Spearbound Ch. 69

Kade ripped his [Soulrend] out of the troll’s leg as it fell to the ground. He walked up to the head and ended its suffering quickly.

He eyed the monsters watching him and walked away, signaling his intent to disengage. They had put up a decent resistance when he first killed off the trolls, but after slaughtering a hundred generals, they got the message to stay away.

Kade had traveled well over half the perimeter of the city on his mission to eradicate the trolls. It was honestly a tedious job with no personal rewards, but it had to be done.

The thing he found the strangest was their refusal to run when they found he was practically invincible. It was as if they had to attack Chicago.

“You didn’t need to call me back for this,” Eliza said. She had taken care of the parts of the perimeter he didn’t cover before meeting him at the end.

“In hindsight, yes,” Kade agreed. “But you saw how some groups struggled before you eased the pressure on them.”

“You could have dealt with this yourself, Kade.” Eliza frowned.

He shrugged, again not denying what she said. He still considered it the right call to have her as backup in case the generals did something drastic to his culling of the trolls.

“You can return now, if you want,” Kade offered.

Eliza shook her head. “I had Finn send a couple level forty Warriors. They’ll be enough.”

It dawned on Kade that she just didn’t want to deal with the monsters, and would have preferred chatting with her newfound friends. He ignored her.

They were facing Chicago from the swampy Lake Michigan, when the line of control was the widest. The defenders didn’t allow the line to move, and sometimes even made small gains into the monster wave.

The whole thing was a grind. Days of siege would be required to deplete the several-million-strong monster legion.

“They’re getting angry that we haven’t returned,” Eliza said, looking at her interface. “Well, it’s really just you they’re focusing on.”

“The organization chat?” Kade asked rhetorically. “I don’t really care. This is a golden opportunity for everyone to get a level boost.”

“I don’t disagree, but others will see you as someone who doesn’t care. I know it’s not true, but right now, that’s where it’s heading.”

Kade’s eyes flickered before he stood firm. He might make a good showing near the end to let everyone know he ‘cared,’ but that was as far as he would go.

The System had mentioned nothing, and it had kept the information of these stronger monsters vague in any answers it gave, but he could tell there was a change coming. He just didn’t know the specifics.

“One of us should head to the other side. Just in case,” Eliza said.

Kade saw what she wanted, get some space to cool off, and gave it to her with a nod. He watched her figure disappear before sighing. He hoped his hunch was right, or he would feel like shit.

***

Nearly a day had passed, and there had been no surprises.

Kade felt a sense of satisfaction that he had accomplished his goal. The defenders of the city killed more than half the monster legion, significantly raising everyone’s average level.

There was an upper limit of level thirty or so since that was the highest-level monster in the wave after he and Eliza eliminated the trolls, but that was still a significant jump for most.

Especially the [Healers]. Kade could already imagine how much more effective they would be at healing him.

He glanced at the organization chat, the only thing that allowed him to pass time as he kept watch, and smiled at the exuberant mood they were in.

Eliza: The monster wave will be eliminated soon. You should probably jump in now if you want to stay ranked.

Eliza’s willingness to contact Kade surprised him, but the message itself shocked him.

He quickly pulled up the leaderboard.

North American Rankings:

• Anita Shah (Archivist) – 349,928 points (+330,446)

• Eliza Brooks (Mage) – 51,829 points (+33,050) 

• Daniel Kim (Warrior) – 40,401 points (+38,013)

• Isaiah King (Warrior) – 35,741 points (+33,330)

• Noah Mitchell (Warrior) – 34,119 points (+31,710)

• Julian Wright (Warrior) – 31,818 points (+29,286)

• Caleb Price (Warrior) – 28,852 points (+26,269) 

• Amélie Tremblay (Mage) – 28,238 points (+25,619)

• Alejandro Torres (Rogue) – 27,102 points (+24,469)

• Kade Beckett (Arcane Lancer) – 26,801 points (+892)

Kade froze at the massive shifts on the leaderboard. The first thing he did was skim through the organization chat and confirmed that there was no talk about any leaderboards for some whatever reason.

He would have jumped into action long ago if there was.

“You’ve been busy, Eliza,” Kade said, summoning his [Soulrend]. He had mistakenly assumed that killing monsters on Earth had no benefit for him, since he hadn’t received points the last time he had done so.

Eliza: Not really. There are so many monsters that it’s hard not to kill a few.

A few. Kade chuckled, quickly accepting this was her way of getting back at him for sacrificing lives she thought were unnecessary.

He still held firm that it was the right choice, and he was content that she had given him plenty of warning before it was too late.

Kade eyed Anita’s number for a few seconds before dismissing the interface. She had once again proved that her rank was no fluke, and she specialized in massacres on a grand scale.

He had thought little about the other safe zones, but it was obvious they were all facing sieges on the same level as Chicago. It made him think about the planet itself.

“System, will Earth be able to withstand the level of destruction monsters and humans inflict on it in the future?”

Kade was capable of a nuke-like attack and it an ability he possessed from the start, meaning an initially poorly powered attack was now comparable to a nuke. If that extended to millions of humans, it would doom Earth.

“Your planet will develop in tandem with humanity. There will be no risk of extreme harm from its inhabitants or comparable monsters.”

“Convenient,” Kade mumbled, though he really was relieved.

He had a moment of panic, imagining Earth as a devastated wasteland from overpowered idiots throwing city-destroying abilities on a whim, and yes, he would be one of those idiots.

The defenders in the city have likely reached the saturation point with their level growth. It won’t hurt if I step in now.

Kade stared greedily at the monsters, relentlessly throwing themselves at the city. He didn’t know what drove the monsters’ commitment to the end, even with defeat a certainty, but he wouldn’t question something that benefited him.

These monsters were shop points so he could buy himself something nice, like that Grav-Sac that cost half a million points.

If Anita Shah could farm these monsters, so could he.

Kade considered which [Abilities] he should use to accomplish his new goal.

He had long deemed [Inferno Burst] as unsuitable because of his fear of friendly damage with how powerful that attack was. In fact, he intended to investigate how such a low-cost [Ability], in terms of [MP], could create such a devastating effect, but he didn’t have the chance because of the siege.

Kade’s mind locked onto [Arc Chain]. He had used it when he destroyed the last pillar in the rift zone, but in a form that was unusual for the [Ability]: a single, enormous lightning bolt. Far different from the chain of lightning it should to be.

He started walking towards the depleted legion, with his eyes locked onto an oblivious spider in the middle. He activated [Suppression], his unsuspecting target acted as a shielding canopy of several mages below it, allowing them to reinforce the frontline in comfort.

Kade chose this as the spot to make an entrance.

The surroundings blurred and the monsters in Kade’s path never knew how they had died. His [Soulrend] carved a clean path to the towering spider, and his mana was already moving within him to allow [Arc Chain] to show its maximum potential.

Kade jumped high over the monsters, sailing over several and catching the attention on the ones below. He had deactivated [Suppression], having no need to keep himself hidden. 

He could see the way the monsters’ eyes slowly widened when they saw him flying over them.

He descended over the spider, and eight bulbous black eyes looked up just in time to see Kade plunge his [Soulrend] into the chitin and black ichor spraying out.

Kade activated [Arc Chain] right as the spider disintegrated into white powder. He didn’t spare any [MP] and pushed as much as he could into the activation.

Lightning sparked from the tip of the [Soulrend] like a newborn sun. Threads of white-blue plasma jumped to the mages that had been under the shade of the now-dead spider, then forked again, and again, until searing light surrounded him.

[Arc Chain] should have stunned the monsters momentarily. Instant, it became judgment.

Green flash, exoskeletons, and bone super-heated, popped, and shattered; disintegrating to white powder when each monster met their end. The air shimmered—ozone, burning silk, roasted meat—before a shockwave that followed the attack whipped away it.

Kade’s boots ground trenches into the blackened dirt as he watched the charged lightning spread outwards with no signs of stopping.

When [Arc Chain] reached its limit, the searing light immediately cut out, leaving behind small white particles that slowly floated to the ground.

Rings of molten glass traced a perfect hundred-foot circle around him: within it, the monster legion gone, reduced to nothing.

Kade ignored the terrified eyes on him and took in the damage caused by what was supposed to be a supplementary [Ability].

“System, are my Abilities stronger on Earth, or is this just an effect of the strength disparity?”

It is a combination of both. The suppression in a rift zone also applied to you.

He nodded slowly in reply. That made sense to him since he was certain he hadn’t been dropping mushroom clouds with the use of [Inferno Burst] in rift zones.

Kade saw the terrified monsters regain their courage and step closer to him. He checked his ranking.

North American Rankings:

1. Anita Shah (Archivist) – 349,928 points

…

…

6. Kade Beckett (Arcane Lancer) – 32,037 points (+5,236)

Kade was happy with that number. Killing over five thousand monsters with every use of [Arc Chain] was more than he hoped for. He checked his remaining [MP].

MP: 43/76 | MP Recovery: 20% per minute

Kade could use [Arc Chain] every two minutes, putting the top rank within his grasp.

He smiled when the monsters roared in unison. It gave them the courage to fill the hundred-foot void around him and try to avenge their disintegrated comrades.

The monsters were trying to overwhelm Kade with numbers, but this was his bread and butter. He wasted time sweeping aside the snarling upright reptiles and parrying with the terrified goblins until the hundred-foot radius around him was packed as much as it could be.

Kade jumped and impaled the nearest goblin with his [Soulrend]. It was time for [Arc Chain] part two.