The Wood Monster Army obeyed his command with a resounding roar as they rushed past Draco's stationary form to leap into the mass of parasitic monsters.
The Ents and Shamblers were like trains that rammed into the wall that were the endless horde of enemies, their tree-like arms as well as their thick vines smashing, dashing and crashing into each other.
Their strength came in the form of their sizes and raw physical power, which was much more suited to large scale battles rather than small skirmishes. A quick and nimble person could outfox these two Wood Monster types with ease, but in such a situation where there was always an enemy within arm's reach, they were like combine harvesters collecting crops.
However, the parasitic monsters weren't brainless entities waiting there to be killed. They quickly overcame their shock and retaliated against their attackers.
Following the earlier example, one could not compare the prowess of a hundred elephants to a thousand dogs, but what if those dogs numbered in the hundreds of thousands?
In such a case, the elephants would be absolutely unstoppable in the early stages of the fight, but would soon be brought down by the relentless assault of the dogs, especially as the wounds and damage acc.u.mulated. This was precisely the case here.
The Shamblers, which were mostly vines and some bark, as well as the Ents, which were giant man-trees, were easily able to kill at least 5 Rank 1 enemies with every hit.
Their killing rate was horrific, especially in a battle like this, highlighting just how precious the Heart of the Woods was thanks to the Nature's Call active skill.
If Draco ever entered a Guild War and the opposing party was of the same level of strength as himself - or even slightly stronger - this skill was a definite turnaround. The duration was an hour, but the cooldown was 7 days.
However, the reason Draco was able to use all these abilities without fear was a particular boon he had received long ago but never had any real use for because nothing had ever pushed him - a reincarnator with skills of a God Rank player - to use his full power.
｢Richmond's Herald – Special Rank
Mana capacity 100%; Mana recovery 100%; Skill cooldowns lowered by 50%｣
This Special Rank displayed how overpowered this particular mechanic was, and it explained why the players of Draco's past life didn't deserve to unlock them unless they really did things that went above the AI's prediction.
Of course, excellent achievements had been made before, as Draco wasn't the only talented or lucky person among 7 billion humans. However, the key point was that they all were within what the AI expected, meaning that those acts were great, but not exemplary per se.
To those within that period of time, it was a great act, but as they progressed, it would become impressive at best. Humankind in general developed so quickly that things that were amazing ten years ago became absolutely unimpressive a decade later.
The Shamblers and Ents began to lose steam as the wounds piled on. For every step they took, a lot of enemies were killed, but many wounds also appeared on their bodies, bleeding out either yellowish sap or greenish fluid.
However, how could an ability from an Epic item be so short-sighted? Why make the duration one whole hour if the monsters couldn't last 3 minutes under pressure?
After all, the idea of durations on powerful skills were usually to limit them, because they could definitely last longer. However, if they did last longer, they would become too powerful for their Rank.
The Dryads, who had refrained from entering the melee, began to raise their hands as whitish-green lights began to disperse from their bodies. It wasn't like the sickly green of Roma's Mystic Arts, but the healthy green associated with nature, life and vitality.
'Dryad' wasn't a class, it was a race. 'Nymph' wasn't a class either, it was a species. As such, their actual classes were Druids.
Similar to how Roma was a Gypsy, yet her class was a Witch, Dryads were usually of the Druid class.
Druids were one of the best natural healers who boasted the most effective healing for injured parties. Their healing covered everything from mental to spiritual and even of the soul.
However, Clerics were more popular because that class excelled in giving out instant heals that replenished health immediately, for high costs. This was much better for combat compared to Druids whose healing was more fluid, but occurred over time for lower costs.
However, that depended mostly on the context of use. Utility of abilities and classes weren't strict, but variable.
To a group of players, who had health not surpassing 7000 at this stage, healing over time would be a waste since they would be dead long before anything useful happened.
To a bunch of giant Ents and Shamblers who had absurd defense and vitality, it was the perfect mix, as their survivability allowed the healing to function. This was especially so since multiple Dryads cast Area-of-Effect heals that worked over time, which stacked on top of each other.
So what was the result?
It was as if the Shamblers and Ents had drank an instant refill potion! Their HP bars rose from red to green so fast, it was like watching a character regenerate HP from those old single-player campaign games from the early 2000's.
What made one even more speechless was that this large scale AOE casting took only 5% of the Dryad's Mana bars. Their Mana Regen was also very high, so before the next time the Shamblers needed healing, they would be full again.
…
How the f.u.c.k were the parasitic monsters supposed to fight this? They were smaller in size and weaker, so their advantage came in the form of their large numbers, which allowed them to overwhelm their enemies.
Now, all that hard work was undone and would become meaningless unless they could assault the Dryads. However, some Ents and Shamblers had formed a defensive line around them, to which attacking would be fruitless.
This was because the Shamblers and Ents were only left open in the melee because they focused on attack, attack, attack!
Now however, they were focusing on one of the things that earth and wood based creatures were best known for, which was defense! Defense was the strength of these monster types, meaning that they would be even harder to hurt.
However, with enough numbers, this should be easy enough to overcome, and some of the parasitic monsters that were not in the line of attack for the initial charge moved to do so.
Their efforts bore fruit, as the Shamblers and Ents slowly began to lose health. Although the rate was abysmal and very disheartening, it was still something.
As long as those Dryads could be killed, this battle would be over for the Wood Monster Army!
It took a whole ten minutes of non-stop attacks to finally whittle the defensive Wood Monsters to very low HP and these exhausted parasitic monsters felt a burst of adrenaline enter them as they performed their last blows.
Just when they were about to howl out in excitement and glee, they noticed that a whitish-green glow had enveloped their targets en masse, sending them from the pits of death right back to full health and vigor.
The monsters, that had spent so much time trying to solve the problem from the source, felt so defeated that some of them gave up and rushed back into the fray. They would rather take their chances with the assault squad of the Wood Monster Army rather than waste their efforts on these enemies.
The true strength of the Wood Monster Army was that against enemies of the same Rank, they were like the clarion call of death for the duration of one hour.
However they were incomparably weak in scenarios involving enemies with fire magic, as well as those of higher Ranks.
This was shown as a few Rank 2 monsters entered the fray, a few attacks from them sending the Ents and Shamblers to the brink of death. What had been an unstoppable charge now became a bit more pitched as the immovable wall showed up.
The Dryads began to drain their Mana reserves as they continually healed the Ents and Shamblers in order to prevent casualties, but this was only a temporary solution.
They weren't like players who could pop out potions and down them like drunkards. If monsters - or monster races - could drink potions, many players would be killed to death.
As such, they could only rely on their natural regen, which clearly wasn't able to keep up with their consumption. This stopgap measure could only last for another five minutes before everything would come to an end.
However, the Wood Monster Army weren't the only force Draco deployed. High in the skies were 13 men riding on High-Rank Dragons, their auras distinct and extremely suppressive.
They were the Knights of the Round Table. Sir Lancelot, Sir Gawain, Sir Geraint, Sir Percival, Sir Bors, Sir Lamorak, Sir Kay, Sir Gareth, Sir Bedivere, Sir Gaheris, Sir Galahad, Sir Tristan.
And of course, the leader of them, the handsome blond-haired King Arthur Pendragon.
These fellows all had various personalities and skills, but one thing they shared was their oppressive strength, knightly valor and in this particular situation, a high Rank.
They were all Draco's Rank + 3, meaning that they were currently Rank 4 powerhouses. Not counting that they were riding on High-Rank Dragons of that same tier, they were ten times stronger than any Rank 4 parasitic monster here.
They had spent all this time getting used to their mounts, as they typically rode on horses, not dragons. However, Arthur was the first to get himself comfortable as he had ridden his wife many times.
"Haha! Die under my blade, mangy cur!"
With that loud cry, he thrust Excalibur - the real Excalibur, not the trash Draco uses - in a golden beam of excellence, destroying a wave of Rank 2 monsters that were assaulting the Wood Monster Army.
With the pressure on them relieved, the Shamblers and Ents resumed their mad slaughter of the Rank 1 monsters. The Dryads experienced a brief period of respite which allowed their Mana to climb up to manageable levels.
If King Arthur could do it, so could his other Knights. First was Lancelot, then Gawain and Galahad. These three were the most notable and legendary Knights of the Round Table aside from Arthur himself.
Once they dove from the skies, a belt of fire engulfed the mass of parasitic monsters as the High Rank Dragons unleashed their fury.
More than 95% of the parasitic monsters were Rank 1, with 4% being Rank 2, 0.9% being Rank 3 and 0.1% being Rank 4.
This meant that the large amount of those who were instantly incinerated were the Rank 1's with a few Rank 2's in the mix.The Rank 3 and Rank 4 monsters were too deep into the Central Meadowland to be accessed just yet.
It also created a chain effect, since the fire spread out over the grass like oil in a pan. This fire did not harm the Wood Monster Army though, as it was controlled by the High Rank Dragons.
It would be the biggest joke to use fire in a battle where one's main allies were made of wood without a means to control it.
More than 3/4ths of the parasitic monsters had been wiped out, but the duration for the Nature's Call spell was left with only 5 or so minutes before it expired. The Knights of the Round Table had long moved ahead to face down the Rank 3 and Rank 4 monsters, leaving this side of the battle to the Wood Monster Army.
Victory was in reach and might be achieved at this rate.
But where was Draco?
What had he been doing all this time?
If we turned time back to when Draco had commanded his army to charge, we would be able to see his exploits in this battle.
......….
Draco lowered the Dragorugio sword and his face became hard after he gave the command to charge. His active skills didn't have a long duration, so he would have to kill as many as he could within this time frame in order to maximize his efficiency.
Draco rushed forward and tore through the sound barrier like it was thin paper, causing a loud sonic boom as well as a shockwave of force.
His Dragorugio sword, as well as Excalibur, were swung about like comets trailing the night, their forms blurring to leave arc-lights in the air.
Draco was moving and attacking at speeds that were no longer possible for a human to ever reach. This was the best display of Boundless' truest attraction to the various humans in the world.
Draco was fighting Rank 1 monsters that had levels ranging between 10 - 50. These monsters came in a variety of forms like the Killer Tree, the Assassin Vine, the Rampaging Boar, the Dire Bear, the Dire Wolf and more, but they were all controlled by parasites. There were no outward changes to them, but their eyes were perpetually red and they were incredibly feral.
Draco sliced a Rampaging Boar into two, its blood splashing all over his body. It stained his face, hair and armor like the early stages of an artist's painting, but had this bizarre aesthetic that when meshed with his handsomeness, any person who found males to be their type would be moved.
Fortunately or unfortunately, there was no such person here.
Draco saw a plethora of vines that were thick in body but sharp at the tip thrust towards him from different directions. Some Assassin Vines had cobbled together some form of teamwork as they sought to end the threat that was Draco.
These plentiful stems weaved through the air like missiles, aiming for all the fatal areas of Draco's body.
However, Draco did not even pay attention to them as he continued swinging his swords without a care. His blades mowed down more monsters, his kill count rising rapidly.
Draco's expression was neutral, even as these vines were almost about to pierce his body and turn him into a trypophobian's worst nightmare.
However, the vines that almost reached him suddenly veered away from Draco's body, as if they had never intended to hit him before, but rather hit the air in front of him, behind him and around him.
Not counting the monsters near him, the most shocked were the Assassin Vines themselves, who could not understand how their attack went askew so badly. They hadn't even realized when they had made the conscious decision to change their trajectory. They had felt like what they hit was what they aimed for from the very start, and this shocked these feral monsters.
However, instead of rationally thinking of ways to handle this seemingly esoteric defense, they became enraged and began attacking Draco rapidly and chaotically.
They were monsters that were no different from rabid dogs, and such beasts had thinking capacities that were lower than some people from the early 2000's.
Draco crashed into a Killer Tree, leaping back as he cut off all its branches and severed its roots, making the monster screech in pain. He then cut it in half from the midsection, a clean stroke that saw its body fall to two different sides.
Draco frowned though.
His killing efficiency was too low!
With the sheer amount of monsters in the crowd, it would be impossible to clear everyone and everything! His berserk skills were also about to come to an end, and he had less than 3 seconds till then.
The number of kills Draco had racked up in this time were maddening. With the experience boosts of this particular skirmish, he had long hit the Rank 1 cap of level 50.
Now, when Draco had shocked the world by getting an SSS rating in the Nightingale's Cry dungeon, he had been awarded 44 levels worth of experience which sent him from level 8 to level 52.
He wasn't capped at that time because of one key reason.
He didn't have a class then.
That was also why despite reaching level 52, there were no game announcements or any class awards/Rank increases. Without a class, one could not progress in the Western Fantasy section of Boundless.
Now that he did have a class, he was blessed with many benefits, but he was bound by rules too. If he reached the level cap of any Rank, he would need to perform whatever Rank up procedures required and succeed before be able to gain levels again.
What happened to experience earned during this period? It was kept and distributed when you Ranked up properly. If not, it would continue to acc.u.mulate until you did.
Players in their past lives were unable to exploit this mechanic because they had not been aware of how hard it was to reach Rank 7. They had assumed that it was like any other RPG game, keep killing monsters, doing dungeons and turning in quests until you hit the level cap.
Draco only allowed his experience to grow this much because he wanted his level to be high enough to break through the suppression.
After all, when one looked at the raw facts of the matter, stat points of level 50 players or monsters were not that much higher than those at level 30, assuming they distributed it evenly.
So how come level 30 players absolutely could not fight level 50 monsters unless they were beasts like Draco or Eva who had skills and items no one should possess in this timeline?
It was solely due to level suppression.
Level suppression did not function similar to bloodline suppression or the like. It posed no spiritual or mental deterrence on others - unless one had a high State of Being - but rather acted like a proper game mechanic.
It would buff damage dealt by the higher leveled party as well as reduce damage received, even if the lower level party had a high damage output or stronger defense.
Otherwise, with his Divine, Legendary and Epic items, Draco would be able to run rampant in Boundless.
There was no way to sidestep this mechanic that Draco knew of, so he needed to use this method to bring his level up.
Now that all the Rank 1 monsters were within his level, he readied the skill he had been saving as his true killing move!
"Black Dragon's Roar!"