Greed: All For What? - Chapter 1757: Lessons Of The Trade.
The two of them in heavy armor were followed closely behind by Legion-5 with his spear and Legion-9 with his bladed whip. They stuck to their backs and used them for protection while using the long reach of their weapons to score hits from safety.
Legion 4 and Legion 6 flanked the two and used their weapons to attack enemies that were entangled with Legion-1 and Legion-7. Their single-edge blades and small axes don’t have as much strength as the large axe, but they have two of them each and could attack faster, so they could deal damage faster than Legion-1 and Legion-7.
Legion-2 and Legion-8 used their bow and harpoon from far behind to assist, while Legion-3 guarded them with his twin daggers.
The two sides were equal in number but not in mind. The clones would first choose a target to concentrate on. They would blind it and harpoon it to restrict its movements. Then they would all concentrate on it to kill it.
This way, instead of spreading out their damage, they were also to quickly eliminate one enemy and make the fight easier for them.
They made sure to make Legion-1 deal the finishing blow so his threat level continued to increase. He remained the focus of the aggression of the wolves, which enabled the clones to continue whittling them down one by one.
Not everything is perfect, though. Some ice missiles attacked Legion-4 and Legion-6 when they moved too far away from Legion-1 and Legion-7. Their proximity to the ice wolves made them a better target to attack than Legion-1.
Fortunately, their defenses were strong enough to withstand the attacks, so they only lost a few divine energies. Losses of 2 or 3 DE were insignificant compared to total DE of 532. But it taught them to be cautious.
They made Legion 2, 3, 8, and 9 with light armor and a defense of 4 who could be harmed badly by the long range elemental attacks to remain behind cover at all times.
Eventually, they killed all the ice wolves. Then they took stock of their losses and gains. The 10 ice wolves dropped one divine crystal each. Only one of them dropped a tooth. Meanwhile, they lost 10 DE in total.
Legion-1 said with a shrug, “So we gained one divine crystal for each unit of divine energy that we lost. Seems efficient.”
Legion-7, who was enjoying the experience of having his own body, said with enthusiasm, “We can do better next time. We can kill them faster and lose less divine energy or no divine energy at all.”
Legion-2 picked the icy tooth and asked the angel, “What is this for?”
The angel replied, “It is useful material that can be used to forge divine weapons. It will be divine weapons of the lowest grade, but they will be better than what you are currently using.”
“We need 10,000 of these divine crystals to build the altar, right?”
“Yes. I should mention that we will also need 1,000 of it to buy the code of the altar. But that is not the end of it. We still need other items such as mortal gold, mortal souls, and divinity.” This reminder made Legion go through their inventory to be sure that they have at least 100 gold coins. These gold coins were gained through the offerings of their believers.
If they don’t have enough, then they will need their believers to cough up more or raid other villagers for their wealth. Fortunately, they already have enough.
“So we need a total of 11,000 divine crystals. If they all drop one divine crystal, it means we have 10,990 more ice wolves to kill.”
“And we have to do so before other gods. So let’s get going.”
The clones began to approach more ice wolves. They were met with hostility and attacks. But through it all, only nine ice wolves fought them at a time.
Their angel informed them that things would be different in the future when they grow stronger or when the ice wolves consider them a greater threat.
For now, they can hunt the wolves without being outnumbered. It was not fair for the ice wolves, of course. Just the fact that they share each other’s vision gives them an unfair advantage. Adding the fact that they can share divine energy, one might say that they are cheating.
They didn’t use divine energy, though. They only used their divine bodies. It is more than enough to take care of the wolves. Anymore would be a waste. After all, the wolves are not their only enemies.
Their mission is clear, so they could make straightforward plans that they can put into action immediately to achieve it. Their current plan is to hunt ice wolves and only ice wolves. They didn’t choose the earth golems, water serpents, wind zephyros, fire lizards, or the myriads of other divine creatures available.
They chose the ice wolves because of the environment that they have to fight them in. The ground of this ice domain is slippery, but it is better than the lake of water serpents, hurricane infested lands of the wind zephyros, lava grounds of the fire lizards, or the sand pits of the earth golems. They like safe and solid ground under their feet and clear visibility for their eyes, hence why they are slugging it out with ice wolves.
There might be other information that they don’t know, as their angel didn’t tell them all that was there to know about fighting the elementals. Such information, like the strengths and weaknesses of the elements, might make other divine creatures more efficient to kill than ice wolves. But until then, they don’t intend to change their targets for now.
Unfortunately, trouble came looking for them. Their actions couldn’t be hidden from others. A particular god seed scouting for prey witnessed the efficiency at which they used to dispatch the ice wolves and felt a chill.
The god seed muttered to herself, “This is unnatural.”