Chapter 17: Chapter Seventeen: The Hidden Mastermind (1)

Chapter Seventeen: The Hidden Mastermind (1)

Once the Amberfiends stepped foot within the 200 metre range, the Evolvers charged to meet them in battle.

Crimson Pulse tossed the spherical objects in his hands into the midst of the charging monsters, dealing significant damage with the mini explosions.

Abandoned Protocol retrieved a red arrow from her quiver and fired, leaving a red trail in the air. Once the arrow struck a Level 1 Amberfiend, it exploded into a ball of flames, killing the Amberfiend instantly.

The other Evolvers also revealed their trump cards one after the other and the Amberfiends fell at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Edgar Lugard continuously fired his pistol, each bullet striking a critical point. Unlike a sniper rifle, a single shot from the pistols wasn’t able to kill an Amberfiend, but two shots were more than enough.

As everyone attacked collectively, Valen wasn’t idle. He scanned the battlefield for Amberfiends that managed to slip through the Evolvers’ formation. Then, he would one-shot them.

With every shot of the sniper, Valen’s ears throbbed. Due to his enhanced hearing, the bang of the sniper was like an explosive detonating right beside him.

Thanks to his system relay’s noise-cancellation feature, his right ear wasn’t heavily affected. But his left ear bore the weight of the sound waves.

Valen also grew increasingly weaker as hunger burned fiercely within him. He felt like eating anything he laid eyes upon. It took great effort on his part to suppress this odd feeling.

’Hunger truly cannot be underestimated. From now on, before any future evolution, I must prepare a whole table of food— that is, if I survive, of course.’ Valen lamented internally as he fired the final bullet of the sniper rifle.

The second magazine containing eight bullets had been emptied.

Valen struggled to his feet, his sight becoming slightly foggy while the sounds around him seemed distant. His body’s temperature steadily rose, giving him the feeling that he might collapse at any moment.

The Amberfiends were soon cleared out, and every Evolver still alive cheered. They had totally annihilated an army of Level 1 monsters even though most of them hadn’t attained that level yet.

The points and Exp gained would greatly benefit their future development. Some cheered, while others were mournful. They stared at their dead compatriots on the battlefield.

These people had been saved once by the lifesaving barrier, yet they had still been killed. This caused a feeling of heaviness to fill everyone’s hearts.

Valen also stared at the corpses, feeling both rage and helplessness. He could only silently promise those fallen that he would avenge them once he had the strength.

The invasion of the Day Walkers had dealt a massive blow to humanity, one that even the Humanity System could do nothing about.

Throughout the century-long battle, how many had died in such a way? Valen didn’t know.

His father had probably died this way too, in the abyss. Why were good people discarded so easily by this world? Valen also didn’t know.

He had a vague inkling that his father’s death wasn’t ordinary and must’ve been a conspiracy orchestrated by a very powerful personage. Even his grandfather couldn’t uncover the cause.

This was why Valen had sworn he wouldn’t rest until he dug out the whole truth. Why must evil be allowed to reign supreme? Why must the innocent be sacrificed by those in power? Why should the powerless be chess pieces while the emperors remained the players?

Like his father always said: "A cruel world is no excuse for a corrupted heart. If darkness changes you into another monster, then the darkness has already won."

Valen clenched his fists tightly, staring into the distance. A world that hides the truth, a structure that kills to maintain itself, and people with hearts as dark as the abyss itself... deserved to burn.

And he? He would be the executor. He would take the most precious thing away from them first—power. Then, once he became a supreme leader capable of delivering verdicts, he would bring them to ruin.

Since the world respected monsters, what would they think about a monster killer?

Valen took in a deep breath to suppress his rampaging emotions. In no time, he was back to normal.

Checking his profile, he realised he had received a bountiful amount of Exp and Points. The loot in his log was also frighteningly numerous.

Although not every Amberfiend gave loot, there were still close to 18 items in the party’s reward menu. They could sell the items they didn’t need at the underground town for credits or exchange them for something equally valuable.

System points couldn’t be traded, but items bought with them could be.

Valen shifted his gaze toward the other parties in the area and said, "In 10 minutes, reinforcements will arrive. Those who want to stay at the Elite Sector and wait the time out can do so. Those willing to head into the Hero Sector can step forward so we can team up."

Valen knew he was acting crazy. With how weakened he was, heading to the Hero Sector wasn’t something a logical person would do.

But Valen knew he had to. This beast haven only had cracked training grounds with no treasures to pick. Perhaps the earliest team to clear the haven had taken everything, but he didn’t want his trip here to be wasted.

So his true goal was the castle within the Hero Sector. Yes, the Black Ruin Castle itself!

The Hero Sector had merely been a convenient excuse to hide his intentions. From his fights with the Amberfiends, he knew they weren’t intelligent.

So how were they able to build a castle? In only three months at that! Unless there was some hidden mastermind operating behind the scenes. It might even be a Day Walker!

For the City Lord to leave this place as a training ground, it was obvious that the earliest team hadn’t found anything valuable within the castle. But would a Day Walker store its belongings in an easy-to-access place?

While he was deep in thought, Valen’s party members had already gathered around him, their intentions obvious.

"I’m Tristan Nebula and I’m willing to team up." The black-haired youth—who had already stepped out of the destroyed black Power Suit—stepped forward.

"I, Edgar Lugard, am willing to team up." Edgar also stepped forward, still clad in his purple suit.

In the end, two others also agreed to come along while the remaining parties decided to wait things out at the Elite Sector.

Now, Valen’s party expanded from eleven to fifteen. The four new additions were Edgar, Tristan, Red Diploma and Willow Star.

Due to the emergency mode of the dungeon, the system allowed the fifteen of them entry into the Hero Sector. The moment they stepped into the Hero Sector, they noticed that almost everywhere was covered in flames.

A few heavyweight mechs piloted by humans blasted explosive cannons nonstop at a wave of hundreds of Amberfiends.

Roars of anger continuously left their mouths as they vented their frustration.

"I bought this Lv. 5 mech with a freaking 50,000 credits, wanting to show it off to my classmate’s parents so they would allow me to marry her. Yet, an uprising just happened to occur during my time to shine. Now my mech is littered with cracks. 50,000 credits! I wasted 50,000 credits! Stupid monsters! Can’t they just give up?! Why are there so many?! SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME!"

"You’re complaining about a mere 50k. I went the extra mile and installed a lot of purple components on my mech. You know how expensive those were? 130,000 CREDITS! HAHAHA, I SPENT SO MUCH MONEY ONLY TO DIE SOON AFTER!!! HAHAHA!!!" 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"10 minutes? In ten minutes we’ll be minced meat. I guess the reinforcements shouldn’t bother showing up then."

...

When Valen and the others heard these maniacal comments, their expressions turned heavy. They observed the levels of the numerous Amberfiends and their eyes nearly popped out in shock.

---

[Amberfiend || Vitality: 1000/1000]

Level: 3%

Class: Normal

Type: Beast

[Amberfiend || Vitality: 1250/1250]

Level: 3.30%

Class: Normal

Type: Beast

[Amberfiend || Vitality: 1330/1330]

Level: 3.50%

Class: Normal

Type: Beast

[Amberfiend || Vitality: 1800/1800]

Level: 4%

Class: Normal

Type: Beast

---

Despair coloured everyone’s faces at this sight. This was simply a miniature version of a death game where survival was promised, yet death remained inevitable. Level 3s? Even Level 4s? With such high vitality, who could possibly survive that?

Similar to the HP of humans, vitality didn’t directly signify the life force of a monster.

Some creatures could survive for hours even after their hearts were punctured before finally succumbing to death. This was because of their high vitality.

In an effort to measure this elusive quantity, countless experiments had been carried out. Even within the human race, vitality levels differed.

For instance, some people could catch a cold simply by remaining outside for a few short minutes. Others could endure similar conditions for days before falling sick.

Even now, the vitality system wasn’t perfect, but it still served to warn humans of the danger levels of certain monsters.

Watching hundreds of Level 3 and Level 4 Amberfiends drained any fighting spirit the party possessed.

Valen’s mind raced for possible solutions. Aside from the small pistol he always carried with him, there was nothing else in his arsenal capable of dealing with the current situation.

His pistol was only Common-ranked and its damage against the Amberfiends would be too minuscule, so it was immediately ruled out.

’What else?’ He gritted his teeth in frustration, especially when he noticed more than a dozen Level 3 Amberfiends heading toward his team. He was currently weakened, and fighting a prolonged battle would only make him collapse faster.

’Why are there so many Amberfiends? It doesn’t make any sense! Even with my D-Rank Power Suit, I’ll still die.’ He let out an internal growl filled with frustration.

Then, as though recalling something, his eyes glowed.

’Come to think of it, I’ve never really inspected the customised Power Suit from the system. Perhaps it has something?’ he thought as he activated the Inspect skill.

Every weapon sold in the current era had been registered into the system’s database, so he was merely viewing that information through the skill. His system lenses glowed as lines of words appeared in his vision.

---

[Lv. 5 D-Rank Vantir Alloy Suit (Swordman Model)]

Details: A lightweight power suit built for speed and precision with the capability of fending off all strikes below Level 5.

[In-built Components:]

{Electric Guns}, {Arm Blades}, {Void Fibre}, {Singularity Reactor}, and {Singularity Burst}

{Electric Guns (Black Component): Fires condensed electrical beams at opponents, inducing a paralysing effect.

Fire Rate: 0.5/s

Energy Level: 100%

Durability: 25}

{Arm Blades (Black Component): Extremely sharp blades created from cryptite ore.}

{Void Fibre (Black Component): A flexible, precious thread used to assemble power suits.}

{Singularity Reactor (Purple Component): The suit’s power source that generates the energy needed by the other components. Installed within it is the Singularity Mini Cannon.

Singularity Mini Cannon

Classification: Experimental Gravitic Weapon System.

Details: A Singulite-powered weapon that compresses volatile particles into unstable matter. After launch, the mass implodes beyond ten metres, dispersing superheated particles capable of melting flesh and damaging armour.}

---

The information from the inspection made Valen doubt his eyes. Was that really a Lv. 5 Power Suit?

Just then, laughter rang out from atop the castle, interrupting his train of thought.

It wasn’t only him. Everyone looked upward, and the Amberfiends paused their assaults.

"You are all finally where I want you to be. Although only fifteen of you came into the Hero Sector, coupled with my army of Amberfiends, it should be enough." A cloaked individual seated atop a floating bronze throne chuckled, his youthful voice spreading throughout the Black Ruin Castle Beast Haven.

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A/N: One day, three tomorrow. By the way, I just got a contract from WN and I’m super excited to see how this novel would play out. Please support this story with powerstones, golden tickets or gifts! Currently, the story has no votes, comments or review, making it look quite desolate.