Chapter 518 - Peak Rank 2
Chapter 518 - Peak Rank 2
After dealing with Qiong Qi, Draco sent the cocoon with the Dark Knight into his Inner Universe, specifically into Eva's Heavenly Palace. She would monitor it until the fellow finished his metamorphosis, then they would decide what to do next from there.
Right now, Draco left Roma to settle her people into Vita Kingdom. They were the newest group of citizens, so it was imperative that they were able to merge successfully within the core area otherwise problems would ensue.
However, given the fact that they were Roma's clan members, the other two would not create any troubles until they finally got used to them.
As for the White-Haired Duo, they set out to visit the lands of the various powers who had offended them and had come to their doorsteps begging to be saved. Sublime had successfully struck a deal with them, and the price they had been forced to pay had made even Draco and Eva shudder.
They had even felt some pity and remorse for their actions. To make this amoral duo feel this way... had the evil loli not even left them with their undies to preserve at least a last bit of shame?
They visited each place manually, not using Luxia as it would make some strange thoughts occur in their minds. As such, they wasted about 3 days going up and down using Portal Centers of various kingdoms, Draco's Long-Distance Teleportation, their psychic Apportation, and Transvection, then finally their bloodline wings.
They really had a variety of ways to move about if they wanted, which was a sharp contrast to the early game where Draco had only been able to run nonstop to reach the Paradise Lands from the Cario Continent.
By the time they got back, they both sported slight smirks. Eva's harvest had been extremely good, as 3 months had been enough for her little monsters to feed on the life and mental strength of many victims.
Even after she had taken it back to save these clans, many of them had either ended up braindead, slightly retarded, or just… well, dead. This had caused the powers behind them endless grief because they were the type to care about their clans/descendants.
It had also left them with a severely complicated feeling as the ones they had tried to destroy were the very ones who had ended up saving their people. Draco and Eva loved this part the most, as such emotions would torment them inside for a long time.
As for those who were not concerned about the fate of their clans or descendants, Draco and Eva didn't care about them. Whether they were acting tough but fretting inside or they were genuinely uncaring, either case benefited them.
Without Eva's intervention, those clans would be totally wiped out, allowing those bits of Psychic Curse to grow stronger exponentially. They would be far better than the ones that had just been extracted, so it was good to let them continue to wreak havoc a bit.
When they returned to the Aether Castle, Draco just received news that the Winding Desert Area Zone was about to fall and should be conquered in about 4 days. Pleased by this, he and Eva decided to finally go and Rank Up.
Practically everyone in the guild had already reached Rank 3 leaving them. Then again, Draco and Eva had more pressing concerns to deal with, so it was natural that they would fall behind.
Unfortunately, the experience gained from culling the sea monsters back then had not been enough to help them reach the cap.
As such, the White-Haired Duo were forced to head towards the Winding Desert to help clear out those last monsters in order to hopefully get enough experience.
There were two smaller Field Zones within the Area Zone called the Scorpion's Nest and the Sand King's Throne. The former held Rank 4 and 5 Sand Scorpions that were proving troublesome to kill for the army not only due to their high Rank, but the fact that they would quickly burrow underground when they were about to die.
As for the Sand Kings Throne, it was occupied by a Rank 5 Major Sand King, which was just a Sand Scorpion that was an elite within the Rank.
(Author's Note: By the way, remember that the Monsters Ranks are Private, Specialist, Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Colonel, and General. Each Combat Rank is divided in between these Rank depending on the power and role of the monsters, as well as their State of Being.
Private, Specialist, Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain are the limits of Rank 1.
Specialist, Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain, Major are the limits of Rank 2.
Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Colonel are the limits of Rank 3.
Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Colonel, and General are the limits of Rank 4.
Captain, Major, Colonel, and General are the limits of Rank 5.
Colonel and General are the limits of Rank 7.
As for how each Combat Rank is related to the Monster Rank within its boundary, there will be a proper explanation later.)
When Draco and Eva made it known that they were coming to deal with the beasts, the army was invigorated. Many left the various encampments and barracks they had set up to come and watch the feat.
Draco and Eva appeared above the closest encampment near the Scorpion's Nest and lowered themselves down. They then entered the command tent here in order to get a clearer idea of what the layout of the two final zones were.
Draco and Eva had been briefed that the Scorpions Nest had 24 Rank 4 Scorpions and 3 Rank 5 Scorpions remaining after all the hard work of the army over this period of time. They had been whittling this number down consistently from the hundreds that had been there before, and the army had made great progress in terms of power and unity thanks to it.
Hearing this, Draco and Eva sighed. With such a small amount, it would be possible to use the Genocide method once again, as the White-haired Duo could only use it once a week.
As for dealing with the Sand King, they had other means. In truth, they could just follow the army's method and lure the Scorpions and deal with them. After all, unlike the army, Draco and Eva had the impervious tank that was Qiong Qi.
However, their damage output in such a case would be too low. Draco and Eva were strong, no one could doubt that, but their Rank was too low. At Rank 2, to cross over and kill Rank 4 was hard enough but to do it for Rank 5 as well?
Only with the Genocide method could it work. It was able to muster just enough power to kill up to Rank 5, and the most important reason why it even worked was not because of how much bloodline energy they put in, but because the element used was Destruction.
As such, Draco made sure to warn the army not to come close, otherwise they would suffer a great loss. To even prevent funny ideas, he directly told them he was about to use the same method they had used to clear the sea.
This greatly chilled all those curious fellows, and they fled without looking back. What a joke, an attack that had wiped out everything within a hundred thousand kilometers, who would want to be anywhere close to that?
The fireworks might be pretty but nobody would pay the price if the cost was their very own life.
Draco and Eva waited until everyone had cleared out, giving them the necessary peace of mind to continue. They flew up in the air using Luxia, and from her back, began channeling another Orb of Destruction infused with intense bloodline energy.
However, in order to minimize the range, as they didn't want to turn the Area Zone into another Ruined Plains of Deriam, they only inputted enough to condense the power to a level where Rank 5's could be killed in one shot.
This required around 25% of forcefully generated bloodline energy each. Any more and the range would expand to what it had been previously but even further, since the land was flat and had no depth like the sea.
The sky darkened, and the ground started to become see-through. It was as if the ground was merely a muse for the starry universe to display itself, rendering the scorpions utterly lost and confused.
Draco then tossed the orb down and jumped off Luxia's back to head closer to the ground while Eva went higher. He needed to observe the explosion and make sure the Destruction Energy did not spread far.
Just like before, the drop was slow and unhurried, leaving the scorpions on the ground frozen, mesmerized at the beauty of the incoming death ball. They did not even try to dig themselves under the ground, not that it would have made any difference to the outcome.
The orb connected with the ground and exploded outward in a flash of black light. There was no shockwave nor sound, just a silent flash of black light that spread outward slowly like an inverse flashbang in slow motion.
Anything touched by this light quickly disintegrated into nothingness, leaving only the land, the air, and the items that fell intact. Draco breathed a sigh of relief seeing that this attack had only disintegrated organisms that had been alive and made of flesh-related materials.
As such, even though the attack crossed the Scorpion's Nest Field Zone, he didn't need to do anything to stop it. It was not like in the Plains of Deriam where two unconcentrated Orbs of Destruction had collided and imploded on each other.
Soon, the Light of Destruction faded away after reaching around 20,000 kilometers from the epicenter, covering a few Field Zones that were empty. If the Sand King's Throne wasn't on the other side of the Area Zone, it would have likely taken critical damage from this and saved the White-Haired Duo a lot of time.
As it were, they first checked the experience they received to see if it was enough to send them to the Rank cap.
They had received a gross total of 540,000% experience. 240,000 from killing the Rank 4 Scorpions and 300,000 from the Rank 5 ones. This – after their conversion – gave them 27,000% experience to share, which was 13,500% per person.
Draco had been level 52, 50% and had therefore only needed 4,750% experience to jump to level 100, 0%. This also gave him a total of 48 stat points as players only earned a single stat point per level at Rank 2.
Eva had been at level 50, 19% originally. Anyone who had perished due to the Psychic Curse was not added to her experience, but it was arguably better that way, as it would have inevitably left a trace as to who had been the cause otherwise.
In contrast, she needed 4,981% experience to reach level 100, 0%, netting her the full 50 stat points which she could now allocate as she pleased.
｢Name: Draco
Class: Abyssal Prime
Race: Hybrid (Human/Ultima Sunt)
Rank: Lord (2)
Level: 100
Exp: 8,750%
Str: 100
Dex: 100
End: 100
Int: 70 -> 90 (+20)
Spr: 72 -> 100 (+28)
Cha: 70
Lck: 100｣
｢Name: Riveting Night
Class: Celestial Prime
Rank: Lord (2)
Level: 100
Exp: 8,519%
Str: 70 -> 90 (+20)
Dex: 70 -> 100 (+30)
End: 70
Int: 100
Spr: 100
Cha: 100
Lck: 100｣
They had increased their opposing stats this time around. After all, Draco - despite being a melee fighter - had magical abilities and Eva - despite being a magical/elemental fighter - had physical abilities as well.
Besides, only amateurs min-maxed. True pros ran around with an all-rounder build, ready to make anyone of any class or Rank find out after f.u.c.k.i.n.g around.
Draco then placed the extra 8,750% experience into Mjolnir and Pair Dadeni equally. Both of them previously had been sitting at 24,000% out of 100,000%, so adding 4,375% to both increased them to 28,375%.
Eva placed her full experience into her Semi-Divine Item, making it have 8,519% out of 50,000%.
Both were satisfied with their gains and left the items for the army to collect. They notified Deployed Soldier - who had naturally been the commander of the Vita Army - through the Guild Video Chat about what they had accomplished, which did not shock the fellow as he had already seen them clear an entire sea zone with his own two eyes.
He thanked them for their help and asked what they were going to do next. The White-Haired Duo decided to battle the Sand King and clear the Area Zone once and for all, so they let Deployed Soldier know as they headed over.
Deployed Soldier acknowledged their choice and dispatched men over to clear the items and set a perimeter outside the Sand King's Throne to simultaneously block the beast from escaping and be able to assist Draco as well as Eva if they d.e.s.i.r.ed it.
Draco and Eva appeared above the Field Zone where the Sand King lived, and noticed that his habitat was a mixture of rock and sand, as well as - surprisingly - some glass. There were many large holes all over the ground which led to a network of tunnels underneath which the sank King used to move around its territory efficiently.
The moment the White-Haired Duo touched the ground, it began to shake all around them as the Sand King furiously dug up the earth. It had not sensed in the sky due to its poor eyesight, but it was able to sense all vibrations on the ground through an ability called Seismic Sensation.
Draco and Eva wasted no time trying to play with this monster as they had other things to do. Right away, Draco entered his Horned Demon Form while Eva entered her Void Form.
｢ Name: Draco - Rank 2 Demon Supreme
Str: 1,000
Dex: 100
End: 400
Int: 100
Spr: 100
Cha: 100
Lck: 100
Combat Skills: Magnitude, Pulverize, Decimate, Superb Regeneration, Demon Minions, Disintegrate.
Non-Combat Skills: Demonic Might (Rank 2), Supreme Strength, Supreme Speed, Fires of Hell, Supreme Defense, Ruler of the Nine Hells.｣
｢Name: Riveting Night - Rank 2 Void Primogenitor
Str: 1,000
Dex: 100
End: 400
Int: 100
Spr: 100
Cha: 100
Lck: 100
Combat Skills: Corrode, Assimilate, Void Implosion, Thousand Forms, Void Thralls, Devour.
Non-Combat Skills: Void Blessing (Rank 2), Supreme Strength, Supreme Speed, Astral Domain, Supreme Defense, Lord of the Universe.｣
The moment the two of them changed, the Sand King that had suddenly appeared above ground and was ready to slaughter them like dogs, instantly shrunk back. The sheer menace in the current aura of Draco and Eva was enough to make it feel extreme fear.
｢Name: Sand King – Major Rank monster
Level: 222
HP: 34,320,000/34,320,000｣
The battle began with Draco using most of his skills in tandem to beat down the Sand King. His and Eva's forms were both melee types, and their speed, strength, and endurance were not fathomable at all.
Eva followed up by using her Corrode skill to slow and weaken the Sand King, as it would infect it with the fearful Void Energy that could turn a perfectly fine being into a Void Monster.
Eva looked like an energy lifeform with a feminine figure, long and silky black hair, and a body made of stars. It was similar to when Draco used the genocide attack and the ground reflected the heavens above.
(Author's Note: Basically, Alien X but feminine.)
They floated around with excessive speed, also pummeling the Sand King with her immense strength given to her by the universe as a Void Primogenitor, which was a higher form of Void Beast.
Void Beasts were also one level above all the known Void Monsters, from Rank 1 to 7. Void Monsters were created from Void Energy and lacked sentience until they reached the higher Ranks.
Meanwhile, Void Beasts generated Void Energy and roamed the expanse of the universe, lurking in places that no being dared visit.
Draco and Eva were not able to kill the Sand King within their 1-minute transformation, which was a given. As such, they shifted to their Devil/Goddess Form and continued the high-intensity fight from there.
This too was not enough, but brought the Sand King to low health. As such, they entered their Dragon/Light Form to finish off the battle, barely getting it done by the time the transformations were over.
Draco and Eva stumbled when they turned back into themselves, as cycling through the three forms so quickly was quite intense. However, they were satisfied with their achievement of actually killing a Mid-Rank 5 Elite monster when they were only at the peak level of Rank 2.
They had crossed three Combat Ranks to do this, though all the credit went to their three forms. Without them, this would be impossible with the severe Rank and level suppression.
This fight gave them 250,000% gross experience which was shafted down to 12,500%, which they speechlessly added to their items.
Mjolnir and Pair Dadeni, both ended up with 31,500%, whereas the Divine Symbol got the entire amount and was brought up to 14,769% in total.