Sylas had felt limited by Aetherflow for a long while now. But at the moment, it didn't seem to matter in the slightest.
His illusory claws ripped through their bodies, his projected Constitution more than bolstered by his Will and his Scorned Wraps.
Their bodies shattered to pieces.
But in focusing on killing these elites in one sweep, the rest of the wave had quickly closed in the distance. Sylas was just one man, and though he was only defending a single location, there were too many ways to wrap around him if the situation became dicey.
He definitely needed more support, but until now he had only gathered 10 or so Demon Coins—Sylas' gaze flashed.
'21… I see, so the elite are worth one each. It might even be the case that the later Waves are worth even more.'
Sylas hadn't known the names of all of the Serpentes he took in, but he could recognize them by their names nonetheless. Many of them, especially those near the top of the list, could be exceptionally powerful.
There were several FF+ creatures that cost in the several hundred coins, and even some at FFF- and above that cost in the tens of thousands.
If he could summon the latter group already, he would do so. But if he wasted coins on the weaker ones now, unless he could buy them in bulk, he would just be sending them to their deaths.
The Bronze City Stele challenge creatures were too strong. Although they didn't have their Grades on them, they were definitely at least FF-, and it would only get worse from here.
'If only…'
Unfortunately, Sylas had only grasped his Beast Totem enough to use Beacon, but its other abilities, such as boosting his Contracts, were still beyond him right now.
Not unless he could gain 5,000,000 Silver Genes to unlock Vipermancy.
Sylas took a breath, spreading out two hands. His palms glowed, and then two illusory palms appeared in the distance as large as small hills. They grabbed out, gripping the legs of two trolls that must have been at least 10 to 15 meters tall.
His grip tightened, their rotting, but extraordinarily tough skin deforming beneath his strength. Even as corpses, their heft hadn't changed. Each one easily weighed at least 40,000 pounds.
Sylas' telekinesis ripped them up from the ground.
BANG!
One arm descended at a distance. Using the dead troll as a smashing hammer, he crushed a large segment of the left wing of the army.
He raised his right hand, then smashed down again.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Sylas unleashed absolute carnage. The Constitution remained intact after death for far too long, and these elite Rotting Trolls were too elite in this respect compared to the rest of the army.
With a booming, almost rhythmic cadence, the bodies of the two trolls rammed against their once-allies, smashing them to the ground in pieces.
With the current strength of his telekinesis, Sylas could have picked up more of them, but he didn't for two reasons.
The first reason bore out quite quickly. He smashed their bodies so hard, and so repeatedly, against enemies that were also trying to destroy them, that though he pushed back the dangerous line further and away from the hill he was protecting, their bodies crumbled apart.
When the hip of one troll separated from its leg after a particularly violent swing, Sylas didn't even hesitate.
He unclenched his palm, dispersing his illusory hand. He gripped at the air again and a new wave of Aetherflow took shape, picking up another elite and continuing the process.
As for the second reason…
It was because when his body mimicked the actions of his telekinesis, Aetherflow was much more powerful, adding his own stats to the power of the blow.
This was why he punched out when using Aetherflow instead of just using his mind to form a fist. And it was also why…
He raised both hands high into the skies, smashing down with all his might. A rippling power came from his back and the flex of his abs, his canines flashing as he roared.
BOOM!
The last two troll bodies looked like they had imploded on impact, their bodies scattering into a mess of flesh and blood that wasn't just their own.
The foul scent in the air hung heavier, but then a satisfying notification echoed.
—
[Wave One Cleared]
[Time to Wave Two: 00:00:59:59]
—
Sylas took a breath and then exhaled.
—
[Demon Coins: 139]
—
There had only been 20 or so elites in the end, not including the BOSS that appeared at the end that had been worth two Demon Coins. But honestly, the BOSS wasn't strong enough for Sylas to treat it much differently than the others at all.
The stats of the creatures didn't seem much different. Rather, the elites and the BOSS had better reactions, more Effectiveness, and stronger Skills and Gene Skills to rely on.
Regardless, Sylas killed them from so far away that they didn't even have a chance to cast them on him. And all this aside, the main point here was that the first wave had had almost 1200 enemies…
If the gap in strength and ranged abilities wasn't so great, he wouldn't have made it so far at all.
'It's going to make me wait here for an hour no matter what…'
Sylas shook his head. Although he knew there was a time dilation, he didn't like the wasted time.
He looked back toward the "city" he was supposed to be protecting. He bet that he could also upgrade some of its abilities with the Demon Coins he gathered. But…
'No.'
Sylas looked toward his list of potential summons. After calculating a few things, he made his decision.
He spent all of his Demon Coins on three- and four-Demon Coin summons. There were about 40 of them in the end, and each one radiated a dense Ice Aether.
Sylas closed his eyes and began to communicate with them.
In this one hour, he was going to teach them all a single Skill.