Novel Boss
Chapter 35: Critical Moment, Who Asked You to Come?
As he thought, Jeremy used the ice arrows behind him to carve a path forward, climbing towards the 42nd floor.
[You have killed a Level 11 Rotten Corpse (Normal), gaining 1199 experience points!]
[You have killed a Level 12 Goblin Assassin (Normal), gaining 1751 experience points!]
[You have killed a Level 12 Mutated Crawler (Elite), gaining 3663 experience points!]
...
With each kill notification that appeared, Jeremy's experience points soared at an astonishing rate. As his level increased, so did the experience required for the next level up.
To move from level 17 to 18, he needed 160,000 experience points, and Jeremy still required 120,000 experience points to reach level 18.
Previously, it would have taken Jeremy at least two hours.
However, with Ice Arrow Rain, his monster clearing speed had significantly increased.
At this rate, he should be able to reach level 18 in less than half an hour.
Moreover, with Ice Arrow Rain, clearing monsters became much easier for Jeremy, he just needed to mentally control and aim the ice arrows.
With his current level of mental strength, multitasking was not an issue.
Taking advantage of the moment, Jeremy checked the level leaderboard.
He found himself back in first place.
However, the second and third place were only one level behind him, likely to catch up soon. Seeing a string of level 16 players below him, Jeremy felt a strong sense of urgency.
After all, he was just one person and found it hard to compete with players who had various resources from heavy spending.
Relying on his current leveling speed, not to mention winning first place in the "Chase the Sun" event, he feared he might even drop out of the top ten.
The event had just begun and hadn't reached its most intense phase.
The only way Jeremy could think of to pull ahead was by clearing dungeons and killing high-level monsters to gain a massive amount of experience.
Unfortunately, both high-level monsters and dungeon secrets were not easy to come by and depended largely on luck.
What Jeremy didn't know was that his ability to stay ahead of the others had already shocked many.
The top ranks were mostly occupied by individuals from major forces, even many from the federation, backed by various resources.
If it weren't for the fact that monsters killed by missiles don't count towards a player's kill count, the federal officials would have loved to stuff each of them with dozens of missiles, speeding up their leveling process.
People outside now all believe that Jeremy must also be a player supported by some major force. If they knew that Jeremy was just a lone wolf player, still aiming for first place in this event.
They would surely fly over to give Jeremy a few slaps to bring him to his senses.
...
Meanwhile, on the 42nd floor of the commercial building.
In the psychotherapy room, Claire slowly woke up on the couch.
Her eyebrows were tightly furrowed as she reached up to touch her forehead, feeling a headache and somewhat dazed.
"Clank—!"
A grating metallic noise echoed in the room, instantly snapping Claire to full alertness.
It was that crawler!
It was still outside!
This realization made Claire's heart tighten.
Ignoring the pain in her abdomen, she quickly got up, grabbed a fruit knife, and warily looked towards the direction of the door.
The once smooth metal soundproof door was now covered in dense, sharp claw marks.
A sharp black claw was slowly being withdrawn from the door.
Through the gap in the door, Claire saw a crimson eye, blood-red and glaring.
It was indeed that monster!
At the same moment Claire saw the crawler, the crawler also set its sights on her.
"Roar!" The crawler outside let out an excited growl, beginning to hit the soundproof door even more fiercely.
The intense banging was non-stop, and the powerful force was shaking the room.
The soundproof door looked like it was about to give in.
Just then, the noise outside suddenly stopped.
"Boom!"
The French doors behind Claire shattered suddenly, and the soundproof door plummeted towards the ground from a hundred meters high.
Soon after, Claire heard a dull thud, followed by the furious roars and howls of countless monsters from below.
Claire stood up and looked at the monster slowly crawling into the room.
It was a humanoid creature with six arms, resembling a spider.
Its body was bare, with grayish-white skin, and each arm ended in sharp, menacing claws. Its twisted face lacked facial features, but it had four elongated, crimson eyes.
A Crawler!
A level 12 elite monster!
Seeing Claire with the fruit knife, the crawler's grotesque mouth opened, emitting a strange laugh, as if mocking her for overestimating herself.
Claire's delicate face remained expressionless.
Facing the terrifying crawler, she didn't feel fear but rather a bit of relief.
Fortunately, the door had not been broken through while she was unconscious. Otherwise, she would likely be dead already.
Although the situation wasn't optimistic now, at least she had a chance to fight for her life.
Then, the crawler suddenly moved.
"Bang!"
With a sudden burst of power from its six arms, the floor shattered beneath it.
The crawler transformed into a missile, hurtling directly towards Claire.
At the same moment, Claire's eyes, cast downward, suddenly emitted a hint of azure light. Following this, the glass shards on the floor began to levitate.
This was Claire's S-tier supernatural ability, telekinesis!
The sharp edges of the glass shards aimed at the crawler, shooting out like arrows.
The crawler, caught off guard, showed a look of astonishment, not expecting Claire to have the capacity to resist.
Mid-air, it had no way to dodge.
Countless glass shards pierced its body instantly.
Sharp glass left numerous wounds on the crawler, splattering blood everywhere.
"Screech—!" The crawler let out a piercing wail, landing on the ground covered in glass shards. Its eyes, a particular focus of Claire's attack, were immediately shattered by the glass.
Caught off guard, the crawler was severely injured in an instant.
However, an attack of this magnitude was clearly not enough to kill it. In fact, before Claire could seize the opportunity to attack again, the crawler's figure vanished from its spot, reappearing instantaneously in front of her.
With its eyes burning with rage, the crawler's sharp claws fiercely aimed for Claire's head.
The attack was too fast, despite Claire's quick reaction and her attempt to defend with her telekinetic power, she was still struck by the crawler's formidable force and sent flying.
"Wham!"
Claire's slender body hit the wall, feeling as if all her organs had been severely damaged.
This added insult to injury for Claire, who was already in critical condition. Had she not recovered some of her strength earlier, that hit could have knocked her out cold.
Blood trickled from her mouth, and the purple glow in her eyes faded.
Looking at the crawler crawling towards her, a sense of resignation appeared in Claire's eyes. Despite her best efforts, was she still going to die?
"Roar!!!" The crawler approached Claire, its face suddenly splitting open like a clove of garlic, revealing a horrific mouth oozing with yellow liquid, and let out an angry roar at Claire. "Disgusting!" A flicker of revulsion passed through Claire's eyes.
The thought of being devoured by such a repulsive creature made her feel nauseous.
Perhaps the crawler understood Claire's words because its body suddenly stiffened.
Then, a voice that seemed to agree with Claire's sentiment echoed in the psychotherapy room. "Right, I also find these monsters quite disgusting." the voice said lightly.
Following that, Jeremy's figure appeared behind the crawler.
He stood tall and calm, dual swords in hand, his tiger skin coat soaked in dark red blood, his eyes filled with the same deep loathing as Claire's.
Seeing Jeremy, Claire was momentarily stunned.
She was all too familiar with Jeremy's voice and appearance.
But how could he be here? Wasn't he supposed to be trapped in Moonlight Secondary School? Claire's brows furrowed slightly, wondering if she was hallucinating on the brink of death.
As she pondered this, the crawler's body suddenly split open from top to bottom.
"Splurt!"
The crawler's blood and viscera spilled everywhere, some even splashing onto Claire's face.
Feeling the warmth on her face, Claire realized this was no hallucination.
Jeremy had actually made it to the commercial building!
Thinking about the terrifying horde of monsters on the ground and seeing Jeremy's coat stained dark with blood.
Claire's emotions were a whirlwind of shock, astonishment, anger, and rage.
But notably, there was no joy.
Jeremy slowly sheathed his swords, turning to look at Claire who was staring at him in a daze.
He reached out his hand, smiling, "So, Dr. Claire, are you moved?"
Observing Jeremy's eyes, now completely overtaken by red, and seeing the suppressed yet unmistakably crazy murderous intent in his gaze.
Claire reached out her hand. However, instead of taking Jeremy's hand, she slapped him across the face.
"Thwack!"
The crisp sound of the slap echoed through the room.
With her beautiful eyes slightly reddened, Claire yelled angrily, "Have you lost your mind? Who asked you to come here!"