Read Novel Full Chapter 571: Monster Wave Defense (1/2)
Chapter 571: Monster Wave Defense (1/2)
[Welcome to Monster Wave Defense!]
[Objective: Defend your assigned pathway and slay as many monsters as possible. Your Nexus Crystal’s destruction will finalize your score.]
[Wave 1 will begin in 10 seconds.]
Almond’s vision cleared as he materialized in a vast, star-shaped fortress. The structure was made of dark stone with glowing blue veins running through it, pulsing like a heartbeat.
He stood at one of the five points of the star, facing outward toward a long pathway that stretched into a swirling purple void. Behind him, approximately fifty meters back, floated a crystalline structure—his Nexus Crystal. It hummed with energy, casting ethereal light across the stone floor.
’So that’s what I’m protecting,’ Almond thought, rolling his shoulders. He glanced left and right, spotting the other four players at their respective points of the star. They were too far away to communicate easily, each focused on their own pathway.
He could see their silhouettes—one appeared to be a bulky humanoid covered in scales, another was a slender figure wreathed in flames, the third looked like a centaur-type being, and the fourth was shrouded in shadows.
All of them were Adapt-tier Lifeforms. Tier-2.
’Well, I am winning this.’
Almond cracked his knuckles and grinned. ’Let’s see what you’ve got for me.’
[Wave 1 Beginning: Goblin Swarm]
[Monsters: 50]
The purple void at the end of his pathway rippled, and suddenly, a chittering horde of goblins came charging forward. They were small, green-skinned creatures with yellow eyes and rusted weapons—clubs, daggers, and short swords. Their footsteps echoed across the stone as they scrambled toward him in a disorganized mob.
"Perfect."
Almond’s eyes gleamed as he swept his hand forward. Twenty nearby stone fragments from the fortress walls responded to his will as he used Pulse to break them, and then transformed them instantly into sleek, dark Grimblades. They materialized in the air around him, each one a different shape and size depending on the stone’s original form.
Some were short and broad, others long and thin like needles. All of them radiated a sinister aura.
The goblins were thirty meters away now, screaming their battle cries.
Almond pointed forward.
The Grimblades shot through the air like missiles.
SHHHINK! SHHHINK! SHHHINK!
The first line of goblins didn’t even have time to react. Blades pierced through their skulls, chests, and throats with surgical precision. Green blood sprayed across the stone pathway as bodies crumpled.
He also deliberately broke the Grimblades, evolved them, and broke them again to get Grim Essence.
And using bones and flesh of the Goblins he killed, he created more Grimblades.
He controlled the Grimblades with practiced ease, making them curve and weave through the air. One blade impaled three goblins in succession before spinning around to decapitate a fourth. Another blade sliced horizontally, cutting through five goblins at waist level.
It was a massacre.
Blood pooled on the pathway. Limbs and heads rolled. The goblins tried to scatter, but there was nowhere to go—they were trapped in the narrow corridor with death on all sides.
Fifteen seconds after the wave began, all fifty goblins lay dead.
The first wave was simply too weak, so he didn’t waste his Pulse on activating the effects of Grimblades.
[Wave 1 Complete!]
[Score: 50]
[Wave 2 Beginning in 5 seconds: Drone Wolves]
[Monsters: 50]
Almond barely had time to catch his breath before the next wave emerged from the void.
These weren’t goblins.
Drone wolves—massive, wolf-like beasts with black fur and glowing red eyes—came bounding down the pathway. Each one was the size of a horse, with fangs as long as daggers and claws that sparked against the stone.
They moved fast. Much faster than the goblins.
’They will make nice Grimblades.’
Almond recalled his Grimblades, consolidating them into a defensive formation. But instead of sending them forward immediately, he waited.
The dire wolves spread out as they ran, clearly more intelligent than the goblin swarm. They moved in a coordinated pack, with the fastest ones pulling ahead while others flanked from the sides.
Twenty meters.
Fifteen.
Ten.
Almond grinned and activated his second card.
[Grim Severam]
He selected ten Grimblades and applied different types of ’Sever’ to each one:
Severe Momentum.Severe Durability. Sever Speed. Severe Healing. Severe Coordination.
The Grimblades glowed with dark energy, their edges becoming impossibly sharp.
The lead dire wolf leaped, jaws open wide to tear into Almond’s throat.
He didn’t move.
A Grimblade intercepted mid-air, slicing clean through the wolf’s skull and severing its momentum. The massive beast dropped like a stone, its corpse sliding to Almond’s feet without any forward force.
More wolves attacked from all angles—left, right, even trying to leap over him.
But Almond’s Grimblades were everywhere.
SLASH! SLICE! PIERCE!
The blade with Sever Durability cut through a wolf’s thick hide like it was paper, splitting it from nose to tail. The blade with Sever Speed caught a wolf mid-leap, and the creature suddenly slowed to a crawl in mid-air, making it an easy target for three other blades to converge and rip it apart.
The blade with Sever Healing struck a wolf across the flank. The wound immediately began to fester and spread, black veins crawling across its body as it collapsed, unable to regenerate.
Almond moved through the carnage like a conductor leading an orchestra. His Grimblades flowed around him in perfect synchronization, creating a whirlwind of death that nothing could penetrate.
A dire wolf managed to get within striking distance, its claws raking toward Almond’s chest.
He created a Grimblade from the wolf’s own shadow and drove it up through its jaw, pinning its mouth shut as it died.
[Wave 2 Complete!]
[Score: 80]
[Wave 3 Beginning: Armored Orcs]
[Monsters: 100]
The orcs that emerged were seven feet tall, covered in plate armor, and wielding massive war axes and hammers. Their tusks jutted from their lower jaws, and their small eyes gleamed with brutal intelligence.
They marched in formation, shields raised.
’They’re organized, stronger, and a hundred of them? It looks like difficulty went up.’
Not that he cared.
Almond transformed the destroyed dire wolves’ fangs and claws into Grimblades, adding to his arsenal.
Next to him, one glowing exotic Grimblade manifested, black, red, and blue vein-patterns, pulsing like a heartbeat.
This was one of the Rare-rank Tier-5 Grimblade, made from a Tier-5 Crimson Ballad Mandrake. It had the effect of converting flesh and blood into Pulse and storing it within. And since he was running out of Pulse fast without Ainen’s buffs, it was time to use it.
While the orcs approached slowly, methodically, their shields overlapping to create a defensive wall, Almond began recovering his Pulse.
But controlling Grimblades cost nothing, so he made a baseball bat-shaped formation using these Tier-1 Common-rank Grimblades made from Goblins and Wolves.
Swinging the bat, he smashed against the army of Orcs.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The blades fell off, unable to penetrate the thick armor.
That was normal. These Orcs were at Tier-2 while the Blades were Tier-1. The blades were weaker even though they were evolved, because evolution doesn’t enhance their base attack, but its effects. And their effects were already trash, so Almond wasn’t wasting his Pulse using them.
’Time to get some essence.’
The felled blades hummed as the Orcs walked over them. The orcs grunted in what might have been laughter, continuing their advance.
But then suddenly, the blades exploded!
BOOOM!
[ +68 Common-rank Grim Essence acquired. ]
Almond smiled. He looked at the Oblivion Spirits he had fabricated through the deaths of Goblins and Wolves, and weaved them together into unique familiar cards combining both of their aspects.
Goblin Wolf Raiders, except that they were like centaurs with their body struck together.
So they had four wolf legs and an upper torso of a goblin with two arms.
A total of 50 Goblin Wolf Raiders stood before the army of Orcs, who still marched on with contempt on their faces.
The blasts from those blades did kill some of them, but not all.
Axir cracked a grin and snapped his finger.
In each of the fifty Goblin Wolf Raiders’ arms, a Grimblade appeared.
Not just any Grimblade.
But Tier-5 Grimblades!
’Kill them.’
Heedign to his command, the Raiders shot forward.
All of them were weaker than orcs in terms of stats, but each of them wielded an overpowered Tier-5 Grimblade with different effects!
What happened next was no suspense.
The giant Orcs were slaughtered like pigs by small Goblin Wolf Raiders
The other four in the fortress couldn’t help but look over at Almond’s place using their sense due to the loudness there.
’What the hell?’
’Such strong aura...those blades...’
’Humph, I am not losing this.’
’Interesting.’
Almond feel their senses as he cracked a grin and snapped his finger.
The dead bodies of Orcs twisted as their bones and organs vanished, transforming them into Grimblades.
And then, their Oblivion Spirits were fabricated within his Spiritual Weaving Room.
[Wave 3 Complete!]
[Score: 180]
[Wave 4 Beginning: Shadow Stalkers]
[Monsters: 50]
Humanoid figures made of living shadow emerged from the void, their forms constantly shifting and flickering. They moved in complete silence, already spreading out to flank.
’Shadow Stalkers? Nice.’
Almond’s eyes glinted. It would be nice to combine their spirits with Orcs. Shadow Stalking Orcs!
Of course, he also wanted Oblivion Spirits to revive his Spirit Lords, but he didn’t want to use these low-level Oblivion Spirits from trash monsters to revive them.
’Let’s hope there’s at least some good final boss or something that I can use to revive one. The Shadow Stalker might have some good aspects, so I’ll save a few.’
Almond had decided to revive Alfred first, and Shadow Stalker wasn’t a bad choice for one of the side ingredients.