Redo: Grimoire System in the Apocalypse

As expected, hundreds of wolves dropped dead in quick succession. Rift's Levels launched and didn't stop until he'd already reached 51.

'Interesting.'

Based on Geth's estimates, he should have stopped around 46. 

There was only one explanation that he could think of. The experience bonus for most of them registered as if Rift were still Level 38. 

'Some kind of real-life exploit?'

At nearly the same time, Swole leaped out of the pit and onto the ramparts. He shifted back into his original form, looking beaten and battered.

"Fuck. Just because I can sustain it for long periods doesn't mean I should." 

Laughing, Geth cast one final Restoration. The short man's wounds were quickly taken care of, but his exhaustion was apparent.

Geth kept his eye on the Direwolves, still cautiously standing behind the raincloud. Any species with some intelligence would be hesitant upon seeing so many of their comrades die at once.

"Filthy, Blaze, you're both already over Level 45. Don't take long. It's time to press forward."

"Got it."

"Yup."

Both knew that by the time they left this Dungeon, an undisclosed number of enemies would be waiting for them. On the low end, they'd estimated at least 60.

"Rift, you can stop your spell whenever you're ready."

Geth had already seen that the young man had to feed Mana to keep it going constantly. Rift nodded and cut off the Mana supply.

"It still has enough Mana to sustain itself for about three minutes."

Blaze and Filthy nodded at Rift's words. They would be ready.

In the meantime, Geth looked below at the fifty or so wolves standing between the bottleneck and the raincloud.

"Everyone who has a Tame with ranged abilities, clear out the last of the wolves."

He spoke normally, but somehow his voice traveled just enough for everyone to hear it clearly.

Those who weren't already aware began to wonder why he hadn't just told them through their Grimoires.

The Hunter and Archer began shooting down into the pit with single target Skills. Neither had really been built for area damage.

To Geth's surprise, Kane walked awkwardly up the makeshift stairs and stood on top of the wall with them.

"Uhhh, everything okay there, big guy?"

Geth patted the Direwolf's side while wondering why he'd climbed up.

Kane gave Geth an awkward grin and raised one paw in the air. A shadowy coating appeared on his claws.

The Direwolf swung his arm toward the pit, three black streaks cutting through the air.

The attack spread out as it traveled, hitting six of the enemy Direwolves at once. Blood splashed upward as long gashes appeared on their backs.

It didn't end there.

Black flames licked up from the wounds and spread out along the wolves' bodies. The blaze continued to spread until it leapt to the other beasts standing nearby.

Geth observed the Skill that his Direwolf had used. It wasn't actually fire, but some type of shadow that was spreading through the enemy ranks.

The shadow wasn't doing any damage, leaving Geth at a loss. What was the point?

He found out soon enough when Kane created a small, shadowy patch of fire where he was sitting.

Geth was close enough to tell that there was no heat coming off it. The wolf drew a small circle with his claw and forced the shadow to follow the shape.

When the shadow filled in the drawing, Geth was surprised to find that he could sense the battle below through the hole.

Kane reached in with his paw, casually launching another attack. Geth heard a loud yelp and whine from the pit below him.

He turned his attention to the smaller swarm of wolves and found that one was hacking up blood. The shadows on its body were partially weakened.

"No fucking way..."

Geth was amazed. He turned back to his wolf and watched as the creature casually swung its paw back and forth in the hole.

Kane's actions reminded him of watching a bear gathering fish in a stream.

'What do you think, Master?'

'Incredible.'

That was all that Geth could say. Kane was using some type of spatial magic, and it was awesome!

Did this mean that Kane may have the ability to teleport one day? Are the flames necessary, or can he reach through any shadow?

There were just too many unknowns at the moment. The situation didn't allow for Geth to play 21 questions with his Tame.

Even though the three Tames' abilities were impressive, they didn't do an insane amount of damage to the Level 60 and higher wolves.

As Humans, Geth and his party had the advantage of multiple pieces of equipment boosting their Attributes. 

The Tames weren't the same and were primarily reliant on their own stats and Geth's buff.

As such, there were still a few wolves left alive by the time Rift's Corrupted cloud ran out of sustenance. 

Kane had crossed the Level 30 mark, while the two Skeletons had come close to 40. It was decent progress.

The moment the last drop of rain hit the ground, the Direwolves sprinted forward like water from a ruptured dam.

"Blaze, Filthy, you're up. Zolis, you don't have to hold back anymore if they reach the bottleneck."

Zolis pumped her fist in the air while the other two had already begun preparing their Skills.

Blaze was drawing intricate patterns in the air while arrows were already flying from Filthy's bow. 

The speed at which the arrows were being released from the bow was almost godly.

Geth couldn't help but wonder just how much more powerful Humans could get.

'Human potential this time around is much greater than in my past life.'

Albus' voice answered his unasked question. Geth couldn't help but give a wry smile at the reminder that his thoughts weren't only his own.

He looked around at all of his comrades. They were indeed remarkable.

'Albus, what's the likelihood that others have reached Level 50 in the past month?'

Geth hadn't had the opportunity to check the world ranking in some time. The mechanism to do so lay useless inside of the Tower.

Even though he was the first, a lot could happen in a month's time. All it took was a couple of Dungeon clears, and others could achieve similar results.

'There are likely some that have already surpassed you in Level. In Attributes, highly unlikely.'

*Sigh*

It wasn't what he wanted to hear, but he had already figured as much. He couldn't remain on top forever.

Before he had the chance to lament any further, Albus interrupted him again.

'Those that are Level 50 already would likely be leading figures at this point. Your party is leagues beyond what others at this point in time should be.'

Geth nodded. Albus was correct. He could be proud of the team he'd created.

He looked down toward Zolis and Sindri.

His serious thoughts completely collapsed when he saw that Zolis was wiggling back and forth in excitement. She looked like a puppy getting ready to jump at a chew toy.

It was even more amusing when he noticed that Sindri was doing her best not to laugh at the feisty woman beside her.

Geth couldn't help but laugh. His Mana boosted laughter echoed across the plain, even alerting those waiting to ambush them.

It was the first time he'd laughed so jovially in a long time. A feeling of warmth filled his chest as all of his party members cast questioning looks in his direction.

He wiped the tears from his eyes and shook his head. Luckily, his outburst hadn't distracted Filthy or Blaze.

Arrows were still flying, and Blaze had just completed his casting. A massive Fireball tore through the air and burst in the front rows of the wolves.

It didn't end there. Fireballs five times the size of his usual spells continued to pour out of the Formation.

'This jackass has really created a Fireball machine gun.'

It was evident that the spell cost a lot of Mana. Even if he had just as much as Geth, it was depleting at an incredible rate.

The initial blasts did massive damage to the Direwolve's front lines. 

Not only that, as the spells burst, a wave of lava extended back into the enemy ranks. Burn damage tore through them and left them incapable of handling the subsequent explosion.

It was a beautiful sight. Geth watched as Blaze and Filthy's Levels rocketed upward. 

There was a high chance that the whole team could be close to 60 by the time they left this Dungeon.

'The higher, the better. My estimates have gone up.'

Of course, he was thinking about the enemies wrapping the clearing. The moment Blaze's spell started causing a ruckus, many of the surrounding enemies had poked their heads through the weeds.

Geth made sure not to look at them directly, but they couldn't hide from Albus' sight.

'They are becoming apprehensive. They'll likely call for reinforcements before you leave the cave.'

Geth smirked. He pictured the number of Skill Cards they would drop upon death.

'The more, the merrier.. I have an entire city to provide for.'