Chapter 331: 5000
The three blows attacked him from three sides at once. Sylas felt a hint of danger, making his hair stand on end. At the end of the day, Kargan was still a Level 17, and unlike Licirius, who hadn't used Skills for one reason or another, this hobgoblin wouldn't make such a mistake.
It wasn't just that either. Sylas wasn't the only one who could make use of treasures to bolster his skills. With the boosts Kargan was getting from his armor and scimitar, his stats might have read in the high 2008, but they were likely closer to 400 or so.
For Sylas, who didn't have a single 200 Physical stat, he could easily be overwhelmed if he was careless.
<Arctic Howl>.
Sylas roared, and a frosty sphere-shaped net of blue runes echoed from him.
DING. DING. DING.
He immediately countered with a Basic Aetherflow-infused fist. It collided right with Kargan's chest, forcing him to cough and take two steps back.
'This leather armor is strong.'
Though Sylas thought this, he wasn't slow in his reaction time. The moment his skill landed, he took a breath and activated a little-known skill for the first time.
[Arctic King's Domain (FFF-) (Skill)]
[Special Damage: 40/second]
[Special Buff: +60% to all Ice-Poison Skills used]
After studying the Arctic Emperor Cobra's Ice-Poison sack, he had already improved <Arctic Howl> and <Chilling Scythe> to Gold Mastery. As for <Arctic King's Domain>, he had already improved it to Silver.
The moment the hobgoblins Kargan called over started to get into range, they found a blue Domain rapidly expanding toward them.
The soil beneath them became an icy blue, the crackling of ice echoing.
Sylas' Aether continued to plummet as the Domain expanded, and he only stopped it after he had rushed it all the way to a ten-meter diameter. It took him an entire 10 Units of Aether to accomplish this, and it would take another Unit of Aether to keep it going for one minute. But for 40 Damage a second, Kargan's subordinates would be hard-pressed to survive five seconds, and Kargan himself would find it difficult to survive even twice that.
However, the benefit of <Arctic King's Domain> didn't end there. Even while it was active, it made the Aether of his enemies run slower and their bodies turn stiff, something that Sylas himself had experienced. And on top of that...
His Ice-Poison Skills also increased by another +60% beneath its might. This was the power of an FFF- Skill.
[Chilling Scythe (F+) (Skill)]
[Damage: 140]
[Special Damage: 40/sec for 5 seconds]
[Attribute: Ice-Poison]
And then there was a 60% boost to the Ice-Poison Special Damage... Sylas drew his palm across the air in a slicing motion. Without a tail, this was the best he could do. The tradeoff was that the skill deployed with much less speed like this. But, when it landed...
The result was no less devastating.
A Chilling Scythe suddenly appeared before a hobgoblin. Dodging was futile, especially since unlike the Arctic King Cobra's, Sylas had Basic Aetherflow, which allowed him to control his Skills with his telekinesis.
Their chest was slammed into without fanfare.
They were sent tumbling back, but their life was still intact... for only a moment.
The extra damage hit, and blue veins began to pulse up their necks and out from the corners of their eyes. Against their red skin, it looked particularly ghastly, especially when these veins glowed in the dark.
They froze into a block of ice before cracking and shattering into blue dust that flew through the wind.
The eerie sight froze many in place. Even Sylas' team, who was only watching this from a distance, felt their blood run cold. This was the first time that Sylas had displayed his Class Skills before them because he didn't yet have enough Mastery of <Arctic King's Domain> to avoid harming them while it was deployed.
But this sight was practically ingrained into their very brains...
Their Captain was strong!
What good was the armor of these hobgoblins when this poison sunk into their very bones?
...
What remained of the battle could be described simply. Separated from his team, Kargan couldn't affect things the way he wanted to and eventually died an unwilling death beneath Sylas' Domain.
The elites were dealt with by Sylas' team. All they had to do was form a strong enough front and outsmart the berserk hobgoblins. They had already set up several traps and kited them perfectly. When they had formed a large enough distance between themselves and the hobgoblins, they used their Blue Cyclone Horses to escape, and then used the boats Sylas stole to rush to the other side of the river.
The Skill of the hobgoblins ran dry, and by the time Sylas was finished with Kargan and the stragglers, they were a single kunai swipe away from losing their heads.
The only unfortunate thing was that after this, Sylas realized that he truly couldn't use his kunai in battle any longer. Otherwise, they would be destroyed. It seemed he would have to check the System City to see if he could find a blacksmith to repair them.
Without much suspense, they conquered the city. However, they didn't return immediately.
After resting for the night, Sylas spent the next three days conquering various other villages in the surroundings. By the end of it, they had gathered over 230 demon corpses, all of which came with Coin and Gene Rewards.
Sylas had yet to check through everything, but given the variety, he should have around 12 to 1300 Common Physical Genes of each kind. Meaning, he had around 5000 total Genes of the Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, and Speed variety.
Demons, unlike beasts in the wild, usually gave out two sets of Genes, and these guys were powerful enough to hand out around 10 or so of each kind.
The biggest gains, though, were obviously from the hobgoblin village. It was the only village he got Bronze Genes from. Not only did he get Bronze Genes, but he got several Intelligence and Wisdom Genes. He got one each from the ten elites, and two Intelligence and one Wisdom from their leader. Thanks to that, he had 12 Intelligence and 11 Wisdom Bronze Genes now.
On top of that, there would be an unknown number of treasures that manifested from their Gene Cores, on top of around 30,000 or so F Coins once everything was borne out. It could be said that the overall gains were tremendous.
'It's time to return. By now, they should have had enough time to prepare their little trap...'