A Pile of Shit When Gathered

Brilliant golden flames spread from the tip of the blonde girl's sword, surging towards the one-eyed giant's feet, turning the slow-moving, red-skinned behemoth into a dancing giant clad in golden fire.

"Leave this one to me!"

The Fire Elemental Player, composed of flames, shamelessly rushed forward upon seeing the Mindless Ogre's health bar nearly depleted. Using its racial talent, Flame Jet, it delivered the final blow to the pathetic giant.

Aperia retracted her longsword, her delicate face beneath the helmet relaxing into a sigh of relief. She didn't mind the Chosen One snatching her prey.

After all, she knew only the Chosen Ones could truly kill these monsters.

Even though the corruption that dispersed into the earth after the Chosen Ones killed the monsters would eventually condense into new ones, they were like ants gnawing at a giant. It was better to have the Chosen Ones finish the monsters than to do futile work herself.

If the corruption in Broken Sword Valley were compared to a vast, inland lake with no source...

Then, for every monster the Chosen Ones killed, the surrounding corruption would diminish slightly, as if a scoop of water had been removed from the lake.

However, the corruption in the Misty Forest was more like a river with a source.

When the Chosen Ones killed the monsters there, the surrounding corruption concentration would also slightly decrease, only to be replenished from an unknown source shortly after.

Aperia didn't understand why.

However, the Knights accompanying her had already formed a general guess about it.

Unlike Aperia, who had been clinging to the Creator God's side almost constantly for the past two days and hadn't done much of anything substantial, the others in the Knight Order had gathered considerable intelligence on the Thirteen City Alliance before leaving Iron Wall City.

They knew the Evil God that had been lurking in Broken Sword Valley had died, and they had also learned about an upcoming underground auction on the Black Market that involved the Evil God's flesh and blood.

Therefore, these Knights surmised that the source of the corruption in Broken Sword Valley was that deceased Evil God.

If that were the case...

Then perhaps these Chosen Ones could temporarily clear the monsters around the village.

But to completely resolve the corruption surrounding the village, they might need to kill the Evil God sealed beneath the village first.

Upon realizing this, the members of the Knight Order began considering how to persuade the village blacksmiths to abandon their natural Geothermal Furnace and relocate to the safer Iron Wall City along with the Saintess Sisters.

Unlike the preoccupied NPCs, most of the players lying scattered on the ground had already left the world.

They had traveled for a full day in the game, which translated to eight consecutive hours wearing their holographic helmets in reality. Although many intended to continue grinding, their characters' Yellow Bars were empty, forcing them offline by the Anti-addiction System.

Aperia looked at these defenseless Chosen Ones and sighed again, her heart harboring doubt about her Lord's words for the first time.

Her Lord had said these Chosen Ones from another world possessed strong combat talents.

Yet, every monster the Knight Order had weakened along the way had caused the Chosen Ones to scramble for them recklessly, disregarding their own safety, nearly causing casualties multiple times.

Furthermore, due to the disputes over prey, these Chosen Ones had almost come to blows.

And not only that, but some restless Chosen Ones would deliberately lure powerful monsters from nearby lairs, leaving the Knights struggling to cope and slowing down the entire party's progress.

These individuals didn't resemble well-trained warriors; they were more like a group of unruly children who were careless and lacked discipline.

"Your Excellency Saintess, I have gathered enough power. Creator God above, could you help me level up?"

As Aperia rested by the bonfire, the Fire Elemental Chosen One who had just slain a monster walked up to her and extended his blazing palm.

Aperia tilted her head slightly, staring at the Fire Elemental's palm for a few seconds before finally removing her gauntlet and taking hold of the Chosen One, whose body temperature reached a scorching 800 degrees.

As a newly spawned Level 1 Fire Elemental, the damage dealt to [Unsealing Saintess Aperia] had flooded the prompt bar of 'Three Stages of Fighting Spirit'.

Simultaneously, Aperia's already low favorability rating plummeted.

'Three Stages of Fighting Spirit' didn't dare to delay, quickly using the stored experience points to level up to 7, and released Aperia's severely burned hand.

Aperia shook her hand, enduring the pain as she put her gauntlet back on, her delicate face beneath the helmet filled with exhaustion.

She had been in high-intensity combat all day, not only avoiding dangerous monsters along the way and acting as a nanny to these Chosen Ones, but also having to face wave after wave of monsters during her watch.

—Just like now.

"Roar!!!"

Without concealing its presence, another Ogre emerged from behind the bushes.

'Three Stages of Fighting Spirit', possessing a player panel, immediately scanned the monster's data. A look of joy, incomprehensible to normal creatures, appeared on its flame-composed face.

This was an elite monster!

[Glock Bloodthroat]

[Level: 57]

[Tier: Silver]

[Health: 63000/63000]

[Traits: Frenzy, Magic Resistance, Savage Regeneration, Brute Force, Curse Resistance, Attribute Resistance, Poison Resistance (Expand+)]

[Skills: Petrifying Ray, Blood Burst Battle Cry, Curse, Brute Force Enhancement, Armor Break Strike, Bone Shatter Charge (Expand+)]

[Kill Experience: 29550]

[Drop Items: Glock's Greatclub, Ogre Teeth, Ogre Eyeball, Barbarian Codex (Expand+)]

A character at Level 7 with "Three Stages of Fighting Spirit" wouldn't naturally be able to scan this much information.

However, he only needed to scan the monster's name to look it up in the encyclopedia backstage, instantly knowing its drops and kill experience.

It's known that the experience drops for the second playthrough are double that of the first.

So, if he could snatch this elite monster, he'd gain 59,000 experience and immediately soar, ah, soar!

But for Aperria, who was moving forward under a heavy burden, it was hardly a joyous occasion.

A group of sleeping Chosen Ones were still in the temporary camp, and the Knights were also conserving their strength as planned. She couldn't let this ogre, with its completely different aura, advance further.

Aperia lunged forward. As she got close to [Glock Bloodthroat], she agilely dodged to the right, evading the greatclub smashing down at her, and then followed up with an uppercut.

"Pfft!"

The blade successfully sliced into the ogre's abdomen. Aperria immediately followed with a combo, gathering all the surrounding light onto her sword tip and igniting holy flames within the ogre!

"ROAR—!!!"

The heavily wounded ogre let out a sudden roar. The terrifying blood-colored sonic wave hit Aperria head-on, sending her flying backward.

Before Aperria could land, the ogre bent its knees and immediately followed up with a [Bone Shatter Charge]. At the cost of shattering its own knee, it instantly unleashed a speed too fast for the naked eye to follow, catching up to Aperria who was still in mid-air.

[Glock Bloodthroat] raised its massive club and brought down a [Shatter Armor Strike] enhanced by [Brute Force Enhancement].

Having lost her footing, Aperria couldn't dodge and could only raise her sword to meet the blow head-on.

BOOM!!!

Aperia felt a massive force travel along the blade and through all her bones.

"Ugh!" she grunted in pain, nearly passing out from it.

This blow, with its high armor penetration, caused her to smash a large crater in the ground!

The next moment, a gray light of [Petrifying Ray] gathered in the ogre's massive single eye.