Start as a Spiritual Planter: I Have a Game Panel

Chapter 138: Fifth Wave - I

Korrin's sharp eyes tracked the explosion's aftermath as cheers erupted from the cavemen behind him.

The massive crater created by the Blast Mushrooms had left a deep impression on the battlefield and an even deeper one on the cavemen.

Their morale surged; their fatigue was momentarily forgotten in the face of such overwhelming destruction.

They clutched their weapons with renewed vigor, the reality of the fight taking on a new light—they could win this.

As the dust settled, Korrin quickly calculated the damage.

With two Blast Mushrooms, equivalent to nearly one hundred pounds of TNT, the result was devastating.

The primary blast radius, a concentrated five meters, had obliterated everything within it—Murlocs reduced to nothing but a splatter of blood and pulverized bones.

Beyond that, the secondary radius stretched up to thirty meters. All within this zone were affected to varying degrees, some barely standing, others crawling— unlucky murlocs were soon devoured by their own kind, ripped apart by their savage brethren.

In their broken minds, there wasn't any concept of the same race or kinship.

Korrin's keen observation gave him an idea, watching this. His fingers moved quickly, as he took out another Blast Mushroom to a new arrow.

This time, the goal wasn't to annihilate powerful enemies outright—but to cause chaos, weaken the Murlocs, and let their own bloodlust finish the job.

He drew back his bow, aimed at another dense cluster of Murlocs, and released. The arrow flew true, embedding itself in the ground near a group of Elite Murlocs.

For a moment, there was silence. Then—boom. The explosion rang out, not as large as before, but its effects were exactly what Korrin wanted.

Injured Murlocs stumbled, their bodies writhing from the shockwave, and before they could regain their footing, the swarm behind them surged forward, devouring the fallen without hesitation.

The predatory vines, sensing this also lashed out, pulling in wounded Murlocs with their roots to swallow them and increase their numbers.

Their numbers grew faster than Korrin imagined, so under his deliberate orders, all the cavemen stayed far away from this predatory vine for fear of being attacked by them.

Korrin grinned. His strategy was working—the numbers of Murlocs were falling faster now as the injured were consumed by the frenzy of those still capable of moving forward. The battlefield had descended into chaos.

"Haha, finally!" Korrin muttered to himself, a dark satisfaction filling his chest. "I was right. We can clear them faster this way."

He watched as the waves of Murlocs thinned, the predatory plants rapidly feeding and growing stronger.

But his grin faded as he remembered the limitations of his plan. There were only 27 Blast Mushrooms left. He couldn't afford to be reckless with them.

Korrin ran a hand over his chin, his mind racing. "The next wave... it'll be larger," he whispered, thinking aloud.

"Fifteen thousand... and if there's a general class among them..." He shook his head, the weight of the battle creeping back in.

He would need to use the remaining Blast Mushrooms wisely.

[Current Progress: 25,300 / 43,000]

Looking at the progress bar again, Korrin clenched his fist.

They were closing in, but not fast enough. If the fifth wave hit and they hadn't cleared the fourth, they'd be overwhelmed. He needed to buy more time, or better yet, thin the herd faster.

His eyes scanned the battlefield, plotting. "If I can use the next few blasts to cripple key groups, I should be able to clear this wave twenty minutes before the next arrives..."

"And if I time it right, I can hit the General class before it reaches the frontlines." He knew that taking down General Murloc would tip the battle in their favor.

Soon they cleared out all the remaining Murlocs from the fourth wave.

[Current Progress: 31,280 / 43,000]

"Twenty minutes... that's all we have," Korrin muttered. His jaw clenched, his heart pounding, but his mind was sharp, running through the logistics of how many Blast Mushrooms remained—22—and the number of soldiers he had left.

He quickly ran the numbers in his head—"If I can manage to clear all of those from the fifth wave... it should be enough to complete the trial," he muttered under his breath, his eyes narrowing in determination.

A fire mage approached, face pale but determined. "Commander, we've calculated the losses. Almost three thousand dead. Thousands more are unable to continue."

Korrin nodded, absorbing the blow. His gaze hardened as he turned to face his remaining cavemen and elite Half-Drow cavemen. "Listen up!"

His voice boomed across the battlefield, grabbing the attention of everyone within earshot. "We've got one last push ahead of us! This next wave is going to be bigger than anything we've faced so far."

"But we're not backing down. Stick to the plan—spread out, cover the riverbanks, and wait for my signal to use the Blast Mushrooms."

He paused, letting the weight of his words settle in. The mages and cavemen stared back at him, their eyes filled with determination and fatigue, yet they nodded in unison.

"If a General Murloc shows up," Korrin added, his voice lowering but no less resolute, "leave it to me. That's the key to finishing this trial." Then he activated his innate talent Species Evolution Mastery.

He had been using this talent more than he ever anticipated, helping cavemen evolve and grow stronger through the evolution points they accumulated.

Without it, they would have been overwhelmed long ago, and there wouldn't be just three thousand causalities in the fourth wave.

As Korrin activated the ability, his special vision came into play. Normally, the cavemen's evolution points were spread thin, but now, something was different.

His eyes widened as he saw hundreds of his soldiers glowing with a blood-red aura, like flames flickering in the dim light.

They had gained an overwhelming amount of evolution points. Some of the luckiest among them had over a hundred points each.

He didn't know what was happening, but he immediately called all those with more than a hundred points.

After some examination and questioning, he found that these are the groups of cavemen that are stationed near blasting areas.

"Well, is this some kind of hidden function of my talent? I need to test it well again in the next wave." He thought to himself as he proceeded to evolve them.

Soon he was stunned yet again as he watched the transformation unfold before his eyes. The cavemen had begun to change in ways far beyond what he expected.

The change was immediate and startling, nothing bloody like his or other Half-Drow Cavemen, but different from any evolution he had seen before.

Korrin could hear the sharp crack of bones realigning and stretching as their torsos elongated.

Their hunched postures straightened, their chests broadening and shoulders squaring off, giving them a more humanoid appearance.

Their bodies began to shift and grow, towering over their comrades, their bodies expanded until they reached the height of full-grown humans.

Muscles bulged under their rough, scarred skin; veins were visible as they pulsed with new strength.

The transformation doesn't have any similarities to Half Drows, completely different, they look more like strong barbarians.

His talent, Species Evolution Master, usually brought about predictable enhancements—boosting their strength, and speed, or raising their combat tier, or evolving their quality.

But this... this was something entirely different.