Chapter 78-1: Infinite Monster Soul (1) |
Emperor’s Mound Mountain Range.
North of the ancient battlefield, in the Earthfissure Furnace region.
The chain of volcanoes stretched across the vast horizon like a giant dragon winding along the earth’s back.
Beneath the crust, magma surged, accompanied by the smell of sulfur and thick smoke, spewing forth in bursts of heat, flowing down from the peaks and solidifying into bands of rock as it cooled.
The air here was scorching, and the environment harsh.
At the foot of the volcano, a squad of players was struggling forward, resisting the onslaught of the raging Black Tide evil entities.
“Hahaha! New record, we’ve pushed into a new area!”
“I can’t hold on anymore, Iron Hammer, take the front. I need to fall back and catch my breath.”
With that, the player named Class Rep quickly retreated to the back of the group, taking deep breaths to recover vitality and mental power using the Qi Eater trait.
“Hurry up and recover, I’m about to fall too!”
Behind them, in humanoid form, Black Ball, Cute Baby, and Marble each had two Flowing Shadow clones under conscious control, moving in sync while summoning fireballs to hurl into the surging Black Tide evil entities. Each one clutched a bottle of mental recovery potion, ready to replenish their consumption at any time.
The fireballs fell into the surging horde of evil entities, dissolving large numbers of them.
Boom!
Suddenly, a loud explosion erupted as the Black Tide churned. The petrified Iron Hammer was blasted several meters into the air by the shockwave of the explosion.
“Damn, another Doll Fiend. How many of them have we run into today? It’s so annoying, they explode every time they die.”
“Good thing I fell back to heal just now. If I’d been low on health when that went off, I’d be locked in the black room for an hour.”
Realizing they had accidentally killed one of the Black Tide’s newly spawned evil entities, the ‘Doll Fiend,’ the players all complained over the voice channel.
As the Black Tide’s strength increased, it had spawned three new types of evil entities.
Among them, the most troublesome was the Doll Fiend, which could easily kill players with its death-triggered explosion.
However, the Doll Fiend’s explosion also cleared out a section of the Black Tide’s surge, opening up the players’ field of vision.
At this moment, Drunken Milk suddenly pointed to the sky.
“Look up, there’s something huge up there.”
Following his gesture, the players saw a massive crimson beast with wings battling some unknown creature amidst the dark red clouds. Each beat of its wings tore through the cloud layers.
But it was too far away for the players to see what kind of creature it was fighting.
Suddenly, the massive beast plummeted from the sky like a meteor, flames erupting as it streaked toward the members of the Kindergarten squad.
“We’re done for, it’s gonna crush us!”
As it drew closer, the players didn’t even have time to think about dodging.
But when the giant beast was less than a hundred meters from the ground, it forcefully stabilized itself with a powerful flap of its wings, then spewed out a blast of blue liquid from its mouth.
At that moment, the Kindergarten players finally saw its analysis data clearly.
[Flame Spirit (First-Generation Primordial)]:
Hunt Level: 138
Primordial Description: A First-Generation Primordial Monster that controls soul flames. Its fire burns the soul directly, causing targets to suffer continuous pain from soul burning. The soul fire attacks bypass physical defense, directly targeting the soul layer, with the damage effect influenced by the target’s mental power strength.
—
“Holy crap, a First-Generation Primordial at level 138? That’s insane!”
“Was it raised on steroids? This First-Generation Primordial could easily crush a Fourth-Generation Mystic Butterfly.”
Thanks to Guide’s explanations, the Kindergarten members all understood that in Monster World’s mechanics, a Primordial Monster’s hunt level was unrelated to its generation.
The generational classification only reflected growth potential. In theory, a First-Generation Primordial could also reach extremely high hunt levels and easily slay other Primordials with higher natural potential but lower development.
Still, the Kindergarten players were shocked by the Flame Spirit’s hunt level.
This Primordial Monster’s strength was far beyond any of the Primordials the player faction had previously contained. Even if all the contained Primordials were combined, they wouldn’t be a match for this First-Generation Primordial.
Roar!
A blast of wind mixed with a powerful shockwave swept down, forcing the Kindergarten players to grimace and crouch low under the pressure.
The Flame Spirit flapped its wings again, its entire body engulfed in blazing crimson flames. Lowering its gaze, it glanced briefly at the direction where the blue liquid it had spat out was falling, then turned into a streak of crimson light and shot into the sky, disappearing into the clouds in an instant.
“Thought I was headed to the black room for sure, can’t believe we survived.”
“Phew, even though it’s just a game, the Flame Spirit’s pressure was insane. My heart wouldn’t stop racing. That was intense.”
“Too bad it flew off. If it dared to land, I would’ve slide-slashed over and finished it off with a poison-infused chop.”
“Idiot Black Ball, can you even go one day without bragging? You sliding over would barely fill the gap between its teeth.”
—
The Kindergarten players, lucky to have survived, joked and bantered in the chat channel, creating a lively atmosphere.
At that moment, Iron Hammer raised an idea.
“Did you guys notice? There seemed to be something inside the blue liquid the Flame Spirit spat out. Did you see it?”
“Yeah, I think I saw something too, but I couldn’t make it out… you want to go check it out?” Drunken Milk looked at Iron Hammer in confusion.
“Yeah, let’s go take a look. Fortune favors the bold, cowards starve. Worst case, I end up in the black room reflecting on my mistakes.”