The ground exploded, sending a shower of wet earth and rotting leaves into the air. Reidar raised his wand and channeled mana into the [Sovereign's Absolute Carapace] skill.

A massive tail, thick as a tree trunk and covered in slime-slicked scales, slammed into the Terran Bulwark standing in front of him. The stone elemental groaned under the impact, but it resisted the attack.

"Left flank!" Lena said.

Reidar didn't need to look.

The two monsters were circling them. They looked like Komodo dragons that had been stretched and mutated too much by mana, their bodies low to the ground, covered in scales that made them hard to track against the ground.

—[Silt-Stalker Monitor—Level 363]—

—[Silt-Stalker Monitor—Level 363]—

They were fast, heavy, and insidious.

"Jake, catch the one on the left!" Reidar said. "Keep it off the archers!"

Jake was already moving. He had activated his Augmentation trait and increased his S.H.I.E.L.D. attribute, making his skin as hard as polished iron. With explosive momentum, Jake threw his entire shoulder into the side of the first Monitor as it attempted to lunge past the defensive front line of Reidar's assembled army.

The Monitor skidded sideways, and it snapped its jaws at Jake, but the 11-year-old boy batted the snout away with a punch.

"It's slippery!" Jake said.

"Just keep it busy!"

Reidar turned his attention to the second Monitor. It was trying to flank them, using the chaos of the fight to slip behind the Twin Boulderback Behemoths that Reidar was using as protection. Reidar was trying to bring his summoning skills to higher proficiency levels so that he could offset his current weakness. At the same time, he was trying to bring his higher-tiered skills to higher proficiency since he could not yet share them.

It was smart. It knew the stone giants were slower than it.

"Oh no, you don't."

He raised the Void-Caller's Baton.

[Summon: Apex Menagerie.]

The air tore open, and Ten Death-Stalker Scorpions materialized.

"Pin it."

The scorpions rushed ahead. The Monitor spotted them and let out a hiss, its throat swelling as it readied a venomous spray.

"Block it!"

A Terran Bulwark stepped in the line of fire. The glob of green spit hit the stone shield and sizzled, eating into the rock. If that had hit a person, they would have been dissolved down to the bone in seconds, and the same would have happened to the Death-Stalker Scorpions.

The summons capitalized on the opening. Two of them clamped their pincers onto the Monitor's hind legs. The lizard thrashed, whipping its tail around to kill one of the scorpions, but the others held on.

"Lena, the neck!"

Lena descended from the tree canopy above, where she'd been waiting for the beast being restrained. She touched down on the Monitor's spine and plunged her blades into the vulnerable flesh at the junction of neck and shoulder.

The Monitor bucked. Lena held on for a second, carving a deep wound, then backflipped off as the creature rolled to crush her.

She landed in a crouch next to Reidar.

"Thick hide," she said, breathing hard. "My daggers are chipping. We need to hit the underbelly or the eyes."

"Then let's flip it," Reidar said.

He checked his mana. He was down to sixty percent. His various perks were regenerating it steadily, but these high-tier summons were expensive to create, and since Reidar had to spam cast to increase their proficiencies, he was keeping the number of summons his other creatures brought on to low numbers.

He focused on the Twin Boulderbacks.

"Grab the tail."

The stone giants lumbered forward, ignoring the Monitor's snapping jaws. One of them grabbed the lizard's tail with both hands. The Monitor clawed at the ground, trying to pull away, but the Boulderback was heavier.

With a grinding sound of stone against bone, the giant heaved. It lifted the Monitor's rear end into the air.

"Now! Flip it!"

The second Boulderback slammed its shoulder into the Monitor's exposed side. The creature lost its grip on the ground and went over, landing on its back and shaking the area.

Its underbelly got exposed to the sky.

"All units, focus fire!"

The Spectral Archers released a volley. Cinderheart Efreetis poured fire down onto the creature. The Death-Stalker Scorpions struck with their stingers, pumping neurotoxin into the soft flesh.

The Monitor shrieked, but that shriek got cut off abruptly as a Twin Boulderback brought both fists down on its chest. The ribcage collapsed.

[Silt-Stalker Monitor—Level 363 defeated.]

[You have gained 1,500,000 C.L.A.S.P. Points.] [You have earned 500,000 Survival Points.]

Reidar didn't pause to celebrate. He spun around.

"Jake, bring yours over!"

Jake was wrestling the second Monitor. He had it in a headlock, straining as the beast thrashed. Even Jake was trying to get a more active role since he needed more fighting experience.

The group decided they would split to complete both quests. Reidar would kill Silas, while Jake and Lena would deal with Ashwick, and that meant they both needed to learn how not to be reliant on Reidar.

Jake's armor was smoking where the saliva had touched it, and he was bleeding from a cut on his forehead.

"I can't hold it much longer!" Jake gritted out.

"Let it go!"

Jake released the beast and rolled backward. The Monitor scrambled to its feet, hissing, ready to charge.

It ran straight into a wall of Archon Rift-Lords.

The Rift-Lords discharged their attacks, disintegrating the space the monster was standing in.

Bolts of energy, fire, and ice slammed into the lizard. It tried to run at some point, but the Death-Stalker Scorpions cut off its escape.

It died under the weight of the swarm, buried beneath claws, magic, and stone.

[Silt-Stalker Monitor—Level 363 defeated.]

[You have gained 1,500,000 C.L.A.S.P. Points.]

[You have earned 500,000 Survival Points.]

Silence fell over the clearing.

Reidar lowered his wand. "Is everyone okay?"

"Alive," Lena said, wiping green slime off her leather armor. "But my daggers are ruined. That acid is no joke."

Jake sat on a log. "I think I swallowed some of that mud."

Reidar walked over to the carcasses and looted them.

It was the first time they had killed something this high level since the Colossi, and unlike the Colossi, these weren't mass-spawned drones. So, they were far stronger than the individual colossi.

Reidar reached into his inventory to see what he got.

It was a ring. Heavy, made of a dark, gunmetal material that was carved in the Monitor's head shape.

—[« Signet of the Twin Maws »] —

Rarity: Legendary (+85%)

Item Level (ILVL): 363 → Tier: 36

Category: Accessory

Sub-Type: Ring

Weight: 0.1 kg

RESISTANCES

Toxin: +45%

Physical: +15%

CORE ATTRIBUTES

A.C.U.M.E.N.: +25

S.H.I.E.L.D.: +10

PRIMARY EFFECTS

Pack Hunter's Bond: Active summons gain +20% Attack Speed when attacking the same target.

Toxic Synapse: All physical attacks by summons apply a stacking "Neurotoxin" debuff (Slows movement by 5%, deals 200 Poison damage/sec, and stacks up to 5 times).

SPECIAL PROPERTIES

Predatory Instinct: The wearer can sense enemies within 100m that are below 50% health.

Alpha's Call: Reduces the mana cost of "Beast" type summons by 15%.

REQUIREMENTS

Level: 350

Stats: A.C.U.M.E.N. ≥ 100

—[<<END>>]—

Reidar let out a low whistle.

This was good. Really good.

The attributes alone were a massive boost. But the passive effects were the real prize.

Toxic Synapse turned every single one of his summons into poison dispensers. Against a target like Silas, constant ticking damage and a slow effect were going to be useful.

And Pack Hunter's Bond… with the sheer number of units he commanded, focusing fire on a single target would turn them into a blender, and he already had perks that did the same, so this was a bonus. A good one at that.

He slipped the ring onto his right hand. It resized to fit his finger.

He looked at the others.

"I got a ring," Reidar said. "Boosts summon speed and adds poison to their attacks."

He walked over to the others. They were wielding daggers. Identical ones.

They were curved, wicked-looking things made of a bone-like material, while the handles were wrapped in dark leather.

"New toys," Reidar said.

Lena was inspecting the edge of her dagger.

"Fang of the Stalker," she read. "Tier 36."

She slashed it. "This is good."

"It has armor penetration," she said, looking impressed. "And a passive called 'Silt-Step' that increases movement speed in difficult terrain."

Jake held his up, looking at the serrated edge. "Mine says it does bonus damage against targets with high health. Like, giant monsters."

"Unfortunately, we are going to deal with humans."

Jake grinned. "It doesn't mean they don't have a lot of health."

Reidar nodded. The grind was working. The lizard monsters were tough, yes, but they had handled them. They hadn't nearly died.

"Equip them," Reidar said. "We aren't done yet. The lizards were hunting something. Which means there's more prey ahead."

He looked toward the deeper part of the forest, where the trees grew so thick they blocked out the sky.

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