10 What is True Loneliness?

Since this was her first time encountering a Lord ranked monster, Rialyne had no idea about the strength of this rank. Currently, from grinding a couple hours, her statistics were several thousand higher. And like Cardisys assured, leveling up from one was fairly easy.

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Soul Inhabiter: Rialyne

Host: [ Dielweiss Tree ] Lv. 16

Rank: [ Gold ]

Evolution at 30 levels.

Next Level: 1,152,918/1,310,720 EXP

Domain: 3,049,680,412 HP (81,983 Self)

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— STATS —

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HP: 1060 (80923)

MP: 232 (3864)

PATK: 88 (1734)

MATK: 138 (981)

PDEF: 100 (1455)

MDEF: 101 (957)

SPD: 64 (1693)

FLX: 64 (1788)

Absorbed Stats: 93,395

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Basic Attributes:

STR: 44

AGI: 32

INT: 59

VIT: 32

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Special Attributes:

LUCK: 6

CRIT: 14

ARM: 12

BLK: 8

PEN: 8

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Resistances:

FIRE: 20

ICE: 20

WATER: 40

EARTH: 38

WIND: 40

DARK: 23

LIGHT: 25

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Even though she couldn't see the rest of their statistics, she knew from all her encounters and usages of Sap that these stone golems couldn't be underestimated. A few thousand HP might not seem like a lot at first glance, but it actually signified that the attack and defense would be in the hundreds.

Additionally, they had lower HP than expected, meaning that their combat stats would be higher than usual. After all, even that Greyir Squirrel she had first encountered in this world had a good portion of this Elite stone golem's HP.

Gathering the various stratagems popping up in her head as one, Rialyne proceeded to initiate attack on the monsters before they arrived and covered too much of her Domain. She needed to minimize damage while separating the two Chiefs from the Lord. She sent Cardisys and the plants she put under his command to pick off the lower ranked golems once he was finished with whatever opponents they were facing.

She had a decent range of attack outside of the domain. Except for Thorn Missiles and Iron Bark, the rest of her combat skills' range could be increased with additional MP. She had figured this out from various previous battles after trying to ascertain why those skills didn't have ranges listed for them.

Of course, it wasn't efficient to drain her MP for the sake of preventing home ground damages, but she could comfortably attack 5-10 meters ahead for an additional 10-20 mana.

As the first wave of small golems neared within a meter of her Domain, Rialyne vehemently yelled, "Iron Bark!"

Cardisys stifled a snort of laughter as he sent a few plants over to aide her. His master was still unaware that she didn't have to call out the names of skills to make them work… He would somehow have to tell Kyferne not to let her know about this and get in on the shenanigan.

Rialyne let the low-ranked golems pass deeper into the Domain, letting her lower leveled and ranked plants engage them in battle. As soon as the first Chief ranked stone golem reached 10 meters before the Domain, she whipped out her forces and stealthily led one to the right side where higher leveled and ranked plants took it on.

She kept a couple gold ranked trees' forces to fight alongside the Dielweiss Tree. Thankfully, the capabilities of a Domain allowed her to mobilize certain plant forces across the whole territory, even if the actual plant wasn't nearby.

The second Chief and Lord soon arrived at the 10 meter mark. Half of Cardisys's forces were still stuck in battle on the other side of the Domain; it would take a minute before they could finish and support Rialyne. She had to engage both monsters while she waited for backup. She silently cursed herself for splitting up her forces so disproportionately in the case of emergencies like this.

"Constrict!"

Multiple vines streaked toward the two large golems and barely slowed down their approach as they choked the oversized rocks. The Dielweiss Tree vines targeted the larger one while the other two gold ranked tree targeted the smaller.

-690 HP

Rialyne frowned at her meager damage to the Lord ranked golem. This battle wasn't like a takeover one when using Engrain. She wouldn't be able to recoup damages after a successful capture, or in this case, after victory.

If that ginormous golem stomped around in the middle areas of her Domain, huge swathes would suffer because she controlled higher densities from the middle to the center. There was also the concern of breaking parts of the web which connected her to strong plants by the borders. She would have to quickly defeat it before it came too close and wrecked havoc.

The Chief ranked monster also didn't receive enough damage from the two gold ranked trees, but it would certainly die quicker than the Lord. With that worry set aside, Rialyne focused on fighting her Lord target.

"Magic Blast!"

-1911 -1911

Rialyne sucked in her breath. It seemed that these golems had much lower magical defense than physical defense than she had originally estimated. Even though her magical attack wasn't as high as her physical attack, Magic Blast was truly her best offensive skill.

Unfortunately, she didn't have any other skills to use in the couple seconds before the Lord-ranked monster entered the 4 meter range of Thorn Missiles. Basic attacks only dealt 1% of either MATK or PATK, so this was very inefficient. They didn't have a cool down, but the attack duration varied depending on the user's speed.

-17

-14

-86 -86 -86 -86 -86 -86 -86 -86 -86 -86

Rialyne pulled off double PATK and MATK basic attacks before being able to activate Thorn Missiles. From this she deduced that the golem's MDEF certainly wasn't as high as its PDEF, but PATK attacks still did more damage because her MATK was much lower.

-17

The Lord Stone Golem was now only 2 meters away. She had one second before Magic Blast was usable again.

-17

-1911 -1911

The monster only had 2833 HP left and could be knocked out with another Magic Blast. But the skill with the shortest cool down currently was Thorn Missiles, and that would only deal 860 damage. Right now, the Lord was about to enter her domain. Five seconds was enough time to wreck enough plants under those whale-sized legs.

If she couldn't depend on Magic Blast, then she would have to activate Revenge after enough plants were squashed to deal that perfect amount of retaliation damage. In a flash, Rialyne ran through the calculations in her head.

569. That's what she had to endure.

「 - 36,892 HP 」

Oh F****************—!!!! Profanities flew out of Rialyne's enraged mind. What was the point of math when it could crush several thousand pieces of grass with one step?! She immediately used Revenge before it could plant another foot down.

-110,676

"Sap!"

She couldn't let this hunk of a hill rock fall down and crush who knows how many of her plants. But she wasn't sure whether Sap would be strong enough to suspend this monster in the air.

Rialyne glared at her two gold-ranked trees who had just finished off the Chief-ranked monster while the other Chief was successfully held back from the Domain through being tossed around by dozens of Constricts. The smaller golems were all thankfully defeated. But they still left minor damages.

Just as she anguished upon watching the Lord sink to the ground, Cardisys sent a few more free forces to help her. But even with the additional backup and the effects of Iron Bark, the golem's fall was still inevitable and sure to cause massive repercussions.

"Why is this stupid rock so hard to digest?!" Rialyne roared.

A moment before the golem slumped to the ground—

Rialyne smacked it in annoyance.

「 - 225,761 HP 」

"…"

Where was the savior that was supposed to arrive at this crucial moment?!

After ten long seconds, Sap finally finished. In the meantime, the two Chief golems were also defeated. Since the Dielweiss Tree was stuck waiting for Sap, it couldn't help the other plants that were battling the Chiefs.

Rialyne sighed and assessed the total damages of the entire golem battle. 293,544 HP had been lost.

She now realized that she needed a special elite force to deal with Lord ranked monsters in the future. Even though a Domain had its advantages, its greatness weakness would always lie in the fact that she couldn't battle very far outside of it.

Now, more than ever, Rialyne wished to be free. Free to explore. Free to live. Free to be human again...

PHAT!

Cardisys thwacked her side. "Why so gloomy? It's only a scratch for us."

"Tch. I don't care about scratches. You wouldn't understand…" Shadows glimmered beneath Rialyne's surface.

Cardisys looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"This whole situation! Everyday, everyday I'm surrounded by the same damn plants and same damn scenery! No matter how much of Engrain I use, I'll still be stuck in this damn forest and then whatever wilderness there is until I reach human civilization! Who knows? Maybe it's a wasteland out there, and then I'll have to find somewhere else to go. Once Kyferne leaves, I'll have no one! I can't talk to plants. I can't talk to animals. I won't be able to exit these woods with him to Arvon in time. Who am I kidding…"

The shiny cell took on a somber shade. The surface of his cell shifted around like Cardisys was trembling.

"What do you mean you'll have no one? How did you think I felt being stuck inside here for almost a year…unable to move outside of the Odelrous Tree…unable to talk to anyone? I was so happy when you finally woke up. I wasn't lonely anymore…. I had you."

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