Chapter 312 Against Numbers
Extreme Armor (0%)
A powerful armor that grants high resistance against magical and physical attacks.
Endurance + 40, Mentality + 40, Harden. Master this item to obtain the same effects permanently.
Harden: passively Increases your endurance and mentality by two points per level.
Durability: 100/100
It was hard to imagine those guys wearing any armor since they looked pretty weak physically, so Jake equipped the item since it was better than his previous one. As expected, the feeling of new items being used was pretty refreshing… mainly because they didn't smell of blood and sweat.
"We are ready to move," Myrna declared. "The others will stay behind since we don't want to stand out too much."
Jake felt that twenty people already was too much, but that wasn't an operation that he was leading, so he kept quiet and then nodded before touching the crystal.
While didn't drop his guard. The whole group was only teleported to the middle of a city in ruins. After seeing that ocean of machines, he didn't think that anything would surprise him again, but Jake was wrong… some buildings around him had fallen, and he could see old marks of combat on the ground. The buildings looked like they were made of concrete, but the roads weren't made of asphalt or bricks. It was different from the current and the previous versions of Earth.
"This is…" Jake said.
"A ruined world…" Myrna said. "In our previous life, we heard that such a thing happened many times. Worlds were invaded by dungeons, and their inhabitants were unable to defend them. In the worst case scenario, dragons appeared and destroyed their whole society in a matter of days."
Aside from the ones of his first dream, Jake didn't recall seeing any dragons so far. Still, they sure looked powerful enough to destroy whole worlds. Regardless, it didn't look like there were monsters, much fewer dragons nearby. If anything, that place was attacked months, if not years ago…
"Can you sense anything?" Jake asked.
"It seems there is a large vestige of mana that goes in that direction, it was from the iron golems, and I can feel some mana of our allies in that direction as well," Myrna replied.
It was in the same direction they were facing when they appeared in that world. The only weird thing was that they couldn't see the traces of the enemies on the ground… the iron golems probably used their flight ability… Regardless, it was probably a trick to make them lose possible pursuers. They didn't know that the tattooed guys could sense the vestiges of their mana.
While they advanced, Jake asked Myrna if she could feel the presence of other monsters, but she just shook her head. In the end, the dungeon master wouldn't try to attack other worlds without making sure that his backyard was one hundred percent safe. So, he used those iron golems to eliminate all the nearby threats… possibly. Jake assumed that they were the enemy's original creation, but it was hard to tell.
Regardless, after a while, they left that ruined city and then arrived at some massively long and tall grasslands. Considering what he had seen thus far, Jake considered that mana could make vegetation grow quite fast, but it still was weird to cross grasslands that were three times taller than him. Still, Jake cleared the path ahead by using Mana Blades.
The terrain, after a while, began to change and also grew more vertical until the group reached relatively long plain lands, and beyond it, they found a small village surrounded by thousands of those iron golems. Still, it didn't look like the village was a real base.
"The enemy must be underground," Myrna said.
"I see… can I assume that you guys are being captured for your ability to recover mana?" Jake asked.
"That is most likely the case…" Myrna replied without hiding her anger.
"Adding fuel to those creatures should be pretty hard, then…" Jake rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "We can assume that they are alive but unconscious in order for their mana to be taken. When was the first time that the first of your people was captured?"
"Two weeks ago… they captured around two hundred of us already, mainly those who lived in small villages," Myrna added.
The number didn't seem that high… so keeping monsters like that functioning was probably a problem that the dungeon master had to deal with often. However, there was a chance that he had other prisoners… if that were the case, then Jake could imagine some troublesome situations…
"We should split up…" Jake said. "We should let a few of us remain hidden and make them free from our friends once the enemy is totally focused on us. That is our first goal… once he loses their supply of mana, we can go all out against them."
Myrna recalled the times when she saw the giant iron golems connected and forming an even bigger one… facing something of that size was too risky… so, they truly needed to get rid of their supply of mana and free their allies. Considering the mana pool of the iron golems, it was evident that they needed to be recharged often and while their connected version would make them stronger, it also would make them consume energy faster.
"All right," Myrna said. "Still, since you are the only frontline, we shouldn't split evenly. Only five of us will stay behind and wait until the dungeon master shows up."
While Myrna was selecting them, Jake equipped the rings that would grant him the extra mana to keep fighting. Unlike before, he couldn't affect all of the sides of the battlefield, so he had to make sure that he would move as often as possible to make them unable to react.
Jake wondered what the best strategy would be… to go all out from the start and make the dungeon master show up or try to decrease their numbers slowly. It was a tough decision to make… in the end. He didn't like mages, just as much as he disliked magic. However, as a frontline member, he had his pride, and his pride wouldn't allow him to let the backline be targeted by the iron golems. Jake was going to try his best to become the single focus of all the enemies, but it will be hard to pull it off…
"This time, we will focus on paralyzing the enemies and giving you the chance to attack," Myrna declared. "That combination of yours can destroy them pretty fast, after all, so let's focus on that to decrease their numbers as much as possible."
"All right," Jake nodded. "If things get dire, we will retreat a bit. With that in mind, those that won't join the battle should move a bit to west or east in order to sneak behind the enemy's lines."
After the final preparations, Jake and the others began to move. They didn't hurry since the path ahead was open, and it would be impossible to surprise the enemies anyway. So, they focused on keeping their formation, where all of the mages could have a clear view to the enemies around.
Just as they expected, hundreds of enemies moved to deal with them, but that was more of an automatic response than something that the dungeon master decided to do… when they were two hundred meters away, several enemies pointed their hands toward Jake's group, but then the enemies were hit by lightning bolts.
In the fraction of seconds that the enemies were paralyzed, Jake enhanced his sword with dark flames and then launched several Mana Blades. Each of those attacks pierced the enemies in two, making them fall in droves.
You obtained 200 coins.
Your recovery increased by 01 point.
You obtained 200 coins.
Your recovery increased by 01 point.
…
Despite that, the iron golems kept coming like mindless drones to attack, and in the blink of an eye, they were wiped out. Jake only destroyed half of them. While the Myrna group was planning to slow down most enemies, he could only attack so many targets at once.
The second group of enemies was three times larger, so Jake changed his strategy. His mind was getting tired of recovering the dark flames on the sword so often, so he charged at the iron golems.
As one would expect, it looked like a waste of time for a single man to try to stop one thousand iron golems by himself. Still, he kept using Flash and attacked them with his sword. There was no strength behind his attacks, but the blade and the dark flames made the enemies keep their eyes on him.
The iron golems fired their massive mana cannons toward him, but they only ended up hitting the ground in front of them and making explosions happen, and raising dust curtains. Jake used that chance to turn to their backside and then use Steel Tornado. Since they had good senses, Myrna's group could feel his presence and tell that they wouldn't hit him, so they kept going.
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