Balloon Monster Terminator

Outside the city, on the Hulunbuir Grassland (yeah, right).

This place was already far from town, a more dangerous area inhabited by higher-level monsters. Close to the dangerous Monster Forest, it was home to countless terrifying... Balloon Monsters.

Yep.

That was right. Balloon Monsters.

But unlike the weak Balloon Monsters called Orange Balloons that lived on the grasslands near town, the Balloon Monsters deep in the grassland were clearly stronger.

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.

The Balloon Monsters' strength seemed to depend on their color. Red ones were the weakest, only Lv.1-Lv.2, while violet Balloon Monsters possessed the terrifying strength of Lv.20!!!

But that was all. Even as their levels rose and their colors changed, the Balloon Monsters' attack patterns and habits remained much the same. They merely had slightly higher attack and vitality, and yielded more experience. Beyond that, they had nothing going for them.

And since they were Balloon Monsters, their weakness was naturally obvious-they were especially vulnerable to sharp, hard objects. The magic iron needles Chuan Wenwu had commissioned Elhart to make were practically their natural nemesis.

Relying on the Shield Hero's sky-high defense, Chuan Wenwu took Bruce "rampaging" across the grassland, drawing a huge crowd of multicolored Balloon Monsters behind them before bursting them one by one like bubbles. Experience came pouring in.

If killing enough monsters could unlock an "XXX Slayer" title, he figured he should already have earned the title of "Balloon Monster Terminator."

The balloon hide he had gathered from grinding monsters these past few days filled an entire large bag. He had unlocked all the corresponding shield forms, too, and used the surplus materials to max out their "Ability Liberation," adding a considerable amount of defense, vitality, and speed to his stats.

As he wreaked havoc among the Balloon Monsters, the "Companion" series of shields he had previously unlocked also reached Ability Liberation. Even when the Shield of the Hero was not in its Companion Shield form, the shield's bonuses to Bruce's growth and stats would remain active.

Chuan Wenwu also discovered that, besides equipping a shield for a long time, taking attacks in battle could speed up the unlocking of its abilities. In other words, as long as he kept "getting beaten up," he could quickly activate the dozens of shields he had copied at the weapon shop and raise his stats another notch.

However, the Magic Iron Needle Shield's "Thorns" effect was somewhat disappointing. When Balloon Monsters bit him, the reflected damage from Thorns was roughly equivalent to one of his punches-but his attack as the Shield Hero was already pitifully low. Damage like that was barely better than nothing.

Of course, that might also have been because his "Thorns" stat was too low.

And the Magic Iron Needle Shield's offensive effect was even more of a joke. Despite being covered in spikes, it could not pierce the Balloon Monsters' hides even when he slammed it into them with all his strength-as though any weapon associated with the Shield Hero had its attack stat erased.

So he still had to rely on outside means: planting the iron spikes he had prepared in the ground, disguising them as environmental traps, then using environmental damage to grind monsters quickly.

After grinding from early morning until sunset, he had reached Lv.17, while Bruce had reached Lv.14.

Although the monsters in this leveling area yielded more experience, the experience required to level up also kept increasing with his level. His leveling speed had actually slowed somewhat.

What he did not know, however, was that his leveling speed was utterly beyond the reach of anyone else in this world!

An apprentice knight who trained and served normally would only be around level twenty, while most residents were merely a few levels to somewhere in their teens.

He had only been in this world for three short days, yet he had already surpassed a considerable portion of its inhabitants. With his exceptionally high growth potential as a hero and the additional bonuses from the Book of Weapons, he already possessed astonishingly formidable defense at just level seventeen.

Those violet Balloon Monsters could bite through stone, yet their bites could not leave so much as a white mark on him. They could not penetrate his defense at all, and he barely felt a thing.

To these Balloon Monsters, perhaps he deserved the title of "Great Demon King"?

"This is seriously weird. How do these little things even bite? With rubber-like bodies, where does all that bite force come from? And where does everything they swallow go?"

Chuan Wenwu stretched, pausing the balloon-popping work he had been doing all day, and casually grabbed a Balloon Monster for a closer look.

The Balloon Monster looked as though it were made of rubber, yet it had a mouthful of sharp "teeth"-actually spikes formed from its hardened outer shell.

He pried open the Balloon Monster's mouth and reached in to rub its teeth between his fingers. They were smooth, hard, and slightly flexible, with the feel of hardened rubber.

Then Chuan Wenwu took out another magic iron needle and inserted its thicker end-the tail of the needle-into the Balloon Monster's mouth. Using it like a screwdriver, he levered its teeth off one by one. The Balloon Monster writhed in pain, but showed no sign of regeneration.

"Hmm, looks like their regenerative abilities are pretty weak..."

He felt along the toothless Balloon Monster's gums. There were no signs of regeneration, and they had a subtly uneven texture.

He then tried reaching farther into the Balloon Monster's abdominal cavity. His overwhelming defense rendered the corrosive mucus inside harmless, allowing him to plunge straight in. He felt suction and pressure, as though rubber were squirming around him...

A rather indecent description naturally sprang to mind, and Chuan Wenwu's expression turned strange.

"Shame on me, shame on me. It's all those idiot netizens' fault. They've actually managed to corrupt my thoughts without me even noticing..."

He banished the depraved thought that a toothless Balloon Monster resembled an affectionate catgirl, sneakily pinned all the blame on those netizens, then apologetically popped the innocent Balloon Monster and put it out of its misery.

He looked up at the sky. The setting sun already hung above the western horizon, its golden afterglow washing the grassland in a warm yellow. The breeze carried the scent of fresh grass and a hint of chill-night was approaching.

"Bruce, once we finish this wave, we're heading back to town!" Chuan Wenwu called over his shoulder.

Bruce was now a far cry from his former self. He had barely changed when he went from Lv.1 to Lv.8, yet today, merely going from Lv.8 to Lv.14 had brought about a complete transformation.

First was his size. He had grown at least twice as large. Though he was a mixed-breed Chinese Rural Dog, he was now bigger than an adult Tibetan mastiff, with incredibly thick limbs. He was like a scrawny beginner who walked into a gym and, in a single day, became a hulking muscle freak whose arms were thicker than his legs!

His yellow-brown coat was also smoother and glossier, gleaming gold beneath the setting sun.

Meanwhile, Bruce's expression had grown increasingly composed, and his black eyes shone with ever greater intelligence, as though he might start speaking at any moment-the Companion Shield's effect on his transformation was truly remarkable!

"Woof, woof, woof!!"

Bruce barked happily, as though answering Chuan Wenwu's command, and began tearing into the Balloon Monsters with even greater speed and precision.

At the sight, Chuan Wenwu burst out laughing. "Good boy, Bruce! Then let's see who can kill them faster!"

He stood firmly in the middle of the monsters, keeping all their aggro locked on him. He grabbed a Balloon Monster with one hand and pressed it onto an iron needle in the ground. With a pop, the Balloon Monster burst. Bruce prowled around the edges, using his exceptionally high attack to kill a Balloon Monster with every bite. He was even more efficient than Chuan Wenwu.

-Never mind Bruce's other current stats. His triple-digit attack alone was enough to make Chuan Wenwu drool with envy.

About ten minutes later, the entire wave of multicolored Balloon Monsters had been wiped out. Chuan Wenwu gathered their remains and stuffed them into his bulging bag, then called Bruce over and headed back toward town.

Watching Bruce walk ahead of him, his big rump swaying from side to side, Chuan Wenwu could not help thinking, If Bruce grows a little bigger, maybe I could ride him?

(Bruce's inner monologue: Huh? Are you serious, boss? You're going to ride me? Wearing that full suit of plate armor and carrying that huge, heavy bag of balloon hide?)