Chapter 44 - Adventurer's Guild Test (Part Four)

Lucas had now killed the remaining four Intermediate Tier Beasts that were required as he was on his way towards the pack. Emilia and Lucas were now hiding, trying to hatch a plan to lure out the King Tier Beasts. He used the [Inspect] on them.

[King Tier Beast - Golden Shell Beetle]

[It has a very hard exterior, which is extremely hard to crack. It can use its arms to slice anything that stands in its way and can fly in the air. Weak against High-Intensity Fire Magic]

The beetle had a Golden Shell on its back and stood on its hind legs. It had four arms, and two of them were in gold. "So my Fireball won't work?", he thought. "High-Intensity? How do I increase the intensity of my Fireball?", he thought. "How about I conjure three to four Fireballs, and compress it into one Fireball?", he thought.

Emilia's gun began to glow orange. "Mana Channeling?', he said. Emilia nodded her head. "Since Gold can be melted under intense heat, I'm making Fire Explosive Bullets. It takes some time, though", she said. Lucas was impressed by her extensive knowledge.

"Although she doesn't have a system, she does know. And why do I use the [Inspect] every time I don't remember something? The last time's upgrade made me unable to use my spells. If I upgrade again, then I won't be able to use the [Inspect]. I need to try and use my brain", he thought.

Four fireballs floated above his hands, and he began to merge them. The Fireball grew large, and there was a high amount of heat coming from it. "Now, to compress it", he thought. He tried to control the Fire Element. The fireball became erratic, and he was losing control of the large fireball.

"Come on, there must be a way", he thought. "Separate them", said Valentine. He followed and separated it back into four fireballs. "Now, join one and compress it", he instructed. Lucas followed his instruction and joined only two. It was slightly larger than the normal fireball, and he slowly began to compress it.

"Good, do it once more, and again and it will be much easier to compress. You will have to learn to Manipulate Mana for this, but I am giving you a shortcut. This won't help in the long run, though", he said. Lucas nodded his head and followed the instructions. The fireball grew in size, and he compressed it again. He repeated the process until all four of them were merged.

The fireball in his hands was the size of one normal fireball, but there was a ring surrounding it. "It looks like the Planet Saturn", he chuckled as he looked at it. The heat coming from it was immense, making Lucas break a sweat. "If I can make one more", he thought. "Don't even think about it. First perfect this one", scolded Valentine.

Lucas nodded his head and he threw the [4x Fireball] towards the nearest Beast. It instantly died, and it let out a screech before it died. "Maybe if I use two more in it, I could instantly kill it", he thought. He then began to do the same process, but he used six fireballs in one.

The fireball was now hotter than before, and the ring that surrounded the fireball was rotating. "Well, here goes nothing", he thought as he threw the [6x Fireball] at another Beast, and it died, not knowing what hit them. The confusion began to spread among the Beasts as they began to fall one by one.

"Well, I can only use three of these now", he thought as he scanned. His weapon was inefficient against them for now. "I can use Aura attacks", he thought.

[Fireball has Levelled Up!]

[Mana Consumption 7 -> 6]

[Damage increased by three percent]

He was elated. "If only I could level up my Icicle as well", he thought. He then began to do the same with the Icicles, merging six of them into one. He also made a fireball the same way, threw both of them towards two of the enemies. "Four beasts down", he thought as he pulled out his blades.

He then began to use [Aura Slash] again and again. He maintained his distance from the Beasts as he hacked away at them, slowly killing them one by one. He huffed after killing them. He looked at his quest, to see how many he had killed. "And there are only about Fifty minutes left", he thought.

"Will I be able to fare against Emperor Tier Beast?", he thought as he slid on a tree. After he sat down, he felt a shoulder on his shoulder and he turned to see who it was. "Emilia, how did it go?', he asked her. She smiled at him as she placed her head on the tree behind her. "I'm spent. I don't think I can move an inch from here. I did want to go up against an Emperor Tier", she said in a low voice.

Lucas closed his eyes and began to meditate. "Follow what I'm doing, and it might help in your recovery", he said to her and continued his meditation. Emilia followed what he did and soon, after fifteen minutes, they felt refreshed.

"Let's go and find some Solo Emperor Tier Beasts", he said as he began his acting once again. "We just need to kill one", he thought and looked at the Map. He saw two Emperor Tiers near each other, and no Beast was surrounding their area. "That's strange. Why are there no Beasts around that area? Some kind of hierarchy, I suppose", he said as he got up.

They both went in another direction, and they reached the place where the two Emperor Tier Beasts resided. One was on the ground, and it was sleeping while the other was standing guard.

[Emperor Tier Beast - Boxing Ape]

[It has insane strength, and it moves like a boxer. It is rumored that this species, the 'Martial Apes', each have mastered a different technique of Marital Arts. Beware of fighting against them. Weak against Magic Attacks]

Lucas was baffled when he saw the information. "Are you kidding me? There is a whole species of Martial Apes out there? How in the world did they even learn it", he exclaimed. The Boxing Ape was walking like a guard, and it kept looking around. Lucas didn't want to fight it, but he had no choice for now. He needed at least one for a rank-up.

"I can't box, but I don't know if this ape has the same weakness as a normal boxer", he thought. He took a martial stance and was about to stand in front of the ape when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Allow me. I think the one behind will be more suitable for you", said Emilia as she stepped in front of him.

He stepped back as he also wanted to assess the 'Martial Apes'. "Well, who would have thought that this evolution would have brought forth a new race of Apes. I wonder if other races have also mastered Martial Arts", he pondered. He was indeed, truly intrigued.

Emilia stood in front of the Boxing Ape, and she assumed the same stance. The Ape roared as it banged its chest, slightly waking up the Ape that was asleep behind it. The Ape then rubbed its eyes and looked at Emilia. It stood up and leaned on the tree casually as if mocking her.

Emilia was furious. She wanted to fight it right away, but she didn't. The Ape turned towards Lucas and began to converse. "Sign Language?", he was taken aback. "Please be the referee for this match, human", it said. Lucas was stunned. "But unless we kill them, we don't get a number", he thought.

The Ape took out a cloth from behind and tied it to its head. It then roared out loud, signaling that it was ready to fight. "This match will consist of twelve rounds. And each round shall last for three minutes. A thirty-second window will be open as a break between each round. Fighters, ready? FIGHT!", said Lucas and jumped back.

As soon as he said that, it signaled the beginning of the fight, but neither of them moved. The Ape turned its head towards him and talked again. "Where's the dong?", he asked. "Now who the hell trained this Ape", thought Lucas as he took out his swords and clashed them against each other, signaling the beginning of the match.

Emilia smiled wide, and her demeanour changed from that of a gentle person to that of someone who is out for blood. "This will be interesting. I'm going to kill this one in four rounds", she thought as she activated her Aura, spreading it throughout her body.

"Let's begin, Ape", she said as she jumped forward, jabbing towards its chin.. The Ape also roared, as it made its move towards Emilia.