The Guardian System: The strongest Summoner's quest to save his family-Chapter 361: Ancient Stone-Eater Behemoth (3)

Reidar sat on his plateau and thought.

<Well, at least it's away from Mara… I should just call it a day and—>

And then, the System chimed.

—[QUEST RECEIVED: The Apex of the Wastes]—

Goal: Defeat the Ancient Stone-Eater Behemoth

Progress: 0/1 Ancient Stone-Eater Behemoth killed

Time Limit: None

Reward: 70,000,000 C.L.A.S.P. Points, 40,000,000 Survival Points, Title: "Giant Slayer," Legendary Material Cache.

Description: You have encountered an apex predator of the Volcanic Plane. This creature has stood unchallenged for centuries. Ending its reign will improve the surroundings' safety.

Warning: Target is highly resistant to Physical damage. Target regenerates health in contact with natural stone.

—[END]—

Reidar stared at the numbers. Seventy million C.L.A.S.P. points. Forty million Survival Points.

"Holy shit!"

It was enough to skip quite a few levels. It was enough to buy multiple high-tiered skills in the shop, if he actually managed to go back to Earth. It was enough to push him past the Level 400 threshold instantly and maybe even reach the higher Level 400 levels.

"I love this system imbalance."

The system rewarded a lot of C.L.A.S.P. and Survival points if the user killed something far stronger than him or her or accomplished something that more than one person could usually do. That was because it would show the system that the survivor was ready to unlock more power, to get more mana into his or her body.

C.L.A.S.P. points represented battle proficiency, control, and readiness. Of course, it was likely the system was not going to go past a certain threshold, because otherwise there was the risk that the survivor might mutate.

Reidar didn't exactly know how this worked or the criteria used by the system, but it didn't matter at the moment. Reidar needed the levels; he needed the attribute points.

<How do I kill it?>

He needed a way to kill this creature, not just because it threatened Mara, but because if he could not find a method to deal with monsters at this level, he would be trapped on this planet forever.

Mara would eventually create the magic circle and leave, but he would still be stuck here, unable to even reach her, unable to survive.

There was just one problem.

"I can't kill it," Reidar said, trying to ground himself. "It's impossible."

But the quest was there. The System didn't issue impossible quests. It issued difficult ones. If the quest existed, there was a win condition. He just hadn't found it yet.

The problem was simple. The Behemoth was too strong for his current summons to damage quickly enough, and he did not have the mana to sustain a long battle of attrition against this thing.

Luckily, the monster didn't show particular skills now, but it surely would once it became serious.

Reidar looked at the map, then at the terrain, and lastly he looked at the notification that had been annoying him for the last hour and that he still didn't dismiss.

[Environmental Hazard: Extreme Heat]

[You are taking 5 Fire Damage per second.]

[You are taking 5 Fire Damage per second.]

That made him remember the volcanic region he had flown through earlier. The area that the interface had warned him about had extreme heat and fire damage. Five points of damage per second was a lot, but it had not been instantly lethal.

[You are taking 5 Fire Damage per second.]

[You are taking 5 Fire Damage per second.]

Reidar wasn't taking damage anymore, but the notification was still there.

<If the environment damages me, it should damage the Behemoth too.>

The monster wasn't in the volcanic area; it was outside of it, so there was a huge chance that it couldn't survive the temperatures either. That would also explain why he hadn't found a single monster there.

Reidar assumed he had been lucky, but maybe there was no creature that adapted enough to survive those temperatures.

<Maybe I can use it against it.>

The idea had merit. Environmental damage ignored level differences. It did not care if something was level 100 or level 532. Five damage per second was five damage per second.

It was easy to counter it with a simple healing skill, although a strong one, but as far as Reidar saw, the monster didn't show such power.

Plus, the Behemoth was made of stone, but it was living stone. The quest description said it regenerated in contact with natural stone. It said nothing about magma, and the area there was made of earth mostly. There were rocks, but not everywhere.

In fact, if it was a creature of the colder badlands, adapted to this specific grey rock ecosystem, how would it handle the extreme heat of the volcanic zone?

Reidar checked his map, locating the volcanic region. It was east of the monster's current position, about fifteen miles away.

The Behemoth was currently five miles from Reidar's position. If he could lure it through the badlands and into the volcanic zone, he might be able to trap it there long enough for the environmental damage to kill it.

"Maybe I can cook it."

The math was encouraging. If the Behemoth had one million health and took 5 damage per second, it would die in two hundred thousand seconds, and that was without considering Reidar acting. That was about fifty-five and a half hours with environmental damage alone.

<Fifty-five hours is too long. I can't keep it trapped for that amount of time.>

But it was still better than three days.

However, if his Sky-Hunters continued attacking while the Behemoth was trapped in the heat, the combined damage would increase. With one million health, that would reduce the time to around five hours. If it had more health, it would take longer. If it had less, it would die faster.

The combination might reduce the time to something manageable.

<It's worth trying. If this works, I'll gain a massive amount of C.L.A.S.P. points from both the kill and the quest.>

The level difference between him and the Behemoth was enormous. Killing it would probably grant him enough C.L.A.S.P. points and survival points to push him past level 400, where new perks and abilities would unlock.