

It was repetitive—boring, even, to him. But it was his best chance at avoiding any careless death.

Any death he was going to die would have to be one he had absolutely no control over.

But Lucien didn’t see that happening anytime soon. He gripped the spear and pushed himself forward, lunging with both hands to drive the blade into the upper region of the Wight before him.

He managed to make the strike moments before his invisibility was undone. He plunged the spear deeper and twisted it, tearing it out through the monster’s shoulder with tremendous force.

At that moment, the remaining Wights lunged at him. There were several of them—Lucien briefly counted seven at once, and there were more still moving within the depth of the woods.

Lucien gritted his teeth. His invisibility had worn off, and according to the timing of the tremors caused by the bsttle between the main characters, another tremor was supposed to happen again. It had been consistent for the last ten minutes, so Lucien had built his entire battle strategy around it.

In this moment, it should happen. And it not happening was so dire that it could reverse the entire direction of Lucien’s uninterrupted victory so far.

The Wights shot forward, their entire bodies seeming to elongate as they flew toward him. He tried to swing his spear, the burning blade slicing across a few limbs. But there were too many, and he was surrounded in an instant.

[You have lost 321 health points]

[You have lost 209 health points]

Lucien danced dangerously around the sharp branches of the Palebranch Wights as they lunged at him, but he couldn’t avoid the grazes here and there.

Looking at how much he was losing from them, a direct assault was going to be fatal.

Lucien gritted his teeth internally.

’I’m weak... I’m weak. I’m too weak!’

No one had asked him to hunt higher-level monsters, but still, it sucked not being able to triumph over his situation. He felt frustrated and utterly out of control.

It wasn’t a feeling he was used to. He was both infuriated and blazing with a strange excitement as he desperately tried to dodge the attacks of the Wights.

He was barely managing, trapped in the midst of all of them, trying to break out. But there was no way. His desperation gave way to unsteadiness, rashness in his steps and execution.

Even Severance was beginning to miss.

[You have received damage]

[You have lost 483 health points]

[You have lost 399 health points]

[You have lost 387 health points]

Lucien didn’t know how to handle himself. His spear was becoming useless no matter how much he plunged it forward, and the branch-like whips were landing clean hits across his body.

Although his armor was absorbing most of the pain, he was still receiving significant damage.

Suddenly, the landscape shook. But the shake this time was different. More violent.

Something was coming at them.

The tall pale trees were being bulldozed from behind them as Godzilla shoved into the Elder monster, crushing it forward with devastating force.

The entire woods were caving under their disastrous might, and trees were being shattered as the two massive monsters crashed into each other and rolled through the woods, devastating everything in their path and heading straight toward the horde of Elite Wights and Lucien.