Chapter 89: Change (1)

Chapter 86

With their power increasing alongside his, the slaughter accelerated even further. The three Orions swept across the city, cutting down the Webfiends at an increasingly rapid pace, leaving countless monster corpses scattered in their wake.

Every kill brought them closer to another level-up, and the more EXP they accumulated, the faster they grew stronger. It was a vicious cycle that continuously pushed their power to new heights, allowing them to slaughter the monsters more efficiently with every increase in their attributes.

Before long, another notification appeared.

Ding! Congratulations, Host, for successfully reaching Level 4!

The notification flashed across Orion’s screen, announcing his latest breakthrough.

His physical attributes surged once more, rising from 200 to 250, while his mental attributes increased from 180 to 240. Even his mana pool, which had previously stood at 30,000, soared to 40,000.

Another significant boost had arrived, bringing yet another ridiculous increase in power.

The already one-sided battle became even more effortless. In fact, calling it a battle was becoming increasingly inappropriate, considering how little resistance the Webfiends could offer against Orion’s growing strength.

What had once seemed like an endless tide of terrifying monsters capable of overwhelming an entire city had become little more than a horde of helpless kittens before his blade. The Webfiends were softer than tofu when it came to the ease with which he sliced through them, their bodies offering almost no resistance to his attacks.

Their movements could barely keep up with his speed, and their numbers were gradually losing their significance. No matter how desperately they tried to overwhelm him, they were facing an opponent who continued growing stronger as the slaughter progressed.

Orion moved through the horde, his dagger flashing with every strike. One Webfiend fell, followed by another and another, their dying cries filling the air as their bodies collapsed beneath his relentless assault.

Everything seemed to be going perfectly.

For a while, the situation remained stable. The seemingly endless horde began to shrink little by little, and the number of Webfiends charging toward Orion gradually dwindled. The battlefield, which had once been overflowing with their grotesque figures, was slowly becoming less crowded as the slaughter continued.

However, Orion soon noticed another change.

The amount of EXP he received from each Webfiend was decreasing as he continued to level up. At his current level, he needed to kill as many as five Webfiends to obtain the same amount of EXP he had previously gained from killing a single one.

That was somewhat irritating.

After all, the monsters were becoming easier to kill, yet the rewards he received from each one were growing smaller relative to his increasing needs. He could slaughter them far more efficiently than before, but each individual kill contributed less toward his next breakthrough.

Still, that was only natural.

The higher one’s level became, the more difficult it was to accumulate enough EXP to advance to the next. Each level represented a greater threshold of power, and crossing that threshold required an increasingly greater amount of experience.

The path of ascension had never been an easy one to climb.

Orion understood that much, so he continued slaughtering the Webfiends without complaint. As long as he killed enough of them, he would keep gaining EXP, and as long as he continued accumulating experience, he would eventually reach the next level.

That was all that mattered.

The slaughter continued, accompanied by the relentless cries of the Webfiends. Their desperate screams echoed through the city as Orion and his clones cut them down, showing no signs of stopping despite the diminishing rewards.

Just when it seemed the battle would end in such a manner, something changed.

Orion was moving to slice straight through another Webfiend when his expression suddenly shifted. An alarm rang through his instincts, warning him that a dangerous attack was approaching.

Without hesitation, he threw the blue dagger overhead.

The blade spun through the air, carrying the immense weight of the ocean as it intercepted the incoming strike.

CLANG!

The collision lasted barely a quarter of a second, but that brief instant was enough to reveal the danger behind the attack.

The blue dagger managed to block the incoming strike for only a fraction of a second before the force behind it drove the weapon downward. The impact was far stronger than Orion had anticipated, and he immediately understood that remaining in his current position would be a mistake.

His eyes narrowed as he reacted.

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

Orion’s figure flickered through the air, rapidly moving away from his previous position. He barely had time to clear the area before the attack finally struck.

BOOM!

The ground where he had been standing just a second earlier was torn apart, countless thin lines spreading across the surface and carving their way deep into the earth. The damage extended roughly ten meters downward, leaving the ruined ground covered in narrow cuts that stretched in every direction.

The resulting pattern resembled a gigantic spiderweb.

Every line extended outward from the center of the attack, forming an intricate network of cuts across the devastated ground. The precision of the strike was just as alarming as its destructive power, with the countless lines spreading across the battlefield as though an enormous spider had woven its web directly into the earth.

And at the other end of every thin line stood a Webfiend.

Silvery threads extended from their hands, connecting the monsters to the network of cuts they had created. Hundreds of Webfiends stood scattered across the battlefield, their limbs extended as they controlled the nearly invisible threads responsible for the attack.

These were the few remaining monsters from the enormous horde Orion had been slaughtering.

And they had finally revealed something dangerous.

Their gazes sharpened when they realized their prey had escaped the attack. Rather than rushing toward Orion individually, the monsters had coordinated their movements and combined their abilities, using their spiderwebs to unleash a strike that covered an enormous area.

If Orion had been even a fraction of a second slower, the consequences could have been disastrous.

He appeared atop one of the city’s watchtowers, his multicolored eyes fixed on the Webfiends below. For the first time in a while, something resembling fear flickered deep within his gaze.

However, it wasn’t quite fear.

It was closer to shock.

He had nearly been caught off guard by the Webfiends’ coordinated sneak attack, and the realization left him reassessing the danger they posed. If not for his extraordinarily high perception, combined with the analytical ability granted by Origin Eyes, he might not have detected the incoming attack in time.

And if he had failed to notice it...

He might very well have died.

Even with his current strength, Orion wasn’t foolish enough to underestimate an attack capable of carving through the ground to such a depth. The fact that he had managed to escape unscathed didn’t diminish the danger he had just faced.

Yet, despite the shock, his face remained calm.

Anyone watching him might have wondered whether he had even been surprised in the first place. His expression was so composed that it was difficult to tell what was going through his mind, even after he had narrowly avoided an attack that could have ended his life.

Something had changed, and Orion could tell immediately.

Without wasting any time, he decided to scan the Webfiends again.

Scanning...

Name: Webfiend.

Level: 12.

Physical Attributes: 90.

Mental Attributes: 50.

Name: Webfiend.

Level: 13.

Physical Attributes: 100.

Mental Attributes: 50.

Name: Webfiend.

Level: 11.

Physical Attributes: 88.

Mental Attributes: 49.

One scan result after another appeared before him, each displaying the information of a different Webfiend.

Orion studied the figures carefully, his gaze remaining fixed on the information as the results confirmed his suspicions.

The Webfiends had indeed changed.

And the difference between their current state and their previous condition was enormous, almost absurd.

Their attributes had increased significantly, and the coordinated attack they had just unleashed provided clear evidence that the threat they posed had changed as well. These were no longer simply the same monsters he had been slaughtering moments ago. Their increased strength, combined with their ability to coordinate such a devastating attack, indicated that something had fundamentally altered their condition.

Something had happened to them.

Something had caused their power to increase.

Orion remained composed as he looked into the distance, his gaze settling on a point far beyond the battlefield. His attention had shifted away from the Webfiends surrounding him, drawn instead toward the source of the strange change.

No, it wasn’t that he could see something over there.

He could feel it.

Whatever had caused the Webfiends to change was located somewhere in that direction, some distance away from his current position. Despite the distance separating them, however, Orion could still sense an incredibly powerful aura emanating from that area.

The presence carried an oppressive darkness, its power so intense that even the surrounding atmosphere seemed to grow heavier. There was something deeply unsettling about the aura, something that suggested the changes affecting the Webfiends were only a small part of a much greater threat.

Something terrifying was about to happen.

Orion understood that much.

Yet even with the situation growing increasingly dangerous, his expression remained completely calm.