Chapter 68 Lux’s Masterplan
The buzzing of mosquitoes could be heard in the darkness of the night. Ever since Lux had left to save Colette and the others, the numbers of mosquitoes had increased significantly.
In fact, there were now so many of them that the ecosystem of the Figaro Garden was in danger of being overturned. The first thing that the Half-Elf did when he entered the garden was to look for the nearest Ant Nest where he could hide.
The Ants recognized Lux right away because he was the only Half-Elf that visited the garden, not to mention that he had become their business partner as well.
After chatting with the Ants for a bit in order to get a general situation of the garden, Lux immediately summoned his skeletons and put them to work.
Diablo, along with Seven Skeletal Fighters, stood at the ready. Ishtar as well as four Skeleton Grand Archers were waiting for Lux to give them orders.
Lux admired his team of Skeletons and grinned evilly as he gave them the order to move out. Their first destination was the lair of the Red-Eyed Terror Mantis, who—according to the Ants—had already spawned after it was killed a few weeks ago.
After his nice long chat with the Ants, he had come to the understanding that all the other insects were now rallying behind the Red-Eyed Terror Mantis in order to resist the Red-Striped Predator Mosquitoes (Common Monster), Obsidian Spite Mosquitoes (Rank 1 Monster), and Scaled Torment Mosquitoes (Rank 2 Monster).
Truth be told, Lux had a feeling that there might be mosquitoes whose tiers might have reached Rank 3, or worse, Rank 4. This was something that the Half-Elf didn’t want to see. He was afraid that if a mosquito had really reached Rank 4, there would be a new boss in the Figaro Gardens and it wouldn’t be the Red-Eyed Terror Mantis. A mosquito boss would be much harder to deal with.-.
As they drew closer to their designated location, the buzzing sound also intensified. The red-headed teenager was monitoring the situation using Diablo’s eyes and ears, while hiding inside the Ant’s Nest.
There was simply no way that he would take the risk and accompany his summons’ to fight against thousands of mosquitoes that could suck his blood dry and turn him into a dried husk. His team of Skeletons slowed their movements as they observed the on-going battle from afar.
A never seen before team battle between hundreds of the Insects that resided in the Figaro Garden against the Mosquito Swarm that outnumbered them five to one.
The Half-Elf was delighted as he watched such a scene because, for him, all of the monsters were simply Free Skill and Stats Points that were waiting to be claimed by him. As body parts of monsters piled up on the ground, Lux noticed that the majority of those that had died were simply Common Monsters.
In the Monster World, Common Monsters were merely cannon fodder that could be used to exhaust the enemies. The true combatants were the Rank 1 and Rank 2 Monsters, who were engaged in mortal combat.
While everyone was fighting, Lux was looking for the Red-Eyed Terror Mantis, who was nowhere to be found.
Suddenly, several giant flowers were sliced apart as the Alpha Beast of the Figaro Gardens entered the scene. However, the Half-Elf noticed that the Red-Eyed Terror Mantis didn’t enter the fray right away. Instead, it looked in the distance, eyeing a dozen meter-long mosquitoes, whose exoskeleton had taken a greenish hue.
After using his Elysium Compendium to identify the new monsters, the red-headed teenager found that his fears became a reality.
“Ruthless Venom Mosquitoes,” Lux muttered. “Rank 3 Monsters.”
Although these dozen Rank 3 Monsters were weaker than the Alpha Beast, their numbers still posed a problem. Just like the name implied, these Mosquitoes carried a powerful venom in their bites, which had a high chance of poisoning their target. Aside from that, there was also a medium chance that their victims would become paralyzed in just one bite as well.
With this deadly combination, the Rank 3 Mosquitoes were something that the Red-Eyed Terror Mantis wouldn’t dare attack recklessly.
Since the big shots were simply eyeing each other and not making any moves, the battle of the lower ranks raged on. The fight was so intense that the Half-Elf thought that their skirmish would end in less than fifteen minutes.
‘What should I do?’ Lux thought. ‘Should I help the insects? Or should I help the mosquitoes?”
The red-headed teenager pondered this question for a bit as he eyed the battlefield with a serious expression on his face. After weighing the pros and cons on who to help, the Half-Elf ordered his Skeletons to… help the Mosquitoes vanquish their enemies!
Although he knew that this was the wrong thing to do, Lux simply went ahead with his plan due to one simple reason.
“Mosquitoes only drink blood, they don’t eat Beast Cores,” Lux muttered. “Since that is the case, I’ll just help them kill the other Insects faster. Don’t think badly of me, this is just pure business.”
After receiving Lux’s orders, the Skeletons sprang into action. They immediately attacked the Insects and targeted their wings and legs, crippling them and allowing the Mosquitoes to go in for the kill.
Diablo’s, Ishtar’s, and the Skeletons’ appearance had a profound effect on the battle. They were high-ranking Monsters, so their battle prowess was enough to tilt the advantage in favor of the Mosquitoes.
The Red-Eyed Terror Mantis screeched in anger as it opened its wings to fly towards Diablo and the others. However, Ishtar’s ranged attacks, that were imbued with the ice element, slowed its movement by a good margin.
Seeing that an opportunity arrived, the Ruthless Venom Mosquitoes joined in and attacked the Alpha Beast from all sides. This was the effect that Lux had wanted to achieve, and he couldn’t help but laugh madly, while he was inside the Ant Nest.
“That’s it! Die and give your Beast Cores to me!” Lux laughed. No matter what happened, he would get the Red-Eyed Terror Mantis’ body parts this time without fail. Back then, he was forced to compromise and sell the parts of the Alpha Monster to Frederick and his party.
Now, it was different. He was hunting the Alpha Beast solo, while using the Mosquitoes as a way to weaken it. The monster parts of the Red-Eyed Terror Mantis were very valuable. Its exoskeleton could be used as armor, while its claws could be used to forge a unique sword.
However, Lux didn’t plan to forge the weapon right away. The reason? Because the Elysium Compendium had reminded him that a better weapon could be crafted using ten claws from the Red-Eyed Terror Mantis.
If crafted properly, the weapon had a high chance of becoming a Pseudo Mythical Weapon, that had a sharpness that could cut through steel. In order to achieve this, the red-headed teenager needed to fight the Alpha Monster five times, in order to collect five sets of claws.
This was something that beginners knew nothing about. In fact, there were only a handful of individuals in the entirety of the Gweliven Kingdom who knew about this, and all of them were Master and Grandmaster Blacksmiths.
Randolph was a Master Blacksmith, so he also knew the recipe of this Pseudo Mythical Weapon. However, he kept his lips shut tight and would only buy these monster parts from the dwarves, at a very high price, silently.
In fact, Blood Moon was made with five sets of claws from the Red-Eyed Terror Mantis, teeth from the Forest Wolf King, and the Beast Cores of three high-ranking Noble Vampires, whose rank was no lower than Viscount.
Creating this weapon was no easy feat because the chances of failure were high. Fortunately, against all odds, Randolph had succeeded and the Mythical Weapon Blood Moon was born.
As Randolph’s Disciple, he had learned the recipe from his Master, which made him want to craft a Blood Moon of his own. Because of this, he decided to just collect the parts he needed, while he was still in Leaf Village.
That way, he would be able to craft the weapon that made Diablo a killing machine.
After the Mosquitoes gained the advantage in battle, Lux ordered his Skeletons to slowly back away to the outskirts of the battlefield. He was quite far from the location of the battle, and he didn’t want to lose any more of his forces. Among the seven Skeleton Fighters, three had died in battle.
The Skeleton Grand Archers suffered no losses because they were attacking from a safe distance, and were protected by Ishtar.
The Half-Elf had also ordered Diablo to not use any of his flashy moves, so that Blood Moon’s ability would be hidden from the high-ranking Monsters. He planned to deliver the coup de grace when they least expect it, giving them no time to evade the deadly blow that would end their lives.
Just like the Mantis stalking the Cicada, unaware of the Oriole from behind, Lux manipulated his forces to attack the Insects that were a safe distance from the battle being waged between the Rank 3 Mosquitoes and the Alpha Monster that ruled the Figaro Garden.
The red-headed teenager knew that the Alpha Monster was not an easy opponent to beat, but he would be damned if he allowed the rascal to get away after he had decided to claim its monster parts as his own.
“Diablo, pay extra close attention to the Red-Eyed Terror Mantis,” Lux ordered. “Once it enters its berserked state, pull out as fast as you can. Stop all hostilities against the insects and get as far from the battlefield as possible.”
The Half-Elf knew that in that brief period of time when the Red-Eyed Terror Mantis enter berserk mode, its stats would double, and it would become unstoppable. He planned to wait patiently until the berserk effect wore off, before going in for the kill.
In the meantime, Lux had re-summoned the Skeletal Fighters that died and ordered them to regroup with everyone in battle. Although the journey from Lux’s location to Diablo’s was several minutes away, he figured that it was enough time for his forces to regroup and take advantage of the weakened Alpha Monster so they could end its life once and for all.