Is this really a Game?!

Boom!

Hit after hit pummeled the large core, causing it to shake, the surroundings flickering with energy as more monstrous insects fell down before quickly running toward Reign and the others.

Merely 1 minute had passed since Reign and the rest had reached the core, and in that time, the integrity of the core had gone down to barely 30%, as noted and told to them by the system itself. Each time they struck, they were able to see how much the integrity of the core was going down, and with each strike, the core itself was seemingly becoming angrier, more erratic, as more power was being released, creating more and more monsters to stop them.

Tank, Greenie, Mia, Laura, and Jin were in charge of defending against the monsters while Reign, Wolf, Aelrinder, Shadow, and Beast attacked the core.

The challenge was there, it was getting increasingly more difficult for the five to continue guarding against the many monsters as the core was not only creating more of them, but it was also creating more powerful versions, which seemingly took a bit longer to be created, but were worth it.

"Does this thing have endless energy or something? How the hell is it able to make so many of these things?!" Tank yelled in anger as he bashed forward with his shield, hitting one monster, causing the mandibles to break as the monster screeched in anger before its head was smashed to a pulp by Tank's axe.

"Who knows, what matters is that we are almost there, just hold on a bit more and they'll have destroyed it!" Jin said as he punched with full force, causing a shockwave to go forward, blasting several monsters back, seriously injuring the ones at the very front.

But the insectoids weren't going down without a fight.

As soon as the core's integrity fell down to 20%, the monsters changed.

Their movements became erratic, their attacks more frenzied. Their silvery chitin darkened, veins of crimson pulsing beneath the surface as if injected with some unnatural energy. Their mandibles clicked faster, their limbs twitching with unnatural speed.

In almost an instant, it seemed as if the core was empowering them.

"Shit, they're getting stronger!" Jin snarled as he barely parried a strike from an insectoid that moved faster than before. The force of the blow sent him skidding back, his boots scraping against the icy floor.

Mia's eyes flashed as she poured more and more mana into her hands before spreading them.

[ Ice Dome ]

A large dome of ice appeared around them, encasing even the core, only for the top portion to suddenly start cracking before breaking, making a hole in the dome in a mere instant.

"Tch, and here I thought it would be enough to at least temporarily keep the core in check." Mia said as Laura quickly started casting before the dome started turning into a darker shade of blue, her demonic energy enhancing it.

Even though the dome she created had a hole, it proved enough to at least slow the monsters down as some struck it, their sharp claws sometimes managing to leave marks, but sometimes merely gliding over the dome, while others tried to climb onto it.

"Hurry, you three attack the core as well. Mia and I will keep the dome up, you only need a couple of seconds anyway!" Laura shouted as Tank, Beast, and Jin quickly jumped toward the core, assaulting it with the others.

Her words were true, the number of monsters had rapidly grown and were pushing them back, they had to end things quickly. If the dome failed before they destroyed the core, they would be in big trouble, as the monsters were piling up.

"Any moment now!" Shadow yelled as he further enhanced his daggers, coating them in darkness and striking forward as Reign and the others did the same. In a mere 3 seconds, the core suddenly stopped emitting any energy, and the monsters around them, as if their strings had been cut, stopped moving and collapsed on the ground.

The core's integrity had reached 0%.

Still, it had not been easy for Mia and Laura, who had both fallen down on their knees, their foreheads drenched in sweat that fell down to the ground as they panted heavily from the immense amount of mana and demonic energy both had used to hold the monsters back with the dome.

"No time to rest I'm afraid!" Reign said as he grabbed Mia by the waist before speeding off with her and the others. Laura had been taken by Beast, and in an instant, they reached the now opened gate of the tower before quickly leaping out.

[Core Destroyed]

[Spire of Destruction 1/5 Eliminated]

[Enemy resistance increased. Slightly stronger insectoids detected in remaining locations.]

The moment they exited through the archway, the entire spire collapsed behind them, sending a massive shockwave through the jungle.

The team stood in the aftermath, panting heavily.

Ding!

"Well, now we know exactly what we need to do," Shadow said as Reign nodded.

"Slightly stronger, huh? I wonder if that is what will continue happening as we destroy the spires." Beast said as he shook his head.

"If the monsters keep getting stronger, we might need to switch our approach. We don't know how much 'slightly' stronger means, but by the time we reach the final spire, the monsters might be much stronger than the ones we faced right now."

"I guess we'll have to play it by ear; no use in creating strategies if we don't know just how much more dangerous things will be." Reign said with a smile as the others nodded.

"Rest for a bit and then continue?" Shadow asked as Reign nodded. They hadn't gone all out, but they had gotten tired from the battle. After all, the monsters were in no way weak, and they had used a good portion of their mana during the battle.

…

A couple of days later.

The ground cracked and shook as a spire collapsed, a shockwave of energy passing through the jungle as the coldness in the area dissipated, while the monsters found around the spire all turned to ash.

[Core Destroyed]

[Spire of Destruction 5/5 Eliminated]

[Enemy resistance increased, please head to the middle of the jungle where the portal lies, the portal will bring you back.]

Ding!

[ The final test is to survive the jungle and the monsters that had gone berserk after decades of enduring the powers of the spire.]

Just as Reign and the others had feared, each spire they had destroyed was more powerful than the last, and the one they had just finished was no different, needing them to almost go all out in order to survive and destroy the core.

The insectoids kept getting stronger, faster, as well as more durable, needing more and more energy to keep destroying them.

Still, this was unexpected.

They had to get through the jungle, which had seemingly been brought back to life thanks to their actions right now.

They could sense the vitality of the jungle, as well as the presence and mana signatures of hundreds of monsters around them.

Luckily, none of them were that strong. It was deliberate, after all, they had just expended a ton of energy in their fight against the core and were not even close to their peak states, expecting them to get through the jungle and battle monsters as strong, if not stronger than the insectoids in the spires was simply far too much.

"Let's get going, conserve your energy as much as you can, we don't know whether we will face more powerful monsters the closer we get to the portal." Reign said as they all nodded and moved.

"Isn't that much a given, though?" Beast asked with a slight smile on his face. "The closer we get, the more powerful the monsters will be, there's no doubt about it."

"I know, I just figured let's at least pretend, you know?" Reign said with a chuckle as they all sighed with smiles whilst moving forward. They could sense the portal they were supposed to reach, and it was in no way close to them; in fact, it would probably take them a couple of hours to reach it.

"Come on, we have no time to waste!" Shadow said as he suddenly opened his palm, causing shadows to converge and grab a monster that was attempting to lunge at them from the side. In an instant, the shadows that had enveloped the monsters became spikes, causing a fountain of blood to escape from the small gaps between them, while a pitiful, weak roar escaped the jaws of the monster that died without being able to do anything in the end.

"They are weaker than us, we are not really hiding our mana signatures, and yet, they dare attack even if they are alone, it seems like the fact that the monsters have all gone berserk and are not thinking rationally is true," Wolf said as he shook his head, previously hoping that even if the monsters had grown berserk, at least the weaker ones would notice the difference in strength and would not attack, but that little hope was extinguished right away.