Chapter 77: Fighting the Giant Lord Lava Monster 2
As they finally crossed it, they needed some time to rest before heading to the monsters up front, well all of them needed except for Oya's skeletons, which started to kill monsters while she rested with others.
The monsters here were in level sixty, and some were even in early seventies, making the amount of Xp gained here decent and monstrous to the players.
The fun started when NPCs joined, as the number of monsters here were getting thicker than before.
"Some monsters from the last land had crossed the bridge to reach here," her master said, expressing the reason for all those monsters piling up in this land.
These monsters gave her friends a level each half an hour, a really scary leveling speed, making them all break through level forty, and heading like a meteorite towards level fifty, without showing any signs of deceleration at all!
In the middle of all this, Oya never stopped summoning new skeletons, despite not having any decent fighting power compared to her existing ones, but she couldn't be so careless.
They might be weaker, much weaker for now, but who knew what fortuitous encounters she might meet along the way like that mysterious death cloud. She kept summoning, and her skeletons and NPCs kept killing, and her friends walked leisurely, enjoying the free carrying they were experiencing right now, leveling up without breaking a sweat!
When they reached the middle of this land, a strange area was waiting for them. a sudden depression in the ground, which led to an underground area with lava lightening the way down to the bottom with its bright red color.
"What is that?" Dante asked, "is it a dungeon?" he added, as he carefully examined this place.
"It's the lava hound ground of the ridge," Oya's master replied, "it's a common special leveling ground repeated every now and then in the ridge area, do you want to enter it?" she added.
"I heard many good rewards are kept inside, including the alliance establishing and village establishing stones," Ela suddenly said, and her words really enticed everyone here, Oya included.
"Is it dangerous?" Oya asked, as all she cared was if she could kill monsters inside with her current army, or she needed to grow her army more before delving in.
"Hahaha, no, don't worry, nothing can happen while we are here," her master chuckled, as she replied with extreme confidence to her.
"Then let's go inside, I might need these rewards soon," Oya said, as she needed to give more benefits to countries joining her growing alliance in real life.
"After your skeletons, our beloved necromancer," her master did a theoretical move, with a smile over her face, still laughing on Oya's question from before.
Oya then moved into the big pit, with her skeletons moving in the front. As they went down, further to the bottom, the heat from lava started to increase, and that made them quite unsettled for a while, before they all adapted to the hot and harsh environment here.
"Wow, isn't this a gold grade plant? I will collect it!"
Roka suddenly stumbled, out of her pure luck, onto a gold grade red plant with sharp leaves, as she started gathering it. others got notice of this, and started to keenly look for other plants here.
"Oho, I got a decent ore here, silver grade," Avada suddenly screamed out of surprise and delight, as he took out his pickaxe and started mining the ore.
"I found a platinum grade herb! A platinum grade herb! That's not a lava pit, it's a treasure trove!" Mila suddenly exclaimed out in shock, as she leaned on the ground and started collecting the herb very carefully.
This scene was repeated for other players as well, making Oya and other NPCs chuckle and say nothing. For Oya, she didn't have this passion for any lifestyle herbs or ores. She was once like them, but now she changed, got somehow mature, as this wasn't a game, this was a very brutal battleground, despite being in a peaceful time.
"Oho, I got a decent ore here, silver grade," Avada suddenly screamed out of surprise and delight, as he took out his pickaxe and started mining the ore.
"I found a platinum grade herb! A platinum grade herb! That's not a lava pit, it's a treasure trove!" Mila suddenly exclaimed out in shock, as she leaned on the ground and started collecting the herb very carefully.
This scene was repeated for other players as well, making Oya and other NPCs chuckle and say nothing. For Oya, she didn't have this passion for any lifestyle herbs or ores. She was once like them, but now she changed, got somehow mature, as this wasn't a game, this was a very brutal battleground, despite being in a peaceful time.
Oya just glanced at them and shook her head, helplessly, as the nature of being a player was running really deep in her friends. She just slowed down their descent speed, letting them have all the fun they needed, gathering all the herbs and ores along the way.
She had to admit, this place was really special, as every ten meters they would pump into one kind of a treasure, making the place really like a treasure trove.
If she had time, or in a normal game, she might have joined them in gathering everything here, but she wasn't in the mood to do so.
Her mind was busy thinking about the mission she sent two hundred and seven to do. She just hoped what she offered would help those nations to learn more about the truth, change their minds and start considering allying with her.
She didn't imagine what she did had already caused the needed stir, but didn't yield her desired results. Those nations only thought of themselves, and thus they started to consider adding more countries to the game, on condition to fight under their banner later on.
A colonist would always think like one, and that made every country of the G8 move towards gathering their followers, waving with the flag of benefit to them, without thinking about the larger picture.
These nations had already sent their players into the Apidon world, learnt about the truth of this game, and that shocked them indeed, but didn't help in making them realize the great benefit.
All they saw was their own private gain, as their players had already heard the local legend of Ibro, that mysterious player that went missing, and his girl, Oya, who was always following him.
They saw her as a bridge to the extreme power Ibro had, and the prestigious place he was enjoying at Apison world. They also learnt about the recent achievements of him, exploring new worlds, and gaining access to legendary materials.
The thought of obtaining such materials made these nations go crazy, trying to find a way to gain the favor of Oya, as Ibro was unreachable anywhere in the game or in the real world.
As they thought about Oya, their minds didn't consider answering her offer, as they all thought about how to threaten her, make her into their grasp, not daring to rebel or refuse their demands.
And so extensive investigations were made, aiming at unveiling more about her secrets. That put her in great danger, and the worst of all she never thought or imagined that!
She was thinking optimistically about their approval, and how would she deal with them later on. as her mind was busy thinking like this, the group had finally reached to the bottom, where a whole new world of fire and lava prevailed, with extreme heat that made them all feel very uncomfortable.
The place was like a second ground beneath the surface, with long thick rivers of lava running here and there, lightening up the whole underground space with bright red light.
Everyone entered this place from an opening in part of it, where many monsters were already loaming in the lava river beside them, with many walking leisurely on the two banks of this river.
"Listen up, the place here is really hot and uncomfortable even to us. These monsters are all elite level fifty and sixty, with many fire attributes that boosted their strength and defense. They are very weak against water and ice elements, so any skills using any of the two would be very helpful," Oya's master stopped everyone as she gave them this little speech, before she looked at her NPC friends and added:
"Let's attack first so all of them would know how hard this place is."
She then led the way, alongside the army of NPCs, and the army of Oya's skeletons. It was her first time fighting an elite monster and turning it into one of her skeletons, making her wonder if she would be able to summon a special form of skeletons.
The moment this mixed force stepped on the fiery hot grounds, the monsters around them all were alerted, looked towards them with vigilance, before they all roared and started to move in huge numbers towards them.