Rise Of The Hoarder

My speech was short due to the Demon army already fast approaching, but I ensured I gave enough motivation to spur everyone into action.

“Rahhhhhhh!!!” The Gifteds raised their voices unnecessarily for battle.

Perhaps it was to douse the overwhelming cries of the Demons before them or to steel themselves knowing they would be fighting against enemies previously deemed unfathomable.

However, there was no way the Gifteds could turn back now! After all, they were under the influence of my <Rule>. It dictated that they fought while placing their trust in me.

<Rule> amplified their awe for me, as well as the desire to achieve something remotely close to my feat of slaying over half of the opposing enemy’s army. With their lowered intelligence, the Gifteds became a nearly unintelligent mob that only sought to obey their instincts for battle—with the exception of Lara whom I left intact.

Her intelligence in battle was one of her best traits. She used her Shapeshifting abilities well when it came to dispatching Demons!

“GUARKKKK!”_.

Demons died easily after we charged at them. While the Gifteds were in a battle frenzy, they lost the fear and desperate desire to cling to their lives—a basic human trait. As a result, they hunted more efficiently.

Of course, it wasn’t that they got a massive boost in physical ability. They were even very close to losing their lives so many times in the course of the battle. However, I served as the overseer of their little bout and intervened when a Demon was about to inflict any serious harm on them.

As a result, the group Leveled Up just fine. Of course, it would take forever if I just let them handle the thousand plus Demons on their own so I sent my weapons to deal some damage and whittle down the Demon’s health up to the barest minimum so that the Gifteds could finish them off.

Unlike in some games where EXP was shared collectively, the current situation was different. I received no gain after they killed the Demons despite being the one who contributed the most to their death.

‘Well, maybe it has to do with the fact that I have no ‘Allies’ among them…’

In games, there was the ‘Party’ System where members of the same party got shares of EXP no matter how dealt the final blow to the enemy. Since I had no one registered as an Ally in my Status Window, it could be surmised that such an effect couldn’t be used for me.

I didn’t mind though. Shared EXP would only go so far in actually increasing the amount required for a Level Up.

It was more relieving to see the others growing at a fast rate.

“G-GUR-GURUIKKK…..” The Hobgoblins now stopped attacking and began taking hastened steps to retreat.

I smiled wryly. Who would have thought that such monsters would turn tail and flee in the presence of weaklings like Daniel and his comrades? Well, they couldn’t be considered that way anymore.

“They’re a little over a thousand now… I see…”

My murmur came out while I stroked my chin. The effects of <Rule> were still on the Gifteds, but it was clear that they were already exhausted. Pushing them too far would be unhealthy.

In that case, I had to let them stop!

Releasing the group from my hold on them, they nearly collapsed in exhaustion and I took over in the little time of recoil they were experiencing. A thousand Hobs weren’t too much of a deal. I could think of so many ways to kill them, but I decided to go with a relatively new method I invented.

“Summon”

In a flash, several Fireballs, like the Skill, appeared above the Demons. The heat seared the atmosphere as no one could resist looking above their heads to witness the flaming balls of destruction.

The Gifteds marveled. The Demons screeched. The flames burned ever so brightly. And I? I watched the scene with a grin of satisfaction, ready to see the flames scorch everything in sight.

>BOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!<

The Hobgoblins around all got caught up in the combustion as they tried to retreat, leaving behind smoke and ashes. The Demon Cores were automatically collected so there was literally nothing left from them.

>SHUUUUUUUU!!!<

Smoke rose to an unbelievable degree, but I caused it to vanish within a moment. My grin grew wider as I mulled over how effective this method had been.

The <Fireball> Skill was very effective and destructive, even more than several Maa Core Bombs of my highest quality. A single Fireball was enough to scorch and kill probably two to three Hobgoblins at once. Once I enhanced it further with my MP control, it could kill five at max level.

The problem was the Skill Cooldown.

<Fireball> could only be used once every five minutes even after I leveled it up to the max! As expected of a Grade 1 Skill. It was quite useful, but having to rely on it once every five minutes was a bad joke.

However, I soon found my way around it!

“I simply need to keep using the Skill every five minutes and storing it inside [Subspace]!”

It was a crazy idea, but heck it was effective!

I kept putting the Fireballs generated every five minutes into [Subspace], giving me about 12 Fireballs every hour. Enhanced to the max, I could kill five Demons with one Fireball. I could kill sixty with twelve fireballs.

It didn’t seem like something I couldn’t achieve using other means, but it didn’t hurt to have many options in my arsenal. Especially since my weapons were slowly losing effectiveness against the new bunch of Hobgoblins surfacing.

I was certain a bunch of new stuff could come along once I was done with the Horde, but I had to figure out quick-fire ways to get rid of the small fries. Of course, I used this same method for all my other Skills.

Skills like <Spike Attack> and <Venomous Spikes> were good examples.