D.I.O

“Seven hundred Spirits to take the Level 3 test and 1,500 Spirits to take the Level 4 test?!”

Merlin frowned, remembering that the previous requirements for these two tests were 70 Spirits and 150 Spirits, respectively. Although the announcement said the experience needed was increased, he didn’t expect it to be ten times higher!

“A Dire Wolf gives ten Spirits, so to reach 700 Spirits….”

In addition, considering that more experience points were required each time a user leveled up, it would take an astronomical amount to take the upper-level tests.

“Due to the time spent gathering experience points, I guess users won’t be able to level up as quickly as before. Also, if they fail any of their tests, that’d be quite a loss.”

Now that Merlin thought about it, he did think it was weird that users could retake a Joint Warfare test with the experience gained from their failed attempt. These tests were needed to level up, so it was a bit contradictory that they’d cost so little; they were so cheap, in fact, that most beta testers didn’t even consider them to be roadblocks.

Due to this low barrier of entry, many users reset their characters after dying multiple times to avoid the penalties, as it was relatively easy to level up and become stronger. It was likely that DIO’s administrators and developers had reduced the experience point requirement during the beta test because of its short timeframe.

/You have attained Level 4!/

/You are now capable of using higher-tiered items!/

/Your ability stat capacity has risen to 200 points!/

It didn’t take Merlin too long to reach Level 4, and it also wasn’t hard to find others for the Joint Warfare tests. The beta testers had plenty of experience points, so they were all trying to aggressively level up, which is how Merlin got to Level 4 in less than an hour. Finally, he was able to use his Wicalein Rings once more.

“Okay. Done. Hold this!”

Swish.

As soon as he finished speaking, the egg in his hand was lifted into the air. To be frank, the main reason Merlin wanted to level up was so he wouldn’t have to carry the egg anymore. He needed his Wicalein Ring to do this. Since the egg contained a living organism that didn’t seem like it wanted to hatch anytime soon, Merlin couldn’t put it in his inventory. Thus, without the Wicalein Ring’s spirit, Merlin had to constantly carry the egg himself.

“Alright, let’s go to the sea now.”

As soon as he reached Level 4, Merlin headed south. Since he could now use the Wicalein Rings, Merlin moved, as he had no desire to gather experience points, gold, or raise his skill levels through training.

“I only have five years of internal energy, but I’m sure it’ll slowly increase. With my three planets, I can multiply my internal energy by eight times for short-term, burst-type attacks if needed.”

Merlin didn’t feel as if he needed to rush. Like before, when he swam from the river tributary to the sea, his Stamina would naturally rise while swimming, and his internal energy capacity would increase with the Golden Pill Immortal Technique constantly circulating his qi. Merlin’s primary objective wasn’t leveling up or fighting; he was solely focused on exploration and adventure.

“When it crossed the Noisy Belt to head north, that red dragon probably came from the far south of this world, right?”

Merlin wondered where the red dragon was from, and according to the mermaids he met, there was a massive continent toward the south. Perhaps that continent had a field just as big as the one in Dynamic Island where monsters came from.

“Alright! Then, I’m off to the new continent… hmmm?”

A ring! chimed along with a new text message balloon.

/‘Scorpion’ has sent you a whisper. Would you like to respond?/

“Eh? Isn’t Scorpion that necromancer I met during the beta test? Is something up with him?”

Though it was unexpected, Merlin accepted the whisper, and he soon heard a voice in his mind, as if the message was sent through telepathy. Scorpion had sent him a question.

[What level are you?]

“To abruptly ask that… well, I’m Level 4.”

[Okay. That’s good. Come to the Star Temple immediately. There are 35 others who are eagerly waiting for you.]

“Huh? What are you saying all of a sudden-”

/The whisper session has ended./

Without waiting for a reply, Scorpion canceled the whisper session, leaving Merlin blindsided by the request.

“The Star Temple… oh, right. That’s where users receive quests.”

As he vaguely recalled the reference to the Star Temple in the announcement post, Merlin raised his left hand to cover both of his eyes, summoning the map.

“Luckily, it’s not too far.”

Since Merlin didn’t quite understand what was happening, he wasn’t in a rush, casually strolling to the Star Temple. However, at that moment, a shout rang out.

“Run!”

“Ack! Time’s running out! I don’t know who the hell you are, but hurry!”

“W-what the hell is going on?”

A monstrous chorus of voices seemed to be sent telepathically, ringing in Merlin’s mind. Surprised, Merlin started running. His internal energy reserves were too low to use any swiftness skills, but with the boost to his stats from the Divine Swimmer title, Merlin could run 100 meters every five seconds.

“Okay, he’s here!”

“Sein, everyone’s here. We now have 36 Level 4 users!”

Once the average-sized Arthur yelled in his iron armor, a blonde-haired man looked surprised.

“Wow, the server has only been open for a little over 30 minutes, but we’ve already gathered 36 Level 4 users. Ah, they had a term for this… what was it again… ah, right… buffed to the heavens?”

“Ack, hurry and stop wasting time!”

“Right. However, you all know that attempting a hardcore version of this quest may give us great rewards but will also penalize us heavily if we fail, right?”

“We know, so just start already!”

“You people, always in such a hurry.”

Then, the blonde-haired man moved to a desk and started moving some objects atop of it. Without much delay, a vast gate started opening at the center of the Star Temple. Above it was a timer that read ten, nine, eight, seven… it was counting down the time before the gate fully opened.

“We only have five seconds left!”

“Hurry!”

When there were two seconds remaining, the gate had completely opened.

“Run!”

With incredible, vigorous spirit, the 35 users rushed toward the open gate. Merlin had no idea what was going on, but he decided to follow the crowd.

Whoosh!

After passing through the gate, the surroundings changed. Now, they were in a plain where columns of fire roared upward, a castle in the distance.

“Is this a Siege Warfare quest?”

“I think it’s the other way around; it looks like monsters are attacking the castle.”

“Check the quest mission details.”

Seeing all the others secure the perimeter, Merlin checked the quest details.

[Mission: Team Battle]

[Time Limit: 01:59:46]

[Objective: Protect Asgard Castle]

[A demon, Leonard, escaped from the nether world and raised a large number of undead from the blood shed from his battle with the castle's soldiers. The undead has spread out rapidly, and they gain power as they consume more human life. It is imperative to defeat them as soon as possible.]

[Plundering Allowed / Targets: All undead. However, nothing much is available to plunder.]

[Minimap is operational / Important character has been marked. The undead's location has also been marked.]

[Hardcore / Less than 1,000 deaths on your side. Lord of Asgard Castle, Raul, must be kept alive.]

“What?! We’re supposed to win the battle with less than 1,000 deaths on our side? Also, we have to protect Raul… Does it mean that guy on the frontline?!”

“Let’s put our lives on the line and fight! If we succeed, we gain 3,000 Spirits! If we lose, 500 Spirits gets taken away!”

A muscular man cried out before rushing toward the enemies. It was Hanma. The undead army bared their clattering teeth at the approaching user, but Hanma didn’t slow down.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

What happened next was like watching a car accident unfold. The undead that rushed to meet Hanma were flung outward like bowling pins being hit with a bowling ball, the latter being Hanma in this case. Though this was a tremendous show of force, there was around 10,000 undead. Of course, approximately 5,000 soldiers were protecting the castle, but since the quest required less than 1,000 deaths upon completion, the users had to take care of the bulk of the undead army.

“Adol.”

“Okay. Everyone! You guys all know who this is, right? We need at least four users protecting him at all times. Everyone else should go and attack the enemy!”

After Adol shouted, Jeros started chanting a spell. Every beta tester already knew what Jeros was capable of after seeing his attacks in three Siege Quest missions. Thus, defense-oriented users stuck close to Jeros while anyone else charged toward the undead.

“Hmm, but I still don’t understand what’s happening.”

In the midst of all this, Merlin was still wondering what was going on. Truthfully, he didn’t even know why he was participating in this quest. Based on the atmosphere, it seemed similar to a Joint Warfare test that was given during the level-up exam, but Merlin was still at a loss as to why he needed to participate. Yet, Merlin couldn’t just lounge around while everyone was fighting.

“Eh, whatever. If I clear the quest, I’ll get a reward.”

“Good. If we can focus the enemy’s aggro onto us- huh? Where are you going?”

Seeing Merlin rush toward the castle, a sword-wielding user looked perplexed. In his eyes, there was a party member wearing mage gear, but they were running to the frontline despite this. Yet, he held back from calling out when he saw Merlin change his equipment and bring out a Mithril bow. Typically, bow users were considered frontline fighters.

“I’m going to make my way to the castle.”

“Why?”

“The high ground is best for me.”

The sword-wielding user nodded. It made sense that a mage specialized in wielding a long-ranged bow needed to be in such a location.

“Can you even scale the castle walls? They look like they’re about 15 meters high.”

“No problem!”

Merlin shouted back as he kept sprinting. Of course, he was using his Stamina to run, but to jump over the wall, he’d need both Stamina and Strength. Since Merlin only had 170 points in each category, leaping over the wall in one bound was out of the question. If the wall were only seven or eight meters high, then he’d probably be able to jump over it, but they were twice that size. However…

Whoosh.

Merlin circulated one year of internal energy. Currently, he only had five years of internal energy, so this wasn’t a tiny amount, but Merlin didn’t feel that it was wasteful. When this single year passed through Mercury, it increased to two years, which became four years after going through Venus. Finally, after passing through his third planetary system, Earth, he was left with eight years of internal energy.

Bam!

Merlin’s body shot off like an arrow. He was utilizing a technique commonly referred to as Genuine Qi Jump, allowing him to leap over ten stories from a single breath of genuine qi.

“Woah! Who the hell is that guy?”

“T-that doesn’t make any sense. He leaped up here in one bound?!”

“He’s a mage!”

Not paying any attention to what the soldiers around him were saying, Merlin worked on stabilizing his inner qi through his Golden Pill Immortal Technique, which was already at Level 2. In the beta test, this technique reached Level 7, so Merlin was quickly progressing in his inner qi technique.

/You have acquired a new technique!/

Merlin disregarded the pop-up message and stood tall. He was surrounded by a sizable group of soldiers, and soon, a large man in white plate armor approached him. Above the man’s head was the nametag [Lord of Asgard Castle, Raul Crey]. It seemed that this was the main character that needed to be protected.

“Who are you? You don’t look like an undead. Are you part of that group over there?”

“Yes. We were passing by and saw that you were in danger, so we decided to help.”

“You were passing by? Do you truly think that I’ll believe-”

Roar!

At that moment, a colossal undead monster rose from the enemy’s side to stand around ten meters tall. It was a golem made from the corpses of the dead, a Flesh Golem.

“W-what is that?!”

“It’s a monster!”

The soldiers couldn’t help but cry out in fright as they saw the Flesh Golem appear. Merlin was also taken aback. He had seen golems before but had never seen one made from corpses. Even users wouldn’t have been able to create such a disgusting creature.

“Damn it. That monster is tall enough to get to us.”

Without any hesitation, Merlin retrieved a magic-infused short spear. A message stating [You have acquired the Archery skill!] popped up, but Merlin didn’t pay it any attention.

“Wait. I don’t even know who you guys are, so I’m not sure if I can trust you all to fight alongside-”

“We’ve come to help. You’re not really in a position to be picky and choose who helps you, right?”

For a moment, Merlin wondered if the word ‘picky’ was translated properly, but he soon focused on the approaching Flesh Golem, as dealing with it was the more pressing issue.

Boom!

Along with the aftershock and resounding bang from the significant recoil, an arrow flew towards a group of undead soldiers, mowing them down as they rolled a huge boulder toward the castle walls. Fortunately, the walls stood firm and only showed a few cracks. However, if it continued to be attacked, the wall would be in danger of being breached.

“Don’t stop attacking! If the castle walls fall, we’ll all be dead-”

Whoosh.

At that moment, the Flesh Golem jumped into the air and swung its hands down from above its head, slamming them toward the castle walls. Seeing the ten-meter-tall Flesh Golem launch such a monstrous attack, Raul and the castle soldiers briefly stopped moving as their bodies stiffened from utter fear. Yet, just then, a ball of fire flew towards the Flesh Golem’s right leg.

Boom!!

Though the fireball was only the size of an adult’s head, the power and force it carried were enormous. In an instant, the Flesh Golem instantly had a third of its body blown away from Jeros’ attack.

“W-what the hell was that?”

“Such a powerful magic spell.”

After seeing the gasping soldiers all around him, Merlin turned towards Raul, who was stunned and dumbfounded after witnessing this. Feeling Merlin’s gaze, Raul turned to look at him.

“You need help, right?”

“… Alright. I’ll ask questions later.”

“All Chat! Everyone, come up to the top of the castle!”

Standing atop the castle walls, Merlin sent out an ‘all chat’ message. The party seemed to have heard this as they started grouping together and moving toward the castle walls. Since the undead army had taken many casualties from the users, they were wary of the amassed party and began to surround the group.

“What are you waiting for! Tell your soldiers to aim their arrows over there and lay down some cover fire!”

“Ack. What are you all doing! Shoot!”

After Raul shouted his orders, the frozen soldiers regained their composure and loosed their arrows. Of course, the undead soldiers wouldn’t be immobilized by regular arrows, as they could still move with a couple of them stuck to their bodies, so the soldiers lit their arrows on fire first.

“Alright. I’ll start targeting individual undead soldiers.”

Merlin put away his short spears, as he didn’t have many remaining, taking out his metallic arrows instead. Then, he raised his Mithril bow into the air. He was aiming for the enemy’s squad leaders. Spread out amongst the undead were those capable of using magic power. These were the squad leaders that directed their soldiers.

Boom! Boom! Boom, Boom, Boom!

Merlin shot one arrow after another. It seemed as though he was launching the arrows without any consideration, but each one accurately struck his targets. Although not as powerful as the Decian bow, the Mithril bow was able to put a tremendous amount of force behind every shot.

“Send down a rope ladder!”

“What? But the undead….”

“They can fend for themselves and come up, so don’t worry.”

Bam!

As Merlin finished speaking, Jeros launched another magic spell, which mowed down hundreds of undead soldiers. In large-scale battles, having someone like Jeros as an ally was a godsend, and for the opponents, he was nothing less than a fear-inducing cannon. Thus, the undead tried everything in their power to neutralize Jeros, but the users who surrounded and protected him weren’t giving in, as they weren’t weaklings themselves.