After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World - Chapter 430

Chapter 425: Level 10!
It took one of the trapped birds to create cracks in the ice walls to get Garan to pull back.

He frowned, wanting to end the birds for disturbing their kisses. But then he felt his wife tap his shoulders, pulling back his attention.

“I’m ready,” she said, and he could only sigh and follow her wishes.

The monster that had first gotten out of his coralle was naturally the strongest. It was a level 10 monster and judging from how it got out of its hold—in stark contrast to the other two who were still snugly trapped—showed how much stronger it was.

“I will need to weaken this one a lot,” he said and Althea nodded, not arrogant enough to think she knew better than her husband on this.

And thus, Garan weakened it a bit more than others. Eh, no, it was so weakened that Garan left a pitiful 20% in its life.

Despite this handicap though, it was in no way weak—not against a human a level lower than it was.

It yelled in anger, lunging towards Althea—the easier target—clearly aiming to get her head.

Althea flinched, not expecting this speed, and she only managed to avoid its hit because it was slowed down at the last second by Garan’s ice shackles.

She jumped back as she watched the shackles break, allowing it to attack her again. She raised her arms to deflect another attack—BANG!! —and her peripheral vision saw its damage on the tree next to her.

Obliterated.

Making a rough estimate, she could tell tha the damage its sharp beak did was twice that of the level 9.

She was shaking—physically from the hit and in intimidation due to the strength disparity—and could only run and avoid. One time she couldn’t run on time and could only defend, the weapon on hand lost a significant amount of durability.

She tried to deal with it by herself for a few rounds but she quickly realized this one was out of her league.

She looked at Garan, who nodded in understanding.

He immediately trapped the bird again to its neck and Althea shakily stood up, beheading it only after several free slashes.

She heaved a deep breath at this. Even slashing a monster fixed on the ground was much more difficult than she had anticipated!

[Killed! Emalau (Lv10). +300 copper, +300 experience!]

“The difference in level is not small,” she told him, tone breathless. Garan didn’t answer immediately but instead took out a face towel from his space.

Level 8 and Level 9 naturally had differences, but the gap between 9 and 10 was a gorge.

She closed her eyes as her husband wiped off her sweat. “Is it just me?”

He shook his head as he answered, “After level 10, monsters’ physiques make major improvements. Just as humans can begin controlling elements, if they had the predisposition.”

She lifted her head at a thought. “Are there monsters that could use the elements?”

“I haven’t heard of it yet, but so far only humans, elves, and mermaids are known to be able to control elements.”

At the mention of these other races, Althea’s eyes sparkled, forgetting the scare she just experienced.

To think she’d be talking about elves and mermaids in such a serious context, “This world is so magical…”

Garan’s cerulean eyes were filled with warmth, and he knew his wife’s sense of wonder was at its height again.

He leaned down and kissed her forehead. “Well, as long as we’re together. We’ll explore it someday.”

She chuckled, “Hmm…”

She was very curious. Just… how big was this world?

…

Heading back to the battle at hand, Garan reinforced the cages of some monsters, letting go of two more.

Garan looked at Fufi, who was ordered to stay put on the side. Like Garan, he struggled very hard not to intervene. Fortunately, the torture was over.

“You can join in.”

WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!

The dog bounced up immediately at the order, his tail wagging wildly in excitement. He wore his perennially smiley face, though it was now adorned with palm-long teeth. When he pattered next to Althea, he was looking both scary and amusing at the same time.

“Well, let’s work hard,” she said with a smile, booping the dog’s nose (which was now almost as large as her palm…)

Woof! Woof!

(Translation: Kill! Kill!)

They simultaneously turned their heads toward the remaining monsters trapped in the walls. Judging by the cracking sound of the ice, it was obvious it wouldn’t last very long.

“Are you ready?” Garan asked, and the two immediately entered an attacking position.

Althea gripped her gleaming sword tightly as the monster got out of the icy fence. Fufi’s happy smile turned ferocious, his hackles raised, ready for battle.

The two grotesque emu-like monsters were soon released from the coralle. Their sharp beaks reflected the light and their scaly feathers rustling ominously.

With a resolute breath, Althea charged forward, her katana slicing through the air. The monsters responded with screeching, their beaks snapping menacingly as they ran towards Althea.

The first monster lunged but Althea sidestepped, avoiding its attack. As she did so, she raised her sword to hit its body, slicing a bit of its feathery hide.

Fufi’s teeth were bare and sharp as he handled the other monster a level stronger than him. To keep him from getting too injured, Garan weakened the bird by wounding one of its legs.

A ferocious battle ensued between the animals. Canine fangs clashed with razor-sharp talons of the monster, and they could hear the mix of differing growls and howls.

On Althea’s side, she was also dealing with a monster on her own, defending as needed, attacking when she could. This was a weaker monster at level 8 and after the previous one, she had gotten much used to its pacing. Her movements were calculated and precise, and even with her drained spirit she managed to stop getting herself injured after a while.

‘CAAWWW!’ the monster yelled, sprinting to her abruptly.

She instantaneously moved out of its way, so that the monster hit the rock behind her. Using the rock exploded by its beak, she kicked a part of the stone to its mouth.

It choked only for a moment but it was enough time for her to raise her sword and cause more damage. In its anger, it completely dismantled the rock on its beak a second later.

It ran after her, its beak and talon aiming to strike her down.

She deftly avoided its attacks, causing it damage little by little. Sometime in between, her peripheral view looked over to the other ongoing battle. Fufi was a bit bloody now, but otherwise still agile.

“Fufi!” She yelled, “Come here!”

Woof!

The dog barked, heading straight in her direction.

Doing a precise calculation, Althea led the monsters to each other, using the beak of one monster to damage the other.

BANG!!

CAWWWW!!

It was really loud.

It had to be said: Birds that become monsters were the exact opposites to their smaller counterparts—they were noisy as hell.

Finally, her sword found its mark, piercing the monster’s heart. It let out a guttural screech before falling to the ground.

Similarly, Fufi killed the wounded monster by biting its neck, pulling out what seemed to be its esophagus. It was a bloody scene.

[Killed! Emalau (Lv8). +220 copper, +220 experience!]

[Killed! Emalau (Lv8). +220 copper, +220 experience!]

[Fufi upgraded to Level 8!]

[Fufi learned Bite Smash (D) : Automatic combo of bite and smash. +10% attack. CD: 20 seconds]

Althea heaved a deep breath as her legs weakened, Fufi was quick to help her to a nearby surface and she immediately found the only ‘good rock’ remaining in the vicinity and sat there to rest.

Her husband handed her a bottle of water, while Fufi had a bowl of food, water, and medicine ready in his own space for his consumption.

“Let me check,” Garan said, referring to her katana. She unceremoniously handed the weapon to him, taking in all the special food and medicine she had remaining.

As they rested, Garan reinforced her weapon again, consuming some mana to increase its durability.

“Thank you,” Althea said as he handed it back to her, though not without a sweet peck on the lips. It didn’t fail to make Garan’s eyes darken but Althea already stepped back and raised her arms to the corrale, silently asking him to let the final enemies go.

With a sigh, Garan took down the final walls, with the duo killing the enemies using similar strategies from before, albeit with much greater ease. Further, both kills were given to Althea, as Fufi had already leveled up.

[Killed! Emalau (Lv9). +250 copper, +250 experience!]

[Killed! Emalau (Lv8). +220 copper, +220 experience!]

The moment the monster fell, the familiar aura of upgrade surrounded her again. This time though, it was much much stronger, to the point that both of them shook a little.

An instant later, the force compressed to her and she felt her upgrade complete.

Ding!

[Congratulations for leveling up to level 10!]

Finally!

Despite her low spirit, she jumped up and climbed her husband like a koala, placing a smooch on his smiley tanned face.

Of course, the massive upgrade naturally attracted a large horde. Unfortunately for them, Althea was in a very high mood for a fight right now.

After all…she can finally use elements!