Everyone left once they made their preparations, and they obtained the den quest. It wasn’t nighttime yet, but the group decided to set out anyway. They killed whatever mana creatures they came across until night came.
Most of the fighting was left to Zane’s group members from other worlds. Zane and the others born on this world simply followed along soaking up experience and training their skills. The skills they trained were related to influencing the surrounding mana.
Zane practiced creating different weapons out of mana. He wasn’t able to focus on making the weapons as small as before while walking, so he had to settle with creating normal size weapons. The training wasn’t very effective, but he did see a small increase in the level of his skills. Zane was eager to reach the next tier and he didn’t plan to waste any time. While he practiced, he could sense the other fighting him over the surrounding mana.
This made Zane put in more effort and increase his concentration while he trained. As all off them practiced they caused an increase in the surrounding mana. The seven of them created a vacuum as they fought over mana, and this caused more mana to come toward them. This benefited the other members of the group because more mana creatures would be attracted to the disturbance that was caused.
Eventually, night descended, and the group started making their way to the den. They didn’t notice that night had arrived until Sophie said the quest had showed her the location of the den. It was strange not to hear the familiar announcement that they heard in the past few nights. However, the group quickly adjusted and made their way to the den which was surprisingly close.
Once the group arrived at the den they didn’t immediately enter. Instead, Luna, Lana and Britney spread out while Shawn entered meditation. Less than a minute later, all four of them finished their investigations of the surrounding area.
“We didn’t see anything,” Luna said.
“I also didn’t obtain any information about people passing by,” Shawn said,
“Good,” Sophie said. “Since were the first people here let’s not waste time and head in immediately.” Sophie shared the den quest with the entire group.
The entrance to the den was at the bottom of a cliff wall, like the other dens the group went to. The first den they went to had four rooms and the second den had three. The group expected the third den to have two rooms, but they were unable to enter because of the elves. Following the logic of decreasing rooms Sophie began to prepare the group as they walked through darkness.
“All of the mana creatures should be in one area, and they will be a lot stronger. On the second den quest we faced two tier one mana creatures. We should prepare ourselves to face a lot more at this den.”
“Sounds good to me,” Jason said. “I barely got any experience from the mana creatures we’ve killed so far. You guys can relax and leave all the tier one mana creatures to me.”
“No arguments from me,” Britney said. “I’ll gladly soak up some experience while you do all the heavy lifting.”
“I’m just glad that the amount of people that the quest can be shared with increased,” Brad said. “Now me and Frank don’t have to work without pay.”
“It’s Frank and I,” Sam corrected.
“The increase in the amount of people the quest can be shared with is something that worries me,” Sophie said. “The system wouldn’t permit such a change unless it believed that the den quest had become significantly harder.”
“We know,” Zane said. “The amount of mana creatures we have to kill has increased, but we will be victorious like we were in the first and second quest.”
Everyone agreed with what Sophie and Zane said. The second den quest had much more monsters than the first den quest, but the quest objectives were very similar. The group had no idea what to expect and became more cautious as they continued to walk through the dark passage. The passage was inclined upward, and the group spent a few moments walking to reach the top.
Once they reached the top, Zane saw a large tree in an open area. The tree seemed taller than trees in the forest and it gave off a faint glow. He didn’t let himself get distracted by the tree and focused on the mana creatures moving around on top of it.
Adult Stone Claw Monkey Lvl 45
Dire Stone Claw Monkey Lvl 48
Dire Stone Claw Monkey Lvl 60
Using identify, Zane counted the number of monkeys in the tree and quickly determined their strength. There were fifty adult stone claw monkeys between the level of forty-five and forty-eight. There were sixteen dire stone claw monkeys and most of them were between level forty-eight and level fifty-two. Only one of the dire stone monkeys was at level sixty.
“Well, based on the quest objectives, there’s definitely a lot more mana creatures than I expected,” Shane said.
There were four quest objectives. The objectives told them to kill ten adult stone claw monkeys, three dire stone claw monkeys, destroy the den and kill all remaining mana creatures. Zane didn’t expect for the number of mana creatures at the den to be five times greater than the quest objectives. As this thought passed through his head, Zane unsuccessfully looked for the den crystal.
“Does anyone see the den crystal?” Sophie asked. Not receiving a positive response, she continued to speak. “It doesn’t matter. Our plan was to kill all the mana creatures first. We can look for it once were done.”
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“So, what’s the game plan?” Brad asked.
“Jason, Luna, Lana, Shawn, and Zane will be focusing on the dire mana creatures. Everyone else will focus on the other mana creatures. Shane and Brad will head out first to attract the most attention and everyone will attack after. Any questions?”
“Simple but strait forward,” Sam answered.
“Good. Now everyone should start preparing and I will start applying buffs.”
After Sophie finished speaking, she started casting buffs on everyone. Shane and Brad received three buffs. Each buff boosted their defense vitality and endurance. Zane, Luna, Lana, and Britney received three buffs. Each buff boosted their attack, strength and dexterity. Everyone else that used Magic received two buff which decreased their consumption and increased the effect of their magic.
Over the past few days, the group became very familiar with each other in combat. In fact, this wasn’t even the first time they fought this type of mana creatures. Once Sophie assigned the creatures that everyone would be fighting, they knew exactly what role they should play during the battle.
Stone claw monkeys were fast and agile. Therefore, Zane decided to counter them with weapons that allowed him to use his dexterity the best. He would start with archery, use his whip when they left the tree and attack with his knives when they got close. Placing his knives and quiver on his waist, he held his bow in his left hand and wrapped his whip around his chest. Zane left two of his ring slots empty, so he could easily put away, and possibly take back out, his bow and whip.
Looking at his weapons, Zane felt the desire to obtain weapons with greater strength, but he quickly pushed that feeling aside. The Messenger said that the items in the market would be discounted before the Upheaval, so Zane decided to wait to buy new weapons. Although Zane had more than five million village points, he knew his points weren’t enough to purchase multiple weapons from the top floor. It would be better to save his money now, so he could buy a lot more weapons later.
Zane shook his head and stopped thinking about his money problems. He refocused on his surroundings and saw that everyone was ready. Shane and Brad walked out and began releasing battle cries to attract attention.
“We’re here to challenge you,” Shane said. “Come down and fight.”
“Come on you stupid monkeys!” Brad shouted. “Come down here and let us bash your brains in.”
Their taunts had the expected result. A few of the adult stone claw monkeys started throwing rocks from above while the others climbed down to attack. The moment the monkeys’ feet touched the ground, everyone beside the people that would be attacking the dire mana creatures left the passageway.
Sam started applying debuffs to every monkey she saw on the ground. Whitney and Frank used their spells to quickly deal with the monkeys in the tree and stopped them from throwing rocks. This relieved the pressure that Shane and Brad had faced from their attacks. They quickly adjusted themselves and prepared for the incoming horde of monkeys. Britney appeared behind them ready to provide assistance.
Nodding his head in approval, Zane stopped paying attention to the battle with the adult monkeys. He placed his focus on the tree and prepared to attack the moment the dire monkeys made a move. For now, they only jumped around on the tree screeching at the monkeys below them. The screeches sounded like cheers at first, but they started to sound more distressed as more monkeys died. Eventually, one of the dire monkeys felt like it couldn’t sit still and started to raise its arm to attack.
Instantly, Zane, Lana and Jason were out of the passageway. Each of them quickly released a single attack on the dire monkey that was about to attack before confidently changing targets. Jason had used a mana bolt to blast open the chest of the initial dire monkey. Its ribs became visible and cracked. Jason attack sent the monkey flying back and two arrows pursued it ending its life.
Before the monkeys could react to the first death the trio took three other monkeys out of the battle. Jason easily killed the next dire creature he focused on with two mana bolts. Zane did the same for his enemy with three arrows. Lana used two arrows to blind her monkey and it fell down the tree afterward.
The remaining dire monkeys reacted and charged down the tree while screeching in rage. A few of them made it down without receiving injuries, but the majority received numerous injuries from arrows and mana bolts. Once they reached the ground the dire monkeys continued to charge forward, but their actions born from rage only caused more deaths. Before the dire monkeys could close the distance between them, five more monkeys had died.
As the dire monkeys approached, Luna started to step back, and Zane put his bow in his ring while taking his whip off his chest. Skill Combo. Lash. Slash. Zane’s attack split open a monkey’s throat and added another count to the death toll. One second after the monkey died a powerful roar was released from the tree. It was the level sixty dire monkey.
“I got this,” Jason said.
Zane felt an intense heat spread from Jason’s direction and looked over. He saw the same attack that Jason had used on the dire bear the first night. A familiar sphere of fire mana was in his hand but the flame at the center was much larger and more powerful. The moment the level sixty dire monkey placed its feet on the ground it was sent flying by Jason’s attack and was covered in flames. It only screamed for a few second as Jason’s attack burned it to death.
It didn’t take long for the battle to end after that. All the monkeys became furious after the death of the level sixty dire monkey and were charging forward without caring about their own lives. However, their suicidal charge didn’t help them and only made them die quicker. Zane and the others quickly dealt with the dire monkeys before helping the others kill the rest of the adult monkeys.
“That wasn’t so bad,” Brad said.
“That’s because you trained your skills to a high level,” Zane said. “If you had only focused on leveling up you would be a lot weaker than you are now.”
Brad rolled his eyes before responding. “I already admitted that you were right and training skills are important. You don’t need to keep bringing it up.
“It was my job to train you, so it’s my job to make sure you don’t forget it.”
“Found it,” Luna announced with a smile on her face from the crown of the tree.
“Great,” Sophie said. “Let’s finish collecting the corpses and then we can all head up.
Everyone climbed up the tree once they were finished on the ground. They walked and jumped across several branches until they reached an area where multiple branches intersected to create a solid floor. At the center of all the branches was the den crystal which released the image of stone monkeys they had recently killed.
“Luna, you should destroy it since you found it,” Sophie said.
Nobody disagreed with what Sophie said and encouraged Luna to destroy the den crystal. Everyone else sat down and waited for the rush of mana that would come once it was destroyed. Luna stepped forward and delivered a strike with one of her short swords.
Once the den crystal was destroyed everyone received the bonus reward for completing all objectives. The thirty thousand experience pushed Zane to level fifty, and he felt energy surged through his body. However, Zane was unable to feel anything else after a few seconds passed. No that wasn’t true. Zane felt the mana of the tree they were sitting on start to disperse.
A den has been destroyed causing the mana in the surroundings to increase. The mana creatures that appear during the first attack of the Upheaval will receive an increase in their strength and defense by five percent.
“Uh oh, I think we just fucked up,” Britney said.