Just like every other day, Ark stood in the middle of the two trains waiting for the monsters to come. It had got tiring by now. A boring and repetitive cycle where everything was the same. Ark would wake up, lie down, make some plans, and wait for the monsters to come. Nothing had changed in the past few days. Except, Ark had a rough stubble on his face now. He preferred to stay clean-shaven all the time, but sadly the System shop only sold weapons. There was no way Ark could shave at the current moment.

Something that seemed to always startle Ark out of his thoughts was the condition of the two trains. They were not natural at all. For the first five days, the trains had suffered more than Ark had. The blood of all the monsters, the toxic vapors of the mold zombies, or the chain reactions of the black salt. The trains always seemed to remain in pristine condition. It was to such an extent that even the acidic monsters or the tentacled tadpoles of Cthulhu could do nothing to it.

Even when the biggest boss monster out of all of them, the Wendigo had expanded rapidly and smashed its hands against the trains, there seemed to be no dent in them at all. Coincidentally, the space between the two trains was far enough that it provided enough space for Ark for fighting all those monsters. It was also a wonder how pure Arkana was attached to the trains. They were definitely otherworldly.

Speaking of Monsters though, Ark still had two things he kept in his mind. For the first few days, Ark had dared not hope something. He was weak after all. But after he had defeated the Wendigo solo, his confidence had skyrocketed. He wanted to know where all the monsters came from. The train seemed never ending at first glance. Ark didn’t know how long it would take for him to run all the length of the train. The place from where it originated would probably give him a clue about the origins of all those monsters.

Ark was confident that he could handle anything the second scenario threw at him now. At least, he was confident about the sixth horde of monsters. He knew for certain that he would be able to handle anything today. This was because the Wendigo was not an ordinary monster. If everything went according to the System’s plan, then the boss monster of the sixth horde would be as tough as the Wendigo.

Ark had defeated the Wendigo despite being severely under leveled. And now that he had leveled up and no difficulty adjustment scenario had popped up, he was pretty sure that he could make quick work of the monsters. He did not have any high hopes for gaining levels though. He would probably be able to only gain a maximum amount of four levels if he defeated the monster. But first Ark needed to know what the monsters were.

After Ark was done with the sixth horde monsters, he would go and check out the place from where both the trains originated from. It was probably also the origin of the monsters. Ark was surprised it had taken him so long to take the initiative. He should have checked it out before the fourth horde had even appeared. Ark would be better safe than sorry and head for the place as soon as he was done with the monsters.

The horde of monsters arrived at last. Ark could not see them yet but he could hear some rattling sound. He could hear the scratching of metal over metal. He had a vague idea about what the monsters were supposed to be. The monsters slowly came closer and Ark looked closely at them

The bottom feeders or the weakest of them all were like a tiny ball made completely out of metal. It had something glowing present inside itself and it moved like a chain mail armor. The stronger ones looked equally as ridiculous. Every single monster was like a knight n medieval armor. This was going to be the easiest battle among them all. The sixth horde would probably have been tough because of the monster’s innate hard surface which gave them rigidity and made their exterior very hard. The plates of metal all over their body were probably also Arkana-resistant.

If Ark had to fight against every single one of them, he would probably have a lot of trouble coming up with ideas to defeat them. It would not be a matter of if he could or not. He needed to have the stamina as well as the Arkana to support himself. Luckily for him, Ark had many trump cards. The sixth horde of monsters was probably the worst match-up.

Despite the strength of the metallic knights they had one glaring weakness. All that metal made the spirit that rested inside very very slow. This was why it took the monsters so long to even reach Ark. This meant that if Ark increased the mass of the monster by many degrees, it would pack a heavy punch, that was for sure but it would also be functionally useless. It could not even move and all of its swings would be predictable. Ark sighed at the easy win.

He wanted to have some fun while fighting these monsters as the night was the only time Ark could truly feel the spark. But, it was a matter of safety too. He could have all the fun he wanted if the people remained safe. In this particular instance, If Ark was to have fun, it would not be a pleasant sight for the civilians. As soon as one of the weaker monsters leaped at Ark, Ark activated his utility card which was the MVP of the second scenario.

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There was one thing Ark had realized with his fight yesterday. The effects of the legendary card were quite good. It made all the monsters ignore him which was a great thing. There was another effect though, a monster would turn into a boss monster…Ark had realized a very specific problem with this effect. It was like a loophole. Where would the boss monster get the materials from? The materials were required to make itself stronger. It could not just magically get stronger.

This was the same thing that had happened with the Wendigo. The Wendigo had started to cannibalize its own kin so that it could get the nutrition it needed to fight Ark. What material would the boss monster use then? Why wasn't it the same metal that all the weaker monsters were wearing? As soon as the weaker monster had jumped, it got sucked into a whirlwind of extreme lava and chain mail. The boss monster was slowly starting to take its form.

The whirlwind died down and what remained in its place was a magnificent piece of Armour. Red hot magma could be seen from some of its crevices. The armor that the knight was wearing was quite sleek and a tree-like golden pattern was engraved onto it. The sheen guards were the same. The transformation had changed the boss monster completely. Its head was hidden by a helmet which was in the form of a certain antler. It almost reminded Ark of the Wendigo he had fought earlier.

The knight had a great sword in one of his hands and a shield in another. Ark was pretty certain that its Agility was lower than his but the Strength stat far surpassed his own. The knight might move slowly but if Ark was hit directly, he would no doubt die a very painful death.

The Knight was something Ark had never seen in his life before. It was a completely different creation made from the remains of the other monsters. Ark realized that his earlier plan of using the third technique on the knight was not feasible. He would not even try to get close to it without any weapon in hand. He needed to have one constantly in order to parry or block. Ark too bought a sword from the System Shop. If the Tower wanted him to fight the knight with swordsmanship alone, then he would gladly do so.

The knight was the first to move. It swung its sword horizontally but Ark was quick to react and dodged the hit. He landed a hit of his own. It seemed to not have any effect. Ark was not even intending for there to be an effect. This was just the first stage of the fight, Ark would have to slowly and methodically chip away at its health.

Ark was having fun fighting the boss monster. It was like his own training dummy. Ark could do everything he wanted and the knight would take it all. Ark was smiling maniacally now. He had missed these kinds of fights. The last time he was in such a fight was when the Sword Saint and he had a practice match. Suffice to say, he had lost badly. Would he lose against the knight? Ark didn’t think so

The knight stabbed and swung its sword and couple of times more but when it seemed to have almost no effect, it decided to change its tactics. It ran straight at Ark and stabbed its sword. It was a surprisingly fast attack but Ark was able to dodge to the left. As soon as he got the chance Ark hit the knight again at the same exact spot.

The two stabs were not going to have a great effect but the battle was going to be a long drawn-out one. Ark could feel it in his bones. The knight had stopped its barrage of attacks which gave Ark another chance to hit the spot of the Ark. Ark was keeping track of the spot by visual input. It was the part of the armor on which the branches of the tree met.

The knight was not only using its great sword though. It had not forgotten that it also had a shield. The shield could be used as a secondary weapon too and so the knight attempted the beloved shield bash. Like all the other times, Ark dodged it at the last second.

The knight seemed to have gotten a little faster. It was not noticeable just yet but a few extra milliseconds could Ark’s demise. As soon as the knight was done with the shield bash, it turned around and dragged its sword along the ground. Ark was prepared for anything that was going to come. The sword sparked as it was being dragged and almost immediately the knight slashed the sword upward.

For the first time in the fight, It was Ark who got hit. It was one of the residual sparks from the sword which caught onto Ark’s flesh, cleaning and burning it. Ark was pretty sure his Constitution would get to work soon. He decided to ignore the pain and retaliated against the knight. This time he hit the knight two times before he needed to retreat.

The knight slashed its sword again and lunged at Ark. Ark laughed at its Antics. It was so slow that Ark was easily able to dodge it. This seemed to anger the knight as it just stood there seemingly not doing anything.

Ark could have used this moment to attack the knight again but boss monsters did not do anything without a cause, which meant that perhaps the knight was going to attack Ark now. Ark’s prediction came true as the knight slowly lifted one of its knees high above the ground and stomped down.

Ark did not take any risk and jumped upwards. The stomp on the ground completely decimated the entire space between the two trains. The Knight used its diagonal attack again amidst the chaos, but Ark had already known this would happen and easily dodged it. This gave him the opportunity to hit the knight once again.

The same thing continued to happen for a couple more minutes. The knight would slash upwards, downwards, or in any direction. Ark would almost always be able to dodge the hit and land a hit of its own. This chipped away at the armor of the knight and finally, Ark made a breakthrough. The place where Ark was continuously hitting shattered and so did part of the armor.

The knight which was completely made up of metal had lost almost half of its health at once. This enraged the knight and it seemed to do an unusual attack for the first time in the entire fight. The knight must have fully decided that Ark was a threat and raised its right knee and stomped down on the ground again.

This time instead of the ground being decimated again, a wave of fire was the only thing Ark encountered. The boss monster of the second horde began its second phase