Leveling Up by Farming Monsters

The gnolls charging at the front inexplicably fell. Their low intelligence could not comprehend what progressive damage amplification was.

The outermost layer was indeed filled with drifting snowflakes, but their slowness was merely an illusion deceiving these dim-witted creatures. The farther inward one went, the denser the icicles became, growing from thumb-sized to goose-egg-sized, even brick-sized. Shrilling, these icicles fell from the sky, some even stirring up violent currents of air.

The falling icicles shattered against the ground, sending freezing crystal dust flying everywhere.

The bone-piercing cold silently numbed their nerves. They did not even realize that what was smashing down on their heads were not tiny hailstones, but long icicles almost like ice spikes.

A few gnolls who thought themselves clever raised their little hide shields and tried to rush through this killing ground forged by Ice Storm. Their fate, however, was no better than those before them. One after another, they were skewered into sieves by ice spikes falling from the sky.

At first, Macaro and the dozen or so others held their breath, nervously raising their shields before them and gripping their swords as they watched for the gnolls' attack.

What they saw, however, was the gnolls charging forward under Hogger's roaring orders... then collapsing... charging again... then collapsing again...

It was as though the creatures charging at them were not terrifying monsters capable of killing them, but fat pigs being sent to the slaughterhouse.

The group began to watch as the not particularly wide Ice Storm formed a ring around them. It did not harm them in the slightest, yet it grew denser or thinner depending on the ferocity of the gnolls' assault.

It clearly felt as if the person in the carriage could run out of mana at any moment, as if this exaggerated offensive defensive perimeter could collapse at any moment. Yet that never happened. Whenever the density of the icicles dropped, as though they could no longer kill even one more gnoll, the mana seemed to be replenished by some miracle, and the icicle density immediately returned to normal.

Under Hogger's furious roars, the gnolls tried to scatter time and again, only to force themselves to attack Macaro and the others again, then inevitably become frozen corpses within the Ice Storm's perimeter.

From trembling with fear at the start, everyone gradually became somewhat numb.

It was as though those battering the defensive perimeter were not the minions of the Nightmare of Elwynn Forest, but a flock of sheep abandoned by their shepherd in an icy wasteland to endure a Blizzard.

Someone muttered about how much bounty so many gnoll claws could fetch.

Macaro's son, caught up in youthful recklessness, actually stuck out his longsword to test just how powerful the Ice Storm right beside them was.

"No—" Macaro's expression changed drastically. He could practically imagine his son turning into an ice sculpture and falling like those foolish gnolls.

After all, in his eyes, even Sky Mages famous for many years, or even Morningstar Mages, could not possibly possess such precise control.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the longsword extended outward, the Ice Storm's encircling ring bulged outward into a small circle as well.

"Heh!"

Before he could even feel proud, his father suddenly yanked him back.

"Dad, I'm... fine!?"

The young man's eyes flew wide open, disbelief written in his pupils. If his father had not pulled him back, he would already have been a corpse.

Only a few finger-widths away, the blade of an enormous axe made from a stone tied to a flagpole had nearly grazed right past him. Sand, gravel, and ice spikes kicked up by the horizontal sweep lashed across his forehead, cutting several bloody marks from the ice—he could not imagine what would have happened if he had taken that blow head-on.

His head, neck, and even the helmet that should theoretically have offered protection would probably have been blasted apart instantly, becoming an unidentifiable mass of flesh, blood, and iron!

"Hiss—" Watching that earth-shattering blow cleave through the entire Ice Storm, nearly every mercenary sucked in a breath.

Watching Hogger endure the barrage of icicles filling the sky and force his way through the Ice Storm's blockade into the defensive perimeter, who would not wonder whether any human could rival this monster?!

The answer was... yes!

The carriage door, which was almost never opened except when Duke got in or out, creaked open. The blue-and-white mage robe embroidered with the Earth Mage emblem was the most eye-catching sight in this moonless night.

The raging Ice Storm suddenly changed direction. Instead of falling from above, it instantly poured outward at a slant from the carriage as its center.

"Awooooh—" In that instant, the gnolls' screams reached their most intense pitch.

Yet everyone knew this was not the end.

Many gnolls had died, and even more were injured, but at least forty percent of the gnolls in the pack remained completely unharmed.

Duke, who had not said a word since the battle began, placed one hand on Macaro's shoulder and spoke. "Macaro, while I duel Hogger, you and your men should try to break through. If anyone makes it back to Stormwind alive, tell Lord Norton that Duke has betrayed his trust."

Macaro shook his head. "Leaving aside whether any mercenary who abandons his employer to save himself would ever be hired again, abandoning the benefactor who saved my son's life alone would be enough to make me unworthy of being called a man."

Macaro and the mercenaries behind him all wore the same expression—the same determination to follow him unto death in their eyes.

Duke fell silent for a second. "Then you and your men take care of yourselves."

The next moment, Duke's deep black eyes met Hogger's crimson ones in the distance.

Though they did not speak the same language, both understood that this would be a king-versus-king duel.

Whoever won, the other side's remaining forces would instantly collapse.

"Huff! Huff! Huff! Huff—" Hogger's thick canine nose flared as it panted heavily, its craving for blood stimulating every sense.

An arm nearly as thick as Duke's waist suddenly flexed, explosive muscular strength fully revealed in that instant. Hogger easily lifted its nearly six-meter-long homemade stone axe onto its shoulder, radiating domineering might.

Duke stepped forward proudly.

At that moment, the gnolls that had scattered earlier began howling as they charged in again.

The gnolls had only two tactics: scatter in all directions, or swarm forward together.

What would happen to Macaro and the others was no longer something Duke could spare attention for. His entire focus was fixed on Hogger.

If Duke had just left Stormwind, he definitely would not have been Hogger's match.

Hogger's mistake was sending his underlings in first.

Duke had never known that the world of Azeroth also had something like experience points. Calling them experience points was not quite right, because the system notification clearly stated:

"Congratulations. Because the host used [Dalson's Chilling Prison] and the level 1 [Blizzard] to form the composite spell [Ice Storm] and killed gnolls, you have refined 110 points of soul power from the gnolls' bodies. You may use this power to expand your magical circuits."