Floating Islands: SSS Gacha System - Chapter 365

Chapter 365: Chapter 365 – The Lightning Bloom
Atlas gripped his spear tightly as everyone took their positions.

Dullorak kept sending lightning strikes into the four massive stone towers surrounding the area, and with each impact, wide bursts of lightning energy spread across the entire island.

Then the first roar from the distance rolled toward them.

“The weaker monsters are starting to gather,” Krythalis said first.

Atlas looked across the perimeter of towering trees surrounding the far edge of the open field. He could clearly see flashes of lightning erupting between the trees.

And moments later, monsters burst out from the forest all at once, rushing forward at extreme speed. Their movements were so fast they looked like teleportation, each leap sending sparks of lightning scattering in all directions.

Edrik, standing nearby, drew his dagger. His eyes sharpened in focus, and then he leaped, vanishing and reappearing in the distance, striking one monster after another.

On the opposite side, Kurogasa disappeared as well, and in an instant dozens of copies of him spread across another sector of the battlefield.

More monsters poured in from the remaining directions. This time Serenith stood ready. She glanced at Atlas and let out a small laugh.

“I’ll go, my lord. Leave this to me,” she said, then shot into the sky, rising high before streaking away as explosions bloomed one after another in the distance.

Another group of monsters came rushing from a different direction. There were about seven of them. Atlas tightened his fist.

“Let me take these ones,” he said.

He summoned the shadow tendrils that spread out like massive shadow wings behind his back. It was an ability he gained when using his Demonic Reaper form.

He clenched his teeth and shot forward, and in an instant he was surrounded by all seven monsters.

Atlas did not even blink as the creatures charged at him, fast and ferocious.

He dashed aside, dodging. Dodging again and again.

He read every movement with sharp precision, leaping to avoid their strikes with incredible speed.

He tightened his grip on his spear and grit his teeth.

“YOU DIE!” he shouted loudly.

He burst forward and slashed his spear with brutal force. The impact sent a wave of energy ripping outward, and one monster was launched away.

The others fired lightning attacks toward him.

But Atlas moved using Magnetic Step, repositioning himself in rapid bursts.

[Rare – Stonepierce Fang (Active Skill) Lv. 3 activated.]

[Rare – Stonepierce Fang (Active Skill) Lv. 3 activated.]

[Rare – Stonepierce Fang (Active Skill) Lv. 3 activated.]

Massive earth spikes erupted from multiple directions, trapping three monsters at once.

Atlas darted forward and struck, maneuvering with spear strikes, sweeping cuts, overhead blows, thrust after thrust.

He moved fast, hitting the monsters again and again with relentless attacks.

At certain moments, controlled explosions from afar shot into the group, as Serenith assisted Atlas by weakening the monsters even further.

Atlas pushed himself to finish the fight as fast as possible. But his biggest problem was simple. He did not have enough damage to take down these monsters easily. And these were only the normal ones.

Several times Elyndra assisted from afar, firing magic missiles to help pressure the group.

Atlas moved quickly again, thrusting and striking at high speed. He tried to combine his lightning mobility with his earth attacks, creating a mix of rapid movement and impactful blows.

After some time he finally finished them off, then rushed back to his defensive position where Edrik and the others had already begun returning as well.

They held their ground while Dullorak continued his task of luring more monsters.

In theory, only monsters whose elemental resonance matched the signal should appear, which meant only the stronger ones were supposed to come. But it was still possible for normal monsters to be drawn in as well.

The wait felt long, painfully long, with the threat of something powerful arriving at any moment.

Then… everyone noticed it. Something was approaching from afar. A loud impact, followed by sharp lightning strikes, echoed across the island. Above the tall treetops, something large flew toward them, lightning crackling fiercely around it.

The first field boss monster appeared. It was the same flying bird monster they had faced before.

Serenith reacted immediately. “Let me roast this bird,” she said with a giggle.

She shot into the sky at once, preparing to confront the monster. Even so, Serenith alone would still have trouble fighting it, because the creature moved with extreme speed.

For that reason, Krythalis bowed slightly toward Atlas. Krythalis would assist in controlling the monster so that Serenith could land a finishing blow.

Krythalis then flew upward as well, and together he and Serenith began firing repeated attacks, trying to draw the bird away from the others to make it easier to bring down.

From the distance, Atlas watched Serenith firing nonstop attacks, each one erupting into bright explosions in the sky. The flying monster darted in every direction, weaving through the blasts with incredible speed.

On the other side, Krythalis summoned a large swarm of insect soldiers. They spread through the air, creating explosions of their own as the bird kept trying to escape the barrage.

Their levels should be high enough to match the monster. Even so, fighting it with only the two of them was still very challenging.

There was no other choice.

Because moments later, from behind the treeline, a huge burst of lightning erupted as a massive column of electricity poured down from the sky. When the sparks cleared, another monster appeared.

This one looked like a horse with a jagged, zigzag-shaped single horn on its head. Its presence alone felt intimidating.

“This one looks stronger than anything we have faced before,” Edrik said.

Kurogasa turned to Atlas. “My lord, if you allow it, let me and Edrik handle this one.”

“Alright. I leave this to you.”

The distant monster scraped its hooves against the ground, then suddenly dashed toward them at high speed, moving with incredible agility like a lightning-soaked stallion.

Edrik and Kurogasa vanished at the same time, reappearing near the monster a second later.

Edrik appeared right in front of it, delivering a quick strike before vanishing again. He was only trying to provoke the monster into focusing its attacks on them.

This technique was extremely risky, because Edrik had to predict every move with perfect accuracy. One misstep and he would be hit. He also had to time exactly when he could and could not use his teleportation skill.

Atlas tried his best to monitor every battle from a distance, making sure his team was still holding their ground. Even the smallest mistake here could become fatal.

The monsters they were facing were incredibly powerful, and Serenith and the others were fighting them with no extra support. They were surviving purely through their own skill and strength.

Atlas stood beside Elyndra when something else began to emerge in the distance.

He looked toward a point above the treetops.

A huge shape floated there, like a massive sphere of lightning with long whiplike tentacles hanging down. The only way to describe it was a giant lightning jellyfish, drawing energy from the sky and funneling it violently into the ground.

Serenith, Krythalis, Edrik, and Kurogasa were already fully occupied with their own opponents. Only Atlas and Elyndra remained free.

“My lord?” Elyndra spoke softly behind him.

Atlas clenched his teeth and tightened his grip on his spear.

“We take this one down before any more show up,” he said firmly.

Elyndra nodded, and a pair of wings unfolded from her back at the same time.

Their enemy was massive and floating high in the air. Fortunately, both Atlas and Elyndra could fly, especially with Atlas still in his Demonic Reaper form.

Atlas beat his shadow wings and launched into the sky, with Elyndra flying close behind him.

This was a type of monster Atlas had never faced before. Even so, the principle for fighting it was actually simple.

They had to bait the creature into using its strongest abilities. At that moment, no matter what, they needed to endure or avoid the attack.

Then, when a small opening appeared and the monster’s elemental shield thinned even slightly, that was the moment to strike with a fatal hit and deal real damage.

But… one strike would not be enough. Of course not.

Which meant this battle would become a test of endurance. Either the monster would manage to land its deadly attacks, or the attackers would survive long enough to break through and defeat it.

Atlas flew in a wide circle around the monster from a distance, while Elyndra moved in from the opposite side. Both of them were preparing to unleash their abilities.

Then, in that moment, the lightning jellyfish monster released large glowing bubbles from its body, and they shot outward in every direction.

Atlas darted aside, avoiding the drifting spheres.

But when he dove toward one direction, he caught sight of something else in the corner of his vision. One of the orbs was flying straight toward the other monsters on the battlefield.

And in that instant, Atlas understood.

This monster was a support type.

As long as this creature was not destroyed, the other two boss monsters would never be defeated.