56 King of the Sky
While Ben observed with just few glances the different monster, the monster suddenly became agitated.
And then…
...he heard a roar.
A roar, which made Ben's soul tremble. A fear stronger than every fear he had ever felt.
If before Ben wanted to run, now he just wanted to close his eyes and pray.
The fog was blown away. The wind Ben felt was powerful and rythmic like a birdstrike.
Few blows cleared the fog and what appeared was a majestic creature. A monster that he had seen before. The disaster class monster. The most dangerous monster. The king of the sky. The king of the planet.
It was in a book. A monster book. The book of the guilds. The monster wikipedia.
The name given to this powerfull creature was…
...Rathalos or also Fire Wyvern.
Being completly paralysed from fear, Ben's brain was thinking in overdrive about every helpful information. His survival instinct had kicked in!
„Rathalos are large, bipedal wyverns with a spiny, armored hide covering their body. Their outer shell features much brighter and more vibrant colors than that of their female counterpart, the Rathian. It is primarily bright red, with black markings throughout. Like the Rathian, Rathalos possess a flame sac which is used to produce deadly flaming projectiles from the mouth. The talons upon their feet are highly poisonous and are known to inflict toxic mortal wounds on larger prey. In addition, their long, thick tail features a heavy spiked club at the end. Rathalos' wing membranes feature ornate patterns which are likely used to attract potential mates."
This was the introduction he had read in the monster wiki. Their abilities were great for fights with small and big enemies. Its hide protects it from most of humanity's deadly weapons. Its speed made it difficult to follow or target in the sky.
Its level had never been measured as the technologie didn't exist at that time.
Ben had estimated it to be around level 70, but now he thought it could be over 80.
Measuring level without instrument was like estimating the age of girls. It was almost impossible to estimate correctly.
The basic stats were already a simplification of its strength. Estimating its level would be easier if he fought it for a time.
But even so, stats were dependend of training, genes and level. Even if a middle-level Rathalos was fighting a smaller high-level monster, it would probably still win. Stats don't show, who would win. It just show, which monster has certain advantages. Then again there are skills or genetic advantage like flying, breathing fire or being poisonous.
Not to forget that every creature has its own weaknesses. As long as the ennemy counter your strength or could use your weakness, the winner of the fight could still change.
While Ben was thinking, the Rathalos flew away in a different direction.
Realising that the danger was over, Ben soon gained control over his body.
It was than he realised that the bit of water he had inside his body, had been released.
Sweating bullets was not a surprise in such a situation, but having his trousers sligtly wet was still embarassing.
The first thing Ben did after having the control of his body back was to take a gulp of water.
Followed by wiping his face and hands with a towel. He didn't know that he would see Rathalos, but he knew that deshydratation and wet hands were not helpful in snipping or in any other situation.
Although it was dangerous to not look at the coming monster, he not only had a certain distance and height, which gave him time, but also many civilians, who would attract the monsters.
He couldn't save them, so at least he should use them fully and be thankful for their unwilling sacrifice.
Having finished, Ben went back to his lying position. He was back observing.
Looking for killable prey. With killable, he meant a monster, which could be killed in one shot. While a shot of the sniper rifle was strong enough to pierce most skin, it didn't mean it could kill it.
If he missed or shot a high-leveled monster with high agility, his life would practically be over.
A level 0 human was just a prey in melee combat with a high-leveled monster. Even just a middle-leveled was a death sentence.
Ben saw many different monster, sadly he didn't have any information about them, so he had to analyse them on his own.
„This snake. Seems difficult to shot. If I miss, I will not be able to hit her a second time with her speed. She seems to target the fleeing people.
What do we have here? Its appearance is similar to a Pachycephalosaurus.
It is bright orange in color and has a large head crest, which seems to be for headbutting. Worst monster for a headshot. Great target, but it probably won't die from it. I could shoot it in its belly, but from my position it will be almost impossible."
Ben then found a blue deer-like creature, who was running away from the mass and the other monsters. It didn't in the least look like a threat. It was realatively small and had stunted horns. If Ben wasn't in such a need of levelling up and it wasn't such an easy target, he would let it leave.
His last thoughts before shooting were: ´It looks like a beautiful herbivore. I will release you from your horrible fate!´
Receiving a perfect headshot, the creature died.
Ben had given it a painless death!
Most non-dangerous monster, where either emprisonned in zoo, experimented or slowly bleed to death by any armed human. Quite horrible fates for these peaceful animals.
Ben suddenly felt great. His body released happiness hormone.
A message appeired in his mind: ´Level up!´
Ben suddenly felt an intense hunger. Thankfully, he had been well-prepared.
He took out a shaker of his bag and drank it. The shaker contained a mixture of proteins and different nutrients.
Having satisfyed his hunger, Ben thought: „Add 1 point into Agility and 1 point into Vitality."
´Some people may think it is clever to put everything into one stat, but it would be all the more difficult to adjust to the changes and also the related stat would need even more time to improve the body.´
Being back observing the situation, Ben began to worry. A pack of monster were running at a dangerous speed to him. Not even having the time to estimate their speed, he inspected the monster pack.
´They have resemblance to a snake or a caméleon. Their body shape is very wolf-like in nature, allowing them to move quickly. They have light green scales with blue and reddish stripes covering their body, as well as a blue-colored underbelly. They are still a bit over 1 km away, but they are 5. Their speed isn't that fast, but their strength and Intelligence seem to be their strong point. Fuc*! If they continue at that speed they will soon reach the tower!
The moment they arrive I am dead.´
A middle-leveled monster with relatively high intelligence, just meant that it had around the Intelligence of an intelligent ape. It could strategely think and solve easy problems like opening doors after some time. Common monster rarely improved in Intelligence and their combat style was very primitive.
Just as Ben began to worry that he would die, the pack stopped before the dead body of the deer-like creature. They ravaged the body in a matter of seconds.
This was enough time for Ben to win back his calmness and aim at the head of the biggest monster, which seemed to be the pack leader.
Ben shoot him. Without waiting the pack to react he shoot a second monster. Just when he shot the third monster they run at a surpringsingly fast speed into different direction. He missed.
His dissapointement soon disappeared due to the effect of the level up.
´Level up!´
But Ben didn't made a break, but followed with his sniper rifle the way of the fleeing monster. He killed two other. Only one could succesfully flee.
´Level up!´
The level ups began to make him feel uncomfortable. His body was beaming with energy. Ben knew that he shouldn't level up to fastly.
´Leveling up so fast feels great and satisfying, but I need too slow down. I don't want to be the first idiot, who dies due to excessive level ups. Some rich kid asked adventurer to weaken a middle-leveled monster and paralyse it. After killing the monster, the rich kid exploded due to EXP-overload. The body couldn't digest the energy and he exploded on camera. Quite stupid. It was logical that this would have consequences. Only that nobody expected that he would explode like that.´
As Ben didn't want to weaken his physical body due to increasing his agility or strength, Ben put his points into Vitality.
„Add 4 points into Vitality."
