Chapter 394: One Hour Left, The Ultimate Monster
[Only one hour remains in the event.]
Leon quickly checked his mana points, he had gained less during the hours he spent looking for them than in the crater, but it was still decent progress overall.
[Mana Points: 862]
Either way, he was getting so close to 1,000 that it didn’t matter that the gains had slowed down significantly.
And as for the participants, the number had continued to drop steadily as players were eliminated by monsters and each other.
[42 participants remain.]
Nothing seemed to happen after that initial announcement though, so Leon simply kept going, scanning the plains for any remaining threats or opportunities.
Around 30 minutes passed, and he found quite literally no monster to fight, the plains feeling empty and barren of any enemies.
Every single one of the remaining monsters had likely been taken by the other players who were also hunting for mana points to secure their positions.
But this also meant that the only thing left to hunt at this point... was other participants themselves to reduce the number, turning the event into a battle royale.
Tick! Tick! Tick!
And so by the time the final event of the "Excursion" appeared, only 35 people remained standing in the domain, the rest eliminated.
[35 participants remain.]
Ding!
[30 minutes remain, it is time to introduce the ultimate challenge.]
At that moment, every single player, whether standing proudly or wounded and hiding, looked up at the sky with a mixture of anticipation and dread.
[All of the zones except for the plains have been taken over by the barrier, meaning that the playing field has been massively reduced for the final confrontation.]
[Every single monster has already been killed as well, meaning there is no other way to get mana points except by defeating the final challenge that is about to appear.]
Making people who felt like they had too low of a number sighed, knowing that they wouldn’t be able to catch up no matter what they did at this point.
[The person in first place currently has 862 Mana Points.]
’Haha, that’s me,’ Leon grinned internally, ’I did it, I’m in the lead!’
[...But that would be too easy, which is why I said I am introducing the ultimate challenge to make things interesting and shake up the rankings.]
Fwoosh! BOOM!
A massive explosion erupted as the sky of Iris’ domain began to change and twist violently, a massive vortex appearing in it that seemed to swallow the light itself.
[The strongest monster in our database, one that can even swallow kingdoms if left unchecked, will now be unleashed upon the plains.]
[It is worth 500 Mana Points if you manage to defeat it and claim the kill.]
[Good luck, this will decide the winner of the event... if you can defeat it that is.]
As soon as the timer hits zero, everyone in Iris’ domain would be teleported out, meaning that if someone was confident in the fact they were in the top 10, they wouldn’t move and risk losing their spot.
But even though Leon was first place, he knew he couldn’t allow himself to stay idle and let others catch up to him.
’Fucking Orion’s probably gonna try to kill it, and if he kills that thing, he’ll claim first place for sure and steal the victory from me,’ Leon thought, his expression darkening.
Regardless, Leon kept looking up at the vortex in the sky, his eyes fixed on the massive figure that began to emerge from it with incredible presence.
It revealed its body, then its wings, and finally its head and it was... a massive dragon, its scales shimmering with an icy blue light that seemed to freeze the air around it.
’Dragon.’
As said many times before, dragons were immensely rare and powerful, appearing rarely even in the [Higher Domains] where players were at their strongest.
Even the weakest one of them in this place were terrifying, able to destroy cities or kingdoms on their own without much effort or resistance.
And if they brought their whole army, not domain could survive the onslaught that would follow, making them feared across all worlds.
The strongest existence among dragons, aka the [Dragon King] was said to rival the gods in terms of power, making it a force to be reckoned with.
But of course, compared to Alphox, even the dragon king would be weaker once the primordial dragon of chaos grew to full power and reached its true potential.
Fwoosh!
The dragon that appeared was massive, much larger than the one Leon fought in the [Elemental Temple] back in the lower domains, its presence overwhelming.
His skin and scales were completely white, with some faint blue outlines that glowed with cold energy, and a chilly aura surrounded him that made the air freeze instantly.
FLAP!
The dragon flapped his wings and began to fly in the sky around the domain, looking from below at all the remaining participants scattered across the plains.
And before dropping to the ground, it opened its mouth, and unleash a powerful attack that swept across the landscape with devastating force.
Ice Tornado!
He launched a massive trail of ice and spun in the circle, the trail eventually turning into a massive tornado that moved around the plains, freezing everything in its path.
Leon himself could feel the chilly aura from his spot, and he didn’t even bother moving toward it yet, waiting to see how it would play out before making his move.
Tick! Tick!
[33 participants remain.]
Two players were hit by the tornado and frozen in place, their bodies turning to ice before shattering into pieces.
After around two minute, the tornado finally disappeared, and the dragon dropped to the ground with a massive thud that shook the earth beneath it.
ROOOOOAR!
It roared loudly and faced all those that stood before it, its icy breath forming clouds in the air that shrouded its massive form.
A group of 5 players were there, their bodies shaking from both the fear, but also because the temperature around the dragon was immensely low and dropping dangerously.
They attempted to fight it but... the dragon killed them all, its ice claws slashing through all of them in a matter of seconds, their bodies falling lifeless.
[28 participants remain.]
"Holy shit, at this rate we might really just have only ten people left at the end," Leon muttered to himself, watching the carnage unfold.
Leon had thought it would be impossible to lose so many people, but after introducing the berserkers, barrier and now this dragon, it seemed like Iris herself had wanted that to happen to make the event more entertaining.
The more players die, the more she would be entertained after all, right, so she had designed the event to be as brutal and chaotic as possible.
Leon darted forward toward the middle of the plains from his position, where the dragon fell, eager to see what he could do against the massive beast.
After all, there were now only 27 minutes left before the end of the event.
And if he couldn’t defeat the dragon directly, then getting Orion was at least his objective to secure the victory and eliminate his greatest threat.