YM778.TV Chapter 60: Noticed
It didn\'t matter whether they were ordinary zombies or mutated ones, those who were touched by the golden flames on his sword and bullets dissipated into ash shortly after.
From time to time, Derrek would cast 『Lightspeed』 clearing every enemy his eye could see. The poor undead couldn\'t even see how they died.
Once the first hour passed, the 1st Boss appeared. It was a Tier 3 Brute Zombie - one that\'s pure muscle and rage. But even with its thick sinew and explosive strength, Derrek\'s True Sunfire proved to be its bane.
Sure, it died slower than the others, but it still died nonetheless. And with how sharp Derrek\'s senses were and how quick he could be, it was expected that the boss failed to graze even the hem of his combat suit.
After defeating the first boss, Derrek had to face Tier 2 Lv.9 Zombies at base. But since the horde evolves the longer he stays, it is certain that this isn\'t going to last long.
Still, Derrek continued with his massacre. Despite being severely outnumbered and \'technically\' weaker compared to the foes around him, he was doing a damn fine job and clearing them.
But then, a surprising development occurred when an hour and a half passed on the timer.
The zombie horde suddenly ceased which confused him greatly. Shortly afterwards however, a new species of undead appeared all around him.
"Ghouls?" Derrek muttered upon laying eyes on them.
A quadrupedal undead that closely resembles dogs. They have on fur coat, only a singed skin leaking foul blue blood. Their eyes glowed ghastly green in color and they were incredibly swift. They drool a lot too, and they are acidic in nature, melting the soil and leaving wisps of smoke as they fall.
They spawned in packs - dozens, at once. They snarled at him, leaking killing intent and desire to feast on his flesh.
Fighting Ghouls was different from fighting zombies. For one, the former was much quicker on their chase compared to the latter. Ghouls are also cunning creatures who completely give in to their animalistic tendencies. They always act like cornered beasts - feral and extremely dangerous.
"I guess I shouldn\'t be surprised." Derrek mused, "Ghouls are Undead Creatures, and my task is to survive 3 Hours under the assault of the Endless Undead Horde. It didn\'t specify that I\'d only be facing zombies."
Now that he had seen this, Derrek could safely assume that, as time went on, this battlefield would introduce him to other Undead variants out there. Still, that\'s something that he\'ll deal with in the future, for now, his attention calls to the present.
The Ghouls treated him like proper prey. They \'hunted\' him instead of blindly running towards him and taking a bite of his flesh. They were persistent and never ran out of energy. They moved in packs too, so if one was attacking him, another wasn\'t too far away.
Still, since they count as Undead Creatures, his title exerts an effect on them. Additionally, he was geared to combat demons of all kinds, not to mention, he had access to True Sunfire. So, even though they\'re different from zombies, they still fall to his assault.
His sword cuts them like a knife through butter. They could evade his bullets but not all of them, and since he was growing as the battle continued, his 『Marksmanship』 skill was leveling up as well so his missed shots were slowly but surely disappearing.
Derrek alternated between shooting his guns and his sword. He did so to prevent his foes from adjusting to his fighting style. This fits right into the personality he made for this persona - a wild yet unpredictable fighting style.
Despite being mobbed by a different enemy now, Derrek still whoops and yells in joy as he fights. Again, this was all an act that fit right into his character.
He also practiced more Sage Arts he learned; \'True Sunfire\' burns his foes into ashes within seconds.
\'Jester\'s Mask\' was already doing its thing...
\'Sunlight Manipulation\' was also effective against demons but was mostly used to weaken them and illuminate the vicinity. Still, all corruption and demons this sunlight touches were singed due to its properties.
\'Luminous Arsenal\' was tricky to use. It costs a lot of energy to do so but it\'s perfect to demolish hundreds of foes at once. It\'s perfect to give him some wiggle room whenever he feels like he\'s being cornered. But again, it does cost him a lot of energy.
\'Sunlit Stars\' is another Sage Art he tried just now. It\'s a technique that leaves a large golden orb of energy that shoots out bolts of sun-infused projectiles. It stays in place once it is cast, so it\'s a lot like a turret. It couldn\'t be damaged by normal means too.
The skill fires out two shots per second and lasts for a minute. Its current range was 200 meters in radius. The current problem with this skill is that it fires too quickly. It only requires a single shot to kill a Ghoul but with how fast it attacks, it would sometimes shoot the same target twice, which is a waste considering that it only lasts for a minute.
Additionally, just like the Luminous Arsenal, this too costs too much energy so currently Derrek can\'t spam it.
Still, this was a good skill to have. And once Derrek\'s mastery over the Sage Arts increased, the problems this skill had would automatically solve itself so he only needed more experience.
As for other Sage Arts, they\'re locked away in his memories for now. It\'s either because he\'s too weak to use them or because he\'s not ready to learn them just yet.
Again, he only needs time to learn them and that will come naturally the more he increases his mastery over the Sage Arts so there\'s no point mulling about it for now.
Derrek continued killing until the clock hit the 2-hour mark. Once there, he faced another boss. This one was a Ghoul King. But just like the Brute Boss earlier, this too fell under his assault.
From this point onwards, he\'s now fighting Tier 4 Lv.5 foes. He could still kill them but it\'s taking more effort on his part now.
That said, Derrek (Cedrick) was already used to this. The escalating challenge of his Monthly Mandatory Task didn\'t surprise him anymore. In fact, he\'s actually looking forward to it now.
He killed and he killed until the final boss came. This time, he faced two Tier 5 Lv.1 Ghoul Kings at the same time.
This was a hard-fought battle, too. And to others, this might appear as a disaster or a death spell. But for Derrek? This was an exhilarating fight despite its difficulty.
And despite the odds being against him, Derrek claimed victory over his foes. He stood as the last man standing in this ruined Purgatory Battlefield.
He was tired, sweaty, and gross but he was victorious. Smiling to himself, he confirmed the conclusion of the fight and left Purgatory to return to the real world, unaware that as he left, a pair of eyes were looking at him.
**
On the other side of the planet, and that meant quite literally, a kingdom shrouded in darkness could be seen.
If it weren\'t for the doom and gloom that blanketed everything within sight around these parts, this place would\'ve been considered a prosperous empire. Sadly, this place was antithetical to life, and humans weren\'t welcomed here, not now or ever.
On the outskirts of this dark kingdom, in a place that closely resembles a military barracks, a flurry of activity was currently occurring.
Grrr! Raaagh!
"Mmhm! Tell me more..."
Grrr...grrr...huhu...raaagh!
"Is that so? I see...well, thank you for telling me that. Here, a treat for you, you adorable thing."
A Ghoul King hardly falls under the category of \'adorable\' but it didn\'t matter to its owner.
Said the owner standing up, looking quite solemn and intimidating due to the large horns adorning its head. Their skin was blood red, their sclera was black with snake-like pupils. They were also wearing heavy armor that made grating sounds each time they moved.
This one was a Demon. Not just any Demon either. It\'s one of the stronger ones that regained their sentience by devouring a large amount of life to evolve itself.
This demon made its way towards the nearby quarters, holding a piece of equipment that was made for demonkind. It closely resembled that of a handheld computer. The demon was jotting down reports on that equipment for the sake of documentation.
Once the demon reached their destination, they entered and requested a personal meeting with one of the supervisors around this area. They were told to wait for a few minutes, after that, they were allowed entry.
"F\'aor! How can help you, friend? You look constipated though, what\'s up?" Another demon that was sitting behind a desk asked worriedly.
"One of my pets discovered Young Sage."
The moment F\'aor said that the atmosphere within the room suddenly turned soul-chilling cold. Fortunately, F\'aor was already used to this kind of outburst.
"Tell me more..."