19 waves, the first stage ends
Su Mu glanced at the panel.
[Current wave: 15]
[Total kills: 32767]
[Integral coefficient: 1.5]
[Core Card Status: In Good Condition]
[Time: 52 minutes 14 seconds]
The sixteenth wave.
The number of monsters has doubled to 32,768. Level 20.
Su Mu looked at the dark, monstrous tide surging from the crack and took a deep breath.
He glanced at the total number of kills on the panel.
Thirty-two thousand seven hundred and sixty-seven.
The seventeenth wave, 65,536 birds.
The eighteenth wave, 131,072 birds.
By the eighteenth wave, the monsters had reached level twenty-two and their numbers had exceeded one hundred thousand.
While Little Drill Wind and White Bone Spirit can still handle it, the pressure on core cards is increasing.
The health of the Stone Left Over from Mending Heaven dropped from 580,000 to 510,000. Although the loss was less than 10%, the rate of decline was accelerating.
In the middle of the eighteenth wave, a large number of monsters bypassed the White Bone Spirit's fire curtain and rushed towards Flower-Fruit Mountain.
This time, there were too many monsters, and Little Drill Wind and White Bone Spirit couldn't defend in time. The monsters rushed up Flower-Fruit Mountain and directly attacked the Stone Left Over from Mending Heaven.
The health of the Stone Left Over from Mending Heaven was rapidly decreasing.
It dropped from 510,000 to 450,000, then from 450,000 to 380,000, and then to 300,000.
Su Mu gritted his teeth and issued the command through the Soul Link.
"Clear the field with all your might. Ignore the core cards."
The Little Drill Wind and the White Bone Spirit erupted simultaneously.
Little Drill Wind's figure transformed into a streak of bluish-black lightning, weaving through the monster horde, his short sword flashing, each strike taking the lives of several monsters.
The White Bone Spirit's bone whip lashed out so fast that its trajectory was almost invisible, and grayish-white flames covered the entire mountain path, burning swathes of monsters into fragments.
When the last monster of the eighteenth wave fell, the health of the Stone Left Over from Mending Heaven had dropped to 220,000.
Su Mu glanced at the panel.
[Current wave: 18]
[Total kills: 262,143]
[Integral coefficient: 1.8]
[Core Card Status: Damaged]
[HP: 220000/580000]
[Time: 1 hour 12 minutes 38 seconds]
260,000 kills. Points multiplier: 1.8.
Su Mu took a deep breath and looked at the nineteenth crack that was about to tear open.
Wave 19, 524,288 animals. Level 23.
Five hundred and twenty thousand level 23 monsters, even if they were all cannon fodder, would be enough to overwhelm any dungeon player below level 20.
But he had no way out.
The crack tore open, and a dark red torrent poured out. Five hundred and twenty thousand monsters covered the entire valley, stretching from the foot of Lion Camel Ridge all the way to the Jade Wave Pool.
Little Drill Wind and White Bone Spirit stood at the foot of Flower-Fruit Mountain, facing the strange tide surging in from all directions.
Little Drill Wind's short sword transformed into a bluish-black afterimage, each strike taking the life of a monster; White Bone Spirit's bone whip unleashed a curtain of fire, burning swathes of monsters into fragments.
But there were too many monsters.
Five hundred and twenty thousand monsters. Even if Little Drill Wind and White Bone Spirit Demon kill one hundred per second, it would still take five thousand two hundred seconds, nearly an hour and a half. And the countdown for the next wave of monsters to spawn is only three minutes.
Su Mu watched as the kill count on the panel jumped rapidly, but the speed was noticeably slower than before.
[Kills: 262143...268000...275000...284000...]
Three minutes later, the kill count for the nineteenth wave remained at just over 100,000. The remaining 420,000 monsters continued to pour in, while the rift for the twentieth wave had already begun to tear open.
The health of the Stone Left Over from Mending Heaven is decreasing rapidly.
[HP: 220000...180000...140000...100000...]
Su Mu glanced at the panel.
[Current wave: 19]
[Total kills: 368241]
[Integral coefficient: 1.9]
[Core Card Status: Severely Damaged]
[HP: 68000/580000]
[Time: 1 hour 18 minutes 22 seconds]
When the Stone Left Over from Mending Heaven's health dropped to 50,000, Su Mu gave the final command.
"Go all out!"
Little Drill Wind and White Bone Spirit simultaneously abandoned defense and threw themselves into offense. Little Drill Wind's short sword transformed into a curtain of light, while White Bone Spirit's bone whip unleashed a sea of fire. Monsters fell in droves, and the kill count jumped rapidly.
[Kills: 380,000...400,000...430,000...470,000...]
The health of the Stone Left Over from Mending Heaven continues to decrease.
[HP: 50000...30000...10000...]
When the health of the Stone Left Over from Mending Heaven dropped to 1,000, Su Mu glanced at the panel.
[Total kills: 512347]
Then, a flash of white light appeared.
[End of Level 1]
[Final Wave: 19]
[Final kill count: 512347]
[Integral coefficient: 1.9]
[Second level score: 512347 × 1.9 = 973459]
Su Mu stood in the Dungeon Space, looking at the string of numbers on the panel, and slowly exhaled.
Nine hundred and seventy-three thousand four hundred and fifty-nine.
He didn't know where his score would rank among hundreds of thousands of test takers, but he knew he had done his best.
Little Drill Wind and White Bone Spirit stood before him, their bodies weary from the battle, but their eyes remained sharp. The Stone Left Over from Mending Heaven's health had been restored to full; the previous damage was merely a simulation at the data level, and the true core card was intact.
Su Mu raised his hand and transmitted a thought to the two monsters through the Soul Link.
"Thanks for your hard work."
Little Drill Wind grinned, revealing sharp teeth. White Bone Spirit nodded slightly, her gray-white skeleton standing quietly like a painting in the dark red mist.
Then, the white light shone again.
Su Mu was teleported out of the Dungeon Space.