[Sweet Nightmares]

Ian went over to the mage who was currently knocked out. “Penny, wake up. We need your help.”

Penny was shocked awake with rapid breaths. Past trauma suddenly surged back up within her. It had made the blood battlefield before her look like a child’s playground.

“Ian? What happened…” Penny watched on helplessly. After asking that question, she felt her stomach experience a stinging pain. Looking down, it didn’t seem as if she got stabbed but it was as if she was struck by a great hammer at full force.

Coughing out blood, she felt slightly better. Blood had clogged her lungs. Hugging her stomach, she tried to remedy the situation.

[Minor Healing | Gain Combat Power: +20 | Penny: 123.23]

It had remedied her pain short-term but it was bound to burst out again. She was currently not in any position to fight at all.

“Long story short, our enemy became a whole lot stronger and we need you to cast [Light Force] again. Its hide is now its weakness and only you can do it.” Ian spoke in a serious tone. The severity of the situation made his usual expression change grim.

Penny shook her head slowly. “I can’t. I can barely see straight. Where are the others? Where’s Julliard?”

“The new guy’s fighting against the enemy by himself. He’s really struggling. As for Kinston and Mancer, they’re both dead.” Ian shook his head.

“So where’s Julliard?” Penny fought against the fatigue to figure out the answer. Julliard was a middle-aged man wearing round glasses. He had been previously responsible for preventing any creatures from reaching Penny using his specialized needles.

Ian’s silence was all she needed to hear.

“I’m getting that fucker.” Penny forced herself.

[Future Injuries | Gain Combat Power: +235.81 | Penny: 359.04]

Penny’s injuries visibly disappeared from her as she regained her full power. She had just returned back to her peak. Yet she wasn’t done yet.

[Light Force: Sword]

[Light Force: Spear]

[Light Force: Bow]

After conjuring three consecutive spells in a row, Penny blended it all together. The fluid motions of the sword, the devastating strikes of a spear, and the speed of an arrow. She had blended it all together into one singular attack. The strength of which was leagues higher than any of the parts it created it.

[Light Force: Trifecta]

Instead of taking any shape, orbs of light flew in the air. This was Penny’s strongest attack that essentially took everything away from her. It was so powerful that it could even pierce through the hide of the previous Gut Drinker with ease.

Streams of blood fell down Penny’s eyes.

As powerful as this attack was, it also required a corresponding price to pay. Her lifespan. Her mana wasn’t enough to activate this power so it required her to tap into her very own life force.

Ian’s job was done, the bait had been set. It was all up to Sammuel now.

Penny’s orbs of light struck the Gut Drinker’s flailing lashes and tongues. What should’ve done damage merely had the Gut Drinker ignore it. Yet once one orb of light met its hide, it screeched in agony. The Gut Drinker now took Penny seriously.

“You took Julliard away from me! That’s nothing compared to the pain I feel!”

A surge of intertwined pieces of white and black flesh tried to drink Penny’s insides. It was time for Ian to step up and protect her. He needed to buy enough time for Sammuel. The longer Penny survived, the more likely it was for this plan to succeed.

Ian wasn’t able to blatantly block these attacks at all, merely able to divert them away, barely missing them. As easily as Ian made it look, it took a major toll on him. If not for his fans, he would’ve already been skewed ages ago.

“Aahhhhhh!” Penny’s screams didn’t increase her power, only venting out that her lover had been killed. It was a risk on this battlefield and she had already accepted it mentally but when it came down to it she was unable to bear it.

Her orbs of light kept replenishing themselves using Penny’s life force. By pouring her heart out, she slowly but surely inflicted damage to the Gut Drinker yet it wasn’t enough to even hinder it at all. The main method of attack it had was using these unsightly tentacles to pierce the insides of its prey. Destroying its hide merely angered it if one didn’t completely destroy its core organs.

The battle was at its peak. Even Weston above, watched on as everything unfolded before. He looked up where Alyur had returned to her child form.

“Five creatures with [Blessing of Moonlight]? That is not what we agreed upon, Alyur.” Weston narrowed his eyes. Such an unexpected move so early on already showed how tricky Alyur was.

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“Be grateful that it’s only five creatures. If need be, I could have every creature here be blessed with moonlight. If anything, I’m the one being generous, wouldn’t you agree?” Alyur hollowedly said.

Weston raged for it was true.

“How do you expect us to defend like this?”

“I don’t. That’s why I’m doing it.” Alyur coldly stated. “Give me the Hatchling or this will only get worse, much, much, worse.”

“Then I have no other choice, I’m also going to bless my people. You can’t disagree at all.” Weston gritted his teeth, such a choice was monumental.

“You? You’re not even strong enough to handle a single attack of mine. How do you think you’ll do it? Cutting your foundation apart? You’re not even a Great being.”

“Then it’s settled.” Weston turned back, he would have to lose a large portion of himself yet this was the only way. Looking down, he gazed at the five creatures that had been blessed by moonlight being fought by five different groups.

Three of the five creatures were slowly being dealt with easily as there were people who were strong enough to properly deal with such an overwhelming force. The only problem was two such creatures. A Gut Drinker and a Maliefied Racoon.

A ten-man group was fighting against the Maliefied Racoon. Although they were all helpless with an average Combat Power of 400 against a creature that had 500 Combat Power, they all worked together seamlessly.

A singular young man was the core of this group. His seemingly arrogant expression as a tinge of red mist flowed out from within him. The power he gained from such a brutal battlefield only served to make him stronger.

[Art of Killing | Gain Combat Power: 274.23 | Xeril: 338.53]

With a spear in hand, he stared down the Maliefied Racoon that had turned black and white. He didn’t lose himself as Sammuel did. Fully in control, Xeril’s muscles bulged. He was similarly at his very limit. With nine people holding the Maliefied Racoon down, Xeril shot himself like a bullet, entering through the body of the Maliefied Racoon and leaving the other side.

[Point Burst | Gain Combat Power: +??? | Xeril: ???]

Xeril had completely lost control. His most powerful technique was far too explosive himself. His hands shattered and his heart nearly stopped. If not for two people able to perform healing, Xeril would’ve bled out. After dealing the last strike, Xeril was sent back and hailed as a hero. A fitting outcome for someone of his skill level.

Although seemingly one of the two most problematic creatures, Xeril’s group had managed to kill it first. Weston nodded with his performance. This was truly someone worthy of becoming a monster on the same levels as him, if not higher.

The only problem was with the Gut Drinker. There seemed to only be two people left fighting against it. They were all elites but they were caught off-guard by the sudden strength-increase. Leading to three of the five initial members to due an unjust death.

Weston didn’t even see Sammuel’s contribution.

Penny was burning her life away, to hopefully deal the lethal strike to end it all but couldn’t. Ian was also on his last legs, barely able to divert such powerful attacks.

Weston sighed, four groups winning was good enough. Fortunately, they only lost five strong soldiers, which was within expectations considering [Blessing of Moonlight].

It was then that Ian shouted out.

“Now!” His voice boomed all over his part of the battlefield, completely unexpected. Ian had actually run up towards the Gut Drinker, completely ignoring Penny’s baffled expression.

By running away… I’m going to... Penny’s stomach had been pierced through by the Gut Drinker. Her expression of betrayal was extreme. She wanted to rage at Ian. She placed her hand in front of her and saw that it was no longer youthful and elastic, it had become old and decrepit.

Looking behind her, she could no longer use [Light Force: Trifecta] she was useless now. Thrown away until the very end… Pity poor me. Ha, like I care anymore.

Penny was killed in action. A severe consequence of such a battle.

Ian nimbly moved forward, dodging everything that the Gut Drinker had thrown at him. The Gut Drinker’s anger had been fully placed at Penny, letting Ian handle much less aggro than before.

“What the hell is Sammuel doing? Where is he?!” Ian couldn’t help but voice out his disgruntled cry. “Cut the damn thing already!”

Sammuel had sneakily moved around using [Ego: Goblin]. He didn’t know any other creature that was as sneaky as this that he had gained but he wanted something consistent. Sammuel sneaked all around to finally reach just behind the Gut Drinker.

While he was moving about, he recalled a certain enemy he killed.

[Switch Ego: Six-Handed Monkey]

Its hands were completely terrifying too bad its body was extremely slow. Sammuel made use of this fact and quickly decapitated it before it did anything. Such a creature was biased towards one thing and one thing only, making it extremely easy for Sammuel to dispatch it.

[Combat Power: 183.24]

It had an extremely low Combat Power, relative to what he could get with [Ego: Runic Bear] but that didn’t matter at all. Sammuel had another thing up his sleeve.

Learning under Jynnette, Sammuel had learned two skills, [Art of Killing] a very destructive [Skill] that could completely thrive on bloodshed, and [Hardened Fist] a technique that grew stronger as their fists became harder.

Now it was time to see just how terrifying [Hardened Fist] was with an Experienced Mastery. Higher than Amateur Mastery and Novice Mastery, the highest one he had achieved due to its sheer simplicity.

[Hardened Fist | Gain Combat Power: 363.94 | Sammuel: 547.18]

This was Combat Power that was fully placed inside Sammuel’s fists. His defenses were weaker, his vitality was lighter, and his very existence only served to be a devastating force that struck all his foes and his first target, the Gut Drinker.

Taking his stance, he placed himself directly beside the Gut Drinker without even realizing it. Sammuel took in a deep breath, composing himself for this one singular attack. Penny had acted as a diversion all for him to land the killing blow. It was completely against his morals to do so yet when it came down to it, this was the only way to win this battle.

Smash.

Ian was going in deeper, trying to take even more aggro for Sammuel to make his move. His limbs were getting extremely tired at this point. Everything up to this point relied on some random person he met a few minutes ago.

“Just what is he-” Ian blocked one last final attack from the Gut Drinker before he fell down on the ground. He watched as he was about to have his insides ripped out when the unexpected happened.

An explosive force so powerful that it created shockwaves across the entire battlefield. Humans and monsters alike felt their very hearts resonate with the overwhelmingly power attack.

The Gut Drinker, which had its very existence nearly killed all of them was not nothing but a pile of liquidized meat and pulverized bone.

“That bastard actually did it. But... what the hell was that power?” Ian was both relieved and confused.

Sammuel had done it. He had killed the Gut Drinker with a single strike. He had bathed in Gut Drinker blood and he was extremely satisfied. The EXP didn’t matter at all that it went to [Ego: Six-Handed Monkey] as he was finally about to gain an unbelievably terrifying [Ego].

[First Kill]

[Conditions for First Kill have not been fulfilled. Missing Criteria: Needs to be killed solo.]

“You have got to be kidding me…” Sammuel was speechless.