Chapter 116: Deadlight District (7)

He trusted in the strength of his clones. With the level of trust he currently had in them, he could sleep even in the midst of chaos.As a result, he did not pay much attention to the battle going on around him and instead focused on the notification he had just received.

[ You have triggered a rare reward for leveling up 10 times in less than one hour ]

[ For the next six hours, your exp gain will be doubled and free stats earned from leveling up will be doubled as well ]

"Incredible."

He already had the blessing called Double, which multiplied the experience points he earned per kill, and now with the new reward, he would gain four times the usual experience points per kill.

Closing the notification, Marlon decided to observe the current state of the situation around him.

On his far left, Clarissa could be seen treating a badly wounded Emma while Davison and his golems surrounded them, playing the role of defense.

Turning to the battlefield, he saw a weakened Dagon who had climbed the back of an ogre and was repeatedly stabbing it with his sword.

Around him, the triplets fought bravely, but judging from their slow movement, they had exhausted themselves too much.

"That is good."

With the current development, he would have the opportunity to take care of at least three waves while they recovered.

Only a few blue ogres remained, and Dagon and the triplets were handling them.

His clones stood afar, observing the fight with their soulless eyes and waiting for the others to slip so they could step in.

"Die!"

Shouting, Dagon ran his sword through the last ogre.

With a thud, it fell, and the hunter collapsed beside it, gasping for breath.

[ You have completed the third wave ]

[ Fourth wave will arrive in 300 seconds ]

The robotic voice vibrated across the ancient hall.

When he heard how much time they had to recuperate, a dire expression appeared on his face.

He turned to observe the state of his colleagues, and their condition did not look hopeful at all.

How would they survive the remaining waves?

"You guys can take the time to rest. Leave the remaining waves to me."

Because he was lost in thought, he did not know when Marlon arrived beside him, so he was startled.

But he quickly regained his composure.

"Sure, but are you certain you are capable? You know each wave is stronger than the last, and not only that, the population of monsters is almost doubled," he said.

His tone was calmer and polite this time compared to the beginning of the raid.

"Have faith in me. I can take care of anything," Marlon replied.

Dagon nodded.

At that moment, he felt like he was the noob and Marlon was the veteran instead of the other way around.

"Here, use it to speed up your recovery."

Marlon equipped a high-grade healing potion and handed it to Dagon.

"T-this."

Dagon was taken aback as he instantly recognized the quality of the potion.

Knowing how rare and expensive it was, he could not help but wonder why Marlon was being so kind despite how they treated him earlier.

He felt ashamed of himself.

He had judged Marlon as a spoiled kid who received unnecessary attention from the hunter association, which was why he was annoyed at his presence at the beginning.

But now he felt stupid for everything.

Shaking his head, he refused.

"I cannot accept this for free."

"Free? Who said I was giving it to you for free?"

"Oh."

He felt even more embarrassed.

"When our raid is over, you can pay for it. Since we are in the same party, I will exercise my extreme kindness and give you a five percent discount. Fair, right?"

Dagon could only stare at him speechlessly.

How was five percent off an extremely kind gesture?

"Alright."

But in the end, even if it was only five percent off, he still accepted it.

After all, even as a C-rank veteran hunter who had worked for the hunter association for almost a decade, he had never held such a high-grade potion due to how rare and expensive it was.

After handing Dagon the potion, Marlon went to check on the triplets who were gasping for breath. Fortunately, they were only exhausted, and otherwise they were fine.

He silently noted their tenacity before moving on to Clarissa and Emma. Davison had already left their side to begin harvesting cores before the fourth wave arrived.

Clarissa’s beautiful face was covered in sweat as she administered healing magic on Emma, and he could tell she was exhausted.

Since he knew he was the cause because of the stamina enhancement she cast on his clone earlier, he gave her a high-grade aether potion for free.

Emma and Dagon were taken aback by the gesture.

Emma was shocked to see a high-grade potion, while Dagon felt even more dumbfounded at the unfair treatment.

"He gave her for free and only took five percent off mine? Is he punishing me for how I treated him earlier?" the party leader murmured.

"Yes, it must be for that reason. He does not look like a simp to me." He concluded, and his regret surged.

The group braced themselves in the middle while Dagon used his golems to heap the hundreds of harvested corpses into a wall around them.

As the countdown toward the fourth wave began, only Marlon and his clones stood outside the wall that had been formed.

The seconds flew by in the blink of an eye, and the fourth wave kicked off. Hundreds of monsters rushed out from different doorways and ferociously charged at them.

Without wasting a moment, Marlon and his clones erupted into hot-blooded action.

Almost an hour later, the fourth wave was completed.

Marlon moved from level 40 to level 48 thanks to the double rewards. His growth was faster than he expected.

Unfortunately, he lost a couple of clones in action, forcing him to summon more to replace them as the fifth wave began.

This wave lasted longer than an hour and ended with almost half his clones dead.

He did not need an expert to tell him that the future waves would be even more deadly.

But he was ready for it.

He continued, repeating the same sequence of action with each wave until he cleared the fourteenth one.

[ Mini-boss arrives in 600 seconds. Prepare. ]

The sixteenth wave was different.

A mini-boss was going to appear.

The others immediately became concerned.

The monsters from the tenth wave were already powerful. Even Dagon, who was the strongest among everyone aside from Marlon, needed minutes to handle the weakest one.

With only two clones left standing beside him, Marlon breathed out and tossed the massive head of the strange monster, the last one he had slain.

He turned to the others.

The concern on Dagon and his party was clear.

Beside them, the triplets seemed different. They were ready for a battle as usual.

"They would be useless."

Marlon shook his head.

He had gauged the strength of the last waves and compared them with the others, and he arrived at a conclusion. They were all weak.

If they fought, they would only stand in his way. He walked up to them and shared his opinion.

He was going to challenge the mini-boss alone.

"What!"

All of them reacted at once.

This time, even Clarissa was surprised. Her expression showed concern.

"Marlon, we know you’re strong, but this is not a wave we are talking about. This is a mini-boss. You do not have to face it alone. Let the others assist you."

Dagon, Emma, Davison and the triplets nodded in agreement with the healer.

"Boss Tinubu said mini-boss are usually several times stronger than the usual monsters," Bola said.

"Yes, mini-boss are just a slightly weaker version of the boss who is the overseer of the danger-zone. There is no way you can face it alone."

One after another, they tried to talk sense into Marlon.

But their words were futile because Marlon had already made up his mind.

However, he could not really stop them from assisting.

He was the youngest anyway and based on level, he was the weakest.

Naturally, he should have been the one receiving orders instead of giving them.

"Fine."

He shrugged.

"Nonetheless, your lives are all in your hands."

He added.

The others exchanged worried gazes but none of them responded.

Clarissa, whose aether points reserve was still full, decided to heal everyone as best as she could in the little time remaining.

Marlon drank one vial of high-grade aether potion to refill his reserve back to maximum.

Without hesitation, he summoned three more clones, bringing the total around him to five.

A stable number.

But in this fight, he had a trump card he planned to use.

One he had not used since the beginning of the raid because of its lengthy cooldown.

"Punch of Death."