Last Ruler Of The Empty Throne-Chapter 66: Jon, Beetle and Spider II

Rumble...

The earth shook violently as Jon’s hammer landed on the ground. The explosion crushed the unfortunate spiders and beetles in the area where he landed. The ground caved in slightly due to the impact, sending rocks and stones flying from the broken floor. Dust obscured everyone’s vision, rendering the battlefield silent after the explosion.

WHOOSH

And when the dust finally cleared, Jon, who was in the middle of the battlefield, could see the result of his attack. The smallest and weakest of the spiders and beetles were either blown away or crushed by the power, but that wasn’t what Jon was focused on.

The rest had survived—the mid-sized ones and the leaders of both spiders and beetles. Though some of the middle-sized creatures near the shockwave were injured, none were dead.

Crack...

A crudely shaped shield of flames and web that had been crafted by the beetle and spider leaders in a rush to reduce the shockwaves in time cracked apart.

Though it was cracked all over now and crumbling, it had served its purpose, shocking Jon thoroughly. I thought that would have taken half of them. He had indeed taken half, but only the smallest. Some of them outside the range were even still alive, and the strongest were clearly unscathed.

I thought ’Aura’ was going to do something. After experiencing the power of his ’Aura’, he didn’t think there would be a match for him in the first realm. After a while of adjusting to the situation, he sighed deeply.

"I almost got too conceited." Since he hadn’t met anyone who could compete with him since gaining his aura, he thought he’d be fine again. Now he was seeing monsters that could withstand it. "I’m lucky I didn’t realize this too late," he murmured with relief. If he had realized late, who knows what would have happened?

After shaking off those thoughts, he took a stance and started running.

In the distance, the spider and beetle leaders were also shocked, though it wasn’t visible on their faces. They had noticed Jon observing their levels, and they also gauged his level. And from what they could tell, he was only as strong as one of their mid-level soldiers, which they had many of, so their thought was, He’ll just die if he comes close.

And almost recklessly, Jon had attacked them with an assault that could have been dangerous even to the leaders if the attack was slightly stronger or had caught them off guard. And if it was dangerous for them, it would be for the soldiers, so they rushed to block.

After blocking, the two leaders looked at each other for a moment, and as if they’d decided, they didn’t fight each other again and commanded their soldiers to attack Jon, who was already running.

Jon sprinted immediately, not away, but around the surroundings. He’d just realized he’d been too conceited, so he couldn’t go back to doing what made him conceited.

He wasn’t confident about facing them head-on after they survived that attack. So as he ran, his mind whirled with thoughts of a plan. I can’t stop their movements, but I can redirect them. But how would that help? He glanced back briefly and saw that, despite their size, the spiders were chasing him.

And though the beetles lagged behind because of their weight, their sheer power was not to be underestimated.

Wait, I can do that. After coming up with a plan, he acted. He first created a cloud clone and moved his main body to the furthest shadow he could see using shadow steps.

WHOOOM

As he raised himself from the shadow, he turned to see his cloud clone already being torn apart by the spiders. They didn’t hold back, unleashing all their attacks on the clone.

The monster leaders were confident about catching Jon even without themselves, because after seeing him again, they realized he was rather weaker than their middle-ranged soldiers. So, when they saw them catch up and tear him apart, they weren’t surprised, until they couldn’t sense the clone anymore.

It was strange. Normally, even if an enemy were dead, they could still sense it. But this one just disappeared. They sharpened their senses again and located another Jon in the distance. Though they didn’t know how he did it, they ordered their soldiers to keep moving.

Kieeeeeee

The continuous screams of the monsters were unnerving, given the power behind each of them. Jon was already preparing his bluish fog and let it out, as he couldn’t let them get too close.

At first, the use of his clone seemed useless, but something had happened. The beetles had caught up with the spiders and were looking around for him together.

So as the bluish fog touched the monsters, they attacked it, and when they felt no resistance or any change to their bodies, they advanced, ignoring it.

"Now let’s see." He then tried to see if he could stop their movement. "As expected, it didn’t work; it only affects those of a lower level." He reflected on how he’d stopped first-realm monsters before, but they’d always been lower level. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

"Now, what about shifting movement?"

Wanting it to seem natural, he started small, controlling the front leg of a beetle to strike the spider beside it.

CLANG

The sharp sound of its hard leg hitting the spider’s hard body cut through the screams they had all been echoing together. Perhaps due to some connection or sharp instincts, the nearby spiders stopped and looked. With the spiders pausing, the others stopped, looking in that direction.

"Nice. But I’m not done yet." Jon controlled the spider’s leg to strike the beetle back.

It seemed almost natural. The beetle hit the spider, and it couldn’t tolerate it and retaliated, and naturally, other beetles intervened. Before they knew it, they were fighting among themselves like before.

Watching from a distance, Jon smiled, pleased with his plan. Though it looked simple, it was quite challenging. To make the spiders fight among themselves would have been too obvious and suspicious. He also needed time for the beetles to catch up, so he’d created the clone. And he had to make the spider retaliate with an attack that hurt the beetle.

And this was the result of his plan to invite chaos. He briefly glanced at the leaders, who’d stood back the whole time. They were now trying to command their soldiers to stop fighting, but then remembered, hadn’t they been enemies moments ago?

The leaders then looked at each other warily; it seemed they didn’t want to fight as much as their soldiers did. But the monsters had already reached their tipping point against themselves; any slight provocation would have incited fighting.

And the leaders knew, if they tried to forcibly stop it at this point, they would also get attacked.

So, when there was no response from the leaders, Time to attack again, Jon thought as he jumped out and ran toward the now-fighting creatures.

He morphed his rod into a spear when he reached a beetle closest to him. Then, he released his aura and moon energy, and using ten points of his mana, he activated ’One Strike’ and the piercing effect of the spear.

BOOOM

The beetle, whose tough body was a defense against the spiders, was suddenly struck hard. It flew through the crowd of monsters, leaving a pierced dent on its body.

Kieeeee

The beetle screamed, trying to stand and fight back, but it was bleeding so profusely it couldn’t move. Jon narrowed his eyes at the wound. "It didn’t pierce all the way?"

This was another reminder that overconfidence could lead to death. Normally, that would have been enough to end it, but it seemed this fight would be harder than he’d expected.

So, rushing towards it and piercing it again, the beetle finally stopped moving, and the notification appeared.

[YOU HAVE ABSORBED LEVEL 41 ’GENERAL RED BEETLE’ REMAINS]

He looked at the notification, dumbfounded.

He was only level 35, yet here was a level 41 monster. It would’ve been understandable if this were the boss or leader, but there were about fifty here. "When did they get this strong? They couldn’t have possibly reached that level in the few days since the world fell. Maybe five at most would have, but not this."

With this realization, he involuntarily gulped and looked at the spider and beetle leaders, still warily eyeing each other. "Then, what level could they be?" The only possible answer was that these creatures were born in the first realm, like the tree they fought on the first day. Now the new question was how they were born or where they came from. But he didn’t have an answer.

Suddenly, the system and the world they were thrust into felt more mysterious and increasingly stranger than he’d thought.

The time he spent contemplating was less than five seconds. Now, looking around, the monsters’ deaths had started accumulating.

"Well, no use thinking about it now." The first thing he had to do was survive, and not only that, but to become strong. So, without further delay, he moved to the next target.

Perhaps due to the intensity of the battle and explosions, it seemed as though he’d been overlooked by them all. He then morphed his rod into a sword and swung at a spider. The spider’s limbs were split, and jumping up to slash its head ended its life.

The spiders didn’t have the beetles’ tough defenses, making them ideal for leveling up quickly.

And thus began a hunting spree.