Chapter 43: The Third Monster Tide Arrives! First Place with a 40-Second Clear!

The third monster tide would arrive in approximately half an hour.

The Newbie Protection Barrier had about an hour and a half remaining.

In other words, if the siege dragged on for too long and the protection barrier disappeared, any players who failed to hold the line would be kicked straight out of the Newbie Map.

John didn’t even need to look to guess how惨 the situation would be tonight.

"Wonder how many people will get kicked out of the game tonight."

"Whatever. It’s got nothing to do with me anyway."

As for John himself, there was absolutely nothing to worry about.

He currently had three SSS-ranked heroes, more than two thousand six-star units, newly constructed city walls, and the protection of the Tower of Mist.

Dealing with the monster tide would be over in no time.

John turned his palm over.

The final Hero Recruitment Scroll immediately appeared in his hand.

It was made of golden-yellow parchment, with flames etched along its edges.

As he stared at the scroll, he suddenly became lost in thought.

In his previous life, it had taken him three whole years to establish a foothold in the Newbie Map, build his first castle, and obtain his first decent hero.

But in this life...

He had accomplished all of that in less than three days.

He already had a castle, SSS-ranked heroes, and was about to unlock portal and city wall technologies.

His territory’s population had surpassed five hundred and was approaching six hundred, while his six-star army numbered in the thousands.

He had accomplished things he wouldn’t even have dared to dream of in his previous life.

But the person who deserved the most credit...

As John thought about her, his fingers unconsciously tightened around the scroll.

"Sylvie."

That red-haired girl who smiled with her eyes curved into crescents, who always came bounding into his arms and called him my lord.

In his previous life, she hadn’t even lived to see the day he truly rose to power. Members of the Judgment Alliance had killed her outright.

It would be a lie to say he didn’t feel indebted to her.

Even now, John could clearly remember her severed head lying abandoned in the muddy water.

He lowered his gaze to the scroll in his hand.

This was the last one he had left.

Should he take a gamble?

Should he risk it and see if he could recruit Sylvie?

John rubbed the edge of the scroll with his fingers, uncertainty flickering in his eyes.

Using a Hero Recruitment Scroll normally yielded a random hero.

But Sylvie was someone specific to him.

Whether he could summon her was anyone’s guess.

If he ended up summoning someone else, his final scroll would be gone.

What if...

"WHOOOOO!"

A deep, heavy horn sounded without warning from beyond the protection barrier.

John abruptly snapped out of his thoughts.

The third monster tide had arrived.

He immediately turned and exchanged a glance with Ophelia, who had just returned.

The dragon girl understood at once. Purple flames swirled around her, and she transformed into a giant dragon before soaring into the sky.

Passing through the pale blue dome of the protection barrier, she rose into the air and surveyed the surroundings with her dark golden, slit-pupiled eyes.

Their shared vision appeared before John once again.

John raised his eyebrows slightly.

As expected, the monsters had changed again tonight.

This time, they were white skeletons.

Skeleton Swordsmen, heavily armored shieldbearers, Skeleton Cavalry, and several Skeleton Mages wearing gray robes and carrying bone staffs.

There were approximately three hundred of them, packed tightly together.

Their average level was Lv.4, and their average rank was three-star.

Judging by their status panels alone, they weren’t much different from the goblin army that had attacked the previous night.

But these monsters were actually even more troublesome because they possessed a particular skill.

They could resurrect once.

After being killed for the first time, their bodies would remain on the ground for thirty seconds. Once those thirty seconds had passed, they would reappear in their original locations at full health and resume fighting.

Many careless players would relax their guard upon seeing the monsters fall, then rush forward with their units to collect the loot.

The result?

All the skeletons scattered across the battlefield would suddenly rise again, attacking from both the front and the rear and trapping the players in a deadly pincer formation.

They would die without even understanding what had happened.

As for how John knew all this so well...

He had encountered monsters of the same type in his previous life.

He had paid dearly for that mistake, dying in battle and losing several levels when he respawned in his territory.

At that moment, the army of three hundred skeletons had already reached the area outside his territory.

But they suddenly stopped.

The leading Skeleton Swordsman raised its longsword into the air. The entire skeleton formation froze as though someone had pressed a pause button, its hollow eye sockets turning left and right.

"Huh?"

It seemed confused, unable to locate the direction of its target.

Low-level undead monsters already possessed very little intelligence.

Normally, they relied on instinct to detect the scent of living humans. But now, they had plunged headfirst into the war fog generated by the Tower of Mist and completely lost their bearings.

The three hundred skeletons wandered around the edge of the mist, sometimes advancing and sometimes retreating, like a swarm of headless flies.

Seeing this, John couldn’t help smiling.

"Stop standing around watching."

He turned to the two people beside him.

"Even a tiny mosquito is still meat. Go on."

Raistlin was so delighted that he even tapped his staff against the ground. He glanced at Bladeborne beside him and immediately began provoking him again.

"Bladeborne."

The old man chuckled mischievously.

"We never settled our score last time. Why don’t we use this batch of trash for a little warm-up?"

"I’d like to see whether your sword is as useless as you are after sleeping for ten thousand years."

Bladeborne’s eyes narrowed slightly. He let out a cold snort.

"Old geezer, just don’t start crying when you lose."

The moment they finished speaking, both figures moved simultaneously.

Six-colored light flashed beneath Raistlin’s feet as he used Elemental Shift to teleport directly into the middle of the skeleton formation.

Bladeborne was even more straightforward. He activated Holy Light Charge and appeared right in the middle of the Skeleton Mages.

John followed their movements with his gaze.

Then he saw it—and heard it.

"BOOM!"

"CLANG!"

Elemental Burst.

Radiant Judgment.

Two devastating, battlefield-shaking skills exploded simultaneously in the middle of the three hundred skeletons.

A fifty-meter-long blade of silver light swept across the formation, splitting an entire row of skeletons into scattered bones.

A torrent of six-colored elemental energy rolled across the ground, pulverizing the remaining skeletons into fragments.

The entire process took less than five seconds.

John glanced at the time and silently began counting down.

"Thirty, twenty-nine..."

The moment thirty seconds had passed, the skeletons that had been reduced to fragments began reassembling on the ground.

They resurrected on the spot!

The next instant—

"BOOM!!"

[Dragonblade Rampage]

This time, Ophelia joined the attack.

All three skills landed simultaneously.

Dark purple sword waves arrived first, several enormous blades cutting through the skeleton formation as massive damage numbers flashed across the battlefield.

The six-colored elemental torrent followed immediately, sweeping over everything in its path.

Finally, golden-white holy light descended with a thunderous explosion. The instant the beam detonated, the entire battlefield was illuminated in blinding white light.

When the light faded, the only figures still standing on the battlefield were the three heroes.

All around them lay nothing but shattered bones.

Raistlin descended from the sky and brushed the dust off his robes.

"Is that it?"

Bladeborne sheathed his sword and raised an eyebrow.

"That’s all?"

Only then did John nod, offering them an unreserved compliment.

"Well done."

Almost the instant he finished speaking—

[Ding!]

A golden system announcement rang out in the ears of every online player.

[Global Announcement: Lord "Tyrant" has completed the Third Monster Tide Siege in 40 seconds!]

[Global Announcement: Lord "Tyrant" has completed the Third Monster Tide Siege in 40 seconds!]

[Global Announcement: Lord "Tyrant" has completed the Third Monster Tide Siege in 40 seconds!]

[Congratulations to Lord "Tyrant" for claiming First Place in the Third Monster Tide Speed-Clear Rankings on this server!]

[First-Place Speed-Clear Rewards are being distributed...]

[Obtained: Four-Star Unit Training License ×1]

[Obtained: Unit Altar Stone ×1]

[Obtained: Hero Recruitment Scroll ×1]

[Obtained: Epic Resource Plot Blueprint (Gold Coin Type) ×1]