My Servant System-Chapter 1328 - 1327: Onslaught (2)

The first wave came and went in just barely a minute or so; it was more than the initial dozen skeletons, yes, but they were all so slow and so fragile that it was barely worth noting, at least past the obvious fun that came with treating their skulls like baseballs as I hit them out of the ring over and over again.

In total it was something like 35 or so skeletons, and they all fueled that fire inside of the brazier until it shone a brilliant scarlet, the flame getting closer to a bloody, ruby like red then the typical orange and yellowish coloration that most flames had.

When the last skeleton had its skull launched a few dozen feet away, the flame sputtered and coughed out a pure Mana Crystal that was a brilliant blood red, about the size of my fist and roughly cut to be a sphere, more than big enough to be a prize on its own.

Floating up and out of the fire, the Mana Crystal drifted over towards one of those rods and rested atop it a moment later, dropping onto its new position and emitting a faint glow that matched the somewhat weaker flame, signaling the end of the first wave.

To truly signal the end the flame coughed out another object, this time being a sheet of paper that floated right in front of me and waited for me to read it all, the red ink blazing on the surface whenever I read the runes written.

'The first wave has been completed; alongside the Mana Crystal you are awarded a single pound of Ember Bone Marrow. Do you wish to end the Trial now and leave with this reward, or press onwards for a greater bounty?' freēwēbnovel.com

There was even an option at the bottom of the paper that read 'Yes' and 'No', and both of the runes flashed as they awaited my decision, which was of course to tap 'No' and continue this Trial, causing the paper to float back into the brazier where it promptly ignited.

The ground shook once more, and this time hands that had a little bit of flesh still clinging to the bone shot out of the sands, pulling the rest of the monsters out and letting me see that this time... I was fighting Ghouls.

An improvement in terms of opponent quality, but also a bit of a let down since they were incredibly stupid and fragile too, though as more of them appeared I realized they were going for quantity here and not quality...

Well over two dozen appeared right away, and if the last wave had been any indication of how this would go there was likely another four dozen waiting to emerge as well; on top of that, a few of the Ghouls that emerged had talons that were a foot or so long, the slender, blade like nails dripping with the poison unique to undead monsters.

Much like the Ash Ghouls I was so used to facing, these monsters were scrawny humanoids that had little muscle to them, but what they lacked in size they made up for in raw power that was hidden away until the last moment.

They were still slow and they were still fragile, but one hit was easily enough to take out most people, especially the higher level ones with the weapons naturally growing out of their fingers; those ones were stronger and deadlier by at least two fold, maybe three fold.

Hunched over and with creaky joints that barely seemed to work, the Ghouls stumbled on over to me and let out low, pained groans as they tried to attack, only for the stiffness and simplicity of their movements to fade away the moment they swung their arms at me.

Some punched, sending flying haymakers or uppercuts, jabs or gut punches, while others chopped and stabbed their hands at me like blades, trying to use their sharpened nails to pierce my armor and grab ahold of the flesh underneath.

Others stumbled forwards even more and tried to grapple me, only to be met with a swift kick to the chest that broke their ribs and folded them instantly or with an even quicker stab to the heart, Core or throat that had them on the ground, dead.

Little blood was spilled from their corpses, but even the blood that I managed to extract was putrid and disgusting, a darkened, tinged red that didn't look as pretty as I wanted it to, nor a liquid that painted the grains of sand below as well as it should have.

It was irritating, so again I sought out amusement and satisfaction from the act of killing itself, swinging my Falcata around in arcs that lopped off limbs before slashing through their throats and severing their heads or bashing in their skulls with my War Pick.

Sometimes when they were too far and I felt too lazy I just spat out a quick incantation that sent an arrow of ice through their skull, killing them far cleaner than I would have normally as I just pushed through this wave as quickly as I could.

I had to wonder how the others were doing, if they were enjoying it as much as I was or if they were more frustrated at the slowness of this Trial; I imagine that Mom was quite enjoying herself, while Leone was debating on whether or not she liked it as she carefully approached each wave.

As for Draka, I imagine the Dragonkin was debating each wave as seriously as she could figuring out where to best stop while also not wanting to be a downer and just end it after one; she wasn't as combat ready as Leone and I were, nor did she have as much experience in it, but she was an incredibly talented futanari who had all the things she needed to succeed.

She just needed to apply herself, and as far as I was aware she was agreeing to apply herself as best she could to get the most out of everything she did here, and that was beyond wonderful; whether or not she improved as much as we did was a completely different question, and it was one I would get the beginnings of an answer to after we reunited inside of this Trial.

This was, after all, the first part of the Trial, where we were individually tested before we worked together to do the exact same thing we were doing now, just with one another to rely on too... I was looking forwards to that immensely, truly, especially if the rewards got even better than what we were getting now.