NOVEL NEXT Chapter 438: Threat Ratings?
Threat Ratings.
When people described the dangers of the monster, they would either give out the information about its mana core or the number of mana shells it had.
Of course, such kinds of information sufficed in terms of describing the sort of dangers the monster posed. However, for those unaware of the monster's true extent of destructive capabilities, it proved rather ineffective.
Thus, the Threat Ratings were created.
With the use of mathematical values and multipliers, they were able to create a sort of table.
Mana Shell stages were assigned points 1 to 7.
Wretch, Gnarl, Maw, Husk, Gore, Reaver, and lastly Dread - each one given an assigned value with an increment of one.
Then, you had the level of the monster's mana cores, which added a multiplier ranging from 1.0x to 2.5x.
Feral (E), Savage (D), Dire (C), Prime (B), Great (A), Apex (S), Colossus (SS).
And the categories of destruction went like this:
Monsters with a calculated Threat Rating of 1 to 3 were considered a "Local Nuisance"—dangerous predators.
Monsters with a Threat Rating of 3 to 5 were categorised as a "Regional Menace", which was comparable to a storm or flood.
Afterwards, you got categories that were much more obvious to decipher.
City Killers ranged from 6 to 9, which was equivalent to a hurricane or major earthquake.
Nation Breakers ranged from 9 to 14, who were comparable to a large tsunami or supervolcano.
And... Then, you had Civilisation Enders, who were between 14 and 17. Monsters of this category were seen to have the destructive capability of a meteor strike.
Of course, there was the theoretical category titled "Extinction Class", but no monster of that type had ever appeared in history. So, it had always remained... A theory.
'If I calculated correctly... The Twin-Headed Seawater Leviathan was around a 6.4, just barely a City Killer, but still one definitely capable of it.'
Although she couldn't remember what fighting it was like, she was definitely sure it was an intense battle—one where she might've struggled a bit or... A lot.
Fortunately, nothing above a "City Killer" would appear inside this Trial.
'I think the only reason most people don't refer back to this style of determining danger is because of the math... Even if its quite simple.' Lillian scratched the side of her head, 'Which... I don't like doing either...'
She liked it when numbers increased, but that was only in the case of money in her bank account.
"JON!"
Snapping out of her thoughts, she watched as Emilio leapt from the back of the Beetle before rushing over towards a small mound of corpses.
Lillian hummed slightly as her eyes landed on the back of a black man sitting on top of the mound of deceased monsters.
This was Emilio's bodyguard.
She remembered he was of the 2nd Tier like her, weaker, but still of the 2nd Tier.
Jon, who was covered in wounds and was wiping the blood off his sunglasses, quickly put on his glasses and turned back around with a hint of wariness.
He then widened his eyes as he found the familiar faces of both Lillian and Viesta, as well as his young master!
Leaping down from the mound he sat on, he watched as a petite man ran up to him—Emilio was relieved to see that his bodyguard was still alive and mostly well.
Jon quickly knelt down in Emilio's presence and greeted him, "I greet you, young master Terrance. I'm glad to see that you are well... Did the device used to disguise yourself malfunction?"
Before Emilio could reply, Jon immediately noticed the severe damage in his young master's clothes and instantly summoned a new set of them out from his spatial ring.
As he tried to get Emilio to change out of his current rags, Lillian couldn't help but smile slightly.
If she recalled correctly, Jon didn't know about Emilio's true identity. He only knew of his first name and that he was part of a made-up noble family called the "Terrance".
'A noble that wanted to have some freedom hired a bodyguard, who was in need of a job...'
Once all four of them were now on the back of the Beetle, which seemed rather displeased about the growing number of passengers on its back, it continued to stride forward.
[You have slain...]
[You have slain...]
As Lillian continued to be on guard against possible ambushes, her ears twitched as she heard Emilio asking Jon if he had any tips about winning over ladies.
'He's still not backing off? He's persistent, I'll say...'
She was truly flattered, but if he continued to make advances on her, she might have to reveal Marionette's noble name as a deterrent.
After a few hours of moving, settling down to have lunch, and continuing to move again, the five of them eventually reached the dense heart of the jungle.
The ground around them was completely covered in vibrant moss and lively flowers, which seemed to sway on their own as if they were alive.
The trees that hung over them were extremely dense to the point where light barely managed to seep in through their thick canopies.
Even the vines that crawled around on the ground and over the trees were obscenely thick, to the point where Lillian even had to dismiss the Beetle, so they could keep moving forward.
As they continued to move forward, they stumbled upon countless sights of enroached carcasses of several monsters—wrapped and captured in the vines, which seemed to eat them from the inside.
Evident by the green hue in the carcasses' presumed veins.
Of course, that wasn't to say that they weren't targeted as well.
It was just that—
SWOOSH!
—Lillian was always quick enough to counter them.
Viesta watched as a severed piece of a thick vine fell to the ground, having been blown apart by one of Lillian's high-speed water spears.
She couldn't help but find that Lillian's power behind her element seemed to have increased dramatically.
And such a thought was true.
Since acquiring the Drowned Leviathan's Earring, Lillian found herself more at ease, even more comfortable with her current strength at her current level.
If she wanted to, she could drop her guard and still continue to defend the entire group due to the [Parallel Thinking] enchantment.
And not only that—with this singular earring—she had acquired two extra trump cards in her arsenal.
The [Twin-Headed Fury], which allowed her to conjure two plasmatic heads in the form of Leviathan's.
And the [Leviathan's Wrath], where she could charge and release a plasma-infused water beam—something she had already devised to be her "last resort" trump card.
'Now that I think about it... I have two last resort trump cards, currently.'
The second she was referring to was the beserk enchantment of her gauntlets, which she was rather hesitant to use.
It was a fun ability in the game, but something she would want to be used last if possible.
The entire group continued to push through the narrow crevices in between the trees and admired as Lillian countered the vines whipping at them.
Occasionally, they did question why Lillian was leading them through this way, but the usual answer they got back was:
"Because the eerie the place is, the more likely it holds secrets."
As they continued, they couldn't help but spot strange sightings of movement high up within the trees.
They had frail bodies and wore a deer skull over their heads, like they belonged to a religious cult.
And if their eyes weren't deceiving them, there seemed to be small structures built inside the canopies that stretched between trees—houses, to be exact.
Was there an entire civilisation living within the canopies of the tree?
"They're not hostile, don't worry." Lillian muttered, garnering back the attention of the group, who seemed to nod slowly at her words, but were still wary of those above, who looked down at them equally wary.
For another 5 minutes, they eventually reached the very centre of the jungle—everywhere they looked was completely shrouded in thick vines, which seemed to give off a strange but warm glow.
As the group looked around, they managed to find one spot that wasn't completely covered in vines...
"Is that a stone pyramid?" Viesta asked, her eyes widening slightly at the partially moss-covered stone pyramid.
It was around 500 metres tall from what they could see and 100 metres wide, while also being completely made out of thick and eroded stone bricks.
Narrow, but long vines crawled over the edges of the pyramid's bricks, while moss made their homes inside the aged and eroded cracks in the stone where sunlight made contact.
It also had a massive flight of stairs in its very centre.
As everyone's eyes were drawn up to the massive pyramid, trying to make out its peak, Lillian's eyes were instead drawn down towards the spot right in front of the pyramid.
She found a large crater in the ground, which had been shaped to look like a battle arena.
At its very centre was a throne with a large stone two-headed battle axe on its right and a jagged stone spear on its left—both embedded into the ground.
And seated on it... Was an 8-foot-tall crowned wendigo, who immediately locked eyes with her warily.