77 Chapter 0077
"So these are the people who'd go with me?"
I asked Kai and looked at the people who had become my envoys to snatch the Newham Town.
"Yes, they're the strongest people after me."
The high-ogres that were going to accompany me included Kylos, whom I already knew and Gokor, Yakur, Ozug and Berut.
Apart from them, Jezebeth, Ena, and Kris were going to accompany me too.
~~And me too!~~
'Where would I leave you, kid?'
I scoffed at Drew who was sitting on his favourite spot, my head.
'Wish I had the skill to see how useful someone was. It would be so much easier to pick out good candidates for this kind of stuff.'
Well, I'll have to manage without it for now.
As soon as I had come here, I had gone to a side of the village and used large-scale alchemy to create giant slabs and cement for construction. I taught them how to use rods and stuff to make pillars and gave them blueprints that I had copied from the internet.
'Never thought I'll be able to utilise my construction knowledge here in Mayhem.'
Aside from being an IT company employee and a grocery worker, I had even done odd jobs at construction sites to look after the work done by the bots.
"Let's get going if everyone is ready."
I unconsciously used [Camouflage] as a habit since I always travelled alone and used [Camouflage] to travel faster.
I immediately cancelled [Camouflage].
"Oh, sorry about that. Let's go barefoot."
[Camouflage Lv 5 → Stealth Lv 6]
".....?"
It seems like the inherent skill of Eclipse had evolved after so much usage.
[Skill: Stealth Lv 6
Type: Active
Cost: 5 mana per person per second.
Cooldown: 2 minutes and 30 seconds.
Makes the user and anyone he touches voluntarily enter a semi-invisible state. Target lock skills won't work on the user or the people affected by the stealth state and it'll be hard to detect them even with sharp senses. Movement sound suppression will be activated during the stealth state.
Movement speed will increase by 50%. There is a low chance of an attack dealing 200% extra damage when used in a Stealth state.
Getting hit by an AOE skill or Attacking someone will cancel the Stealth state effect.
Cancelling the Stealth by choice without hitting against anything will reduce the skill's cooldown by 50%.]
"OP!"
I couldn't help but want to scream. I had very few practical combat skills, and the last fight with Egran made me realise my shortcomings. Not only did I lack instant use skills, but I also lacked skills that would help me in close combat.
Although skills like Blade Throwing were good, it was ineffective against an agile opponent or an opponent who had a high defence. It was better to use such skills in a battle of numbers where an individual's power is lower.
I just wish my other skills evolve too, or I gain some other skills that can help in close combat and don't have any casting time.
Stealth's cooldown was half as much as Camouflage and it had lesser mana consumption, but it would increase mana consumption with every person added. On the other hand, it offered faster speed and more damage bonus than Camouflage. What a steal!
"Everyone, give me your hand."
Although confused, everyone still gave their hands to me and I used stealth on them.
"What???"
"Oh wow, you became transparent!"
"You too!"
'It seems the people affected by stealth can see each other, although just a transparent version. Well, the moment of truth.'
"Take your hands off now, everyone!"
As soon as I said that, they took their hands off of the round that they had formed, and disappointingly, the stealth was cancelled.
'I was really hoping it'd work even after the physical contact was lost.'
I sighed. It was too impractical to run hand in hand for some extra speed. I am sure with so many people on board, we'd just slow each other down.
'Well, I couldn't ask for too much, can I?'
"Let's just go."
And we started running towards Newham town. Everyone had great stamina, including Ena who had trained under official royal knights since childhood and the newly evolved high-orcs, it didn't take much time to reach the town and no one was even sweating.
As soon as we reached the entrance, the orc guards stationed there immediately ran toward us on high alert. They wouldn't have the same reaction if their leader hadn't died some time ago.
"Newham town is closed for outsiders! Go away."
"Wait, doesn't he look the same as the person described by the little miss?"
"Who are you? State your business here!"
The guards said warily, looking at the ogres with high vigilance due to their changed characteristics as the feature of race advancement.
"Our business? I am here to take over the town. Bow to your new lord."
I said sarcastically and the vigilant guards immediately attacked me. Well, I had prepared gifts for them just for this instance.
—-Pew! Pew!
Three pairs of air bullets were fired at the legs of the orc guards, puncturing their knees flesh and making them fall on their knees.
[You have dealt 68,989 damage to the Orc Guard.]
[You have dealt 68,989 damage to the Orc Guard.]
[You have dealt 68,989 damage to the Orc Guard.]
[You have dealt 68,989 damage to the Orc Guard.]
[You have defeated an Orc Guard!]
[You have gained 12,989,939 experience points.]
[Drew has gained 2,344,554 experience points.]
[You have ga…]
"....."
~~Shura is so cool!~~
I just wanted to immobilise them and tie them up so that they won't create any more trouble, I didn't think that they would die just from bullets. I underestimated the level gap that I had from these normal orcs.
But their sacrifice wasn't in vain, at least through them, I learnt that Drew can be levelled up as long as he's outside. We were basically sharing experience points where I got the bigger end of the stick.
The last time when I killed Egran, I had put Drew inside the pet inventory because I didn't want to make any sound.
But I was regretting it right now. Drew could have levelled up so much if he was outside.
[Drew Lv 51
Type: Pet (Bound & Sealed)
Species: Primordial Slime (Un-Evolvable)
Rating: Legendary I (Growth)
Growth Rating: SSS
Gender: Genderless
Physical age: 0
Spiritual age: Unknown
Title: Primordial
Vital status: Alive (Unconditionally Immortal)
Health: ∞
Mana: 2800
Physical Attack: 202
Magic Attack: 202
Physical Defence: ∞
Magical Defence: 28
Status: Amazed
Stats:
Strength: 60
Intelligence: 60
Vitality: 60
Slither: 75]
[Your pet 'Drew' has unlocked the skill 'Confusion'.]
[Your pet 'Drew' has unlocked the skill 'Slime Bomb'.]
[Your pet 'Drew' has unlocked the skill 'Weapon Shapeshift'.]
[Your pet 'Drew' has unlocked the skill 'Mucus Terrain'.]
[Your pet 'Drew' has unlocked the special skill 'Ether Bullets'.]
"OHHH!"
So the amount of stats that Drew got was 5 per level up, unlike players who got 10 stats per level up.
But that didn't make him any less awesome than he was. He had gained so much mana with a meagre 60 stats in intelligence, that it felt like cheating.
Not to mention the skills that he had gotten. It seems like he gains a new skill every 10 level-ups and one special skill at every 50 levels up.
He had even gained a skill that specially belonged to me!
"Shura?"
"Uh? Yeah. Let's go inside."
Ena called out to me and I woke up from my excited reverie. I wanted to check all of Drew's skills but it didn't seem like the proper time to check them.
Walking inside Newham town with an unhidden Grandeur, we walked towards the Egran's mansion. The orcs and ogres either gave us wary or fearful looks.
Reaching the mansion, all the guards stationed around ran straight at the gates to protect the lives of what remained of Egran's family.
The ogres and orcs stood ready to attack us at any moment possible.
"We don't want to use violence here. If I wanted, I could have killed the rest of Egran's family along with him. All I ask you guys is to surrender and wait patiently for my commands, or die here without a chance to go back and say goodbye to your families."
Everyone visibly flinched hearing that. It was all a mind game. If I asked them to hand over Egran's family without saying anything else, they'd take it as a challenge to their dignity and most of them would fight till they die.
On the other hand, what I did was silently ask for Egran's family while promising them that all I need is for them to surrender. Including their family was the last touchup they needed to have their resolve shaken.
"We are willing to surrender."
A feminine voice called out from behind the guards. The guards became vigilant.
"Madam, what are you.."
"Shh, it's fine. We have lived under a tyrannical ruler before, we'll live under one again, just the person would be different. I am not going to bear the guilt of hundreds of deaths on myself, I won't be able to live with it."
A graceful and mature figure came out from between the guards, as they made way for the lady with a mesmerising voice. She had beautiful features and a mature body complimenting her beauty. What stood out was her white-coloured cat-like ears, exactly the same colour as her hair, and her crimson eyes, that matched mine.
'That's Egran's wife???? WTF?'
I couldn't help but feel jealous of that Lizard-faced bastard. How in the world did he marry such a woman? Anyways…
—-Ahem!
"Are you Egran's wife?"
"Yes, my name is Nori. This is my daughter, Kimi. We are willing to surrender as long as you promise not to hurt the people of Newham."
The graceful white-haired lady, Nori, answered. Behind her was Egran's daughter, Kimi, without a cent of her mother's genes.
"I promise not to hurt your people, on the contrary, I am sure they'd be delighted to have me as their new lord after some time. Jeze, immobilise Lady Nori and Brat Kimi."
Both Jezebeth and Ena glared at me, and I just coughed while avoiding their gaze. Jezebeth used some handcuffs that I had previously made and cuffed Nori's hand, while she tied a rope around Kimi's hand.
"All of you, since your master is already dead and your madam is with us, drop your weapons."
Immediately afterwards, the sound of weapons being dropped sounded out.
"Who's the second in charge of the mansion after Egran?"
The lizardman at the front stepped forward with a strong face, as he replied.
"I am the deputy general of Newham."
"Oh, are you related to Egran?"
"No sir, I am just a lizardman who was taken in by General Egran after he saw my intellectual prowess. I am the one who manages the town's affairs."
It was commendable how this Lizardman, who was even lower level than the orcs, had become the deputy of Egran.
"What's your name?"
"It's Cohtan, sir."
"Let's go inside and have a proper talk, hmm?"
I commanded the high orcs and Jeze to supervise the guards outside and went inside the mansion with Cohtan and Ena.
...
//DreamNote//
Don't forget to vote for this novel with your power stones and golden tickets :)