Chapter 280: An Army Of Three Million

Chapter 280

.....After a long long time that he’d since lost count of thanks to the countless monsters he had fought, Alex was currently sitting on the ground, trying to regay his breath after successfully killing yet another monster.

He couldn’t resist looking around and gave a tired smile after seeing the state of things. The once jagged ground around him had long since been turned into what looked like the aftermath of a battlefield with freakishly powerful beings thanks to the presence of deep massive craters scattered everywhere like some sort of free bargain sale, and large uneven valleys caused by all the destruction.

"Finally...huff.... I finally killed that stubborn beast! Serves the bastard right for being too damn hard to kill."

The last creature he had faced off last and killed had been built like some kind of orc like creature, with a thick neck, broad powerful shoulders filled with battle scars, and muscles that made its entire body look like a walking fortress.

However, unlike the orcs he’d once seen in movies and animes, this one skin had been completely red with black ominous markings, and it had three yellow eyes arranged across its forehead. And don’t get him started on that monstrosity defense. It’s defense had been difficult to breach after each regeneration, even with Alex’s current strength.

And the worst part of all was that there had been more than three million of those Monstrosities, with every single one of them looking almost identical to the creature now fading away. At first, Alex had vehemently believed that killing all of them would be enough to complete the challenge, but it didn’t take long for him to find out that he was very wrong.

With a wave of his hand, countless inky black petals of pure vitality draining power had filled the sky. Even he was surprised by how much his Deathfrost Blooms count had increased.

Just to get a clearer picture of how absurd it was; they spread out across the battlefield like a dark storm, covering enough area that would have matched the entirety of a small city back in the real world.

The attack had been beautiful in its own frightening way. The way the petal shaped obsidian ice shards had descended like black snow, cutting through the monsters and draining the life force of everything they touched. Within a short time, the battlefield had been covered with dried up fallen bodies, and inky black frost.

Then the most shocking thing happened. Those monsters who had been killed began to regain their life force in a speed visible to the naked eyes before finally getting up. One after another, they all returned to their feets and charged at him as if nothing had happened.

Seeing that, he took the situation much more seriously and released multiple Crimson Supernovas that together could have created the same range of damage as a nuke, but with much greater heat. Hell even the resulting explosion swallowed through the monsters and left nothing behind.

But in the end it made no difference. The monsters as if from in some overpowered video game spawned back to life as if nothing happened in the first place. All looking good as new and ready to rumble.

At that point, Alex had started to suspect that the system was playing a very unpleasant joke on him. He could destroy the army as many times as he wanted, but the creatures kept coming back. It was like trying to empty the ocean with a teaspoon.

He had considered simply continuing until they finally died for real, but he dismissed that idea right away, because who knew whether that might even happen. There had to be a good enough reason behind their strange ability to recover. He had dealt with this sort of thing back in the cave with Sylph but there was no magic mist reviving these ones.

So he did the one thing he knew best. He watched the monsters carefully, paying attention to where they came from after each wave was destroyed. He noticed that their movements were not entirely random. Whenever the army began to regenerate, there was a brief moment when several of them turned in the same direction.

But after seeing the same thing happen several times, he decided to investigate. That decision had nearly cost him another few hours of fighting. Thank God that he had enough Desire Points to buy Body Recovery Water if not he’d have long since exhausted himself to death.

Finally he was able to discover something strange. Far far away, hidden deep underground, so deeply that even his hearing almost missed it, he heard the extremely faint sound of a heartbeat. Eventually, after following the sound and searching beneath the earth, Alex discovered another one of the red-skinned monsters.

The moment he found it, he understood what was happening.

That damned creature was the source of the army’s regeneration the whole time. As long as it remained alive, the other monsters would continue returning no matter how many times he killed them. What a crafty big bastard.

Killing it had not been easy. The monster army had tried everything to stop him, forcing him to fight through countless monsters while the bastard hid in another location using a strange ability. There had been several times when he thought he had finally reached the source, only to discover that he was following another false trail.

He had been forced to use almost every ability at his disposal. Void Step helped him cover enormous distances, while his enhanced perception allowed him to notice details he would have missed before.

Eventually, he reached the creature and boy did he kill it. The moment it died, all the remaining monsters fell one by one, and vanished. Alex had never been so happy to see a monster disappear.

Now, looking at the last creature’s fading body, he could not help feeling that the entire experience had been worth it. He had entered the Training Realm wanting to understand his newfound strength, but the battles had given him much more than that.

He had gained a profound understanding of his own abilities.

Each one had been useful in a different situation. Deathfrost Bloom was excellent for dealing with large groups, especially when he needed to attack several targets at once. And he’d even learned how to control them.

Void Step could now cover more than a mile. Crimson Supernova, World Erasing Fire and Celestial Thunder provided overwhelming destructive power. Even Eye of Chronos was not left out.

His physical abilities had also improved in ways that were difficult to explain. He now had a much clearer idea of how fast he could move, how much strength he could release, and how much punishment his body could endure.

Most importantly, all the body recovery waters he’d been taking had dramatically increased his physical prowess and he had also learned how to make use of various abilities that complemented themselves for a particular situation.

Alex looked at his hands and slowly clenched them.

"Not bad. Not bad at all."

But Alex had also discovered that one body recovery water could no longer completely heal him, what one would have done before now required two to three bottles. Sigh. The system did once say body recovery water effect reduces with each use. Just then his stomach growled loudly, causing him to let out a wry smile.

"...But now I’m starving."

He lowered his head and placed a hand over his stomach. The hunger had been building for some time now, and it was now reaching a point where he could barely ignore it any longer. Thanks to all the dozen plus bottles of Body Recovery Water he’d consumed throughout the training, now he was hungry as hell.

If anything, he felt as though he could eat an entire mountain.

"Seriously, I need some food if not my stomach is going to probably start a world war three."

He could already imagine a table filled with roasted meat, rice, some side dishes, and anything else he could get his hands on. At this moment, even an ordinary meal would feel like a feast.

Alex took one last look at the battlefield before calling out.

"System."

[Yes, famished one?]

"Take me back to the real world. I’ve had just about enough training for now."

[Okey-dokey! Returning you to your original location.]

A familiar glow appeared around his body and in the next instant, Alex opened his eyes and found himself back in the Mountains.

The first thing he did was take a long deep breath. Greedily filling his lungs with the fresh mountain air unique to this era, since in the future it wouldn’t be as fresh as this thanks to pollution.

"Ahh. Finally, I’m back."

He stood still for a moment, enjoying the quiet surroundings. After spending so long fighting monsters, the peaceful atmosphere felt wonderful.

Then he looked down at himself. His clothes were covered in dried blood stains, and the smell coming from them was absolutely terrible, causing even him to wrinkle his nose

He smelled like a guy’s gym drawer that had been closed for weeks, with the added stench of dried blood. There was no way he could return to the city looking like this. Even if nobody recognized him, he would rather not have people covering their noses whenever he walked past them.

Fortunately, he was in the mountains so finding a small spring or stream should not be too difficult.

He focused his senses and began searching the surrounding area. It did not take long before he heard the faint sound of running water. Following it through the trees, he soon found a small spring tucked between several rocks. With the water looking especially clear, and the surrounding bushes providing just enough privacy.

"Perfect."

After checking that nobody was nearby, Alex removed his bloodstained clothes and stepped into the cool and refreshing water. Now this is what he’s talking about! Nothing like relaxing in water after a long battle.

From there, he spent several minutes cleaning himself properly, washing away the dried blood and the unpleasant smell that had followed him throughout the training. He even took the time to wash his hair before finally stepping out.

Once he was dry, he opened his trusty Spatial Storage Space and took out a clean pair of clothes which he changed into, then stored his dirty clothes away. At least he no longer looked like someone who had crawled out of a monster’s stomach.

Unfortunately, solving the problem of his appearance only reminded him of the other problem.

Food.

Even his stomach seemed to agree as it growled even louder than before.

Alex looked down at it.

"Can you wait a little longer? I’m trying to think."

As if determined to ignore him, the growling continued, making Alex sigh deeply.

"Fine. I get it."

He needed to find something to eat, and preferably soon. Just then, his extraordinary hearing picked up a sound coming from the nearby forest. It sounded like that of footsteps, coming from four legs. They did not sound like those of a human. Instead, there was this distinct clopping sound that came with creatures that had hooves.

His eyes instantly brightened.

’Food!’

The bushes began to rustle. Leaves shook, and a few branches bent as something pushed through from the other side.

Alex watched with growing interest as the sound got closer and closer. He estimated that whatever was coming had to be maybe a deer, no the footsteps sound much heavier than that of a deer. Just then the bushes parted, and a...